[00:00:00] Eoin Coughlan: A lot of people in the traditional world fast forward the songs onto the next tune because of the, you know, just not really into the lyrics side of things.

[00:00:07] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah.

[00:00:07] Eoin Coughlan: Where we really try and the lyrics and music are one, they’re interwoven. There’s no one without the other.

There’s, you know.

[00:00:16] Brian Morrissey: And the lyrics should, like, if you have an instrumental, the lyrics should inform what you do as in it should never be a separate thing. Vice versa.

[00:00:23] Geraldine Hennessy: It shouldn’t be standalone.

[00:00:23] Brian Morrissey: Yeah. You can’t, just go off into another world for eight bars and then, oh, so we’re back to the song now again.

Just, it just won’t feel right. It won’t sound right. And for the listener, it just doesn’t work, you know?

Oh my gosh. Wait till hear this. Like, and you’re dying for the mix to be sent from the producer. Just to get it, to hear. Okay. Is it actually as good as I think it was on.

[00:00:46] Geraldine Hennessy: Feel like it is.

[00:00:47] Brian Morrissey: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Because it, it felt great at the time. And you’re going. And like, and now, we’re getting the mixes through and we’re going, wooh, this is great.

[00:00:54] Geraldine Hennessy: Great.

[00:00:55] Brian Morrissey: It’s just… it is a great buzz in that like.

[00:00:59] Eoin Coughlan: There’s a song called Grace. Grace is not a real name, but about a real person, a young lady, from Limerick that I would’ve known and from somebody who had a really, tough, time in life.

But, again, a great inspiration, from her. So they kind of… the song tells the story.

[00:01:31] Geraldine Hennessy: Today, we welcome Eoin Coughlan and Brian Morrissey from The Oars. So could you tell us a little bit about how The Oars came to be and what led you to form a duo?

[00:01:40] Eoin Coughlan: Well, The Oars has always been around just not by name. Myself and Brian have been playing together for many years. In various different shapes and forms, and you could find us in the corner of any local hostel area in the country or abroad or anywhere, and play more formally then I suppose on particular shows or in bigger band setups. So I suppose The Oars was always there and the connection we always had as musicians would’ve, would been very present for a long number of years. But then it was formally, I suppose, two years ago, when the opportunity came to put an album together with a with a friend of ours, the wonderful Dirk Powell, that it came, it just hit… it just came about very naturally. Then going, hold on a sec. Why don’t we put a name on this? Because we were going, doing a duet album.

But, we said, you know we’ll… let’s formalise this a little bit more and put a name on it. And I think when you have that, ’cause it is a band.

[00:02:40] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah.

[00:02:40] Eoin Coughlan: There’s two of us in it, but there’s a band. So rather than just going kind of Coughlan and Morrissey or this type of thing, we wanted to show kind the commitment we have to the music that we put together, together. It was always there. We just put a name on it.

[00:02:52] Geraldine Hennessy: Okay. Very good.

[00:02:53] Eoin Coughlan: And I think when you do put that name on it as The Oars, it does something in your own kind of psyche about what you are, what you’re part of.

So it really formalised that for us. And, yeah. So the Oars was born.

[00:03:08] Geraldine Hennessy: Very good. And can you tell us a little bit about your musical beginnings? Was music always a part of your childhood or were you self-taught?

[00:03:17] Brian Morrissey: Yeah, so I was, lucky that my, in my family, I suppose my, sisters all played as well.

I have two older sisters and one younger sister. So we all went to piano lessons and did lessons with Comhaltas and that growing up. My grandparents on my mother’s side played, my grandfather played drums and bodhrán. So that’s kind of where a lot of the percussions side of things comes from, for me.

And my grandmother was a piano and fiddle player, so there was a lot. My parents were, both into it. My mother played fiddle and my dad played whistle when he was younger, but it was a big part of the family life growing up. My local school was very strong musically as well, so, you know, again, that kind of pushed me on another bit.

And then I went and studied music in UCC in Cork, did my undergrad there and then did a master’s in performance in Limerick. So all of those things, especially in, Cork, I suppose I went down because I remember before I went down I was thinking, oh, sure, I can’t play in an orchestra sure you know, I have no business studying music.

Not realising that you can study African drumming and Indian tabla and all these, you know, Javanese gamelan, these amazing musics from around the world. So basically every course that Mel Mercier was teaching in UCC, I did it.

[00:04:29] Geraldine Hennessy: Okay.

[00:04:31] Brian Morrissey: He was brilliant. Like, he was like, I learned so much from studying other musics.

So I suppose I had been immersed in the trad world for so long.

[00:04:38] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah.

[00:04:38] Brian Morrissey: And then, and that opened up a whole different world. And then, I met Eoin, while I was… during those college years, and then awhile later we… Eoin asked me would I join his band, which was more of a rock set up.

[00:04:50] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah.

[00:04:50] Brian Morrissey: So, again, that was a whole new world for me.

So,

[00:04:51] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah. Yeah.

[00:04:52] Brian Morrissey: But I suppose based on the experiences I’ve had before that, you could kind of, you’re more adaptable then, like you’re not just used to playing jigs and reels. You can kind of, having the background, I suppose, of the knowledge of classical piano.

But then using that as a base point, you can kind of go anywhere really, and then… and play in any genre.

So it kind of fed into working with Eoin from day one. It was like, I can add something to the sound here that makes sense. Do you know.

[00:05:19] Geraldine Hennessy: And how many instruments do you play?

[00:05:22] Brian Morrissey: A few.

[00:05:24] Geraldine Hennessy: Oh go on.

Tell us.

[00:05:26] Brian Morrissey: No, no. Mainly banjo, bodhrán, percussions, whistles would be my main ones.

Gigging wise.

[00:05:32] Music: Yeah.

[00:05:33] Brian Morrissey: And then I tip away on a few other bits and pieces just for fun.

But, yeah, no, it’s good. But like I think it’s good to focus on a couple, just to really try and get to…

[00:09:05] Geraldine Hennessy: master it.

[00:09:05] Brian Morrissey: Yeah. Get to as high level as you possibly can, you know? So, I would’ve done bodhrán as my main instrument in UCC.

And then I took on banjo kind of full time for the masters in UL just to bring that up to the standard I wanted to get to.

’cause I wasn’t. I only took up the banjo at about 16, so I wasn’t really happy with where I was. But that really drove me on with the banjo… With the banjo its fairly adaptable to a lot of different kinda

[00:09:31] Geraldine Hennessy: instruments.

[00:09:31] Brian Morrissey: Yeah,

Different and different sounds and different setups.

You know, it’s a… you can kind do a lot with it, like, so it’s quite percussive as an instrument too, so it works. Works well for what we do.

[00:09:40] Geraldine Hennessy: Okay.

[00:09:40] Brian Morrissey: With The Oars, you know.

[00:09:42] Geraldine Hennessy: Okay.

[00:09:42] Eoin Coughlan: Brian’s a great mandolin player, tenor guitar player, guitar player, piano player, singer. And there’s a lot more.

[00:09:48] Geraldine Hennessy: There’s your full band. That’s why you only need the two of ye.

[00:09:51] Eoin Coughlan: Oh, yeah. He’s being a little bit, little bit modest here.

[00:09:54] Brian Morrissey: Not dancing with The Oars yet, but you never know. I’ve done a bit.

[00:09:56] Eoin Coughlan: Yeah.

I get that meeting of like, I came from a busking background. Basically. Motivation for that was people I was hanging around with, getting outta school.

Maybe, getting the attention of some young ladies.

[00:10:08] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah.

[00:10:08] Eoin Coughlan: I think my teens was a motivating factor and just a different musical, I suppose, education. It was all Rory Gallagher, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, that type of thing.

So, Brian was… when they came to UCC I was started playing with NOMOS, this traditional group. I hadn’t played trad music before at all. So, Brian and a couple of the buddies, when I met up with them, they were very sympathetic towards my absolute rubbish, trad guitar playing. And, that was my education was with these guys who were very, as I say, sympathetic to my wrong playing. Brian is still very sympathetic to my wrong playing. Have to say.

[00:10:51] Brian Morrissey: No, no. You need a bit of rock now and again. Okay. That edge.

[00:10:56] Geraldine Hennessy: That’s it. Yeah.

[00:10:56] Eoin Coughlan: It’s good. So wrong means right? I dunno. Yeah. Wrong meets right. We could have lots of names for this group, I suppose. The Oars was diplomatic I suppose. Ying and Yang. Right and wrong.

[00:11:06] Geraldine Hennessy: So, as a songwriter then Eoin, what is it that inspires the stories and themes in your music?

[00:11:13] Eoin Coughlan: It’s a question that I’ve been wrestling with for years, to be honest with you.

So there’s a couple of motivating things in my own life, you know, that there’s songs that would’ve come out of a big part of my life where I would have, through music initially, worked with a lot of people in prison, in homelessness, in addiction, with addiction services, et cetera.

And I dedicated a large part of my life to that area. The whole kind of inclusion area. And a lot of my inspiration would come from wonderful characters and very strong people that I would’ve met along my journey there. And I feel a little bit of a privilege to be able to be able to draw on that.

There’s not so much drawing on it. I’m nearly… I feel like there’s nearly a push for me

[00:12:08] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah. To do it. Yeah.

[00:12:10] Eoin Coughlan: To write and to try and do justice to that general area in my songwriting. There’s other songs then that it’s a bit weird. Era I don’t know is it a subconscious thing or something, but I feel the need to write certain lyrics.

But I’m not sure what the song is about.

[00:12:28] Geraldine Hennessy: Okay.

[00:12:28] Eoin Coughlan: But I know it’s coming from somewhere.

[00:12:30] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah.

[00:12:30] Eoin Coughlan: And it’ll make sense at some time.

[00:12:31] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah.

[00:12:33] Eoin Coughlan: Which it does. It’s a little bit odd.

[00:12:35] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah.

[00:12:36] Eoin Coughlan: As a concept, I suppose, but I kind of trust when I’m sitting and I get an idea to go with it. But, it can be, I’m not fully sure what it is, but I know it’s, I know there’s meaning and depth behind it.

It’s not complete gobby gook like, you know, there would be kind of poetic form and I do love language. So there is that something else driving to write something.

[00:13:00] Geraldine Hennessy: Okay.

[00:13:01] Eoin Coughlan: It’s not, I’m writing about this.

[00:13:03] Geraldine Hennessy: Okay.

[00:13:03] Eoin Coughlan: Sometimes it’s that little bit more of a kind of an obscure approach to it, but I go with it.

But it generally makes sense at some stage, the interpretation of it.

[00:13:14] Geraldine Hennessy: And do the, do you for, like, when, you were saying there about the writing, the songs just kind of almost need to come out. Is it nearly a whole song in its entirety, or is it little snippets that you might put away and come back to?

Or is it just both?

[00:13:27] Eoin Coughlan: Both. And it’s kind of a way that we’re writing together at the moment. Which we might chat about, but sometimes it’s a snippet. There might be snippets that I have from years ago that would be resurrected now.

[00:13:40] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah.

[00:13:40] Eoin Coughlan: That will form a chorus for a particular

[00:13:43] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah.

[00:13:44] Eoin Coughlan: For a particular song … there’s something we’re working on at the moment that’s exactly how it’s coming about. Or others. I had, a fairly successful song that I would’ve had, was written on the way from Cork to Kilkenny on a for a gig and performed it that night.

So something that was written very, quick, that ended up being… did okay by me you know. And others take that a little bit longer.

[00:14:08] Geraldine Hennessy: Okay.

[00:14:08] Eoin Coughlan: A little bit more to craft. You can write a song quick, but to craft it takes a while. And until it’s road tested live, you don’t really know.

I think it needs… it’s a two-way thing. You can write the most wonderful song in the world, in your head, but I think you need the live room and an audience to really let you know, and for that connection to happen to form the song.

[00:14:29] Geraldine Hennessy: And do you get that kind of feedback instantaneously from a song?

Like, do you know, like if this is a new song, like will it be almost instantaneous the reaction will, you know, like, okay, this is gonna be a successful song.

[00:14:42] Eoin Coughlan: I think so. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Or certainly alright we’re onto something here. Okay. We might need to fine tune or something.

[00:14:50] Geraldine Hennessy: Okay.

[00:14:50] Eoin Coughlan: But I think you do get that, and certainly between us, we’d both have the similar reaction after a new piece, we go, yeah. Or we go back, pull back a little bit and okay, perfect and tweak.

[00:15:02] Geraldine Hennessy: So, Brian, you’ve collaborated with artists in the past, and you’ll be doing so again with the release of upcoming music.

What do you take away from those experiences?

[00:15:12] Brian Morrissey: Oh, every time you collaborate with somebody new, it’s like somebody adds a whole new range of colors to

[00:15:18] Geraldine Hennessy: yeah

[00:15:18] Brian Morrissey: to what you do. You know, like somebody hands you a new palette. Like we have some really exciting things coming up now, but again, in the past it would’ve like, played with people in all kinds of situations and genres from like church music with Liam Lawton to Béla Fleck, the world famous bluegrass banjo player.

Loads of people in the trad world. But again, like everybody has something that they’re, you know, they all have their own, like, especially people at that level, they’re ridiculously good. So just to put and try and reach that level yourself and push yourself to the limit. To just to hold your own nearly like with some of those people, it’s like, okay, I need to, really, you know, be on my A game here. And if you can, you know, get through it and bring something to the, party, you’re kinda like, okay, that was pressure, but yeah, but I did it. And you’re kind of going, okay, I actually, you know, I’m onto something here as in like, you know, I can, do this.

So get a huge amount of confidence from playing with other people, but also whatever they do will leave a mark on you and leave a mark on your music and what you do down the line. And like every collaboration will inform the next collaboration. And like, it’s, I suppose the most important thing in collaborations is that you, it’s not about you, you have to step back and leave room for everybody in the room to have their voice.

And so like, you can go in and play a massive solo over everything, but like, that’s your performance then, like everyone else has to kind of dance to your tune, which doesn’t work. So for it to be fully collaborative, it has to be like, okay, you sit back and you listen for a while and then if there’s a moment.

And you go, actually, I can, I’ll do something here. And you do it. And then people go, Ooh. And again, that can spark something. Or it’s, or vice versa. They’ll do something and you go, Ooh, I have an idea from what they’ve done there. And that’s the, exciting part of it.

That’s where the magic happens, which yeah know, and like it’s, great that, you know, like this project is brilliant, the fact that there’s only two of us and it’s very focused and we’re trying to get as much as we can out of just the two of us on stage. And it’s a big sound.

There’s a lot going on. It’s, you know, it’s a busy gig for both of us, but to be able to play with other people as well, it’s like, okay, now, there’s, another element in the room and we have to see how we make this work as best, you know, in the best way it possibly can. So that’s very exciting, like.

[00:17:35] Geraldine Hennessy: Okay. Okay. Your debut album. You mentioned that there was produced by Multi Grammy Award winner Dick Powell in Louisiana. How did such an international collaboration come about for a Cork duo?

[00:17:47] Eoin Coughlan: Sounds very cool when you say that, can you say that again? Produced by multi award, Grammy Award winner in Louisiana.

[00:17:53] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah.

It’s very cool now to be fair.

[00:17:55] Eoin Coughlan: There’s a lot of right with that sentence, isn’t there?

[00:17:58] Brian Morrissey: It’s brilliant.

[00:17:59] Eoin Coughlan: And the most wonderful part of that is Dirk Powell.

[00:18:03] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah.

[00:18:03] Eoin Coughlan: He’s just, as a human being, as a creative talent, as a musician, as a producer, as just, look, we can’t say enough about Dirk as a friend,

[00:18:15] Brian Morrissey: songwriter,

[00:18:16] Eoin Coughlan: songwriter, everything.

He’s, you know, he’s just really cool. Absolutely. So I would’ve met Dirk first a long time ago, and I was touring with NOMOS. As a very, very young man I have to say. I met Dirk at the Folk festival in Edmonton.

[00:18:34] Geraldine Hennessy: Okay.

[00:18:34] Eoin Coughlan: He was playing with the wonderful group called Balfa Toujours.

I was with NOMOS and just met there. And then, we met again, only a few years ago at the White Horse Winter Music Festival. Fantastic festival, absolutely wonderful festival. Dirk was around for the week and we just connected at that and we were, yeah, we just reconnected and a wonderful friendship grew.

And, it was through talking with Dirk, and through starting looking at a duet album with Brian, it’s just the planet’s really aligned for us. And the idea of working with Dirk became very real. Dirk said “Why don’t you come out to Louisiana and do a record with me”.

So again, there’s not much wrong with that sentence.

[00:19:27] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah.

[00:19:28] Eoin Coughlan: So we did. We just bit the bullet. We went over, it took… we were in the studio, our parts, for about three days really. You can do an album in Ireland that may take you two years dipping in and out. So we had to commit.

We had to really commit to going there to, you know…

[00:19:50] Geraldine Hennessy: But I suppose it really focused your mind.

[00:19:52] Eoin Coughlan: It focused, but Dirk is such a wonderful producer. He puts you in a very comfortable … and before you know it…

[00:19:58] Geraldine Hennessy: the music’s out of you probably.

[00:20:00] Eoin Coughlan: Absolutely.

[00:20:01] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah.

[00:20:01] Eoin Coughlan: Absolutely. Yeah. It’s key.

It’s one of those things you can’t really describe his approach to production. As well as being such a high-end quality engineer. And all the technical aspects of it, which he needs. Just so quick and your performance- he brings a performance out of you. Where you may have had certain insecurities before in your performance.

[00:20:19] Geraldine Hennessy: Okay.

[00:20:20] Eoin Coughlan: He just…he can just…he just brings it out.

[00:20:21] Geraldine Hennessy: Okay.

[00:20:21] Eoin Coughlan: And we played it. What you’re hearing is live there on that album as well. ‘Cause we played it together on it mainly.

[00:20:31] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah.

[00:20:31] Eoin Coughlan: There’s a few… there’s overdub and a few bits and pieces. I had Dirk play a few pieces on it as well, which is… it’s a wonderful duet with…

[00:20:37] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah.

[00:20:38] Eoin Coughlan: Banjo Duet with Brian on it. I think that’s a great example of what Brian was talking about earlier, about finding your place in something.

You know, two possibly of the best banjo players in the world. Brian on the Four string and Dirk on the five string banjo. Just for me sitting back watching this, nobody standing on each other’s toes or any this. That’s just magic, you know?

So yeah, that was our fun in Louisiana.

[00:21:07] Geraldine Hennessy: What a way to start off The Oars, isn’t it.

[00:21:09] Brian Morrissey: Not bad.

[00:21:10] Eoin Coughlan: It’s not bad.

[00:21:11] Geraldine Hennessy: A lot to live up to there.

[00:21:13] Eoin Coughlan: Yeah, but again, it’s what… it’s your motivation for it. And our motivation is trying to get the best music that we can that represents ourselves, doing justice to our songs and tunes, and kind of really believe in working with the right people for that. Just don’t work with wankers anymore.

[00:21:29] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah.

[00:21:29] Eoin Coughlan: Basically, you know.

[00:21:30] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah.

[00:21:30] Eoin Coughlan: Work with people who you feel very connected to. And Dirk was certainly the right person for that.

[00:21:36] Geraldine Hennessy: Very good. And on the album, what’s a song that holds a special meaning for you? And could you share the story behind it.

[00:21:43] Eoin Coughlan: Okay. Have a few, from the tune side.

[00:21:50] Brian Morrissey: Like there’s a few. Yeah. Yeah, definitely. I suppose Dun-Cuas was when we wrote down in West Kerry.

We were staying down there and it was soon enough after the great Séamus Ó’ Beaglaoich had passed away and we both knew Séamus.

I had worked for him in the past. I did a schools project with him years before down in the Dingle Peninsula with Aoife Granville. I was about eight weeks down there, a couple of days a week. And every day after the school we’d go back to his house, and he’d play slow airs that he’d recorded on cassette off the radio.

And it was just mad, like, it was just amazing times. But I suppose when we were down there, we felt we should, you know, do something to honor his memory. So that would be definitely one for me that would be like, yeah. I think. And it’s, you know, it’s a good tune. So I’m kinda going, yeah, I’m glad we did it for Seamus, you know.

[00:22:39] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah.

[00:22:39] Eoin Coughlan: But it tells the story of us, tells the story of us. It was kind of our formative part of The Oars really when we were down in West Kerry aswell so it tells the story behind ourselves.

[00:22:48] Brian Morrissey: Yeah.

[00:22:48] Eoin Coughlan: And there’s a song called Grace. Grace is not a real name, but about a real person, a young lady, from Limerick that I would’ve known and from somebody who had a really, tough, time in life.

But again, a great Inspiration from her.

[00:26:33] Music: Music interlude

[00:27:21] Eoin Coughlan: The song tells the story.

[00:27:23] Geraldine Hennessy: Okay. Very good. Very good. And how do you balance the traditional instruments you play with the contemporary feel of your sound?

[00:27:33] Brian Morrissey: I suppose it kind of comes… Like I obviously played bodhrán and banjo, which when people see them, they go, “oh, it must be this kind of type of music”.

But I think because of what I studied in UCC and because I’ve played with lots of other people, including Eoins rock set up, I think, like, I don’t see myself as a traditional musician. I see myself as a musician.

And wherever situation I end up in, I’ll just, you know, bring whatever I can bring to try and help the sound or, you know, to add something to the party.

So like, yes, I play jigs and reels and I sit happily in the corner playing tunes all night. And I do that regularly, but in a creative setting, like The Oars, I like, I love the fact that it’s like, okay, yes, I can play tunes and… but you know, there’ll be my, you know, stamp on it and we’d have our own approach to the tunes, from accompaniment side of things and tune playing side of things. And I think definitely like the fact that I play bodhrán, bodhrán is such a versatile instrument. Like I’ve played it everywhere, you know, in Brazil, in China, literally you name it, you could sit down and you could play with musicians from those places and feel quite at home.

Like, and once you can lock in, especially with, rhythms, you’re not worried about the, harmonic side of it. You’re not worried about the cords. It’s all about the groove. And you can just lock in with what… if there’s another percussionist there. You’re like, yeah. And you can lock in and the connection is instant.

So it’s… and you can see their reaction to it. ’cause most places around the world, they don’t have an instrument like the bodhrán, there’s nowhere else has a frame drum that you put on your knee and play it sideways. It doesn’t exist everywhere else. It’s… they might have on the knee, but they play it with the hands and the rim or they, you know, it’s, a totally different technique.

And those that do use a stick on a frame drum, like in, you know, in native American music. Again, it’s not as intricate as what we do with bodhrán playing.

[00:29:26] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah.

[00:29:26] Brian Morrissey: It’s more just kind of, more drone type of, you know, that kind of primal, kind of drone feel underneath. Whereas modern bodhrán playing is, quite sophisticated as a precussion instrument. I think that again, allows you to… you could become an African drummer or an Indian drummer using your own instrument, as in you can bring any of those colours to…

[00:29:48] Geraldine Hennessy: absolutely, Yeah.

[00:29:49] Brian Morrissey: …to whatever song and whatever the song requires or the feel of the song requires.

That’s what you bring. And you can do that because it’s such a versatile, instrument.

[00:29:59] Eoin Coughlan: Brian’s being modest there with this again. When I’m playing guitar and shouting my head off these songs I’m playing with a drum kit beside me, you know? Yeah. And it’s just on bodhrán.

So it’s, what you can do with it as much as anything else. And there’s not many can do it.

[00:30:15] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah.

[00:30:16] Eoin Coughlan: But this young gentleman can do with it . It’s a drum kit it.

[00:30:20] Brian Morrissey: Or not so young.

[00:30:21] Eoin Coughlan: With the banjo there, that’s like playing with Steve Vai on an electric guitar, you know, but it’s banjo.

I think it’s nearly more other people’s interpretation of us when they see, they see a banjo, a bodhrán and a guitar. People have preconceived ideas. “Oh, this is what they must sound like. And it’s …

[00:30:37] Geraldine Hennessy: not.

But I think that whole attitude is kind of changing. Is that not the way, you know, traditional music is now kind of becoming a lot more mainstream, isn’t it like?

[00:30:47] Brian Morrissey: Absolutely, and like at the moment, like the whole folk / traditional thing is on a crest of a wave with the likes of Kingfishr and Amble. Like, there’s a huge swell amongst young people like. It’s always been there. There’s, you know, obviously folk music and traditional music has always been very strong in Ireland.

But in as regards mainstream, it’s really current, so like, because of the likes of those bands that are doing really well. So it’s… yeah. No, it’s great. It’s great to see and, like long may it continue.

[00:31:17] Geraldine Hennessy: Absolutely. Yeah.

[00:31:18] Brian Morrissey: And we’d hope to be a part of that.

[00:31:20] Geraldine Hennessy: So how are ye going to carve your own space in this kind of expanding market?

[00:31:26] Brian Morrissey: We just do our… we’ll do our thing.

Yeah.

[00:31:28] Eoin Coughlan: And just do what we do.

[00:31:29] Brian Morrissey: Yeah.

[00:31:30] Eoin Coughlan: If it happens to open up, you know, that’s all you can do. You just have to be true with what you’re doing.

[00:31:34] Brian Morrissey: There’s no point in us trying to copy other bands because like they’re doing their thing and it’s working for them, which is fantastic, but we have to be true to ourselves and, you know, and it is, it’s in the same general kind of feel or genre, but I suppose we feel that we bring a different element again to it. And we are, and we’re constantly kind of developing the sound of The Oars. Like the first album was the first album and it’s quite acoustic or it’s, you know, it’s raw sounding.

And there is beauty in that. But now we’re looking at maybe different sounds and bringing different things in. We’re working at the moment with a fantastic producer called Dec Lucey in Cork. And he, again, it is a different set of ears completely. And what he’s bringing to the whole equation is very new and fresh and it’s so creative and it’s making us go, well, it’s certainly making me go, whoa, hang on a second, this is exciting. And again, it pushes you another bit further again and forces you to think outside again of where the space we’ve been in and go, okay, how do I fit in, what I’m doing and come up with new things as well to fit this new kind of approach so that it’s very exciting.

[00:32:48] Geraldine Hennessy: Do you think that your kind of focus is more on the musicality side of the music or is there any kind of particular part of your music that you want to really kind of push forward?

[00:33:02] Eoin Coughlan: I dunno. No, it’s a good question. I don’t think we’re that conscious of thinking along those lines.

[00:33:11] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah.

[00:33:12] Eoin Coughlan: I think we’re quite open just to following what feels good for us. So we have a new single coming out, which is a cover, a very well known old song that you would’ve heard Lead Belly singing back in the day.

[00:33:31] Geraldine Hennessy: I love that song.

[00:33:33] Eoin Coughlan: Yeah. So Black Betty, you know?

Before you would’ve heard Lead Belly would’ve been… and now we do see that there’s great connection between Old Blues music and Irish music. Not just in form and structure and all that, but in sentiment and feel and

[00:33:49] Geraldine Hennessy: raw passion

[00:33:50] Eoin Coughlan: Yeah, you can feel it, you can feel it in your gut.

So we’re… If you were, you know, when you hear this particular single that you could have it on in manumission as well, you know?

[00:34:04] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah.

[00:34:06] Eoin Coughlan: Which is… it’s all drum led, mainly drum and vocal doing various different things with that. But, there’s a big dancey feel to it.

And for two lads with guitars, bodhráns and banjos…

[00:34:19] Geraldine Hennessy: yeah

[00:34:20] Eoin Coughlan: dance may not be the first thing that will come to your mind.

[00:34:22] Geraldine Hennessy: Yes.

[00:34:22] Eoin Coughlan: We’re just following ’cause the stream we’re going, you know.

[00:34:24] Geraldine Hennessy: This is where you are..

[00:34:25] Eoin Coughlan: This is where we are. It’s up to to an audience to tell us if it’s a hit or not.

[00:34:30] Geraldine Hennessy: So you’re kind of just going where the music takes.

[00:34:32] Eoin Coughlan: Go with it.

[00:34:32] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah, absolutely.

[00:34:33] Eoin Coughlan: It’s a creative journey, you know

[00:34:34] Brian Morrissey: When Eoin says it’s drum lead, it’s a very strong bodhrán lead, as in like, it’s, a really strong bodhrán song where people would never have put bodhrán with Black Betty.

[00:34:44] Geraldine Hennessy: You must love it though.

[00:34:45] Brian Morrissey: Absolutely. Oh, totally.

And I love keeping people guessing as well. Yeah. And I think that’s like what we… all we want to do is keep ourselves moving along and be as creative as we possibly can be. Like there’s no point in trying to go, okay, oh, we’re looking/ listening to the radio, and this formula is working. So we will write we… if you try to work to a formula or try to write to a formula, it’s never gonna work.

Because it’s not from the heart. And if it’s not from the heart, people see through that straight away. Like, so like, we’re doing things that excite us. So like we’re in the studio and we’re recording Black Betty, and there’s bodhrán and there’s all kinds of other things going on. We come out buzzing off our heads, like we went home going and you know, going home to our families going, and they’re like, but how’d you get on?

You’re like. Oh my God. Wait till you hear this. Like, and you’re dying for the mix to be sent from the producer. Just to get it to hear. Okay. Is it actually as good as I think it was?

[00:35:36] Geraldine Hennessy: What it feels like it is..

[00:35:37] Brian Morrissey: Yeah. Because it felt great at the time, and you’re going and like, and then now we’re getting the mixes through and we’re going, woah, this is great. Right. Yeah. it’s just, it is a great buzz in that like.

[00:35:47] Eoin Coughlan: Great instruments in studio that day. I pulled up with a pair of rubber gloves, sandpaper, a pair of hard shoes and some floorboards. That was…

[00:35:56] Brian Morrissey: part of the entorage

[00:35:58] Eoin Coughlan: the studio. Yeah. And Ricky Lucey who’s doing it with us, was seeing this coming through his door, going fucking cool.

[00:36:05] Brian Morrissey: Yeah. And all of them were used on the track.

[00:36:07] Geraldine Hennessy: Absolutely.

[00:36:07] Brian Morrissey: Everything’s on the track.

[00:36:08] Geraldine Hennessy: Wow.

[00:36:09] Eoin Coughlan: Footsteps. Yeah. Like glub clap. Yeah. It’s just…it’s yeah.

[00:36:12] Brian Morrissey: Good fun.

[00:36:12] Geraldine Hennessy: Can’t wait to hear it.

[00:36:13] Brian Morrissey: It’s good fun.

[00:36:14] Eoin Coughlan: It was ABBA show I think now, or some kinda show. There you go. Good life. But there you go.

[00:36:19] Geraldine Hennessy: And given your backgrounds, how would your individual styles merge to create the unique sound of The Oars?

[00:36:30] Brian Morrissey: I suppose, again, it’s like… Because we played a lot together in so many different combinations over the years. Like I, like we understand each other’s music very well.

Like Eoin said earlier, there’s always been a connection there. And like, the amount of people have said to us, oh my God, you have to do an album.

Like, I would’ve played in Eoin’s band, which was like a full electric bass drum kit, electric guitar and guitar acoustic and electric and lead vocals. And I was on… Oh and there was this piano player as well. And I was on then banjo with like wah pedals and whatever I could try and, you know, do, but I got to know his music through playing in that band.

But then there was some occasions that it might be a smaller gig or, you know, a more intimate gig and we’d do it as a two piece. But it was still, it was Eoin’ material and I was adding to that kinda rock feel. But from day one, like when we were on stage together, people went, jeez, there’s an energy there, there’s a spark.

You know, it’s very hard to describe it even. It’s just, you know, it’s either there or it’s not. And it’s, the same with any musician you play with. You either connect or you don’t.

[00:37:32] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah.

[00:37:33] Brian Morrissey: And like from day one, we were like, yeah, I get him and he gets me. And when we sat down and play, sit down and play music, it’s always good like.

[00:37:40] Geraldine Hennessy: Just works.

[00:37:41] Brian Morrissey: Yeah. Yeah. There’s never, you know, you never come away from a gig together that you go, nah, it just didn’t, we didn’t click tonight. That’s luckily, thank God, touch wood, it’s never happened. But, you know, so it’s kind of… It’s easy in a way then to… like things just happen and like Eoin will come, with something and I go, okay.

But like Eoin comes from like the more of a rock kind of a feeling. He’s mad to get a distortion pedal on my banjo and I…

[00:38:10] Eoin Coughlan: that will happen.

[00:38:10] Brian Morrissey: He is adamant it’s gonna happen. So it takes me, sometimes it takes me a while to go mmmm with effects and pedals and all that, but like, and then I try them and go.

Okay. Actually. Yeah, fair enough.

[00:38:21] Geraldine Hennessy: He’s right.

[00:38:22] Brian Morrissey: Yeah. Not always, but eh, yeah. Yeah. Most things. And I think he, again, he knows that if he drops a seed, it could take six months, it could take two years. And eventually I go, actually, yeah, I was thinking about that again. Do you know? Yeah. So I kind of, I think we understand, we know each other so well.

Sure, we’re hanging around for 25 years at this stage.

[00:38:40] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah.

[00:38:40] Brian Morrissey: So like we know how each other work, you know how each other works as well. So it kind of…it really helps in that whole creative process that we sit down, he’d throw something out and I’ll do something with it. And then I, think, oh, what about this?

And it’s, you know, that’s why it works as in, because we get on well and musically, it always kind of just seems to go in an interesting path.

[00:39:05] Geraldine Hennessy: Okay.

[00:39:06] Brian Morrissey: Which is good. Yeah.

[00:39:07] Geraldine Hennessy: And can you just say, talk about maybe your creative process? I know, when you mentioned there about the songwriting element of it.

But how would you get a song from that initial idea to a finished product?

[00:39:20] Eoin Coughlan: You sit in a room together and you just kind of jam it out a little bit.

[00:39:23] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah.

[00:39:23] Eoin Coughlan: Or, you can talk through things. You can, do you know there’s, again, there’s not one set way of doing this. And again, the songs can develop when you do them live.

But it’s finding, with that kind of creative process, you can start a song on guitar, but you might end up doing it with two bodhráns. And, you know, we have the range of instruments where you’re kind of looking at it, ” well, what can we do with what we have here?”

And so we’re nearly arranging and writing at the same time.

You know what I mean? To the sound of The Oars, of what it is that we have. So it’s very much our own little bubble. In our creative process, you know, it’s what we have, what we can offer, what we think would be the best representation of a particular song.

So we’re, writing a tune at the moment. It’s kind of a unique enough thing we’re doing, which is the ultimate kind of coming together of our backgrounds. Since we have, newly composed tunes, with lyrics, you know what we mean? So that’s something that’s not really… Like on the first album, the first track, Sunshine, which is a combination of a really cool tune and kind of a lyric mantra running through it as well.

[00:40:37] Geraldine Hennessy: yeah.

[00:40:37] Eoin Coughlan: Rather than, here’s a set of tunes, the next track is a song. The next one is, you know, we’re, not confining ourselves to that. So there’s lovely collaborative, creative space with the tunes and the songs. And then in, again, that creative process as well, it’s not a case of okay, there’ll be a solo here. It’s more of, that these kind of solos are more, nearly standalone pieces of music themselves that fit into this vibe, this groove, this feel. And I think that’s something that I couldn’t really do with anybody else. We just have it naturally.

We don’t talk about our creative process. We just have…

[00:41:23] Geraldine Hennessy: Just happens.

[00:41:23] Eoin Coughlan: With this kind of synergy has happened that we know what it is. And it’s very rare. Only occasions like this, you have to actually, what is it that you do? Fuck I don’t know. I don’t know.

[00:41:34] Geraldine Hennessy: It just works.

[00:41:34] Eoin Coughlan: But, when you think about it, when I think about it, this is what this is, what we do.

[00:41:38] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah.

[00:41:38] Eoin Coughlan: And it’s not having closed doors on anything. Brian mentioned there, you know, we started off collaborating first. It was with a banjo with a CryBaby, a wah pedal. You know, like, so that may not have been done before. To get sonically now getting stuff out, we’re using kind of delay pedals on the banjo to see if that fits the vibe or the feel of a particular piece of music or a particular song, like the music has to fit the lyrics. You know, and I think there’s a lot of people you can work with collaborators that Okay, I’ll do the music. You do the word side of things. I know a lot of people in the traditional world fast forward the songs onto the next tune because of the, you know, just not really into the lyrics side of things where we really try and like the lyrics and music are one, they’re interwoven.

There’s no one without the other. There’s, you know…

[00:42:27] Brian Morrissey: The lyric should, like if you have an instrumental, the lyrics should inform what you do as in it should never be a separate thing,

[00:42:33] Eoin Coughlan: and vice versa.

[00:42:34] Brian Morrissey: Yeah. You can’t just go off into another world for eight bars and then, oh, so we’re back to the song now again.

It just, won’t feel right. It won’t sound right. And for the listener, it just doesn’t work, you know? So you have to stay within the same world and, okay. Imaginatively, and lyrically and everything else, you know, so it works.

[00:42:55] Geraldine Hennessy: Okay. And you recently had the most amazing opportunity of performing on stage with Robbie Williams in Croke Park in front of 80,000 people.

[00:43:04] Eoin Coughlan: 85.

[00:43:05] Geraldine Hennessy: Oh, 85,000. Those 5000 are critical.

[00:43:08] Eoin Coughlan: You dropped 5,000 there.

[00:43:11] Geraldine Hennessy: How did that come about?

[00:43:13] Brian Morrissey: It was amazing. It was a fantastic opportunity. So basically the musical director from Robbie Williams got in touch with a very well known producer and director here in Ireland, who was aware of our music and we’ve worked with him for a good while.

And they wanted… Garron Noone was going. ‘Cause they’ve huge time for Garron and his singing and his whole thing. Garron’s amazing. But, he’s a fantastic singer. Really good singer, great guitar player. But they wanted Garron to sing with Robbie and they wanted to bring some kind of traditional music sounds around him.

And they said, you know what? The Oars would be the perfect fit for this. They wanted, you know, the strong guitar backing if there was a tune at the end and they wanted banjo, and they said, yep, you guys are exactly what we want.

[00:44:01] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah.

[00:44:01] Brian Morrissey: So we said, fair enough. We will see if we’re available, if we can fit you in.

[00:44:06] Eoin Coughlan: Find a babysitter.

[00:44:09] Brian Morrissey: So yeah, it happened very quickly. It was kind of just the week of and we said yeah, and actually they said, why, sure if you’re coming up for the gig Saturday, you might as well come Friday. We’re gonna have a private party for Robbie and all the crew.

[00:44:20] Geraldine Hennessy: Oh yeah.

[00:44:20] Brian Morrissey: And sure, you might as well be the band for the private party.

So we said, yeah, okay, we can do that. And so that was actually very special too, because, you know, Robbie came up, sang a few songs, his manager came up and sang a few songs. He sang a few Pogue songs, actually.

[00:44:33] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah.

[00:44:33] Brian Morrissey: So…

[00:44:34] Geraldine Hennessy: Wow.

[00:44:35] Brian Morrissey: And Garron sang and so it was just a real…

[00:44:38] Geraldine Hennessy: intimate kind of thing.

[00:44:38] Brian Morrissey: Yeah,

But I think from the start like from that Friday evening right through all day Saturday. Just the whole vibe was just so positive. Everyone was very relaxed. There was nobody running anywhere. The whole, like, it blew me away really the whole… how such a massive, operation could be so calm.

And just the tour manager was a guy from Germany. Brilliant guy, just but very, just again, just. There was no…

[00:45:08] Geraldine Hennessy: no stress, everything was calm,

[00:45:09] Brian Morrissey: no whatsoever, calm.

And yeah and it’s just, and we said it to Robbie. We were in the dressing room on the Saturday afternoon and next thing Robbie walks in and says, “Hey guys.”

So we were like, hello Robbie, how are things? And he sat down for the chat and

[00:45:24] Geraldine Hennessy: Oh, lovely.

[00:45:24] Brian Morrissey: For about half an hour- 40 minutes. And we had a great chat and we were saying to him, and I said, you know, we can’t get over how, sound everybody is.

[00:45:31] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah.

[00:45:32] Brian Morrissey: And there’s hundreds of people involved. And how it’s just all… everything just seems to be seamless.

He said no. He said I’m 30 years working on that. And he said, it’s taken a lot of work to get it to where it is. And he said, we have a really good gang now at the moment.

[00:45:45] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah.

[00:45:46] Brian Morrissey: But you could feel it the minute you walk in. You kind of go, there’s a lovely atmosphere. It’s a lovely vibe backstage.

It was great. It was just… but everyone was so warm and including Robbie himself. Like that was everyone’s first question though. What was he like?

[00:45:57] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah.

[00:45:58] Brian Morrissey: He was just sound, so yeah. So nice. Yeah.

[00:46:00] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah.

[00:46:01] Brian Morrissey: Really, so opening and welcoming. It wasn’t as if, you know, oh, these are just some token musicians. That we were part of the show. He brought us into their green room before they went out on stage, we were brought in for their warmups, their vocal warmups. The whole… like that’s a very, yeah… the huddle before the gig is a very sacred thing for…

[00:46:19] Geraldine Hennessy: yeah.

Intimate.

[00:46:20] Brian Morrissey: Yeah. Especially for acts like that, thats their really tight group before they go on stage, and it’s so important to do that kind of… it’s really like a bonding thing, but like we were brought into that circle and literally made feel part of all that.

Which was… that was incredible. Like you’re just, you’re kind of going, oh my God. We’re, not just on stage with him as a you know, a guest musician. We’re, really being welcomed with open arms here.

[00:46:42] Geraldine Hennessy: Part of the whole event. Yeah.

[00:46:45] Brian Morrissey: That was probably one of the highlights for me was being in that space with, yeah… the stage obviously was amazing, but being in there was just…woah.

But it just, yeah, it would just blow you away.

[00:46:55] Geraldine Hennessy: And with such like a big, massive gig like that and all the other, kind of like you’ve played at a few big venues during the summer, how would you capitalize on the high profile that something like that generates?

[00:47:09] Eoin Coughlan: You can go down the route of making in the most of the footage you have, and you can go down that particular route of it or what would be true to us is going, do you know, we’ve been invited to play in Thomond Park this year, in the Gaelic grounds, been a bit like a stadium tour of The Oars this year.

[00:47:24] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah. Yeah.

[00:47:24] Eoin Coughlan: Which is really cool. You know, we toured with wonderful friends, musicians over the year, Damien Dempsey and others.

So there’s capitalizing on it. And you also say to yourself, do you know, I think we’re doing something right. I think we keep going the way we’re going. Obviously, as I said, on one side you have the footage and maybe the leveraging of that.

[00:47:49] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah.

[00:47:49] Eoin Coughlan: Putting yourself out there. And look, you put yourself in a position to be able to play with the likes of Robbie Williams and others, you know, it’s not a lucky bag.

You’re picked out, you know, so I like to think when people say how’d you get playing with Robbie Williams, you kinda said, well, you know, there was a bit of talent there as well you know?

[00:48:09] Geraldine Hennessy: Absolutely.

We like, obviously they knew who you were, so they came looking and they knew what they wanted and they came and found you.

[00:48:15] Eoin Coughlan: And we kind of fitted what they…

[00:48:16] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah, exactly.

[00:48:16] Eoin Coughlan: Yeah. So, I think looking, at making the most of what we’ve achieved this year, which has been wonderful. Part of that is going okay, and what we said before, let’s keep being true to what we’re doing, let’s creating the sound, let’s keep with the creative process that we’re channeling between us.

’cause you know, it’s it’s going all right. You know? So we keep going with that. And then obviously you try to make the most of interviews you have afterwards and … which there’ve been a few on the back of it, so it’s obviously people look at you maybe in a slightly different way and

[00:48:53] Geraldine Hennessy: Yes.

Yeah.

[00:48:54] Eoin Coughlan: Your profile changes a little bit. So obviously yeah, there’d be the two sides of it.

[00:49:03] Geraldine Hennessy: Okay.

[00:49:04] Eoin Coughlan: And we’ll see, what next year brings. This is what this year is. You know, we’re waiting for a call from The Weekend, actually, our numbers out there. That’s it. So, yeah.

Yeah.

[00:49:13] Geraldine Hennessy: And in a world of streaming and social media, how important is it for folk musicians to maintain a live presence in pubs and venues.

[00:49:23] Brian Morrissey: I suppose, well, I think playing live is just, that’s what we live for as in, you know, we all know in this world we have to be visible on social media and all the rest.

[00:49:31] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah.

[00:49:31] Brian Morrissey: And it’s, you know, it’s such a huge part, it’s probably a bigger part than… When we started out 25 years ago, you just gigged and you just kept gigging. Whereas now, if you haven’t got an online profile, you won’t even get those gigs. You know what I mean? Yeah. It’s just, it’s completely kind of turned upside down in a lot of ways, but like, we have to be playing live, as in, that’s what we do.

As in, you know, if I don’t play for a couple of weeks, I am on edge, like, and you’d be kind of, you need the release.

[00:49:58] Geraldine Hennessy: The family are saying, you need to get out there.

[00:50:01] Brian Morrissey: No. Get

them out. Yeah. Send them out playing tunes quick. No, totally. That’s my release. That’s my valve.

[00:50:06] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah.

[00:50:07] Brian Morrissey: That’s how I, you know, and you release so much emotion and tension from playing, like, and you know, you do some gigs and you’d be wrecked physically and mentally after it. But you know, like, okay, I feel better now.

[00:50:19] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah.

[00:50:19] Brian Morrissey: As in, I’ve worked through a lot of whatever stuff was going on during the week, and whether it’s in work or whatever, you know, outside of work or whatever, and you’re just, yeah.

Okay. Now I’m good. Again, I’m back in an even keel. So I think it’s so important for both of us to play live. We believe in our live energy as well.

[00:50:37] Eoin Coughlan: Can I turn the question on you, if it’s okay? Okay. you’ve heard our album and you’ve seen us live. So Geraldine,

[00:50:46] Geraldine Hennessy: Scary!

[00:50:47] Eoin Coughlan: But I think there’s a live energy.

[00:50:49] Brian Morrissey: Yeah.

[00:50:50] Eoin Coughlan: Not putting words in your mouth, but you know, that I think an audience needs to hear and needs to feel to put two and two together with your social media presence, your recordings, and then there’s the live. I think they need to make sense of that.

I dunno, I’ve never seen us live.

[00:51:11] Geraldine Hennessy: I’m old school, maybe. I always feel you don’t really truly understand a musician or a band until you see them live. Because their sound that they have on an album, may be completely different than when you see them online. Like, I’ve been to a band who I really loved their album, went to see them and I was like, I don’t know.

[00:51:34] Eoin Coughlan: Just to clarify,

[00:51:36] Geraldine Hennessy: It wasn’t ye.

[00:51:37] Brian Morrissey: That’s okay.

[00:51:38] Geraldine Hennessy: Now,, it could have been the venue too, to be fair, but, I, think your albums are a really true reflection of ye as musicians. I think the energy that you have when you’re live, you can also get that energy from your music. I think it’s just a natural…

[00:51:54] Brian Morrissey: And we tried to replicate that in the studio.

[00:51:56] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah.

[00:51:57] Brian Morrissey: And again, because we were with Dirk and even just being in Louisiana

[00:52:01] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah.

[00:52:02] Brian Morrissey: You get an energy from the place. It’s like, oh my God, this is like, alligators in the river, down the rail.

[00:52:07] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah. Yeah.

[00:52:07] Brian Morrissey: It’s, just like, yeah. Oh my God. Like the whole, there’s an energy that you can’t…

[00:52:11] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah, no, I do think there’s a vibe that you get from a gig that you can’t get from an album, you know?

Yeah, totally know. And that’s why I still love going to gigs and concerts or whatever. That’s just who I am.

[00:52:22] Eoin Coughlan: Yeah. Don’t lose it.

[00:52:24] Brian Morrissey: Yeah. Good. And we work hard trying to try and give as much of the biggest sound we can.

[00:52:31] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah.

[00:52:31] Brian Morrissey: In our live gigs, as in like, there’s a lot going on.

[00:52:34] Geraldine Hennessy: It blew my mind when I saw ye playing.

Like it was just the two of ye, and you just had your, as such two instruments at a time playing or, you know, it was just incredible the amount of musicality that came out through the music. Yeah. It, was just incredible.

[00:52:50] Brian Morrissey: Yeah. Thanks a million. But it’s, and it’s there could be two, there’s two of us and maybe two instruments, but like Eoin could have two or three things going on. I could have…

[00:52:58] Geraldine Hennessy: yeah.

[00:52:59] Brian Morrissey: I could be singing backing vocals every now and again, and I’m playing banjo and I have two feet going as well on like a kick and a tambourine. And you’re trying to, you know, as in bringing…

[00:53:07] Geraldine Hennessy: It looks simple, but there’s a lot of complexity.

[00:53:08] Brian Morrissey: There’s alot of elements going on.

[00:53:09] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah. And I know,

[00:53:11] Brian Morrissey: But it’s great to be able to try and bring as many things as you can.

[00:53:14] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah.

[00:53:15] Brian Morrissey: To the song or the… or whatever it is, because you know, and people are kind of going, is he doing that?

[00:53:20] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah

You’re like swans. You know? You’re like, so, graceful.

[00:53:27] Eoin Coughlan: You have to

bring it back to its bare minimum then.

[00:53:29] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah. Yeah.

[00:53:29] Eoin Coughlan: Is hugely important too.

[00:53:30] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah. Okay. And beyond the music, do you think the sense of community is a big part of what makes the folk scene important in Cork?

[00:53:40] Brian Morrissey: Yeah, absolutely. Like, and I suppose there’s the sense of community amongst musicians.

But there’s also the sense of community amongst the general public in Cork. Like Cork has always been really strong musically. Like, you know, and from traditional music world, you know, there’s been fantastic sessions and a whole trad scene for forever really, I suppose, in Cork. I’m lucky that I started working with Cork City Council on a project in 2011.

I went to them with an idea that we could market the traditional music sessions under one banner, The Lee Sessions. So they went with it and it’s still going now, so that it kind of, it caused a kind of a bit of an explosion in trad sessions in the city. And then COVID hit and it went back as small, but it’s still, it’s building now again.

And it’s great ’cause like there’s so much going on. And I think for years tours would come to the city and say, where would we go for traditional music? People didn’t really know where to send them. They say, oh, well, the usual spots, maybe An Spailpin Fanach or The Corner House or The Gables. But at least now there’s a go-to place that they can go, oh, this is, you know, there’s the list. It’s there weekly. But I think not just the trad world. I think like, there’s so many bands, great bands have come out of Cork. We did a piece during the year, there was a TV programme on the Frank and Walters After All. So we played a few, versions of that as part of that programme.

But that, you know, the Frank and Walters, The Sultans of Ping. And even bands like Ruby Horse, Joe Divino, like, there’s so much exciting music that has come out of Cork. And it is a small town, really. Like in terms of, music wise, everybody knows everybody and everybody supports everybody. So you’re kind of, you know, when I moved to Cork first, the Lobby Bar was like, that was my going to mass a few times a week. Like I was in there.

[00:55:26] Eoin Coughlan: I was very religious at the time.

[00:55:27] Brian Morrissey: Oh yeah. We were very religious.

[00:55:29] Eoin Coughlan: Lobby twice, three times a day actually, wasn’t it? Most days it was.

[00:55:32] Brian Morrissey: I was going, how does such a place even exist?

[00:55:35] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah.

[00:55:35] Brian Morrissey: I grew up in a small town, Nenagh in Tipperary. Anyway, and we’d one great bar in particular, The Railway Bar.

It was a great trad house, and there would’ve been, you know, some gigs on in a local venue – the Fiery Castle. But, when I came to Cork, it was like, oh my God almighty, this Lobby bar is, it’s just a mecca for music.

[00:55:50] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah.

[00:55:50] Brian Morrissey: And it was like, yeah. Every musician in the country wanted to play there, and it was a small place upstairs, but.

Oh, like David Gray, Paddy Casey, they all came, you know, and trad, you know, superstars as well. Everybody, every genre you wanted was playing upstairs in the Lobby. And it was just, I think because it was small too, all the music community of Cork used to end up there. Or if they were at a gig, they might end up in the likes of the Everyman in the bar.

The Everyman or there was the Yummy Yucky Club. It was in Cork for a while. There was, the Opera House had the, what was the room beside it?

[00:56:24] Eoin Coughlan: Half Moon.

[00:56:24] Brian Morrissey: Half Moon Club. Oh yes.

[00:56:25] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah.

[00:56:25] Brian Morrissey: Great spot. And again, and it was a great, you knew you were gonna meet loads of musicians in there.

[00:56:29] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah.

[00:56:29] Brian Morrissey: It was just where everybody went and anyone finishing a gig or a session would end up in one of those places.

And that creates a huge buzz and an energy. Do you know? So I think, no,there’s some of those places are gone now and probably haven’t been replaced. So it’s kind of like. You know, we’re striving to get that back, I suppose, in Cork in a way. But there’s still great stuff happening, like in the likes of Coughlans and St Luke’s and you know, The White Horse in Ballincollig.

[00:56:53] Geraldine Hennessy: yeah.

[00:56:53] Brian Morrissey: Amazing place for music.

[00:56:54] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah.

[00:56:55] Brian Morrissey: So like, you know, it’s continuing. It’s not gonna go away because it is so strong.

[00:57:00] Geraldine Hennessy: Absolutely. Okay. And despite playing at like the high profile events, the music industry still presents significant challenges for success. What has been your bus biggest obstacle in reaching a brouder audience and what strategies have you employed to overcome them?

[00:57:18] Eoin Coughlan: Success is kinda subjective one, isn’t it?

[00:57:20] Geraldine Hennessy: True.

[00:57:21] Eoin Coughlan: If you go back to an earlier question there that had the words, Dirk Powell, Louisiana, Recording. Not many people have done that in their lives.

[00:57:30] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah, absolutely.

[00:57:31] Eoin Coughlan: You may not be reaching the masses that the Robbie Williams is of the world. But, I’m very happy with my music career. I get to play with Brian, you know that’s success. You know,

[00:57:52] Geraldine Hennessy: It’s in the eyes of the beholder.

[00:57:53] Eoin Coughlan: It’s in the eye beholder the subjective nature of it, the nature of what we do, as individual instrumentalists as well has let us play with some of the most incredible people in the world as well. And tour and do all that. So when you look back at it and maybe you kind of itemize all the things you’ve done in a musical career. It looks, you know, it’s pretty cool. You’re happy. Yeah, it’s pretty good.

The bank balance, on the other hand, may not be

[00:58:24] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah.

[00:58:25] Brian Morrissey: so cool.

[00:58:26] Eoin Coughlan: You know, if you’re looking at that as a metric. Slightly different maybe.

[00:58:29] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah.

[00:58:29] Eoin Coughlan: But to directly answer the question, I suppose, getting to the broader audience nowadays is, look it’s a social media driven world.

[00:58:41] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah. Yeah.

[00:58:42] Eoin Coughlan: which we embrace.

You know, you have to, and not just that you have to, it’s opened a lot of doors for a lot of people and, fantastic, you know, I love seeing success for anybody, to be honest with you. I think you have to have that kind of mindset, people whose music you might necessarily be into to yourself, but they’re doing great.

You go, fecking fantastic.

[00:59:03] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah.

[00:59:03] Eoin Coughlan: You know, we’re a big community of practice. Musicians and bands and everybody that likes it. And you really see that community opening up a little bit more to people who may not have access to seeing what… and podcasting as well is a huge, new kind of new-ish form of knowledge exchange.

[00:59:25] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah.

[00:59:25] Eoin Coughlan: And getting to know people. So the mystery behind what happens backstage at a gig now is something that’s celebrated on social media.

[00:59:32] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah.

[00:59:33] Eoin Coughlan: You see the vulnerable side of people, you can see all this. So I think embracing that, does lead you to a bigger audience, a broader audience.

You can talk all the shite about the algorithm and all this kind of stuff. If you’re into it. I’m personally not into it. We are, we’re not driven by that. But we still embrace as best possible and we’re still learning. We’re hugely learning around how to reach that broader audience.

’cause we’d like our music to hit that broader audience.

[01:00:06] Geraldine Hennessy: Okay.

[01:00:07] Eoin Coughlan: And basically from the stories and background we’ve been telling you today, we want that to hit a broader audience to know us, what brought us to where we are.

[01:00:14] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah.

[01:00:15] Eoin Coughlan: What informs the music that we play, the processes we go about it.

It’s in a fantastic world nowadays. I’d love to have known all that about Dylan, about all these people that we don’t, you know, there’s part of their lives that…. I know we hear more, the anthologies come out and all the rest of it. You do get a sense and all that, but not in the way that people have access to now.

[01:00:38] Brian Morrissey: Yeah.

[01:00:38] Eoin Coughlan: And it’s not, I’m not talking… like, we still have our private lives and all that. I’m not talking about that. But it’s what makes you who you are, to produce the music that you produce. So we embrace that and it’s really cool. So that does lead to the broader audience and playing to 85,000 people with Robbie Williams … did we mention that?

[01:00:56] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah. And, doesn’t harm the profile.

[01:00:59] Eoin Coughlan: Yeah, And if The Weekend happens to be listening to this podcast just for another couple of weeks, we’re gonna leave that date free. But no guarantees Weekend, Mr. Weekend.

[01:01:09] Geraldine Hennessy: So bring it back to say, as musicians and songwriters, what’s one piece of advice you’d give to a child starting out in music, what would you say to them?

[01:01:21] Brian Morrissey: Stay it true to yourself. Do your thing. As in, there’s no point in going, oh, I’m going to be the next Sabrina Carpenter or the next whoever. Like, there’s no point in doing that. Like as in, you know, and kids will always, you know, copy their heroes or whatever and, you know, try and play like them or sing like them, but I think just do it for the love of the music. That’s, where we started and where we’re still at. Like as in everything we do, we really enjoy playing it. Do you know, so it’s just do your thing and you know, and enjoy it. And you know, if, it’s something that you end up doing professionally, great.

If you end up playing just with your mates every Saturday in a garage. That’s great too.

[01:02:00] Geraldine Hennessy: There would be

worse hobbies to have.

[01:02:01] Brian Morrissey: Oh, absolutely. Hundred percent.

And the buzz you get from it and the energy you get for the whole week and you’re kind of going, right. Can’t wait till next Saturday.

Do you know? Or I could be playing a tune, a few tunes with a few old lads on a Sunday evening. I did that for years in Garrykennedy out in Tipperary. There’s lovely pub there called Larkins and I used to go up there and play with amazing, you know, older musician Jerry O’Connor’s father Jerry Banjo.

His dad used to play fiddle, Liam, and I used to love sitting down with him and just, you’re having the chat, and you’re having the….and it’s just…. That was brilliant. Like yeah you know, and like that’s what I would say to any young musician. Just play. And don’t be worried about, you know, trying to… oh, I have to achieve this, or I have to win this title or do this, just play music.

You know?

[01:02:41] Geraldine Hennessy: Just play. And you’ll have a bit of a grá for it and you’ll probably stick with it.

[01:02:44] Brian Morrissey: Yeah. Yeah. Get what you can out of it for yourself, you know?

[01:02:46] Geraldine Hennessy: Okay.

And what’s next for The Oars?

[01:02:49] Eoin Coughlan: We have a lot of shows coming up.

Which is great. So I know this would be in the past when this comes out possibly, but, we’re heading off to the beautiful northwest up to the Glen Center in Leitrim.

We’re heading off to France for a festival for a week, Morvan in France, the Burgundy region there, which we’re really looking forward to.

[01:03:10] Geraldine Hennessy: Nice.

[01:03:11] Eoin Coughlan: Nice. We’re doing a couple of festivals. A wonderful festival, Puca Festival, which we’re really looking forward to. Lovely to be invited to play that.

So we’re on main stage there on the bill with Two Johnny’s, Mark McCabe and a few others there. We have to do our dance Black Betty at that. Yeah,

[01:03:29] Brian Morrissey: Definitely

[01:03:30] Eoin Coughlan: Yeah. We have a number of shows coming up, as I said, part of the Cork Folk Festival. A couple of shows at that, which is wonderful.

We’re in the White Horse in November. We’ve, kind of a mini tour then in February. So that’s kind of on the live side of things.

[01:03:47] Geraldine Hennessy: Okay.

[01:03:49] Eoin Coughlan: There’s talk of a mini documentary as well.

[01:03:51] Geraldine Hennessy: Oh, okay.

[01:03:52] Eoin Coughlan: In the pipeline possibly. We’ve been asked around that, which is interesting. So we need to look at that.

The single new single coming out, looking at kinda video clips for that maybe, and just keeping the presence going.

[01:04:07] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah.

[01:04:07] Eoin Coughlan: But what’s of most importance to us is keeping writing, keeping playing, keeping the sound going, keeping that creative process that we’re delighted to be asked about today.

Keeping that going. And a lot of the time the rest will follow.

[01:04:25] Brian Morrissey: Absolutely. Yeah.

[01:04:25] Eoin Coughlan: Yeah. As I said, if we could have carved out the year that we had this year. That would’ve be an impossible. So we’re looking to next year, to possibly… it’s the unknown is beautiful about this whole thing.

You know, you don’t know, you can’t predict a lot of it. You can work towards particular aims and key points during the year. They’re all the tangibles that you can go, we can achieve this, but it’s those lovely surprises that come out of the blue, that do various different things for your profile.

Yeah, that’s, pretty cool.

[01:04:54] Geraldine Hennessy: Keep things fresh. The world is your oyster isn’t it.

[01:04:57] Brian Morrissey: You embrace all those.

[01:04:58] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah.

[01:04:58] Eoin Coughlan: All those…

[01:05:00] Brian Morrissey: And the collaborations as well that, you know, that are coming up.

[01:05:02] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah.

[01:05:02] Brian Morrissey: We did one earlier in the year with Cónal Creedon.

The playwright and author. So we’re gonna perform that piece with him in Bere Island as part of their festival as well.

And we’ve kind off…that’s become one of our spiritual homes now, Bere Island, we’ve done quite a few things down there.

And, they, like us and we like them. Yeah. So it’s great. So it’s good to get back there now in a few weeks. But working with Cónal was fantastic.

[01:05:23] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah.

[01:05:23] Brian Morrissey: Like, he has just such a beautiful turn of phrase, just a great speaker and we’ve written a piece with him, so…

[01:05:29] Geraldine Hennessy: Oh,

lovely.

[01:05:30] Brian Morrissey: So yeah. That was special to do. So like, again, those kind of things, that’s what kinda keeps you kinda…

[01:05:36] Geraldine Hennessy: going and keep you…

[01:05:37] Brian Morrissey: Oh yeah. And excited about, okay, what else could we do? That’s, you know, like that’ll just send you in a different creative journey again, you know?

Yeah. So it’s all very exciting.

[01:05:46] Eoin Coughlan: An arrangement of some of our work as well now with wonderful Crosshaven Community Choir who are like, they’ve…

[01:05:54] Geraldine Hennessy: amazing,

[01:05:54] Eoin Coughlan: done some ridiculous stuff over the years and their own collaborations with Brian Kennedy, with Paddy Casey, with like Karen Underwood and more so to actually see some of our work now arranged in sheet form. I can’t read a note of it.

[01:06:09] Geraldine Hennessy: Yeah,

[01:06:11] Eoin Coughlan: I might have written some of the words, but I can’t understand it. That’s humbling and a wonderful honour. So I think a lot of those type of collaborations is something we’re….

Brian said, that’s very much part of the plan for the next… for the coming while.

[01:06:24] Geraldine Hennessy: Well lads, thanks so much for taking the time out of your busy schedule to chat to us here on the Cork Creative podcast. If you’d like to learn more about what Brian and Eoin do, you can find links to their socials and website on corkcreative.ie

[01:06:38] Brian Morrissey: Thank you very much, Geraldine. Thank you.