Deep Diving - Miriam Ingram

Words: Stephen Stone

"That's your headline?" asks a smiling Miriam Ingram, "I tried deep-sea diving once on Santorini, but it didn't suit me. It was one of those 'tourist' places where they teach you to do it in a few hours. They give you the very basic instructions and then they ask you to sign a form where if you drown they aren't responsible. I decided to stick to snorkelling."

Allow me to explain. We're here talking because Ms. Ingram released her third solo record, 'Mariana Trench' on September 4th with a launch show on October 4th featuring her 12 piece band at the Bello Bar. It's a beautiful and occasionally ethereal offering. Miriam admits it's been years in the making, but she's not one to rush things. Especially life-changing things. Some things need proper training.

"The odd thing is that I really haven't ever trained", she says. "Musically anyway, well certainly not when I was younger. I grew up in Dublin, close to the sea, actually, with mam and dad, three sisters and a brother. I'm a middle child. Music, the radio, record discs on special occasions were played. There were tin whistles, harmonicas and, since my dad was a carpenter, a beautiful mandolin he crafted. I still have it. But music was always just 'around' really."

What first drew her to performing herself?

"A church folk club if you can believe it! It was run by this really encouraging young Priest and that was where I first 'got up' to sing, I suppose. I sang 'A Spaceman Came Travelling' by Chris DeBurgh at 'Midnight Mass' when I was just 13. I was so nervous. But there were other kids there and we all had different tastes in music; swapped records as you do. And from 'Radio Hits' I heard James Taylor, Pink Floyd, Joni Mitchell, Van Morrisson but also music like 'Punk' which was beginning to happen. I loved The Clash."

And then she became part of the 'Busking Scene' on Dublin's Grafton Street...

"Yes I did! I'd met Dave Odlum (Kila/Frames) at school and he suggested we go 'into town' and try our luck. And it turned out we weren't the only teenagers with that notion. Of course from doing street shows there we met Glen, God Rest Him, (Frames) Mark Dignam, Mic Christopher, also taken to soon, Les Keye, Dave obviously, Colm, Eoin... and so many others who still perform and write and play now. And of course half the time we'd all just join in and play together. It sounds brilliant but it really was...We drew crowds. Big crowds! We'd go to 'The Colony' or 'The Coffee Inn' after to divide up the money people had given us!"

But 'big crowds' mean a potential 'proper earner'?

"Well, it did and it didn't, really. Actual venues in the Grafton Street area like 'The Bailey', 'Mc Daids' and 'The International Bar' started to host 'Open Mic' nights and they did really well. But the real thing that came from playing 'proper gigs' was that people started 'hooking up' and forming 'proper' bands. I eventually joined Les Keye's 'Wilde Oscars' as a backing vocalist, and it was with them I first started writing songs myself."

Tell us about your first solo record, 'Trampoline'?

"How long have you got? Long story short, and you have to understand that this was a real 'scene', people were interested, we'd grown up together, people helped each other out. By then I could pick out notes on a guitar to help me write, but I'm not even now a 'guitarist'... Trevor Hutchinson lent me a Four Track recorder and a Yamaha QY700 Sequencer and suddenly, after pouring over the instruction manual, I had a whole orchestra at my fingertips. And a microphone, of course..."

So 'Trampoline'?

"It took a bit longer than that! I'd become a 'Ma' myself for a start. By then I'd formed a music production company, 'Toot Sweet' with Colin J Morris where we did/still do music for feature films, TV, adverts, theatre and of course I was still recording and even playing live gigs as a guest vocalists with bands like SACK and artists like Sean Millar. But a solo record is different. By solo I don't mean others aren't involved, but you understand? Solo records take a lot of work. You get one shot at a solo album is my point. It's down to me. 'Trampoline' was well received, really well reviewed, I loved it and still do. Then, because this often happens as you record over time, I had some songs left over so I released the 'Spells' record in 2020 which again did well."

And now it's 2026 and we have the new one, 'Mariana Trench'. Want to tell us about it?

"I thought you'd never ask!" She laughs.

I ask about 'themes' and 'process' and 'method' and almost immediately wish I hadn't. Miriam Ingram considers...

"To be honest, I'm not sure how anyone else does it. I'm not really sure how I do it if I'm honest. Ideas come, music comes, lyrics come and you try to make sense of it. I've even 'dreamed' songs, to the point where I'll get out of bed and creep down to a quiet kitchen and record the idea. So as not to disturb anyone! 'Ballet Broken' came from a dream! And 'Mariana Trench' was written, considered and eventually crafted over a very long period of time. And going back to my early days, I've never performed 'solo' in my life. You bring people in, fellow artists, to ask opinion, to offer input, to offer 'accent' really. Some ask if they can get involved. Some I ask! These people are friends of mine!"

Theme?

"You're suggesting again! It's never conscious I don't think, or at least not for me. You can, and I certainly have, listen back to certain songs or tracks and sense an emotion or what you call a 'theme.' It really can be quite subconscious at the time. As I listen now, now it's finished, the awful idea of a person taking their own life is present on some songs. Actually, tell you a story? I'd worked with the Horslips musician and writer Eamonn Carr and he had written a verse called 'The Hanging Willow' that touched me so we explored and talked about that and there is a song on 'Mariana Trench' ('Dear John') that comes from that interaction."

Method?

"Oh, gosh! Once I decided to involve others on my 'solo album' I was really blessed that a lot of people wanted to be a part of it. We did do 'proper' recording at Arad studios, drums, bass, some of my vocals and Kim Porcelli on cello, but quite a lot of it was about connecting to contributors 'on line' so they could just send their 'bits'... Here I was so lucky because my eldest, Diolmhain (frontman of Art Punk Popsters 'Really Good Time') was co-producer and he could engineer and mix that down so it worked. In fact it was Diolmhain who suggested that some of the 'proper vocals' should be 'ditched' in favour of what I'd sang on 'demo' or 'guide' at home. He said, 'Vibe over fidelity'... The record proves him right, I think. Though we met in the middle! I'm fussy about my vocals..."

But other family too on 'Mariana Trench'?

'A bit! My younger son Sean sings vocals, now his voice has broken, my nephew has done the illustrations and my sister has done the design and artwork.”

One last question? Why 'Mariana Trench'?

"Honestly? It's the deepest and most unexplored and fascinating and unknowable place on the Earth we live on. It just struck a chord, I suppose"

Mariana Trench is out now on vinyl and digital. Available in Spindizzy and online at miriamingram1.bandcamp.com

Miriam and her 12 piece band launch the album live at Dublin's Bello Bar on October 4th.

Miriam Ingram

Rattling Ark