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| Photo sourced from paulbrady.com |
Singer/Songwriter Paul Brady will be returning to his home county this week for an appearance at
the Millennium Forum. Paul is currently on a tour of hand-picked gigs after the release, in April this
year, of “Dancer in the Fire”, a compilation album of Paul’s favourite’s and lesser known songs.
Pauls’ career has seen him soar to huge success, stemming from relatively humble beginnings
teaching himself piano close to the border in Strabane. Having been born in the 50’s Paul grew up
hearing the sounds of many different music genres but through it all was a core of Irish traditional
music and song. This is something that Paul is sharing with younger generations through those he
chooses to work with.
Paul explains that the group of musicians he is working with comprises of some unfamiliar, young
and very skilled faces.
“I like to work with people that are quick at picking things up. I’m working with
young musicians who would be for the most part not known, partly me wanting to connect to the
young.”
Even though I contacted Paul at his recording studio he assured me he doesn’t have any more works
in the pipeline at the moment: “Just songs, rehearsing with some musicians for some live work. It’s
not a particular project, just putting flesh on the bones. I don’t like to rehearse a huge amount. I like
a live performance to have a bit of an edge. You don’t get that when you over rehearse”
Although Paul hasn’t performed in the city for a couple of years he’s looking forward to the visit and
has clarified that these are gigs he has personally chosen. “ I enjoy playing Derry. The last time I was
there was when I released Hooba Dooba in 2010. I have always had a love for the North West of
Ireland. I spent a lot of years in Derry as school in the college. It’s always nice to come back there.
The older I get the more inclined I am to do just what I want. I’m my own boss, I have my own songs,
records, lable, my own business. I’m not going to do what others want me to do. I tend to cherry
pick and do the gigs that seem good to me.”
With Paul’s success he is in a position where he’s is able to “pick and choose” but also realises
that it’s not easy for up and coming musicians and advises that it’s not for the faint hearted. “The
unfortunate fact is that it’s harder now than when I started off in Ireland. When I was listening to
music in the 50’s and 60’s there where quite a lot of show bands but there was no real infrastructure
for musicians. Anyone wanting to make a splash had to leave. It did get better in the 70’s, bands
like the Boomtown Rats, Horslips and Thin Lizzy achieving success and then later on the likes of U2.
The reality now is that globally the music business is not what it used to be. It can be hard to find
an audience, record sales are not what they used to be. I came to music at a time when music was
one of the main outlets creatively. At the time I managed to build an audience. You have to decide
whether this is really what you want to do with the rest of your life and not just some hobby you use
to get off with the girls.”
He goes on to explain how fortunate he is that he hasn’t faced some of the difficulties that his peers
have had to deal with.“It can be difficult for people that are well established too. I feel bad for those
trying to get involved. I probably don’t have a lot of fans in their 20’s and 30’s, more so from the
generations before. People who like to hold a CD in their hands so fortunately I’m not as exposed
to file sharing and downloading. I do obviously have my material available for download like every
other artist but I still like to sell CDs at gigs and that kind of thing. I like that side of things and I like
touring a lot.”
With the city looking forward to the likelihood of a creative boom as a result of City of Culture 2013
status, there is a possibility that we could be seeing more of Paul in the near future, as yet nothing
has been decided. For the mean time we can look forward to his incomparable music styling’s on
Friday.
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