Facebook
Twitter
YouTube
Mick Flannery interview part two
Mick Flannery talks to SpunOut.ie about live gigs, writing music and the music business.
Read part one of this interview.
SQ: What does music do to you?
MF: Wow you’ve caught me out. I’m tired now and I’m talking (Laughs). Certain songs can make you feel alright even if you’re really f**ked. When you put on certain Tom Waits songs or Bob Dylan songs, you just feel better. Sometimes if I’m listening to something really class I just get a shiver. It’s hard to explain.
SQ: Do you get more satisfaction from crafting a song or playing a live gig on stage?
MF: Writing. Because I’m not much of a performer per-se you know? I like writing and I like when it goes well. But I can’t dance and I can’t tell jokes and I don’t have a rapport with the audience.
SQ: Surely that’s just what you think?
MF: Em yeah!
SQ: Are you self critical?
MF: Well I don’t have the same stage presence that other people would have. But that doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy it because I do. But I do enjoy the other part, the writing part a bit more.
SQ: When did you realise you could do this?
MF: Well I just did it for fun when I was fifteen or sixteen for two or three years without showing anybody anything. Instead of going to college or university I went and did a Post Leaving Cert course in Cork, a kind of music industry course. I wasn’t thinking I could do anything but I said I’d give it a try at least. It’s not nice telling your parents that you’re going to be a bum for the foreseeable future.
SQ: Who are you currently listening to?
MF: I’m terrible for putting on any new music. I still listen to all of the old shit that I’ve always listened to. Still Tom Waits, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Leonard Cohen. Miserable f**kers like that.
SQ: Anyone current floating your boat at all?
MF: I like Ryan Adams.
SQ: A lot of the artists you just mentioned there documented life in America. Do you think anyone is documenting life in Ireland through music at the moment?
MF: Damien Dempsey probably does. His stuff is socially aware. But it’s definitely not me anyway. I don’t know who else is.
SQ: Why are there so few people singing and making music about the times we live in?
MF: Well for me, you don’t want to put yourself out there as a preacher like or someone who knows more than somebody else. I mean you could end up writing about a current affair or a happening and then you end up becoming a spokesperson for something which you never intended to be. I don’t want to write protest songs about Fine Gael or Fianna Fail. Well, apart from being corny I’ve just never had the urge to do it.
SQ: There’s a lot of talk about doom and gloom in Ireland and that we’re all screwed. What do you think of Ireland at the moment?
MF: I’ve a lot of friends who went to Australia recently and another who went to Canada. I think people just don’t know. We don’t really know what’s going to happen. I’d say people who have lost their jobs know full well. But I mean I’m still around peddling misery. Apparently the music business doesn’t get much affected by it. People still want to get away from whatever is going on and listen to some old crooner for a while.
SQ: Are you missing home or do you like being on the road?
MF: We’re not constantly on the road. It’s not too stressful. I get home every now and again. Back to rehab where I’ll crawl up on the couch and hope my Mam brings me some spuds.
SQ: I know it’s a super obvious question but if you could create whatever world you wanted to create and be where you wanted to be in two or three years time, where would that be?
MF: I’d just like to be still writing stuff and recording stuff. Wherever or whatever that might be. I still get a kick out of it. Do you hear me? Still get a kick I said. I’m only twenty five years old but I hope to still get a kick out of it.
Website: www.mickflannery.com
MySpace: www.myspace.com/mickflannery
Interview by Susan Quirke
