While growing up in the ‘80s, Richard Blowes was attracted to the exciting, new, and alternative styles of music of the day. “I don’t know what a lot of people call ‘indie music’ now. I know ‘indie’ is not really a genre, but, I suppose, guitar-based music, initially,” Richard tells Post-Burnout of his early musical loves. “Things that were not mainstream as much, although I loved pop music.

“I’m not a musical snob. But then I got into electronic music/dance music. I was big into that, the ‘90s rave culture. I sort of went off music altogether in the early 2000s, to be honest, Aaron, and then [I] sort of [got] back with just things that are a little bit different, not run-of-the-mill. I’m not really interested in the charts or anything like that. I have a broad taste, let’s put it that way! [Laughs]”

It wasn’t solely the music that procured Richard’s attention; he was also fascinated by the holistic process of getting it onto a listener’s turntable. “I’ve said this before on other interviews and podcasts; I not only liked the music for itself, for what it does to you, the emotion of the music; I was also really interested in what lay behind that,” he explains.

“So, I was really interested in record labels, for example, and how music got made and the process of it. Certainly, in the UK, we had some brilliant record labels, like Domino, Mute, Rough Trade, and Factory, and you knew what you were getting from a label. So, for example, Warp was a big dance music label. Domino, indie. Rough Trade…Factory, the ‘indie-ist’ of the lot, probably. [Laughs]”

As he mentioned, Richard had stopped paying attention to newer music by the turn of the millennium, partly due to now being a parent with little free time to indulge and partly due to the day’s offerings not piquing his interest. But, about a decade later and now based in Galway, a local punk band would reignite his old love.

“There’s lots to do in Galway,” Richard says. “It’s not just music; it’s a huge arts city, and there is a thriving…not ‘underground,’ but a thriving scene for local bands…you know, local up-and-coming bands. There didn’t used to be. That really started [with] Turnstiles, who were a punk band here about five years ago.

“So, I managed Turnstiles because Luke [Mulliez], the drummer, is my nephew. Well, he’s actually my wife’s nephew, but we’re kind of related. [Laughs] So, they started the Free House series of gigs, which were based in Galway’s Áras na nGael, and ‘Free House’ didn’t really allude to the fact that it was free, it was more that anyone could play, but it actually was free in, as well.

“So, a local band who might have just started, and they might only have four songs, could rock up with their guitars, keyboards, whatever, and play their four songs, and that was their introduction to the live music scene. And that route wasn’t available before Turnstiles started Free House.”

At this time, Richard saw tons of interesting projects with real potential, but, atomised by self-releasing and decentralised means of exposure, a lot fell by the wayside with little regard or ceremony. “So many bands are self-releasing brilliant music and, sometimes, they just put it out there on streaming platforms, they might do a bit of social media promotion, and it just sinks without a trace,” Richard says.

Inspired by the cohesion bred from being under the umbrella of a record label that he witnessed in his youth, Richard felt that artists should solely be occupied by writing and releasing good music, with the music’s distribution and promotion being handled by a knowledgeable and dedicated team to alleviate that burden. This was the germ of Blowtorch Records.

“I had no music industry background at all, Aaron, apart from being a fan, a music fan,” Richard says of forming the label. “I did have an interest-slash-obsession with certain figures. Tony Wilson was huge for me. I’ve read loads of books about Factory Records and the whole way they operated. I suppose some of my favourite bands ever were on Factory Records,  particularly New Order. Some of them nearly signed, like The Smiths. So, it’s almost as much about the ones that got away as the ones that were on there. But I have a great interest in politics, as well. I’m unashamedly left-wing, and I think the way that they ran it chimed with my politics, as well.”

By Richard’s admission, Blowtorch Records was a learn-on-the-job project. “I had some background in web design, working with websites, the digital side of things,” he says of its formation. “So, I came up with the name, and I came up with the logo, and set up the website. Then it was a case of, ‘Right, what do we do now? What happens now?’, kind of thing. Then you start promoting stuff on social media; posting on Twitter, as it was then, and Instagram. I initially just started looking at bands on SoundCloud to work with. It was a hobby to start off with.

“That was in 2019, and here we are now in 2025, and it’s something very different. It’s something that I’ve almost fallen into accidentally, and it’s changed a lot. I think 100% of our bands are now Irish, whereas, at the start, it was probably 10 or 20%. I didn’t really identify as an Irish label, initially, and that, certainly, has become clear over the years that that’s a much better way to go.

“It’s like having a genre. Having a location, I think, is also a useful thing. The Irish scene is vibrant at the moment, particularly for guitar bands, but in many other areas, as well. I think rap and hip-hop is strong in Ireland. Dance music is strong. So, there’s a benefit in the genre identification, in the geographical identification.”

Referring back to the Factory Records comparison, Richard says, “They would be a blueprint, really, for Blowtorch Records, in many ways – from our numbering system down to the fact that we rarely make any money! [Laughs] So, what has happened over the years, for sure, is that I think… – people tell me this, and I certainly hope it’s the case – …that people can trust releases from Blowtorch Records, and they might just take a punt on something that we release without hearing it, maybe because they think, ‘Oh, well everything else they’ve done is pretty good, so I’ll give it a go.’

“So, that’s definitely where we’re at at the moment, and I do cultivate that and we get a lot of contacts from Irish artists. We do promote ourselves as an Irish label, and many of them are just…I’d say ‘unsuitable,’ but that’s the wrong word. I’m not being pejorative; they’re not unsuitable in themselves, it’s just unsuitable music for the type of stuff that we put out. It very clearly says on our website, and I think you could listen to anything that we do: Punk, post-punk, electronica, psych, and shoegaze. Those are our kind of genres.

“We don’t do acoustic singer-songwriters, and there’s a good reason for that, because, if we did, it wouldn’t work for them, as well as for us, because our audience are not interested in acoustic singer-songwriters. So, if I’m trying to promote that person, it’s not going to work, and that’s not fair on them. I’m just wasting their time, and it’s also wasting our time.”

In 2021, Blowtorch Records officially commenced, releasing music from acts like Turnstiles, Nixer, and TV People. Despite this new venture beginning amid a global pandemic haltering international trade, Richard didn’t find much hassle in this period besides bemoaning how major labels were backing up the vinyl-pressing plants by rereleasing old material to sell to people stuck at home.

 “Around about COVID time, you were looking at six to nine months, maybe, to get a vinyl record pressed,” Richard remembers. “Now, it’s down to somewhere between ten to twelve weeks. So, that’s a more acceptable time to wait. So, you can depend on that.

“So, in that case, it’s a case of working with the band, letting them know, ‘We have, probably, a four-month lag, so if you’re thinking of something that you’re looking to press to vinyl, we need at least four months,’ and then try and coincide the digital and the vinyl release.

“We do preorders. Generally, with vinyl, you’re paying at least half of it, if not all of it, upfront, which is, obviously, quite a bit of an outlay. If anyone ever wonders why we do preorders, that’s why, because it helps us massively, because we’re getting income back against the deposit that we have paid to get the vinyl made, but it also helps to gauge numbers, as well. […]

“There is, probably, greater supply than demand in the vinyl-pressing industry at the moment. I get loads of emails from plants in Europe in particular, offering deals and really good timeframes, and we never got those four years ago. [Laughs] So, I think vinyl-pressing plants are looking for business, for sure, which is an interesting development.”

The physical releases are a key element to Blowtorch’s operation. Not only does it ensure that artists have a permanent and tangible means of preserving their music, but it also futureproofs against the ephemerality of streaming platforms that, on a whim, could shut down or completely alter their guidelines.

 “It’s hard to be proactive in this because you don’t know what’s coming,” Richard says of using major online platforms. “I can control certain things, like what physical stuff we put out and working with record plants and the like. Who knows what the tech bros are going to do in the next three years, Aaron? That’s what drives me crazy, but that’s also why I don’t really want to be relying on them.

“Like, I wouldn’t really care if Spotify finished tomorrow. It wouldn’t really make any difference to me. I would listen to my vinyl collection. I would find another way to promote the bands. I still have a lot of copies of physical releases from bands on the label. I can still sell those. There will still be record shops. I’d say somewhere, on hard drives, I have thousands and thousands of songs downloaded. […] I couldn’t give a fuck. I’m not dependent on Elon Musk. I’m not dependent on Mark Zuckerberg.

“I use Facebook all the time…Sorry, not Facebook! [Laughs] I use Instagram all the time! I don’t know if Facebook’s a dead loss! I use Instagram all the time, absolutely, but if it disappeared overnight, I wouldn’t be that bothered. I’d find another way. I’ll send out a letter. I have an independent newsletter that goes out to a thousand people every week. I’ll go that route. I don’t care. I really don’t, Aaron. I’m not being flippant; I’m not dependent on them, and I absolutely take pride in not being dependent on them, and I can be very stubborn like that. [Laughs]

“But, you know, I’m not a multinational, and that’s the beauty of being an independent… – a micro-independent, in our case [Laughs]  – …I don’t own any money to the banks, I don’t have massive deals with anybody, it’s just a nice little cottage industry. We work well with the bands. I like them; they like us. We put out what we want, when we want, to an audience who appreciate it, and it works very well, as far as I’m concerned.”

Since its creation in 2019, Blowtorch has released material from artists in every province in the nation, and the brand has expanded into other areas, including podcasting, event promotion, and journalism. When we asked Richard what he sees for the label beyond distribution, he responded, “Just a community of like-minded people, really, Aaron.

“Once you accept that money is not the primary objective, primary goal, then life becomes much easier to be honest, because you’re not dependent on having to sell stuff. I have a job, as well – that’s where I get my income from, mainly – and I do Blowtorch, pretty much, in my spare time, and I don’t think we’ll expand it, massively, beyond where it is now.

“It’s more a case of, ‘How do you do it in a more efficient way?’ I suppose. I know that’s a big corporate phrase: Work smarter, not harder. [Chuckles] I’d say a lot of corporates don’t believe in that, either! They want their employees to work a lot harder.

“So, for example, we do feature bands who are not on the label quite a lot. One way we can do that quite easily is that we have a ‘New Irish Music’ playlist on Spotify, and I will add pretty much any new Irish artist to that playlist if they get in touch.

“That takes a couple of minutes of my time, and I’m not saying we have a huge playlist following, but, you know, it all helps. That’s something that I can do that takes very little of my time. Particularly new bands, it’s affiliated with them. We have independent writers who write for Blowtorch, so it’s not necessarily me who’s writing it, so it’s not taking up my time.

“I pay people to write for Blowtorch. I know a lot of people write stuff for blogs for free; we actually pay people who write for us. So, in that way, people always say to me, ‘How do you find the time?’ Well, it’s not just me doing it all! There are other people involved. [Laughs]

“I just think – and maybe it sounds a bit wanky, a bit lofty, about, ‘We want to be a like-minded community’ – but I don’t see anything wrong with that, and I don’t see any other way that you can make sense of the world, to be honest, Aaron. Bands in Galway, or Dublin, or Ireland in general, how do they make sense of Sony Records being headquartered in Los Angeles or turning over two billion dollars a year and not having any interest in us? How do you make sense of SXSW, even, when it costs five grand to get a visa to go and play a show in the States?

“These things, to a lot of people, are just unattainable. They’re just pipe dreams. So, make your local town a community, and try to foster talent and be good to other people. You can make a scene that reaches a critical mass, and that’s kind of what happened in Galway. There’s a really good band in Galway called Shark School, and Nora Staunton is the frontwoman of Shark School, but she’s also the drummer in a band called Puck, from Galway. The cross-pollination.”

Using the ecosystem as a simile for the music industry and scene, Richard says, “The audience members are a part of that ecosystem, and they do have a part to play, and I’m not in the business of telling anyone what to do, but I would urge anybody who has an interest in music and live music to try and help out, as well. You can do your part.”

You can keep up with Blowtorch Records’ releases through their website and by signing up for their newsletter! Blowtorch will be hosting a showcase of their roster, which they dub “West By Sound West,” at the Róisín Dubh, Galway on May 1^st. You can see the line-up and purchase tickets here.

Tune into POSTBURNOUT.COM Interviews… tonight at 21:00 (IST) to hear this interview in full, where we go into much further depth about everything mentioned in this article as well as critique the major label system, merch cuts at venues, and contracts that trap and exploit artists. Available on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Amazon Music Podcasts.

Aaron Kavanagh

Aaron Kavanagh is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Post-Burnout. His writing can also be found in the Irish Daily Star, Buzz.ie, Totally Dublin, The GOO, Headstuff, New Noise Magazine, XS Noize, DSCVRD and more.