Hello and welcome to my website.
Hi, my name is Kieron Concannon and this site, via the blog page, will feature stories, lessons and learnings from my time in the Music Industry – and life in general. My forthcoming book, ‘A Hero’s Journey Through the Music Industry’ will tell the story of Nizlopi, FDM Records, (and a certain Ed Sheeran) and how we “sold” a million records and went on to influence some of the biggest artists in the world today. Over the coming months, I want to share some origin stories about the band and about our Independent record label and to keep you updated with the progress of the aforementioned book! I plan to share some reflections on the nature of artistry and performance and perhaps introduce to you some novel concepts in how we approached both.
I will endeavour to describe how we worked, how we used techniques and systems adopted from the Art of Hosting community, such as Chaordic Space and the Power of Purpose and the importance of defining our Principles as we developed our micro-indie label (FDM Records).
The Blog – go here.
The Blog will feature stories and insights, lessons and learnings from my own journey.
I would welcome your feedback and any requests for themes, stories or insights that you would like to see in there.
To Subscribe to the Blog – go here.
The Book – the site will also function as a development platform for my forthcoming book, which I hope to publish before the end of 2021.
Check back here for excerpts, free chapters and quotes from the book.
and…a bit about me!
I have most often been described (amongst other things) as a “multi-instrumentalist Musician, Martial artist, Ethnomusicologist, Sound Healer, Writer, Composer and Producer”.
Some of my earliest memories are of my walking to school in the early mornings whilst playing mouth organ – I was terrible, but I guess the music had to start somewhere. After leaving school I was press-ganged into working for my dad in the sub-contract Groundwork’s business (we dug a lot of holes with a lot of JCB’s) and I embraced the life of the navvy until I finally succumbed to the call of formal education. Following four wonderful years at Warwick University I taught at Primary level in the historic town of Kenilworth in Warwickshire.
I wasn’t entirely happy in the teaching profession and following a couple of years of teaching I fell ill for a protracted period, around 12 years to be precise. Whilst taking some time to recuperate in California in the spring of 1997 I conceived a plan to return to England and build my own recording studio. This later became the FDM Records studio that Nizlopi would use for their early development and to record their massive hit single The JCB Song.
Alongside my son (Luke Concannon) and his musical partner (John Parker) and my wife (Sue Concannon), we founded FDM Records around 1999. Originally it ran from a very humble spare bedroom in our house in Leamington Spa. Later we would be joined by a team of volunteers, supporters and a small number of super-enthusiastic full-time staff as we gained more traction in the music scene.
In 2014 my wife and I moved to the west of Ireland to the small market town of Killaloe, overlooking beautiful Lough Derg. I gained my Masters in Ethnomusicology at the Irish World Academy at the University of Limerick in 2015.
I have been an active member of the international Art of Hosting (AoH) community for many years and have been teaching and hosting trainings in Athens for around 8 years with my beloved AoHAthina team.
I am nearing the completion of my book ‘A Hero’s Journey Through the Music Industry’ and hope to publish …eventually – watch this space. Using the mythic-metaphor of the hero’s journey (outlined beautifully by Joseph Campbell in his many books) it describes our own mythic and epic journey through the music industry.
