Selling the merch to fund the new music

At its essence, Going Coastal is a project that aims to foster a sense of community among disparate, sometimes under-resourced music scenes – full of talent but in need of support. Its centrepiece is an annual weekend festival that promotes some of the brightest young and independent bands in the country, but another function of Going Coastal is on show this weekend.

On Sunday, in the Blue Note, a merch market will be open from 2pm to 8pm featuring acts like The Love Buzz, Shark School and Anna’s Anchor.

For bands, it is not just an opportunity to sell t-shirts and records, but a rare chance to connect with other artists, fans and industry members away from a live gig.

Going Coastal is a collaboration between a host of local nights and collectives, largely propped up by John O’Connor, David Boland and Jake Tiernan.

“It’s my baby, the merch market part,” O’Connor says.

“I like the idea of bringing things off the socials. Off the internet, off the electronic spaces – I like bringing stuff into a room where people can meet each other, chat and engage. Fans meeting bands is always a good thing. Then there’s also bands meeting bands, record labels meeting bands and record labels meeting other record labels.

“We’re bringing a guy in this year from Mayo called Relish Records, who runs a record store down in Westport.

“Part of the thinking there is if we can team record labels up with a record store, that means more records in more places. Little things like that – I think it’s important.

“A lot of what Going Coastal is about is connections. It’s about realising that the west coast of Ireland has an incredible music scene. From the bottom to the top, just the west coast, it has an incredible music scene. All varieties and all genres. But somehow it seems to be a little bit overlooked.”

There is always conversation around the lack of venues for artists in Ireland, but there is little preventing a merch market from taking advantage of the social spaces in a city like Galway.

O’Connor points out how easy it is to be sucked into the notion that all engagement and promotion of independent music can be done online.

“The more things are pushed onto an online space, the more we have to build community spaces where we are,” he says.

Pictured: The Love Buzz...partaking in merch market.