“It may have been the morning that David Bowie died, my flat
mate was going off to make a record, and I said to myself that I need to start doing
something new because someone’s going to have to take over and continue making
weird music,” Stefan Murphy says over the phone from his home in Atlanta.
It hasn’t taken long for Murphy to settle back into his
groove. At 39 years old, he combines a classic baritone with epic songs that spin
tales of lovers, pirates, and sinners. Murphy is best known as front man of
Irish rockers The Mighty Stef, a band that released several magnificent albums,
and had a residency at Sheridan’s Pub in Rochester during the summer of 2014.
The band connected well with audiences during its local gigs; when the quartet
opened for Flogging Molly in Niagara Falls a few months later, there was a tour
bus filled with Rochesterians to attend the show.
After a decade of performing, The Mighty Stef called it quits
this year, and Murphy and his family have relocated from Ireland to the Peach
State, where he is building a studio and launching a record label.
Murphy’s new music project is called Count Vaseline. “I don’t
really know what a Count is, but I think it has very noble connotations. I
think Vaseline has very cheap and sleazy connotations. I thought the two things
sounded nice together,” he says.
It’s a solo act — Murphy plays all the instruments on tunes
that can best be described as DIY alternative rock with a pop skeleton — with
an analog tape machine supplying the backing tracks. He has only performed a
handful of shows as Count Vaseline, and he plans to make the project’s
Rochester debut on Friday, September 30, an album release party.
The album is called “Yo No Soy Marinero,” which is translated as “I am not a sailor,” a
line taken from the classic song, “La Bamba.”
Murphy plans to distribute all of his music digitally and as
limited edition cassettes on OCDC (Olive Color Dream Cassettes), his new label
named after his daughter; he cites the cost prohibitions associated with the
production of vinyl for lesser-name artists. The next album, “Cascade,” drops
in late November on his birthday, while an unnamed third release consisting of
covers is planned for January.
It may seem like a Herculean task to get fans to buy into
tape, but Murphy is undaunted. He loves the look of it, the feel of it,
and the sound of it. “And if anybody doesn’t have a cassette player and is
using that as an excuse not to buy my albums, I’m going to sell them a cassette
player,” he says.
Murphy grew up in a suburb of Dublin to a “classic” working
class family and listened to bands including Sonic Youth. Then in his 30’s he
discovered Armand Schaubroeck Steals — which is fronted by House of Guitars
co-owner Armand Schaubroeck.
A friend had turned Murphy on to the band’s “Ratf***er” album. “I was amazed
when I found out he was from Rochester, and how I found this out was I went
into the House of Guitars one day, ” Murphy says. “Meeting Armand Schaubroeck
the last time we were in Rochester was one of the rock and roll highlights of
my life.”
There’s a mutual respect. “Stefan is a talented songwriter,” Schaubroeck
says. “The Mighty Stef’s ‘Year of the Horse’ CD is a masterpiece.” When The
Mighty Stef did an in-store performance, Schaubroeck asked the band to perform
its song “Stella” twice, and he was among those who followed the band from club
to club that summer when the quartet made Rochester its headquarters.
Murphy is currently taking the longest break from touring
he’s had in more than a decade before setting off again. A show at the Mercury
Lounge in New York City and the show at Abilene are tune-up gigs for upcoming
tours in Ireland, Europe, and Australia in January.
“I love touring,” he says. “I’m learning to try and do it
without the excesses that are associated with it. With Count Vaseline I feel
like I’m beginning again and that excites me.”
This article appears in Sep 28 – Oct 4, 2016.
