In addition to stints as a lead guitarist for The Waterboys and working with Sinéad O’Connor and Gemma Hayes, Joseph Chester has produced more than 60 albums, was one half of The Hedge Schools with Patrick Barrett, and a member of A Lazarus Soul, The Sound of Bells, Sunbear, and Ten Speed Racer. Somehow, he has also found the time to release six solo albums.
His latest project is a suite of music for guitar and strings about the life of Lucia Joyce, the misunderstood daughter of James Joyce who spent most of her life in mental institutions. “This is definitely a departure,” Chester agrees, speaking on Zoom from his home studio in Rennes, France.
“I was getting disenchanted with conventional alternative rock music, or whatever you want to call it. I’ve absolutely nothing against anyone else, but there was very little going on that was really inspiring me, so I started seeking inspiration elsewhere.”
Chester enthusiastically embraced playing classical guitar in recent years by tackling the work of Turlough O’Carolan and John Cage for a 2021 EP that topped the Bandcamp Contemporary Classical chart. For Lucia, Chester enlisted long-term associates Trevor Hutchinson, Vyvienne Long, Steve Wickham and Kenneth Rice.
”I’ve always listened to classical music,” he explains. “When I was a kid I did well at school until my Leaving Cert, when things started to get tricky. My home situation had got a bit complicated. I was distracted to the extent that I didn’t do well in my exams. I went from being a good student to a disaster in the space of a couple of years.”
He contends that getting turned down from music in Trinity College ultimately stood to him. “While I wouldn’t wish it on anyone else, it can be character-forming,” he maintains. “I think an experience like that can be an engine. It can either crush someone completely or strengthen their resolve. What I’ve learnt is that innate musicality cannot be taught. The tools of the trade can be learnt by anybody, but that alone doesn’t make you a musician.”
Chester believes persistent playing and performing, coupled with a dedication to one’s craft, moulds a musician. He learns a lot from others. “I’ve learnt so much from Steve [Wickham] as a performer,” he says of his fellow erstwhile Waterboy. “Before I met Steve, I suffered terribly from stage fright. I hated going onstage. Now, I love playing live. I’ve really learnt to commit to the moment onstage. Also, I’ve learnt how to let every moment pass and consistently create more and more moments and allow them to pass. Steve and [chief Waterboy] Mike Scott are geniuses at this.”
[ Joe Chester: Jupiter’s Wife – A truly epic marriage breakdown albumOpens in new window ]
[ Somewhere in the Body: shining a light on the real Lucia JoyceOpens in new window ]
Such experiences have helped Chester pursue a singular career. “My first album [A Murder of Crows] was certainly my most successful record because it was released at a time when people still bought records,” he says. “It did very well in Ireland but didn’t manage to get an international release. Some people told me to consolidate its success by making another one just like it, so then, I’d get an international release and things would take off. I couldn’t think of anything more boring, so I made a really noisy, loud record about a death in the family.”
When I first started researching, Beckett didn’t come across particularly well in terms of how he treated her
— Joseph Chester
After hearing a documentary about Lucia Joyce by Deirdre Mulrooney on Lyric FM, Chester felt compelled to learn more about Joyce’s daughter. “Lucia was born in 1907 and spent 47 years of her life in mental institutions,” he says. “She was diagnosed with schizophrenia in 1932 and died in Northampton in 1982. After she died, her nephew, Stephen Joyce, destroyed all her writing and papers, including all her correspondence with Samuel Beckett and three books she had written. He attempted to erase this woman, who had been hidden away and silenced in life. I became convinced that I had to try to tell her story.”
While some details about Beckett’s relationship with Lucia are widely known, clear facts about her life are still shrouded in uncertainty and clouded by rumour. “Tracing her story is an exercise in separating fact from fiction,” Joseph says. “When I first started researching, Beckett didn’t come across particularly well in terms of how he treated her. The story goes that they had a love affair, which Beckett ended. Some people have speculated that this is when she started to have problems and become self-destructive.”
When Chester dug into the archives, a complex picture of Lucia and Sam’s relationship emerged. “I found out that when James Joyce’s wife, Nora, started to complain about the cost of Lucia’s healthcare, Samuel Beckett donated his share of the royalties of an essay on Finnegans Wake to cover the costs of her medical bills,” he says. “When Beckett died in 1989, when they cleared out his desk, they found a picture of Lucia.”
Lucia Joyce was born in Trieste and her first language was Italian. In 1925 she started studying dance in Paris. After a performance in La Princesse Primitive, the Paris Times eulogised: “Lucia Joyce is her father’s daughter. She has James Joyce’s enthusiasm, energy, and a not-yet-determined amount of his genius. When she reaches her full capacity for rhythmic dancing, James Joyce may yet be known as his daughter’s father.”
My first reaction when I first learnt about Lucia Joyce was similar. Her story provokes a resonant response if you’ve had any experience with mental illness in your life
— Joseph Chester
Chester welcomes the emergence of a wider narrative about the Joyce family in recent years, especially in the events to celebrate the Ulysses centenary last year. “It can’t always be about him,” Chester reflects. However, he discovered that the literary giant did fight his daughter’s corner, even though some of his convictions were a little misguided.
”James Joyce refused to fully accept that Lucia was mentally ill,” Chester says. “He was convinced that if he could just finish Finnegans Wake, then she’d eventually be alright and return to some form of normality. He believed she was a physical manifestation of the madness of the book. However, ultimately, he was her only champion. James Joyce was the only person who resisted and opposed her getting sectioned. He thought she was a wonderful person. When Joyce died in 1941, she lost her only champion. She was abandoned to her fate and her demons with absolutely no one left to advocate on her behalf. Solitary confinement. Straitjacket. Electroshock treatment. It’s a horrific story.”
In addition to Lucia becoming a daunting challenge musically, Chester found the project to be emotionally demanding. “There are physical, mental and emotional challenges in confronting mental illness,” he says. “Everybody has some form or aspect of mental illness in their lives, but we don’t like talking about it.”
One of the most rewarding aspects of the project is how audiences have reacted. “People have been so open with me in talking about their own experiences of mental illness,” Chester says. “It’s a real privilege to hear people’s stories. After the premiere in Axis, I stood in the lobby talking to people for nearly two hours. My first reaction when I first learnt about Lucia Joyce was similar. Her story provokes a resonant response if you’ve had any experience with mental illness in your life whatsoever, whether it be yourself, your family or a friend.”
While Chester acknowledges society has become more open about mental health, he thinks we’ve a long way to go. “Historically we haven’t a great record in terms of how we’ve dealt with this kind of stuff,” he says. “Maybe it’s having its moment now, but every time I open up a newspaper or magazine with mental health coverage it is predominantly about dealing with stress and anxiety. While this is to be warmly welcomed, I don’t hear the voices of people who have bipolar syndromes or schizophrenia any more than I used to.”
[ Her father’s daughter – An Irishman’s Diary about the tragic life of Lucia JoyceOpens in new window ]
Lucia is the most challenging musical project Chester has ever done, but he feels it is by far the most fulfilling. “I think it can be easier to tell a story where there aren’t any words and you’re not being prescriptive,” he says. “Obviously everyone’s reaction will differ, but my hope is that it could in some fantastical way give back her voice and allow Lucia to breathe again.”
Joseph Chester releases Lucia – A Suite for Guitar and Strings and performs a solo acoustic album launch show at Smock Alley Theatre, Dublin on January 27th
