When a singer or musician comes to work in Salt I feel that I can give them 100% commitment. Inspired by working in some of the great studios of the world, I have designed Salt to suit the needs of a musician because that's where I'm coming from myself. Frank Kearns

Salt Studio is the concept and labour of love of Dublin born musician, Frank Kearns. The unique design of this oasis of creativity incorporates many facets of his personality and over 20 years experience of creating music.

Frank emerged from a generation driven by a desire to end Ireland's artistic drought in the late 1970's. He and some schoolmates at Mount Temple Comprehensive formed bands and a seed was planted. At the same time he discovered the music of artists like Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd, Thin Lizzy and of course, the legion of punk bands on the scene.

"When the Ramones played the State Cinema in Phibsboro it was like the Second Coming for me. I became aware of the pure cleansing energy of rock 'n roll music when it's done right. I was going to play the electric guitar." FK 2000

Committed to this future path he went on to form a number of bands in which he learnt his craft: The Fast - the world's first known Ramones tribute band. Frankie Corpse & The Undertakers - whose ultimate achievement was their own decomposition. The Myster Men - who opened up for his mate Larry's band, U2 on their first ever tour of Ireland. Blue Russia - who enjoyed some success at home and in Germany. He spent over a year living in dire circumstances with Blue Russia trying to make it in London before returning home determined to get it right.

On returning to Dublin he called his friend, singer Eoin McEvoy and they teamed up to start writing songs. The time had come to develop his own guitar style, which he did by using a unique harnessing of feedback almost 10 years before it became commonplace in music. Together with Fergal Andrews on bass and Wayne P. Sheehy on drums they formed Cactus World News in 1984.

An early demo attracted the attention of Bono from U2 who in turn produced their debut e.p., 'The Bridge' which was the best selling early release on their Mother Records label. Cactus World News generated great major label interest and soon signed to MCA. Their debut album 'Urban Beaches' was produced by Chris Kimsey who has also worked with the Rolling Stones, Killing Joke and more recently Kula Shaker. The album hit the Number 1 spot on the US College chart and 'Lou Reed' named the single 'Years Later' as his favourite song of 1986.

MTV appearances in the States were backed up by the band's material being featured in Miami Vice and over 30 films. Things were looking great when they recorded their second album with Peter Gabriel's guitarist, David Rhodes at Real World in Bath and also with Andy Wallace, best known for producing Jeff Buckley's 'Grace' and mixing 'Nevermind' for Nirvana, at Bearsville in Woodstock. Unfortunately for Cactus, changes in personnel at MCA prevented the release of the second album and they bowed out in '91.

Not a man to remain idle for long, Frank continued to work on a range of musical projects throughout the 1990's. These included: Dreamletter - featuring ex 'This Mortal Coil' vocalist Deirdre Rutkowski. Sand Puzzle - a powerful acoustic-based trio due to release an album later this year. And, the tentatively titled Coral Kingdom - a collaboration with Steve Kilbey, lead singer of the legendary Australian band, The Church. Added to this Frank has produced a number of young Irish bands and contributed to Dublin’s experimentalist Stano's 'L' project in 1998.

Away from music, the other passions in Frank's life are travel and the ocean. Elements of his journeys through Egypt, Polynesia and Australasia are all visibly evident in the studio décor. After years of research, preparation and genuine hard graft Salt was opened in January of 1998 with the goal of providing a fresh approach to recording music.

"For me creativity is never pre-meditated. Like speaking in tongues, the musician has something that channels through them from the inner-reaches of their sub-conscious. It's our mission at Salt to translate that something on to tape." FK 2000