Gerry Casey Interviews Jason Reilly of Jamboja Studios

October 3, 2026

Making a Scene Presents Gerry Casey’s Interview with Jason Reilly Owner of Jamboja Studios

Jason Reilly is an Irish musician, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and studio owner whose work sits at the intersection of performance, recording, and artist development. Based in Castleblayney, County Monaghan, Reilly is closely associated with Jamboja Studios, a private residential recording facility created to give musicians the time, space, and equipment to focus completely on making music.

Reilly’s musical background reaches well beyond the control room. He has worked as a vocalist, guitarist, and keyboard player across a variety of projects, bringing a broad musician’s perspective to the recording process. Earlier in his career, he fronted the Castleblayney-based group The Brown Notes, performing lead vocals and guitar in a band whose sound blended reggae, blues, rock, country, and other influences. That experience as a working musician remains central to the way he approaches recording today.

He continues to perform as a keyboard player as well. In 2026, Reilly was part of the live band supporting Irish singer-songwriter Jim McHugh for the Crazy Blind album launch at Íontas Theatre in Castleblayney, appearing alongside Ronnie Morgan, Paul McCabe, and Steve Vernon.

At Jamboja Studios, Reilly has helped create an environment designed around the needs of artists rather than the clock. Located in rural County Monaghan, the studio combines professional recording spaces with on-site accommodation, allowing bands and solo artists to stay, record, rehearse, and develop projects without breaking the creative flow. The current facility offers dedicated live and control rooms, professional analogue and digital recording equipment, a broad microphone collection, keyboards, amplifiers, drums, and residential space for visiting musicians.

That residential approach is part of what makes Jamboja distinctive. Instead of treating recording as a series of isolated sessions, the studio is built around immersion: musicians can work during the day, stay on site, live with the material, and return to the room without losing momentum. The facility supports everything from single-song sessions and EPs to full records, live audio-video sessions, mixing, and mastering.

Recent sessions at Jamboja demonstrate the breadth of the studio’s activity. Artists and musicians including Paul Sherry, Ben Reel, Ronnie Morgan, Paul McCabe, Gerry Black Jr., and others have recorded or worked there, while independent releases such as Even More So’s “Brown Shoes” have been tracked at the facility.

Reilly has also developed the Jamboja Sessions concept, a live music video series intended to give Irish artists another platform for showcasing performances in a professionally recorded studio setting. The idea reflects the larger philosophy behind the studio: creating an artist-centered space where musicians can make records, capture performances, collaborate, and build something lasting around the music itself.

For Jason Reilly, the studio and the musician are inseparable. His experience onstage gives him an understanding of how musicians communicate, while his work in the studio places him on the other side of the glass, helping performers capture that energy rather than polish it away.

Through Jamboja Studios, Reilly is building more than a recording room. He is creating a creative retreat for independent artists — a place where musicians can step away from everyday distractions, settle into the work, and concentrate on the thing that brought them there in the first place: the music.