Tag Archives: A Chat With

A Chat With, Album Review, Alt Rock, Indie, indie rock, Interviews, New Music

A Chat With: Oisín Leahy Furlong of THUMPER

Thumper – Photography by Ruth Medjber @ruthlessimagery

Irish noise-pop / alt-rock sextet THUMPER’s hotly-anticipated debut LP ‘Delusions of Grandeur’ is set for release on the 18th March. Over the last two years, the Dublin six-piece have been developing their sound and building an increasingly passionate fanbase. With a lineup of two drummers and three guitarists, THUMPER’s maximalist wall of sound has long since set them apart in the booming Dublin music scene.

I caught up with Oisín Leahy Furlong to talk about the band’s debut album, expectations placed on the band as well as touring and getting comfortable with his voice.

“Well, I suppose that’s how we listen to music by LPs, and THUMPER sort of started and stopped and started and stopped. We had lineup changes, changes in direction and the normal teething problems that bands have. Once we solidified the lineup and the intent it was the next logical step to record that album for now and make our stamp”

THUMPER are perfecting their craft, dropping alternative rock gems with each release. Each member of the band is very talented and the album is a confident display of their musical prowess. I wondered if there were any moments of anxiety and doubt while creating the album.

“It’s hard to say really, because originally we recorded the album we had been on tour in 2019. We were going to the studio just to record a single and a B side and because we’ve been so busy touring, we went in and we recorded like eight or nine songs back to back just because we knew them all back to front because 2020 was gonna be so busy for us. It was just kind of warts and all, band in a room, like an artefact of what we sounded like at that time and that was more born out of our schedule. We didn’t have time to labour over something, but then obviously 2020 came along and all of our plans were null and void at that point. So, we’re on tour when Covid really hit and we flew back to Ireland, and Alan [Dooley] went straight into the studio and started working on re- looking at what we had recorded and what state it was all in. I didn’t see him for like two or three months but I knew he was working on the record. I didn’t know what he was doing. When I finally got to see him, a couple of months had passed and he’d grown a huge beard like he was in Castaway or whatever. He had sort of retcon the whole album from being this live in a room, to something way more. So, when we decided that was the direction we want to take it we were pretty confident with it because those are the album’s that we like you know. But we spent so long on it, 2020 felt like it was about three years long because of everything that was going on and we were in the studio non-stop working on the record. You have to just trust your instinct that what you’re doing is the right thing for the music. So I’m not sure that I would say we were confident it was just sort of willful ignorance that we were doing the right thing.”

The instrumentation within the album is masterful. Each song is a glorious display of great musicianship that boasts sleek guitar moments, sweet melodies and abrasive outbursts. The album takes wild unpredictable twists throughout its blustery journey as it shifts from frenetic soundscapes to stripped back instrumental breaks before leaping into dynamic crescendos. Tracks such as ‘Overbite’ and ‘Topher Grace’ are fine examples of this. ‘Strychnine’ is also a riveting display of musicianship from the sextet. Arguably the tour de force within the album the track is mostly Oisín and an acoustic guitar with soft percussion accompaniment and electronic guitar embellishments.

“That song is, in some ways outside of our comfort zone in the way it’s structured and the way we attacked it. I actually had that in my voice memos. I was going through like I have about 500 voice memos on my phone. It breaks every two seconds. But I had that saved on my phone from like 2018 as THUMPER mid-LP song. Then I was like, yeah, that’s what that will be and then that’s just what we did. Really, again, it’s like you make the decision, you’re confident about it. Then when you have to actualize it that’s when you have to be confident or employ a sort of a weird, over the top sense of self-belief. But we’re really happy with it. It’s one of my favourite tunes on the record now.”


The instrumental track ‘The Ghost’ is an exquisite piece of music. Featuring hypnotic guitar strikes, a sweet guitar refrain and abrasive undertones the track is a mosh pit friendly frenzy that is filled with mind-melting distortion and psychedelic elements.

“Well, when I settled on the idea of calling the album Delusions of Grandeur, that was referencing lyrical themes throughout it, but also in reference to the fact that when THUMPER started, it was a solo project. It was just me bringing out tapes and making like 100 of them and giving them around Dublin, really low stakes. low fi badly recorded, just sort of not throw away but the scope of it was much smaller. When we fixed on this Delusions of Grandeur idea, I thought it’d be funny to have a three-part 20 minute long song, finish the album so obviously, ‘The Ghost’ is like the second in that whole three-part suite at the end. The tune ‘Overbite’ which comes before it was the first time that Alan had basically written all the music or the guts of it to that song and I wrote the lyrics and then I was like, Okay, what this needs is, and I sort of sang out this section that didn’t exist yet. It needs to start off with one guitar and slowly build up into this thing. Then he just randomly flicked through his other demos that he had and just clicked on one and it was exactly what I just said. He had already preempted me wanting that to happen. So that became a blueprint then for that piece of music. Again, it wasn’t some huge decision to this instrumental piece that was gonna make the whole album but it was just going with your gut. Yeah, serving the songs as best you can.”

‘Down in Heaven’ brings the album to an end. It’s a heartbreaking finale. Oisín’s earnest vocals croon very raw lyrics “I did it to myself cos I deserved it” while drums trudge through a sweet melody and piercing sting on guitars. The track is both vibrant and mournful all at once as the band’s expressive use of instrumentation and melody creates gripping heart-wrenching turmoil for listeners to experience. This moving tune is a striking end to a magnificent album and provides a moment of reflection on the album as a whole, making the listener want to experience the rollercoaster ride that is ‘Delusions of Grandeur’ again. 

“Yeah, It’s funny, it’s our first album, but there’s a couple of moments on it where I really wasn’t sure. It was a creative risk, because it is quite different to what we’ve done before and the worry would be that tune would be perceived as being melodramatic, even though I was kind of aiming for something a little bit more insular. I’m glad you like it. I don’t know what to say about it. That’s probably the one song that I’m most intrigued to hear people’s reaction to because it is quite raw and it’s us trying our hardest to push past what people expect of us.”

‘Down in Heaven’ alludes to a different THUMPER. It’s a cinematic, cliffhanger moment that suggests something exciting could happen with the next release.

“I think so, I think you’re right. This album is a good few years in the making. We started making some of these songs when I was in my early to mid-20s and now I’m early 30s. So, you change as a person, your tastes change and what you find interesting and what you find uninteresting changes. So yeah, I think the last thing we’ll ever want to do is retread old ground just for the sake of it. So hopefully it is a sign that we can expand our palette beyond what people want and, really treat it like more than just something that’s set in stone.”

Throughout the album, Oisín’s vocals anchor the listener within the soundscape of the tracks while at the same time evoking images of live crowds chanting back the lyrics. Oisín has the ability to spark these live sing-alongs when the band perform. He conveys immense emotion and angst through his vocals.

“The vocals, that’s probably the thing that I’ve struggled the most with. I made no bones in the early days about the fact that I wasn’t, totally comfortable on stage that’s why the band is so big. Within that you’d say, well, why are you doing it to begin with? I don’t really know the answer to that question. But, the vocal yeah, it’s the element that I have the least control over but it’s the part that I worked the hardest on. I think part of the reason our songs are so melodic is so that I can kind of learn them like a nursery rhyme. I don’t know something happens in the process of translating that nursery rhyme where it ends with me rolling around and yelping. But yeah, I love singing because it’s a tender transition between writing something in your room and seeing how it ends up on stage and especially hearing people singing back is very strange”

“ I think the tension though of where you’re trying to work with your body to make this thing and you’re not quite sure whether it’s going to happen, I don’t know it’s kind of alluring. Maybe I’m a glutton for punishment or something, but I like not being sure that I’m gonna be able to pull it off”

THUMPER are a one of a kind must-see live act. The band have London and Dublin launch shows this week to coincide with the album release and we discussed the shows and the possibility of a tour.

“Oh, yeah, I’m supposed to be in Europe right now. It got postponed because of Covid, hopefully for the last time.We’ll be doing these shows. We wanted to purposefully keep it really small, so it was like returning to how we started off upstairs in Whelan’s, we probably played there 20 times. So, cramming 100 people in there seemed like a really, fitting way to kick start this next chapter. Then yeah, we’ll be announcing a full Big Boy tour later in the year. We’ll be doing all the festivals and all that stuff as well. “

THUMPER have created a phenomenal album with ‘Delusions of Grandeur’. Musically the band treat our ears to a plethora of shoegaze, psychedelia and alternative rock with speckles of pop embellished throughout while earnest lyrics venture into dark territory and explore the struggle of self-image, internal and external. It’s a wonderful album that provides an exciting glimpse into the many facets of THUMPER.

‘Delusions of Grandeur’ is set for release on Friday the 18th of March.

Until then you can watch the video for THUMPER’s latest single ‘Fear of Art’ below


Author:Danu

A Chat With, Indie, Interviews, New Music, Singer/Songwriter

A Chat With: Megan O’Neill

Irish born singer-songwriter Megan O’Neill has recently released her highly anticipated new single ‘Wildfire’. Megan O’Neill’s songs have received great attention over the past year – including her recent single ‘Ireland’, which hit over 400,000 views on social media during release month. The video was also picked up and shared by none other than Olivia Newton-John as well as being added to the RTE Radio 1 playlist for three weeks running. Megan O’Neill released her second full-length studio album last year (March 12th, 2021) – titled ‘Getting Comfortable with Uncertainty’. This much-anticipated album follows her last release, ‘Ghost of You’ (June 2018) which hit #1 on the iTunes singer/songwriter charts in the UK and Ireland, and two EP’s previous to this (‘Coming Home’, 2015 and ‘Stories to Tell’, 2017).

I caught up with the singer-songwriter to discuss her new single, what we can expect from her upcoming EP, ‘Time (Thought You Were On My Side)’ and, the excitement and anxiety surrounding the return of live shows.

‘Wildfire’ marks a shift in O’Neill’s sound. It’s a cinematic, powerful song that ventures from folk to indie and electronic to create a wholly consuming and hair raising anthem for listeners to enjoy. We discussed what sparked this musical change in direction.

“I guess for me it was a lot of time spent over the course of the last two years exploring different sounds and styles that I liked. I think with music, we’re all so busy, whether it’s gigging or preparing the next record or collaborating, that there isn’t a lot of time to just sit and explore. So having that time throughout the pandemic led me to try writing in different styles, with different sounds and collaborating with new people and then eventually discovering this new sound and style that I loved. So that’s where Wildfire was born from.”

The track is a passionate and heartfelt tune filled with uplifting tones and beautiful imagery as O’Neill croons, “ We got that love that lets you burn it down, So you can re-grow, When the summer’s gone Like a wildfire, like a wildfire “ over a building backdrop of soft keys, pulsing beats and suspenseful electronics. O’Neill explained to me what inspired the lyrics.

“So it was actually an idea around prescribed burns, which is when farmers set fire to their agricultural land in order for it to become healthier and grow better crops the year after. I thought that was such an amazing visual of actually setting fire to something in order to promote healthier growth. So, when I heard that idea of prescribed burns, I was like, oh, that’s cool. I really want to try and make that into a song somehow. So myself and Richey McCourt, who I co-wrote this with, we were exploring ideas and I brought this up and we compared that to life rather than agriculture land and used that visual of sometimes [you] need to burn down parts of life whether that’s relationships or ties or where we’re based or any of these things with the human experience in order to grow from there.”

O’Neill recently released a touching video for the song that depicts the moving relationship between a grandfather and grandson. This uplifting story adds a new facet to the meaning behind the song.

“This is always the funny thing about when somebody else hears your songs, they can interpret it in a completely different way. Lucas [Mac Diarmada], who was the director for the video, and produced the video with me, he had this totally different idea when he heard the song of what it was about and that’s it, you’re always listening to something from your own perspective and your own life experience and then gathering from it what you will – what it means to you. So he got this idea that it’s all about picking each other up to a certain extent, which he wanted to visualize with this Grandfather/Grandson relationship. I just loved that idea that it was not an entirely different thing than what I wrote about but a different relationship than what I wrote about, but still human to human and somebody close to you in your life that was trying to help you out of a situation and so it was a collaborative molding of both of our ideas.”

‘Wildfire’ is the first glimpse of O’Neill’s upcoming EP ‘Time (Thought You Were On My Side)’ which is set for release on the 8th of April. The singer-songwriter told me what can we expect from the EP.

“The EP takes on that style of Wildfire. Wildfire is the introduction to the new sound, I suppose what feels like a new era for me as a songwriter and an artist. Stories for me will always be the focus of my songs and my songwriting. I have to tell a story. So all the songs are still based around stories, that will come across lyrically, but with more pop elements in the production. It’s five tracks, one of which you’ve already heard with Wildfire, and they were all recorded and written during the course of the pandemic. We recorded them last summer. I’m really excited about the songs. It’s very different than anything I’ve ever done before. So it does feel like a new beginning. But I’m really really proud of the sound and the style and I think it’s a left turn for sure from what I’ve done before but the response so far has been great.”

‘Time (Thought You Were On My Side)’ is a great name for an EP. It provides food for thought while remaining relatable as it alludes to many types of scenarios as well as the inevitable concept of ageing and how we all at times feel as if time is running out in our lives. However, this EP takes its name from elements within the collection of songs.

“One of the tracks is called Time. Another lyric in the song is “thought you were on my side”. I just came up with a name for the EP after we recorded everything.  I was listening through all the master tracks and I already knew what the messages were but I suppose I was listening to all the messages collectively and what they could say. That song is really personal to me. It’s probably the one that was the hardest to write and record. So I “thought you were on my side” can be referred to a lot of different themes in the song. It can be referred to people, can be referred to obviously time, as a concept. It can be referred to people in your life or your career or just all these things where you’re thinking that you have time or you have this person with you or you have these opportunities or any of those things and then you’re thinking that these things are on your side, that these things are with you and then they’re taken away. I think that was a big theme with the pandemic for an awful lot of people, we all thought we had loads of time, be that in relation to anything whether that’s getting older or time with people or time to travel or time to work. So I suppose it was a running theme in the songs. But it’s also a thought directed at multiple themes.”

O’Neill is a professional artist who provides a first-rate standard across all she does. This applies to her poetic songwriting, rich musicianship, beautiful visuals and artwork. The cover of ‘Time (Thought You Were On My Side)’ is the perfect example of this. We discussed how difficult it is to choose artwork that does justice to a collection of songs

“I always find that part so hard. A lot of visual things will come up for me when I’m writing and recording and working on the songs but picking one visual for every song that’s got to cover all bases is really hard. But we worked through a bunch of different ideas and you can also get lost in that regard and spend, you know, a year trying to decide on the right cover. Eventually you just have to say, Okay, that one fits and just have to go with that. Because you could overthink it forever. It is a really hard thing, though, to pick one that will cover all bases.”

Like all musicians of this generation, O’Neill has the influence of streaming platforms that give artists huge exposure however they do not generate a lot of revenue for musicians. We discussed this paradox.

“Oh, yeah. So overwhelming and really frustrating because making records is very expensive and everything that goes into them. That’s not even talking about when you start preparing for live shows and you’re buying instrumentation and with this next level for me, which is this new sound, it requires new instrumentation when you’re playing live so everything is expensive. When you’re putting it out and not really seeing a lot of return because of streaming platforms, it is hard. It’s also really hard to get recognized on those streaming platforms, getting selected for the right playlists and getting the right attention. You’re directing all of your traffic towards Spotify, and then it’s kind of a one-sided relationship. So yeah, it’s incredibly frustrating and it’s overwhelming and life, in general, is overwhelming at the moment. You’re trying to navigate all these different streaming platforms, constant influx of information from every source you look at. Then knowing what the right next step is in terms of releasing and how to release and where to release and where to put your money and where to direct your traffic. It’s just endless options, really. So I think the whole world at the moment feels a bit overwhelming to navigate, when it comes to online and releasing music.”

O’Neill was able to tour Ireland and the UK last October/November. She explained to me how exciting it is to be able to plan for shows again as well as her plans for the rest of the year.

“Oh, definitely. I think that’s something that we were all really missing throughout the last two years is being able to plan something and get excited about it. That excitement was gone, because even if you were planning to go and see a friend and travel, there was no real guarantee that was going to happen. So it’s a great thing for all of us to have back. In terms of shows this year, it’s still a little bit hit and miss because an awful lot of shows are rescheduled from last year. All of the festivals will kind of be rescheduled acts from last year in Ireland anyway. So there’s still a little bit of a backlog to get through. But in general, yeah it’s fantastic. We’ve got a show coming up next week in London and then a couple of bits in the summer and some touring which has yet to be announced. But all of that is great, to actually be able to plan for it. Also, there’s so many things I now have to think about. I’ve gotten used to being in my studio just creating songs for the last two years. Now there’s, a whole world out there that I need to open up to. So it’s really exciting. It’s also a little bit scary.”

“It’s very overwhelming and also very overwhelming on my bank account. But yeah, re-entering the world … I think that’s gonna take some adjusting as well. I have always really loved playing live. It’s always been a huge part of my career and then that was gone the last two years. There’s a part of me now that’s anxious around live gigs and anxious around touring. I did a tour in October, November last year of the UK and Ireland, which was amazing, but there was a ton of anxiety around that whole experience because it was just all of a sudden foreign and there was so much to plan and if anybody got covid then the whole thing was pulled last minute. There was a lot of money on the line and planning and people depending on it, and all of a sudden that comes back as pressure, you know, so re-entering that whole world is a little bit uncomfortable. I think it’s that for a lot of people because it’s all of a sudden the unknown, whereas two years ago, obviously, Covid was the unknown. So it’s weird what we’ve kind of all adjusted to.”

“So, the EP is out on the eighth of April, very exciting. Then we’re just gonna do singles after that. So a single every two months, and they’re all in the works at the moment. So I don’t know if they will form a second EP or if it’ll just be standalone tracks, that’s yet to be decided. But yeah, this year, will be predominantly focused on releases. There will be shows dotted around but the shows are actually not the focus of this year more of the focus is the recording and the writing and getting the songs out there. Also, there are some exciting shows that I have yet to announce and some exciting projects as well that I’m working on at the moment that I’ve yet to announce, but in general, it’s gonna be a lot of songs this year. Yeah, very excited.”

Megan O’Neill is an exciting and diverse artist who captures heartfelt emotion through passionate and evocative musicianship. Looking forward to hearing much more from this songwriting treasure.

Stream ‘Wildfire’ below 


Author: Danu

A Chat With, Album Review, Indie, Interviews, New Music

A Chat With: Rory & The Island

Rory & The Island is set to release his new album ‘Centre Falls Apart’ on March 11 on new Irish indie label Voices of the Sea. This is his fourth studio album since going solo in 2008. I caught up with Rory Gallagher to discuss the album in-depth as well as touring and his plans for the year. 

Rory recently released his new single ‘Call My Name’ which was taken from ‘Centre Falls Apart’.The song features beautiful string elements that are a refreshing addition to the song and elevate the soundscape while adding a traditional undertone.

“ I had released it two years ago but because of the pandemic, and it was before I even started doing Facebook live gigs, it was one of those that got lost in the mix. I didn’t properly send it out to radio or press or anything and it just did nothing and maybe didn’t sound as good as it should. So I just did a revamp and a remaster. The strings we recorded in Abbey Road, believe it or not two years ago [ with ] Sean Magee from Fermanagh who was gigging with me at the time, a brilliant Irish trad player. He did the violin part and the cello was done by a guy who was a resident musician in Abbey Road in London called Ian Foster. We basically, figured it out within an hour and I had the melody roughly in my head. We just gave it a little bit of a traditional Irish lilt and Ian Foster on the cello was delighted because he got to play up the neck of the cello a little bit and imitate what Sean was playing with that more Irish fiddle lilt on the actual notes. So he enjoyed the project and we actually got it done in maybe 40 minutes, which is amazing for a string piece. So I decided to turn that up in the new mix. It’s one of those songs that, you play it and everybody sings along, but just to make it more sonically interesting it did need little things, not just strings – there’s background guitar, there’s a low drone, a lot of reverb, a distant kick drum and little things just to add production value, as they call it.”

 ‘Call My Name’ is a celebration of the few people in life who you can call at 1 am on a rainy night if you are in trouble. This appreciation of the special people around you is a running theme on the album. We discussed how Rory wrote some of these songs in lockdown where he experienced deep moments of contemplation and missing friends and family. 

“ I think apart from ‘Call My Name’ and ‘Little Fire’, they were all written in the last year. I wrote about 35 songs during the lockdown and these are the ones that, apart from ‘Donna Don’t Take My Summer’, I decided to put right bang in the middle of this album a little bit of levity because even though it’s a quite melodious album, a lot of the lyrics are quite deep. It’s a bittersweet album and a lot of it has to do with the anxiety that everybody was feeling during lockdown. I tried to write the lyrics in a way that even really obvious lockdown songs like ‘Miss This’, you could listen to it in 10 years, [ and ] it still might make sense that it’s like part of your life that’s gone.”

“I try my hardest to make it timeless [ lyrics ]. Apart from ‘Donna Don’t Take My Summer’ which is like a little breath of fresh air in the middle where it’s just like a homage to late 70s, early 80s Pop Music. I like the way that the likes of The Beatles used to do that on albums where, you would have a really deep album like ‘Revolver’, but right in the middle of it, they throw in something like ‘Good Day Sunshine’ or ‘Got to Get You Into My Life’. So just as it’s getting a little bit too John Lennon deep, this little jokey ray of sunshine comes into it. So that’s what I did.”

“But the rest of the album you’re right, it was actually the company Voices of the Sea, Shea McNelis said to me, why don’t you just put out a really strong body of work that’s artistically solid and has a lot of depth because you’ve got the songs there. I would have probably put 16 tracks on the album and I would have probably put in a few more joke songs and he’s like, you don’t need to do that, because that’s the kind of stuff that works well live and it’s just a bit of craic. But why not have a body of work that, in 20 years, you put it on and you go oh you know, every song was really well thought through. That’s hopefully what it is.”

Throughout the album, Rory subtly blends elements of folk, pop and indie to create an expressive soundscape that is a joy to listen to again and again. One feature that stands out within the songs is the warm guitar moments, particularly in ‘Surely There Is More To Life Than This’ and ‘It’s Been a Good Day’. The album is an excellent display of Rory’s musical prowess and eloquent songwriting.

“I think that’s probably because a lot of the vocal melodies would be quite similar in the style that I’ve written… I feel I do have a direct writing style now. I totally agree with you, that was my fear that it sounds too choppy, but when I did compile the songs and listen, I was like no. I reference The Beatles, you know, even though it’s so cliche, but they can go from like ‘Helter Skelter’ to ‘Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da’ and it still sounds fine on the same album you know, that’s such a tricky thing to do. I’m glad you feel that I’ve gone in the right direction, in the right ballpark.”

“ I remember [the lyric] it’s Been A Good Day for a change, I think, that was a double meaning where it’s like, this is a good day to change your life and then obviously, with depression, it’s been a good day, for a change, you know, – so that bitter sweet thing is running through it. I think I wrote that chorus on acoustic with a capo then I remember thinking, you know, I think this could be heavier. So I remember just going from acoustic to a Telecaster and plugging it into amplifier and turning the amp up and going, this is it you know, just thinking this is probably not going to work on an acoustic EP or whatever. These negative thoughts were coming in and then I was going well what the hell, it doesn’t matter people know that I was in The Revs. They know that I also do rock music. So why not? It’s that kind of thing where it’s bordering on 80s rock a little, you know, ACDC type verse, slightly Smashing Pumpkins as well. It’s got a feelgood factor to the rockyness of it”

The title track, ‘Centre Falls Apart’ is the darkest we see Rory go on the album. Featuring a piano refrain that adds a hint of jazz between the darker indie soundscape, Rory blends R&B elements into the song to give it a little extra punch. Even his vocals take a more gritty tone to the usual velvety charm we are used to.

“Yeah, I sang that one through a distorted guitar amplifier. I put the vocals through a guitar amp just to give it that kind of a White Stripes thing where it’s quite lo-fi, because when I first had it in mind, when I was writing it, I thought it would be cool to write something that has an R&B swing and I was thinking of No Diggity, Blackstreet and that heavy piano. That’s probably where I got the vibe of that one from [ I ] was thinking I would love to write something like that. But I remember when I first started listening back to the track in the studio, I was going oh my god, this is slightly moving into Maroon 5 zone, how can I de- Maroon 5 this track. So I started running things through really heavy compressors and distortion and I got it back on track to where I wanted it to be, it was kind of more like what the White Stripes would do with the James Bond track. You know like you say with elements of jazz where it would have a very distant piano. Instead of the microphone being close to the piano pull it to the other side of the room and crank up the compression a little bit so it gives it that 1950s Miles Davis type, you know, distance on the piano mics and just little things like that you have to be aware of. Even if your song is strong, if you recorded it too quickly and don’t think it through it can just end up in a horrible place that you didn’t want it to be.”

Rory has quite the reputation for flawless live performances. It’s almost guaranteed that the live version of the songs are going to be just as enjoyable if not more so than the recorded tracks. Much to my delight a live version of ‘Give Me Some Good News’ features on the album and it is simply divine.

“ I remember listening back, I had about seven tracks done and I’m starting to feel guilty about how multitrack they all were when previous EPs I’ve had out it’s just been acoustic and vocal. I was thinking, if anybody listens to this album, it’s the first thing of mine that they’ve listened to, I would like to show them, this is where I come from. It’s just acoustic guitar, vocal and a vibe in front of a live crowd and that’s what I’ve loved doing for the past 15 years. It’s so easy these days because you have USB connections on most desks so you can actually take it out and you’ve got the multitrack and then you go back and you listen the next day and you go oh god, that’s awful. But I remember listening to that one and it’s funny because it was recorded in the middle of the pandemic in Glasgow and it was one of those gigs. Is it going to happen? Is it not? It was a sold out gig but only half of the room came in. So that’s why you can hear the crowd on the microphone, but it’s quite sparse. But it has something, just melancholy I think about the actual delivery of the song. Probably if the room was packed, it would have been a little bit too hyper. I probably would have used the kick drum more. So I think it just had a little quality to it”

“I wouldn’t be professional at recording myself, especially like an outside broadcast. So if you are doing an outside broadcast you’d probably normally put four mics in the room and pick up the crowd properly. But I think I only had one microphone on stage turned around facing the audience, which is not the way to do it at all, but it’s just so that it wasn’t completely dry. Because obviously if you’ve got the mic right up to your mouth, and the guitar is going into the desk, you’re not really going to pick up anything so it was a bare minimum pick up but just enough [ that ] it seems like I’m playing in a coffee shop.”

‘Little Fire’ is perhaps my favourite track on the album. Rory’s warm voice coos atop a sweet melody with ukulele accompaniment and soft whistle feature. The track is beautifully arranged and beckons repeat plays.

“That one was probably before ‘Call My Name’. That’s the oldest track. I wrote it just after Aiden was born. My son and my mother wrote, a little poem called ‘Little Fire’. So I just took the title and the first line and maybe another line that she had, and I remember, because I was in the sitting room a lot and you’ve got the crib there and I had a ukulele because it’s not as loud as the guitar. I was practicing ukulele and just this little melody came into my head. Probably when I was just in the middle of the day time with Aiden when he was a tiny baby and I was just singing it. It all seemed to fall into place quite quickly, and I had been listening to a lot of ukulele performers. I don’t know, if I could play it as well now because I’d been playing so much ukulele at the time, that it just flowed so nicely but yeah, I think for a lot of people that stands out for them as a favorite, so I’m honoured. I think that was recorded in maybe two hours because it’s just ukulele and Hammond organ and a double track vocal and maybe that’s the magic of it, that it’s just so pure.”

Rory is set for an album launch in Dublin and Galway on the 11th and 12th of March. We discussed what fans can expect from the shows.

“It’s gonna be very feel good. I can’t wait to get on stage again. The last Opium gig I did there was 300 people there. I think there’s even more this time so hopefully the crowd sing as much as I do. That’s what’s been happening the last seven or eight gigs since I’ve come back and it’s amazing because people were watching me for two years, they know the songs so well. I’ll be throwing in some of the new stuff on the album. They might not know those but I think 80% of the set, the crowd will be singing, which is exactly what I’m going for. I’m gonna go for that escapism – communal crowd where the crowd sing louder than the singer. That’s what it’s gonna be hopefully.”

Like most musicians during the pandemic, Rory and the Island began live Facebook gigs every week and opted for “escapism” in his shows making them very colourful, upbeat and quirky as opposed to holding a mirror up to the depressing situation. Rory & The Island gradually built up 30,000 facebook followers with some of his shows averaging up to 50k views on FB watch playback during the week. The Facebook live gigs are still going strong.

“Yeah, I think it’s because I actually started to enjoy the format towards the end. There’s a lot of people that watch my gigs that are in different countries and a lot of people that, maybe still might have a bit of social anxiety and I’ve gotten into the habit of just having a bottle of red wine and converting the phone onto the television and having a great night. A lot of the people in the group, they got to know each other in different parts of the world during my performances so they like to catch up among themselves while I’m playing which is lovely to see that there’s like a little community there with three or four hundred people. I don’t see the need to completely stop it and to just be sitting in your spare room, doing something like that and to wake up the following morning and check and there’s a couple of hundred euro in the tip jar, it’s really nice. It’s a little bonus, and the practice and to communicate with people around the world, in New Zealand and Canada. It’s just a thing now, I suppose. Until there’s only 20 or 30 people watching I’ll keep at it.”

Rory can finally plan for future shows and we discussed the relief this brings as well as what fans can expect from Rory & The Island in the coming months

“Yeah, that’s the great thing. There’s bookings coming in already for as far ahead as October/ November. So I’m trying to not overplay, I made that mistake before where you go back to the same city, three, four months later, and it’s just too soon, so just trying to space things out, you know, seven or eight months and so far so good. There’s no cancellations and tickets are selling and everything’s good and hopefully get a couple of the summer festivals [ that] are starting to come in now. I’m going to keep the Facebook Lives going as well, because I don’t want to be a travelling musician all the time. I’ve got two little boys in the house and I want to have some Saturdays with them as well, some weekends and just who knows, maybe the fact it’s [the album Centre Falls Apart] getting a proper commercial release, this album might connect. Just see how it goes, playing it by ear.”

‘Centre Falls Apart’ is a glorious collection of songs bursting from the seams with bittersweet melodies, warm tones and comforting textures. Each track is a joy to listen to again and again and showcases Rory’s deft musical talent, beautiful songwriting and exquisite musicianship. 

‘Centre Falls Apart’ is set for release on the 11th of March. For more you can follow Rory and the Island on Facebook here https://www.facebook.com/RoryandtheIsland


Author: Danu

A Chat With, Interviews, New Music, Singer/Songwriter

A Chat With: LYRA

Shane Codd has delivered a knockout anthem with his take on LYRA’s most recent single ‘Lose My Mind’. I caught up with LYRA to talk about how the infectious remix came about, the exciting return of live shows and what she has planned for the rest of the year.

“Originally when I wrote the song, I knew that it had that dance vibe naturally in it already. Then I decided why not go full dance on it and get a remix done and what better man than Shane Codd. He’s Irish, he’s amazingly talented. So we just kind of said, Hey, do you wanna do a remix? he was like yeah”

This remix is the perfect summer bop and is a fresh take on LYRA’s fantastic single. Shane Codd is an exciting artist who is on the rise. His previous hit single ‘Get Out My Head’ achieved a Top 10 smash on the Official UK Chart as well as a Top 10 hit in Ireland. Amassing over 125 million Global Streams and achieving 2 x platinum status in Ireland. I wondered if LYRA experienced a mix of intrigue and nerves when Codd agreed to remix the track and did she worry that she wouldn’t like it.

“I was, but Shane’s very good that way. He sent me a few mixes and I’d send back some notes about what I preferred and how I heard it going and he was like, okay, cool, I’ll change this bit, I’ll change that bit. He was just so good at letting me creatively be involved in it with him.”

The cover art for the remix is fierce and tasteful with an animated character of LYRA in the foreground. LYRA explained to me where the concept for the cover art came from.

“We decided we wanted to do an animation video. So that video is actually coming out like a lyric animation video. It was just something different, doing the remix was different so I just thought let’s have some fun with it and do an animation.”

“I was like, can I have that body? Please? That butt is so big I was like Yeah, I’ll have that”

‘Lose My Mind’ was released in 2021 and announced a more dance-infused tone to LYRA’s sound. This catchy bop reached # 16 on the Irish Airplay Chart, went No # 1 on Irish Homegrown Chart , reached # 4 Shazam Chart and # 2 on the Irish Artists Breakers Chart – a brilliant achievement for this talented artist.

“ It was nice to put something out because with covid and everything I just wanted something a bit more upbeat. I wanted to show people a different side to me as an artist, so it was nerve-racking to put it up but the reception was amazing”

At the time of our interview, LYRA was on a train down to Cork after attending the Indiependence launch last week in Dublin. We discussed how it felt now that shows have returned and she can finally book shows and plan for the year.

“Yeah, it’s amazing because like you said, you can plan. I’ve starting planning my outfits and setting, staging, lighting and stuff. Whereas last year I was planning half-heartedly, I was like oh, what if it won’t go ahead whereas now, it’s going ahead let’s get the costumes made, let’s get this, lets get that. We can just go for it.”

LYRA has a wonderful eye for fashion and every costume she wears on stage is well thought out and planned making her a vision on stage. We discussed the outfit she wore for her performance on New Year’s Eve in Dublin Castle where she performed her song ’ We are Beautiful’.

“Thank you. I made that myself at home in my mom’s kitchen nearly glued myself to the kitchen table a few times but yeah it was nice to make it. I was like why not I have the time”

LYRA has a talent for writing uplifting, dynamic tunes and her performance of  ‘We are Beautiful’ captured the tone and feeling of everyone at the time.This appears to be a running theme with the artist; she performed her song ‘New Day’ at the pilot festival in Kilmainham and that perfectly captured the tone of everyone at the time as well. So it was no surprise that her performance of ‘We are Beautiful’ was what everyone needed to end 2021 and kick start 2022. It’s an exciting year ahead for LYRA, filled with new releases and compelling performances in the coming months.

“More releases are coming which is great. I can’t wait for people to hear my new music because I just love it and doing a lot of festivals so you’ll probably see me popping up everywhere, which is great. Yeah, it’s gonna be bigger and better this year. Definitely.”

LYRA is a diverse and compelling musical artist who is always pushing her sound to the next level. She has a talent for creating exhilarating tunes for listeners to indulge in and the production wizardry of Shane Codd provides us with a fresh take on LYRA’s dazzling songwriting and immersive musicianship.   

Stream ‘Lose My Mind’ Shane Codd remix below 


Author: Danu

A Chat With, Interviews, New Music

A Chat With: Miles Graham

Miles Graham Photo by Colin Gillen


Singer-songwriter Miles Graham has released his new song ‘Yeah We’re Gonna Get Out of It’. The track is the sixth and final song bidding to represent Ireland at Eurovision 2022. Miles is originally from Clondalkin in Dublin and is now based in Co. Sligo. Miles was a guest on Weekend Wogan on BBC Radio 2 in 2015 with the legendary broadcaster Terry Wogan. I caught up with Miles to discuss his new song ahead of The Late Late Show this Friday where the song to represent Ireland will be chosen.

“I had the song written in 2020. There was a few things supposed to happen with it. I’ve been working with a producer Justin Broad in London, and we were working on several different projects and different songs and this was one of the songs where I wrote at home. We were all on a 2k lockdown at the time. Then the kids were singing it here in the background, my young kids at home. They don’t sing all of my songs but they were singing this one. So I decided to record them. They sounded amazing and I just thought I have to record that.Then I had the guts of the song sent over to Justin and he wrote the brass trumpet on it and fully produced it. The song is called Yeah, We’re Gonna Get Out of It and… it’s about the struggles and everything that I was going through and I’m sure a lot of people, musicians, songwriters, people that work in the arts, comedians, you know, that perform on stage, feeling those struggles along with everybody else. I suppose the lyrics lend to all of that. I’ve always had an interest in The Eurovision because it’s a song competition. It’s the biggest song competition in the world. I have always had an interest in Ireland’s entries, the songs and the competition itself. So you know, I would have submitted some songs down through the years. I just thought this song [ would ] be perfect given the concept and the feeling at the time. So I submitted the song back late last year and then I got the call just before Christmas that RTE wanted me to sing it and they wanted me to perform it and they loved the song. Yeah, it was part of the six songs selected to potentially go to the Eurovision in Italy. So here I am.”

Miles’ kid’s sweet voices can be heard in the song as they sing the catchy chorus.

“They’re so excited. We are hip hop fans as well. We like a lot of soul and hip hop stuff and we would basically be all singing different songs going around the house. This is one where we just came together in the moment and recorded it and it was really fun to do. I’m so proud of them. So proud of how everything came out on the track.“

‘Yeah We’re Gonna Get Out of It’ is very different to what people would expect to hear from a Eurovision song entry. It’s an uplifting tune filled with sunny vibes and bouncy keys, jazz moments and a speckle of soul. It’s refreshing to the ears with a fun and positive vibe.

“Yeah, I agree with you. It’s fresh, I mean that for me, if you hear something that’s fresh, that’s something different. I think the competition itself The Eurovision has gotten more diverse in recent years. We had a rock band from Italy [Måneskin] win it last year. You know, there is diversity within the competition now and people would say there are certain Eurovision type songs. But you know, they might not be the ones that are winning it. So I think to have something fresh and something different is very important in a competition to be able to stand out.”

The song features a jubilant brass and trumpet solo which was played by members from Amy Winehouse’s original touring brass ensemble. Miles explained to me how that collaboration came about.

“Yeah, so Justin [Broad] and Paul [Herman] who I was working with, the producers. When they heard the demo that I sent over [with] me and the kids singing here in the house, they were like, we love this track so much and we’d love to do this, we’d love to do that. So they made the call to the guys. Ben Edwards plays the trumpet solo. Yeah, they’ve toured with Amy Winehouse. They’ve got that real soul element to what they do and they obviously bounced off the track really well as well. I’m delighted they [ came ] into the studio in London to record it. That’s one element of the song I really really love, the brass, and trumpet solo.”

Miles will perform the song on The Late Late Show on Friday, February 4th, where a winner will be chosen to progress to Turin, representing Ireland at the Eurovision Song Contest. A nerve-wracking performance that unfortunately, won’t feature his kids on stage with him.

“You always get a little bit nervous. I played the Late Late Show before in 2018. So that gives me a little bit of confidence, a bit of an edge, I suppose. I’ve got a little bit of a cold at the moment. So I’m trying to just get past that and I can hopefully, be 100%.  I’m really looking forward to it, you know, just gonna enjoy it as much as I can and hopefully, the song puts a smile on people’s faces and gives that kind of positivity that I had in the room at home when I was writing and recording it with the kids. “

Props and elaborate stage setups are a big thing in The Eurovision. I wondered if Miles found it difficult deciding on what he wanted to do and how he wanted the song visually displayed on stage.

“I had an idea in my head. There are certain challenges that come in when setting up for production to be able to present something in the way you want to present it. But yeah I’m really excited about what we’ve done. I’ll leave the element of surprise for Friday night, but obviously, yeah, with the kids they can’t be on stage because Eurovision rules, they can’t be under the age of 16. There won’t be any kids on stage so we’re trying to, be able to represent them in a different way. “

Along with his bid to represent Ireland in the Eurovision, Miles told me what we can expect from him in the coming months

“ I’ve put out a song with L’Tric a dance track it went out just before Christmas called ‘She Is Gold’. So that’s out on Spotify. That’s actually written about my sister. Keep it all in the family, you know. Yeah, I’m loving that song at the moment. I have a live date in London in The Grace on the sixth of May and I’m hoping to get a couple of gigs here maybe March, April as well. So yeah, we’ll see how things go with the competition, but win or lose on Friday, I just hope people get behind the song. Because I think it’s a special song and it deserves people to hear it and just get the good vibe out there, that’s what we all need”

Miles Graham has been steadily perfecting his craft. The result is a sound that reflects his versatility as an artist. ‘Yeah We’re Gonna Get Out of It’ is a fine example of this and showcases his natural charm and passionate musicianship. 

Miles will be performing ‘Yeah We’re Gonna Get Out of It’ on The Late Late Show this Friday make sure to check it out. Until then you can stream the song below 


Author: Danu

A Chat With, Album Review, indie rock, Interviews, New Music

A Chat With: The Wombats’ Dan Haggis

The Wombats are set to release their fifth studio album, ‘Fix Yourself, Not The World’ on the 14th of January. I caught up with Dan Haggis to chat about the album, it’s recording and Murph’s falsetto range. 

“It’s about looking inwards to solve and confront your own problems rather than avoiding your demons by filling your time with endless distractions. I think we’ve always had an introspective side to our songs but after going through the pandemic where most distractions were taken away, there was nowhere else to look other than inwards and I think a lot of people went through some tough times mentally trying to reevaluate who they were and what they need to function. When Murph [Matthew Murphy], suggested the title we all had lots of thoughts about what it means. We really wanted an album title that made people think. Everyone will hopefully have their own take on the title and album and with any luck a few conversations will be started as a result.”

The album was recorded remotely from the band’s respective homes over the past year. They discussed each day’s plan via Zoom, then recorded separately, and sent individual files to producers. I wondered how the band found the remote process and if Dan thought the album would have sounded different if the band had been able to be together in the same place writing and recording.

“We’ve lived in different countries for over 6 years now so we’re used to sending ideas and files back and forth but we’ve never done a full album! As with most things in life there were upsides and downsides, fortunately we had some really organised producers working with us so keeping all the parts in the right folders, everything recorded at the same bit rate, at the right tempo etc was pretty smooth. It was fun hearing the songs come together in a slightly different way than before too. We always have pretty solid demos of the songs we’re recording by the time we make an album and this was more important than ever on this album. We had worked out what we needed to re-record, what we were going to keep and what needed work, our producer even made a nice pdf sheet with each track and the notes we all had!”

“We did write half the album all together in LA throughout 2019 which was great and gave us a good platform for the album once the pandemic hit. Of course the album would’ve been a bit different, you can’t help but be influenced by where you are and who you’re with. Just being in a different studio usually means you have access to slightly different microphones, instruments and outboard gear, not to mention the room itself sounding different so I actually think this album sounds even better and richer than it otherwise would because of that! There was a sitar lying around in Murph’s studio so that is on a few songs, if it hadn’t been there I’m not sure we would’ve necessarily hired one in! (It’s on ‘Ready For The High’ and ‘Wildfire’ for sure if anyone wants to try to listen out for it!)”

‘Fix Yourself, Not The World’ is a vibrant album that boasts The Wombats’ dynamic indie rock sound. The album is awash with irresistible musical gems for the listener to indulge in again and again; for example, ‘Flip Me Upside Down’, ‘Ready For The High’ and ‘Wildfire’ all highlight the infectious, fun and insatiable groove-filled sound we have come to love from The Wombats. It’s a cohesive collection of tracks. 

“Thanks! Yeah we always write between 20-30 songs for an album then the album usually starts emerging from the songs and towards the end of the process we get an idea of what’s missing.”

There are such great guitar moments in the album. The Wombats allow the guitar to flourish within each of the songs. The guitar has always been an enticing factor in the band’s sound and within this album, they venture into many genres with the guitar from indie elements to heavier rock, psychedelic and more. 

“The first song we made for the album was Ready For The High, I started playing the opening riff on acoustic guitar and we built the song around it, it felt like it could be grungy so we plugged in to this little cigarette packet sized amp which sounds insane and that was the sound we kept for the album. The guitar sounds in the chorus changes completely from the opening, we tried to make all the transitions as dramatic and drastic as possible on this album, Basically, each song we make, we imagine what we’re aiming for sonically and then start playing with guitar sounds, sometimes we’ll use references from other genres to help us find the right sound, it’s such a fun process.”

Throughout the album, The Wombats fill out their sound with experimental synths. ‘Work Is Easy, Life Is Hard’ has a subtle electronic punk/indie vibe. I wondered if the band have multiple versions of each song as they figured out what they wanted.

“We do have pretty solid, well thought through demos of all the songs but yeah, when we record we often do LOTS of options for each section just we try enough ideas and make sure we’re not missing any mind-blowing sounds or moments.”

‘Don’t Poke The Bear’ is another great track. Witty lyrics and jaunty guitar drive the track while rooted bass and buoyant drums create an upbeat foundation. Dan explained to me what inspired the song.

“I wanted us to make a bouncy swing song and so we started messing around and before long we had the music pounding, then we usually make a rough backing track for Murph to listen to and he walks around writing lyrics. When we were making this song he had a cold and his wife was worried he’d give it to his daughter so it was a little bit stressful for him. I’m guessing it was about not pushing people too far and knowing when to give each other space.”

Murph’s vocals slip into falsetto for a few tracks on the album. The effect creates a dynamic texture within each tune. The band’s ability to produce fresh and exciting elements in their sound is inspiring and Murph’s sweet falsetto adds an impressive aspect to the album. 

“Yeah it’s fun messing with range and melodies, we’d never really done full verses (apart from maybe Emoticons) with just falsetto so on this album Wildfire and Ready For The High it was fun to go from falsetto in the verses to full voice in the choruses. You ultimately come up with slightly different melodies depending on whether you sing full voice or falsetto so it keeps us, and hopefully the fans, on our toes.”

The Wombats bring the album to a close with ‘Fix Yourself, Then The World (Reach Beyond Your Fingers)’. The track is a subtle psychedelic gem and the perfect end to this riveting album. Deciding on an album track list is a gruelling task especially the closing tune. Dan explained how the band decided on their closing song.

“Yeah we always spend a while going back and forth with the track listing, we always try to make album’s that you can listen to all the way through from start to finish. The album closer was potentially going to be an interlude on the album at one point but we realised that Method to the Madness did a similar job on giving the album a couple of minutes breathing space so then we realised it was the perfect album closer. From the chaos of Flip Me Upside Down to the eventual calm of the last track. It was actually a jam we had in Murph’s studio after smoking a little CBD stick and it felt so good we just left it as it was originally recorded.”

The Wombats have announced a series of eleven exclusive UK intimate shows which started on January 6th, 2022 at PRYZM, Kingston to celebrate the album’s release. This is an extraordinary opportunity for fans to catch the band in such an intimate set-up before they go on the road for their biggest ever UK headline tour set for 2022. Dan told me what fans can expect from their upcoming shows.

“Lots of energy and new music!. Yeah we can’t wait. Playing the new album live is the final piece in the jigsaw for us so fingers crossed we get to play the shows!”

With five album’s under their belt since forming in 2003 and numerous shows and tours to date, I wondered what advice Dan would give to an aspiring musician or band beginning their career in music. 

“Just enjoy and focus on making music with your mates, don’t worry about getting signed or anything other than being the best musician you can and expressing yourself honestly through your art. If anything else comes along it’s a bonus.”

The Wombats are notorious for their dynamic indie anthems, irresistible hooks, and glorious dance floor boppers. ‘Fix Yourself, Not The World’ follows this trend superbly and highlights the band’s knack for insatiable melodies, witty lyrics and refined musicianship. The album is a thrilling listening experience.

‘Fix Yourself, Not The World’ is set for release on the 14th of January. You can pre-order/pre-save the album here  https://thewombats.ffm.to/fyntw.oyd

Watch the video for ‘Everything I Love Is Going To Die’ below. 


Author: Danu

A Chat With, Indie, Interviews, New Music, Singer/Songwriter

A Chat With:Megan O’Neill

Photo Credit: Declan Creffield.

Irish born singer-songwriter Megan O’Neill has released her stunning cover of ‘Fairytale of New York’. O’Neill takes this beloved Christmas song and strips it back to create a haunting and moving rendition that highlights the lyrics of the song.

I caught up with O’Neill to chat about the immaculate cover, her songwriting and her recently released album, ‘Getting Comfortable with Uncertainty’. O’Neill also gave some solid advice for aspiring musicians.

“I suppose, it’s a brave one to cover. It’s a really gorgeous song that a lot of people love, myself included and so I was thinking, is this a good idea? But it’s just one of those amazing songs that I feel the message of the song can be interpreted in loads of different ways. That’s what we tried to do with our version. We just tried to interpret the story of the song in a different way, in a different mood.”

“When you actually sit down and you read those lyrics without the revved up production that’s in The Pogues version. When you actually sit down and read the lyrics. It’s really sad. It’s a song about failed relationships and broken dreams and unfulfilled potential and it’s quite a sad message in the story. I felt there’s another way you could interpret the story sonically, and that’s really what I wanted to do. Also, I think, a lot of time if you are going to do a cover, it’s important to do it uniquely in your own way that’s not trying to just recreate the original but trying to do something that’s your own.”

O’Neill’s voice is the focal point that carries the song’s emotional tone and she achieves this perfectly without overdoing it – the result is a time stopping, and a unique listening experience.

“Yeah, I didn’t really feel pressure. I think I have an ability with my voice. It took me years to figure out that I had [the ability] to portray emotion quite well, and it was something that for years, and I think this is the thing with all singers, you’re not really entirely sure how to use your voice or where the best elements of it are and that was kind of it for me. It was only when I started to actually sing less and pull it back and allow the natural tones and the natural emotion to come out that I realized, oh, I can do something here. [with ‘Fairytale of New York] It wasn’t really a pressure that I felt. It was just I wanted that emotion of the lyrics to come out. So I worked quite hard for that to come through my voice rather than it be something that was over sung. I wanted it to be vulnerable and close and haunting and like you were in the room with me really”

“I’m such a lover of stories and all the way through when I’ve been writing and releasing my own songs, the story has to be really important, it has to be the central point of the song. So I really zone in on lyrical content, and the story, and the message that I’m trying to get across in that story. It’s funny because when you’re recording songs, you can be in the room and there can be a bit that’s a little bit out of tune or a little bit too fast or a little bit too slow or you’re a little bit off tempo with the music. But if the emotion is there, those are the takes that I always keep. Those are the parts of the song that I always keep because that’s more important to me. It’s more important that the emotion comes across than the song is absolutely perfect as a recording.”

O’Neill worked with producer Mark Caplice on the track. Caplice and O’Neill have worked together before, and she explained to me how their friendship made creating a moving and vulnerable rendition of the track more comfortable.

“ Mark and I are very dear friends and we’ve worked on a lot of stuff together. So when I wanted to do a Christmas cover, Mark and I had been discussing which ones that I might do and what could work and he’s just got such an amazing ear. He’s such an incredible musician that always working with him, particularly because we’re such good friends, is easy, I don’t mind being vulnerable in the room with him. I don’t mind messing things up to then get them right at the end. It’s a very relaxed atmosphere and it always ends up being a great product at the end of the day.”

O’Neill’s songs have received great attention over the past year – including her recent single ‘Ireland’, which hit over 400,000 views on social media during release month and her album ‘Getting Comfortable with Uncertainty’ hit #1 on the iTunes singer/songwriter charts in the UK and Ireland. We discussed the whirlwind of a year and how 2021 brought a variety of ups and downs for the artist.

“Yeah, it’s been a weird and wonderful year. It’s been odd to have all these things going on and have them all going on, still stuck at home for a lot of it. You know, usually, when you release an album and you’ve got stuff happening, you’re able to tour with it and I wasn’t really able to tour this album before its release. I was able to tour it in September, October, November this year, thank God. I just got in the window..it was fantastic. Throughout the past two years it’s been good to me and also been challenging on a lot of levels but it has been great that the songs have been reaching more people and I’m glad that the album is out there now because we’ve delayed the release with Covid. So there’s been a lot of great things I think, for everybody pluses and minuses of the last two years.”

Similar to many artists, O’Neill’s return to live shows was a fantastic source of joy and anxiety. The return to shows brought pressure on artists to just jump back on the horse when they hadn’t performed in over a year. 

“Yeah, terrifying. My first run of shows were in Germany in September and I was absolutely riddled with anxiety and stress before I was due to go and I’m not that type of person. I’ve never really suffered from anxiety in my life. I’d always get a bit nervous before shows. But this was a totally different thing and the day before we were due to fly I was just a complete mess. Then once I got there and I got to perform, I was nervous but once I got in the swing of it, I was fine. But it’s been so long so there is an anxiety about getting back up and doing it again. There’s obviously the nerves with performing but there’s also a feeling of we all should have gotten better over the course of this pandemic, as in that’s the feeling. I’m not saying we should have. I’m saying people feel pressure to be coming out with better songs, being a better musician, being a better songwriter, like coming out of this pandemic almost as a new artist. That’s an awful lot of pressure. This has been a difficult time to be creative for a lot of people. It’s been a difficult time to be motivated. So I think there’s a lot of layers to what musicians are feeling going back into performing, myself included. I found it amazing to be playing in front of crowds again, but there was a lot of anxiety around it from my point of view and also from people in an audience not necessarily wanting to be in a crowded space. So it’s a difficult time and I don’t think it’s going to change very soon.”

‘Getting Comfortable with Uncertainty’ is a striking and impactful album. O’Neill packs a serious emotional punch with the album which is filled with glorious indie/country-toned songs and wonderful, meaningful ballads. I wondered if she found it daunting or exposing pouring so much of herself into her songs.

“Oh god yeah. I think it’s kind of a blessing and a curse because I am a songwriter that writes about my own life. I write about what I’m feeling at the time and you can write those songs and they end up being good songs that you fall in love with and then you’re like, oh no [ I ] have to release that, people are gonna know that side of me. So there is a vulnerability in it. But I think it’s important to be real and be true with what we do as artists because we’re all human beings. We’re all living similar lives obviously with differences, but, if I’ve felt heartbroken, if I felt lonely, if I’ve felt removed from my homeland, if I’ve felt frustrated with my career, the reality is that most other people have felt those emotions. So it’s important to be truthful with the stories that I tell because people will relate to them. They’ll relate to something that I’ve felt and that I go through because we’re all humans at the end of the day. It can be a bit daunting, particularly when people ask you about a very specific one. There’s some songs coming out in 2022 that will be pretty vulnerable for me so those might be challenging ones to discuss. But yeah, I think it’s important to be real with the messages you’re putting out.”

‘Time in a Bottle’, the bonus track off the new album featured on episode one of the hit Netflix TV Show Firefly Lane. One week later, O’Neill performed the song live on the RTE Late Late Show – reaching an audience of approximately two million and the single charted that same weekend in Ireland across all genres. ‘Time in a Bottle’ was the highest new entry on the Irish Homegrown Charts at the end of February and playlisted by RTE Radio 1. This was a crazy unexpected experience for O’Neill.

“Yeah, it was. We were again, in the height of lockdown and it was February this year when it came out, and I didn’t at all know how it would be received or what kind of feedback there would be, but people loved it and again it was one of those brave songs to cover. It was a song loved by very many, and I grew up listening to that song. That’s one of my mam’s favourite songs. So it was an odd one to take on. But again, the story and the message of that song is so powerful and it’s so relatable. It’s so emotional when you listen to those lyrics. So I wanted the story to be at the forefront.”

“I was approached by Firefly Lane by the creators of the show, because they wanted a female version of Jim Croce’s ‘Time in a Bottle’. They didn’t really give too much direction or what way to do it or how it was going to go and I did my take on it, again, that was produced by Mark Caplice. We did our take on it, and they loved it and it ended up on the show. But it was one of those things, you know, February this year, it was the height of lockdown and everyone’s sitting down to watch this Netflix series and I’m just sitting down to watch it with everybody else and then listening to myself on it, so it was very surreal. I’m so glad that people really love that version and it was a wonderful thing to have happen, particularly again in a year where we weren’t leaving our houses.”

The singer-songwriter’s video for ‘Ireland’ got picked up and shared by none other than Olivia Newton-John. With such well-deserved recognition under her belt, I asked O’Neill what advice she would give to somebody starting a career in music. 

“That’s a hard one. Be careful who you decide to work with, as in who you decide to be on your team, as a manager or an agent or whatever else. Those relationships are really hard to get right. But it’s really important to get them right. I know a lot of people, myself included who have had bad experiences on that front and it just, you know, it can destroy everything. We all get into music for the pure love of music, then all of a sudden it becomes a career and it becomes a business and it becomes a job and that can really challenge your love of it and challenge your attitude towards it which is hard. So I think being careful who you decide to work with, and also trust your gut because loads of people are going to tell you that you’re not good enough or you can’t do it or it’s too competitive or whatever. You’re going to hear “NO” way more than “YES” but your gut is usually right. Doing something that means a lot to you and that feels, like I was saying earlier authentically you, there will be people that will relate to that. Not everyone’s gonna like what you do but there will be people that will relate to what you do if it’s authentically you. So trusting your gut is important. Not even half the world is gonna like what you do. The whole point is having a niche market or having a select group of people that love what you do, and that can be a very sustainable career.”

O’Neill is an eloquent singer-songwriter who pours everything into her compelling tunes and her rendition of ‘Fairytale of New York’ is a fine example of this. Her moving vocals evoke a deep sense of loneliness and melancholy within the song and her sombre tones easily stir emotion with the listener. O’Neill is certainly an artist to keep an eye on. This singer has exciting plans ahead as she told me what next year has in store for her.

“Well, next year there is going to be a single coming out every eight weeks from January onwards. So next year will be a lot about releases and my music is going in a completely new direction, which I’m very, very excited about. It’s much more kind of into the pop realm. So I’m really excited for those new songs to come out and there’ll be two EPs. The first one will be in March-time. The second one will probably be in September/October. It’s not fully decided yet. So it’ll be mainly a year focused on releases because none of us really know where live is going to be next year, unfortunately. There are a few shows in the UK in February and then after that, we’re just gonna wait and see how the touring climate is. There’s going to be some songs I’ve written with other artists as well coming out which I’m really excited about. So just keeping creative. Keeping it going.”

Stream Megan O’Neill’s version of ‘Fairytale of New York’ below 


Author: Danu

A Chat With, Indie, Interviews, New Music

A Chat With: KAWALA

I sat down to have a chat with Daniel McCarthy and Jim Higson from KAWALA before their headline show in The Academy Dublin. We discussed their upcoming album ‘Better With You’, live shows and their YouTube sitcom ‘Paradise Heights’

KAWALA’s debut album ‘Better With You’ is set for release on March 4th 2022 pre-order here https://Kawala.lnk.to/BetterWithYouAlbumFP

Watch The Interview Below


Author: Danu

A Chat With, Alt- Pop, Indie, Interviews, New Music, Singer/Songwriter

A Chat With: Lyra

Photo Credit:  Evan Doherty

Cork native Lyra has recently released her new single ‘Lose My Mind’ via Rubyworks label. I caught up with the singer-songwriter to chat about the new single, the haunting events in the spooky Loftus Hall where she filmed the video and what we can expect from her upcoming, as-yet-untitled new body of work. 

Lyra packages a song that is about losing all your inhibitions and being free in the most exhilarating manner. ‘Lose My Mind’ is a cinematic, dark pop dance tune that is sure to get people up to dance.

“I had an idea, a vague picture of sonically how I wanted the song to sound while I was writing it. This song came very simply because it is more of a stripped-back, I suppose, more pop song than I usually write, which is the bigger,  hard-hitting, anthemic, quite high choruses. So for this one, the sound was easier to come up with. I knew that I wanted to keep my drums which I always reference Riverdance for because I love that big Celtic feel. But in this one, I wanted to also put the electronic sounds in. So, a lot of drum samples I went through. I don’t know how many, oh my god ! if I heard another drum that day, I think I was gonna drum my own head off. I knew that I wanted to have this pulsing beat and I knew that I wanted to have that intro that, like you said, kind of grabs you. That’s why I decided to put the chorus at the start because then, it kind of gets locked in their minds before they realize that it is the chorus, but without giving it away too much. I said “you know, I think we need to pitch this down a bit and make it sound a bit weird” or I was like “kind of Kanye West vibes”. The producers were like are you referencing Kanye West?. I know it sounds strange coming out of my mouth, but I did I just dropped that bomb. So I always had that vision in my mind when the song was being created that these were the rules, the bass notes of the song was something cool, beating drum, a kind of a weird vocal effect and putting the chorus first. And that’s how I made my baby.”

The singer-songwriter has a knack with catchy melodies, and the chorus in ‘Lose My Mind’ is a glorious earworm that just keeps on giving.

“I actually wrote the verses first, because they’re quite conversational kind of talkie you know. It was after this night out that I had and it was very fresh in my mind and I wanted to relay the story as natural as I could for people when they listened to the song, that they really got a sense of what I was talking about. So I started with the, “ I can see you looking, From across the room, you want me”, and it is like I’m talking in a singing voice. So that actually came first and normally I like to, in my choruses go a lot higher than the verses so it’s a bit more impactful. Then I was like, you know what, actually this one, I’m gonna keep it simple and I just randomly started singing “I keep losing my mind”. I kept repeating it and I was like, is this too simple? to have this just repeating in the chorus and then I tried out other things and I just kept going back to it. The chorus just came very naturally after I had sung the verse.”

Lyra’s voice is a recognisable factor in her music. She has impressive control, expressive depth and power in her vocals. Lyra explained to me that finding her voice and being comfortable with it wasn’t easy initially.

“It definitely took a lot of time for me to be confident in my voice. I suppose because – I call it a Marmite voice. You either love it or you hate it kind of vibe. Which I always say is fine by me. I don’t expect to be loved by everyone. It’s not how life naturally goes. But I suppose when I was starting out I was told a lot that my voice was too loud or that it was too brash, or I was told my diction was shocking and you know, I just went through this a lot. Anytime I got my demos back I’d almost be scared pressing play – what’s this gonna sound like now? because they would have as they will call it, polished up my voice a lot or there will be, a lot of autotune on it, a lot of reverbs, a lot of delays. A lot of the diction would have been cut into place and stuff like that so I always felt my voice wasn’t good enough if they had to change it so much. It took me ages to be actually ‘eff this, this is how I sound. I can’t have a CD and then get up on stage and then sing naturally the way [ I ] naturally do. It just doesn’t work. So when I wrote ‘Emerald’ I was very true to myself because I did it very much by myself. I took that time out of the music institute to find myself, I was like, this is who I have to be. Whether it works or not. I just have to be myself because I can’t be anyone else or I’ll be absolutely miserable and I won’t enjoy the time in the music industry anyway. So that was my big changing point where I was like, just sing how you actually sing and if people like it, they like it. If they don’t, then they don’t. And I’m okay with that.”

Anyone who sees Lyra live is blown away by how impressive her performance is and how her songs come to life in the live setting. She takes the passion in her music to new heights while still maintaining a fun and charming stage presence. We discussed the Kilmainham pilot music festival during the summer this year as that was my first time seeing Lyra perform live. 

“I loved that. That was so scary.  It’s so nice to hear that because you know a lot of people do say to me, “I follow you on Spotify and I came to my first show of yours and, it’s actually better in real life than on Spotify because you go for it” and I’m really singing and I suppose I can really get that passion out of the song, what it means to me and what it means to be in front of an audience. It’s just in that moment factor. So it’s always so nice when people say that because that’s why I want to be in the music industry, for the audience more than anything else. So thank you for saying that.”

The music video for ‘Lose My Mind’ was filmed on location within the infamous haunted corridors of Loftus Hall, situated at Hook peninsula County Wexford. It’s an impressive, fun and powerful video that makes use of the grand venue with rich lighting and multiple wonderful costume changes.

“ I knew with this song that I wanted a simple music video, I didn’t want to overcomplicate this and then I went working with this amazing girl called Debbie Scanlon. We worked together and we went back and forth and you know [to see] how we could develop [it]. Then it was actually my manager Caroline Downey who said “oh my god Loftus Hall would be amazing for this”. It’s a really big grand open space and I wanted somewhere where I could really show off my outfits as well, because originally the music video was going to be in a nightclub. Then we were kind of like, you know this space isn’t letting me artistically express myself and these outfits, I need a bigger space. So it’s actually my manager who came up with Loftus Hall.”

“Debbie was the director of the whole thing and she was amazing. She made me feel so comfortable on set and allowed me to be myself which I think always brings out the best in an artistic person and we went into the room and she was like, “well, we’re just gonna play the song and you, just do you and you know, this can be a test run and it’s fine”. And it’s actually the scene where I’m wearing the black outfit and we literally just put the music on and I just went crazy. I was just living in the moment of the song. It’s about losing your mind, being free, having no inhibitions in life. The song is about just living in that moment and just really enjoying yourself and that’s exactly what I did and she was like, okay, there it is. The music video is done. I just stopped and I was like wow, I just lost myself in that song for that moment”

“I call them my different colour characters in there where you start off with the lady in green, who has been left in the shadows and is this shy person that kind of meek person. Then she starts finding herself through the music video, and then you meet the girl in the blue tulle dress and the tulle dress is pretty but then you have like this diamante bra underneath it. That’s sexiness, like her transition from becoming this kind of meek little person who’s a bit shy and a bit timid and maybe a bit scared to express herself. This is the transition into the black outfit who was this badass b**ch who is like, this is my domain and I’m f**king living life how I want to f**king live it. Then you go into the Red Room, which is the final scene. She is the goddess sprawled across the bed with her diamante eyebrows on and, she’s like, I’ve arrived and you know, this is my domain and its that kind of full circle.”

“It was really good fun because I decided actually to style that myself. So I was literally arriving in Ryanair and there were like Fifteen thousand bags and they were like, where are you going your flight is for a week and I was like, it’s just clothes. Customs everywhere stopped me and they pulled me aside and tried to open my bags thinking I’m smuggling something. I was like I swear this is just massive tulle dresses in here that’s all. They were like who is this bloody girl?”

Loftus Hall is a famously haunted mansion located along the Hook Peninsula, County Wexford. It is said by locals to have been haunted by the devil and the ghost of a young woman. I wondered whether Lyra had experienced any spooky incidents.

“Sandra [Gillen] on makeup and Katrina [Kelly] on hair said that they heard banging on the wall like somebody was knocking on the other side of the wall, but it wasn’t a wall that was dividing anything and they said they kept hearing stuff. I was like “you need to stop saying this to me because I’m the scarediest scaredy cat ever, you can’t say that to me cuz I’m going to shit myself”. But the thing is, I [ spent ] the whole day concentrating on doing a performance, getting out of the outfits, changing the entire look and going back in. I could have been standing next to a ghost the whole day and I wouldn’t have even noticed. I genuinely wouldn’t have had a clue. I was just – next outfit, next look, next this, next that. The ghosts are there like “who is this spooky b**ch she’s scarier than us” and there’s me with my ass out walking up and down, Jesus Christ, oh mortified.”

‘Lose My Mind’ is the first new single to come from the artist’s as-yet-untitled new body of work due for release later this year. Lyra explained to me that the song teases the sound to come from this collection of work. 

“Yes, it definitely is. This is me developing. All my music has been a development from something. l started with ‘Emerald’ which is really Celtic. It was very much inspired by Enya [ and ] it was you know quite Kate Bush. They were all my influences back then when I was writing and I suppose I’ve just developed as a songwriter. I’ve developed my tastes and developed what I’m like singing on stage and you know, how I see the audience interacting with different types of songs. Then, I went on to ‘Falling’, which has that more commercial sound but still being very true to me as an artist with my drums and stuff like that and I feel ‘Lose My Mind’ is a very nice step up from ‘Falling’. So they all have [ been ] stepping stones to where I’m going. ‘Lose My Mind’ very much is a taster of what’s to come. I’m so excited, I think people are going to be pleasantly surprised.”

Lyra is set to perform at this year’s New Year’s Festival, Countdown Concert in Dublin Castle. She told me what else she has planned for the year and how much she is looking forward to the festival.

“ My Christmas EP, that I produced myself in lockdown last year. I’m going to bring that back out for Christmas. Just because everyone loves an old Christmas song and then in New Year’s, I’m playing at Dublin Castle with Picture This and Ryan Sheridan and that’s going to be amazing because I did Dublin Castle last year on my own, literally in the middle of Dublin Castle on a podium by myself singing ‘New Day’ ringing in the new year. So it’s amazing to go back. I’m really looking forward to that it’s going to be quite an emotional event for me, just from comparing it to last year. That’s what I have planned for this year, obviously a lot of mulled wine drinking. I’m going to my very first bingo loco which I’m so excited about because I’ve heard so much about it so I need a Christmas outfit for that.”

“Then next year I’m going bloody nuts you will find me everywhere. I’m going to be touring, releasing loads of new music and new stage setup. I’m just ready to take that extra step towards where my dream goals are so big bloody year. There’s no bloody stopping me. Nobody will be able to stop me next year. I’m working my ass off as we speak just to make sure that everything’s ready for next year. I missed out on a year and a half already. I’m making up for lost time and I can’t wait. I just can’t wait.”

‘Lose My Mind’ surges forward with an effervescent sonic wall of sound that is filled with elements of dark electronic and pulsing Celtic drums. Lyra’s incomparable vocals remain at the helm, strong and evocative as always. It’s a tantalising and exciting glimpse into what the singer-songwriter has planned for her next collection of work. Fuelled by ambitious vision, Lyra is an artist forging her own path and the result is engaging and exhilarating tunes that exude passion, lyrical depth and impressive musicianship.

Watch the video for ‘Lose My Mind’ below. 


Author: Danu