Episode 36: From Electrician to world-renowned Musician with special guest Daoirí Farrell

“From Electrician to world-renowned Musician” with special guest Daoirí Farrell

It’s such a pleasure to invite a very special guest to the show this week. Dublin-born singer and bouzouki player Daoirí Farrell  is commonly accepted to be one of most important singers to come out of Ireland in recent years and according to “Irish Music” is singlehandedly spearheading a resurgence of the authentic in Irish folk music…he is rightly in demand all over the world.' 

Daoirí's live work sees the 2013 All Ireland Champion Singer touring far and wide, performing regularly at festivals around the globe including in Canada, Australia and Europe. He has also toured the USA as vocalist for Lúnasa, performed in the UK in the line-up of the renowned Transatlantic Sessions and played to a live and TV audience at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards at London's Royal Albert Hall. My family and I were so fortunate to see him perform in Tasmania at the magical mountain setting Wilder Tasmania and were mesmerised by his captivating vocals and exquisite bouzouki playing. But what also left our heart-cups full was the fact that he was just so down to earth, very humble, very human and deeply connected to sharing his music with members of the audience - a real Irish story-teller in the purest sense. 

Tune in to the full episode to enjoy his story-telling about

• His unexpected path from electrician to musician
• The connection between the Greek and Irish bouzouki
• The importance of ‘sowing the seeds of music’ in early childhood
• Tips to look after your physical and mental health while on tour!

To connect with Daoirí and find out the dates for the Irish tour in September , head over to his website: https://www.daoiri.com/

Listen to him on:YouTube

Follow on socials: Facebook

Thanks for spending your time with me today. Please share the episode with your friends, colleagues and family  members, and tag me on socials @mooversnshakersmusic ! Together, we’re helping to spread the word of how much Music & Mindset Matters.  Love Music. Love Learning. Love Life!

*Click here to find out more about the MMLL training package

Please share the episode with your friends, colleagues and family members, and tag me on socials @mooversnshakersmusic

Click here to find out more about the Routines to Rituals online, on-demand workshop

Click here to go to the Moovers n Shakers Music website

Love Music. Love Learning. Love Life!

Transcript

:
All right. Well, welcome to the Music and Mindset Matters podcast. Derry Farrell, how are you doing today? All good. Yeah, delighted to be here. Delighted to be here. I was going to say it's evening in Australia where I'm recording from. But what time is it there in Dublin? It is currently 14 minutes past nine am in the morning. And I've been out to do me 5K and everything. And it's great. Yeah, I go every morning. That's the thing I've been doing since I was there with you guys. You remember that, don't you? Do you remember that? I do. I remember your 5k campaign and it nearly killed you when you went to Lonseston. That's right. Yeah. So I'm still doing it and it's absolutely brilliant. I love it so much. It's great. What was the incentive to do that? Have you always done something similar or was it an Australian thing? No, I think so. You know, it had been quite a stressful year, you know, there was a lot of traveling and that actual as well, that actual time when I met you guys, it was kind of, I could feel it starting to hit the roof and there was a lot of traveling, I had so much to do and I just couldn't get a chance to do it. And I said to myself, maybe I just need to relax. And I couldn't, I found that I couldn't relax. And I actually got, this is really silly. I got this pain in my shoulder and it was right up here. It was really bad. And I was saying, I know I need to kind of I know for a fact because of experience, I'm nearly, I'm gonna be 42 this year, right? And I know from experience that if I get a pain in my back, that I need to do work on my car somehow, right? On the car, on your stomach, kind of, that's what straightens you up, right? It's not just me, it's everyone, right? If you've got a pain in your back or something like this. Something that will straighten it out is if you do work on your car, right? And I could be walking, just walking, it could be going for a run, it could be doing sit ups and you know, that calisthenics kind of thing, whatever. It's just something that I know works, right? It will save you a ton of money going to the physiotherapist and all, unless you're gone too far, unless you went too far and you need to kind of, you know, then you need to go to a physiotherapist, right? So I hadn't gone too far, I just had felt... because of the planes and everything. I'd been doing flights and flights and flights all over America. And then I flew to Australia and it was like a 15 hour flight and an eight hour flight or something. It was a ridiculously long flight, two flights. And then when I got there, landed in Melbourne and I got up the next morning and I felt kind of jet lagged, but the opposite way, right? Jet lagged where I was kind of full of, I had a sleep, but I was full of energy. So I got up. And I went out for a walk and I had all I had with me was tracksuit bottoms. So I put them on and I put my runners on and I started walking and I said, you know, I'm waiting for us to go up here and we just start running. And I did. And I ran for 2.9 kilometers. I actually still have it logged on my phone, which is really weird, but I still have a log and then there's a photograph that you can kind of link your photographs and stuff to it and stuff. And I was trying to talk and make a video and try to talk and it was a photograph, but it was, you should see me. I mean, I was just. in an awful state like, you know, so, 2.9 kilometers. When you think about it, like, there's nothing wrong with that. That's a super achievement for, you know, anyone, right? Yeah. But I, the thing about it is, is that I used to do running a long time ago and I was able to do 15 kilometers in the morning and then, you know, go about my day. Like, and. And I had said to myself, when I got back to the house, I had said to myself, oh yeah, there was like a diner across the road that was doing like, you know, fried food, kind of fast food, kind of morning stuff, you know, like you get bacon and eggs and stuff. And I remember when I got back from my walk thinking I deserve this. And I was walking across the road and I says, no, if I'm in for the penny, I'm in for the pound. I says, I'm gonna do the whole thing, right? I'm gonna turn into a complete freak, right? So I did, and I was on my own. There was no one there to judge me. There was not, and because I would get quite embarrassed about that, like, you know. And I was very fat, I was, for me, right? Just, that's just me, right? I was very fat. I'm not a vain person, I'm not like that, but when you've got time on your own, I was thinking about everything. I was thinking about what if I went into the hospital and I couldn't go and do gigs? Like, and I actually was sitting having a coffee and I was thinking like, what way would that make you feel dirty, you know? And it would make me feel very sad, first of all, like if I couldn't play music and stuff. So I said, there's no harm in being are trying to be healthy for, let's say, the next two weeks, which are the complete two weeks that are like, I think are 14 or 15 days or probably a little bit longer in Australia. And I says, what about have I done 5K a day? These are all the things that were going through my head. What if I do 5K a day? What if I call it Farrellers 5K a day, right? And I make a video log at the end of every day. So I started doing it. And some days I would really, really didn't want to do it. The video log, the run was fine. After a while I was picking up, for the first couple of days I was doing 4K and then I got up to 5K. It was taking me 45 minutes probably to do a 5K run, which is like pretty much walking pace. It was very slow, but it doesn't matter. It was there. It's not the winning, it's the taking part that counts, you know that kind of thing. So that's what I was doing. And I just could feel myself getting. It's really weird. The thing about exercising, I think for people out there who are listening and don't often do it or don't know anything about it. The thing about exercising is you think that if you get up in the morning and running for 5K, that you'd be exhausted for the rest of the day. Well, that is the case for about, I'd say three or four days, right? And then after that then. you just get like supercharged after a run or something, you know, get up and do something in the morning, whatever it is that you're into, you know, even just, I used to go for a cycle, you know, just to break up the monotony of just going for a run every day, but like, and I would feel amazing. I would feel amazing. And so what I did was, is I wasn't having a drink because I was at the getting really competitive with myself. I wanted to get me 45 minute, 5K down to 30. I knew I could do it because I'd done it before. And so I wasn't even having a drink and people at gigs were offering me a drink and I was going, no, I have something to do in the morning. And I was refraining from telling them what it was. But then one guy said to me one morning, he says, are you going for a 5K in the morning? And I says, yeah. And he says, oh, I might go with you. And he says, there's a park run on, you know, I think all the park run. I was like, all right, cool. Yeah. He says, yeah, yeah. He says it starts at eight thirty. And I remember thinking in my head, I was totally devastated because I was saying Nah, that's too late. I'll be coming back then. And I said that out loud. I said, no, that's too late. I said, I'll be coming back then. And he says, Jesus Christ, mate. He says, you're an animal. And I was going, no, I just, I just. What I need to do is I need to get up and be running by the time my brain wakes up and go, oh, what are we doing? That's the way I do it, right? Because otherwise I won't go. And so, yeah, so that's what I've done. But that for me is a great mental health thing, right? Not that I don't get incredibly depressed or anything like that, but it is a great mental health thing. It's a great way to spend 30 minutes with yourself in the morning rather than lying in bed. Because when you're up and you're active, I think things start firing around in your head and you kind of go, oh yeah, this is, yeah, that's a good idea. This is a good idea. And you get these ideas. And for me, getting an idea was getting an idea for a video. entice people to come to a gig maybe that's coming up in four or five days time or whatever. Yeah. And that was when I was most productive in the morning was either during the end of the run or the hour or two after it was when I was super productive and coming up with great ideas to make videos and things. And do you listen to music while you're running? A lot of people do, they have their playlist. Are you like that or do you like just to have your thoughts So this morning I went out and I brought, so I've got like, this is silly, right? So this morning I went out and I done 6K, right? I done 5.9K, right? So it was nearly six. I got in the door and I just said, I'll just go in. I done it, you know, I could do six if I wanted, but I'm not going to, so I came in. And so I went out this morning and I have baggy tracksuit bottoms and I have really tight ones. And the really tight ones. My phone fits into the pocket and it doesn't jiggle around. So this morning what I'd done was, is I had the baggy ones on and it was flopping all around, hitting me in the ass and coming around in the front part. And I was like, ah, this is. It's so unenjoyable. So I took the phone out and when I was running, I had the phone in my hand. I was like a real hipster. And what I'd done was I just put on the RTE radio app and I was listening to the Irish results of. Oh, this is so boring. Like both the Irish was like the elections. You would have told you that, right? So you would have, you guys would have known because. Donica loves it. Sorry, Donica. I mean, sorry. Yeah. And his mom loves it. Yeah. I don't know if I love it, but you're kind of drawn to it. So that's what I did. So by the time that was over, I was back in the house and everything. So I might as well not even went for a run because I wasn't thinking of the run. I was thinking of. I was listening to it and how outrageous it is and all of that. Like, you know, that's a story for, we won't talk about that today. But anyway, yeah. So Ireland is a mad little country full of lots of stubborn people. But sure, it's a great it's a great place. I know. But the politics thing is mad. And it's just but it just draws you in just so. So look, what I'm trying to say is I don't generally listen to music when I'm out. But I do listen to like the radio or a documentary or something like that, you know, or whatever. So yeah, I don't, no, I'm a real weirdo. I don't need music to pump me up to run along or anything like that. I just go at this pace. I don't go fast, I don't go slow. I just go at a normal kind of dirty fire pace. And that's it. And you talk about having ideas and getting ideas for videos and stuff, you know, during, at the end of the run or then a little bit after. Do you get ideas for songs as well? Cause you write a lot of your own. Yeah, well, now I'll tell you, I don't write songs, but what I do is I will arrange old traditional songs in a way that is Derry Farrell kind of thing. Right. Yeah, in my way, in my own special way, you know, like that is not too, it's not too arranged, but it's kind of arranged enough that I think it might, people might like it, you know. I think if, for me, right, if I got to see a gig and something is incredibly arranged and really, really technical, I think it kind of lose me, you know. Yeah. Whereas if I went and it was something simple with somebody playing a bazooka or a guitar and they were singing or something, that would be more down my street. Like, you know, because it's, you can take it all in. It's comfortable. You can take it all in. Your brain doesn't have to work too much to, you know, sometimes, sometimes I think that I can do a little bit too much on the bazooka and it might take away from what I'm singing, because that's what's really important, I think, is what I'm singing. But it's how the singing part. of the story is presented to you. It's nice to sometimes gift wrap it in a little bit of the Zuki or a guitar. That's what I think. So, yeah, but I do get ideas for songs and I get so many ideas that sometimes some things come in this ear into the brain and then they stumble around there for a while and then they go out that ear and they're gone. But if I go the next morning, it will probably come back, you know? Yeah. And it's the ones that stick, it's those earworms that then go on and on and on. You think, Oh yeah, I could do something with that. And you know, we had the foot, um, just to put a bit of context, we had, um, a wonderful experience being able to see you live at, um, wilder Tasmania over at Mount Rolland, which was such a beautiful, intimate setting. And it's, you know, for those who, those people who are familiar with Mount Rolland, it's a beautiful. wild space in Tasmania and you know you've got this amazing backdrop of the mountains and it's just it oozes creativity and magic doesn't it and for you to come and you're such an amazing storyteller Derry you really you know with your bouzouki with the way that you play the guitar even you know picked up the whistle that time that was amazing in itself as well and the way you sing you've got everything sort of weaves together And you're right, it becomes a, a dairy feral touch, you know? Yeah, well, yeah, you know, I think so. Like, I mean, I suppose if somebody else had got up, like, and done those songs, it probably would have been a bit different because they just have, you know, we've each got a different kind of a human view on these things and artistic view, you know? Yeah. You know, it's all down to kind of your mind and your, and your brain and what way. way or word isn't it? Like you know it's that's something that I found very interesting and I could talk to somebody for hours about is people's perspective on certain things or different things like you know I find that amazing that kind of thing like you know. Isn't it because that same song can have so much meaning for somebody and then the other person goes what I don't even get that you know there's so much difference and then there's other songs that there's such a you know a co-understand, like everybody gets it, you know, there's still that message that comes through with it. I want to talk a little bit about the inspiration, like how did you get to where you are today? Because again, you were talking about just before you came to Australia on your tour, you were in America, and before that, you know, there's always a backstory that brings people together and yours is quite interesting because you didn't always, you haven't always been a musician, as in that's your focus, have you? No, not at all. I was never intended on being, I never intended on being a musician really. I had my life kind of planned out. I didn't, I didn't in the sense that I wanted to be an electrician, you know. And even then, at first I didn't want to be an electrician, I just kind of wanted to be a fella who... I always kind of thought, you know, I would be doing like, I was in school and I was saying... I could be doing something, you know? And my dad would be saying to me, but you are doing something, you're studying in school. And I'd be going, yeah, no, but like I could be earning an extra couple of quid on the side or something like this, like, you know, like my friends are doing it. Maybe one or two of my friends had no choice, maybe. You know what I mean? Right. You know, for. I think that was the case as talking to one of them the other day and he was saying, I had no choice, he says, whereas he says, you know, he didn't say this to me, but he was saying like, maybe you had a choice. He says, well, I definitely didn't. He said, you know, he's very successful now, you know, and this is what I'm talking about when I was saying like, I'd always be thinking about people's different perspectives on things. This is something which is kind of could be very easily translated into art, like, you know, he is a very, like he would be a very talented trans man now at the moment and he'd be very sought after. He'd actually be very well known in that kind of a scene, the both of them, like the two of them, you know. But when we were kids, like I stayed in school and out of my group of mates, my group of mates always would say that they thought that if anybody was going to stay in school and, you know, strive as, you know, academic, that it would have been probably me, you know. Whereas it wasn't, I was actually the very first one to leave school. And I pursued a career in, you know, as an electrician and an apprentice, I got a job as an electrician. So I wanted to be into electrics and, you know, that kind of electrical installations and things like that. That's what I wanted to do. And we've done it for a couple of weeks and I realized I didn't like it. I didn't like the workplace. I didn't like it at all. really get on with the fans. What about it that you didn't like? Was it just you didn't feel like you were sort of a sense of belonging? No, I didn't really get on with it. I didn't really get on with the people. I was way younger than all of the rest of them. I was like just gone 17 and the rest of them were like 22 and 23. I was still only a boy. I was only a boy. I was only a young man. And then, then they were incredibly, some of them were incredibly generous and really nice and they would take it under their wing and this and that, but still I was kind of, well, I was always very kind of, in a way I was always kind of very stubborn in a way, where I'd say, no, this is the choice I made. And you can't just go around making a choice and then because it's too hard to say, no, I'm gonna do something else, you can't do that. You have to at least try. No, you can't kind of make yourself stay. It's to an extent, like everything is to an extent. So what I would do is I would say, now I'm out there, you know, try it for six months and see what you think, right? I was already only in there three weeks and I hated it. So I stayed for six months and six months afterwards, I was kind of learning a little bit about it. And I was kind of going, oh, yeah, it's not too bad. What happens is it's like going for a run in the morning after a couple of weeks, you kind of just get used to getting up at 6 a.m. in the morning and not getting home till eight o'clock that night, you know? And then, you know, the boss would come in, Alan was his name and he'd say, on a Saturday at three or four o'clock, he'd say, can you do six hours tomorrow on a Sunday? And I really, really cherish me Sundays, but I would just for the purposes of my career in that place, I would just say, yeah, I'll go in and do it. And I'd be thinking like, how bad is it gonna be? There's a heater and all, it's indoors, it's not like indoors, it could be outdoors. Little did I know that in a- in a couple of months later that I was gonna be doing some days outdoors, you know? Trench in the middle of Dublin city with people looking in at you, going for a shopping, going, what the hell is he doing? You know, digging a hole, you know? Well, like I did this, like, and I just done it. And then it ended up, it was five and a half years of an apprenticeship or something, or probably five years of an apprenticeship, which is a little bit longer than, which it was meant to be four years, which is waiting around and trying to get into college and all of this. wait and listen, I just became an electrician and that was what I knew. I always had an interest in music and listening. I would have listened to a lot of music back then because it wasn't me. It wasn't me profession. And what I would do to wind down was I would listen to music or I might watch videos of, you know, all archival videos of these old traditional musicians and maybe the Beastie Boys as well. And maybe I might watch, you know, the Prodigy and then I'd be watching Pavarotti singing on stage. Yeah. thousands and thousands of people and just, you know, just admiring it. Never, never thinking I could do that. Never once thinking I could do that. And then I learned a little bit about electrics like and I would be at work and I never stopped. I was always going. So, you know, I always kind of give myself a bit of a jeering sign that I was. I was very lazy person. I actually wasn't really when I think back on it. Like I do a lot of thinking back like now. I wasn't a lazy person at all. It was. constantly on the go, you know, because why not? You might as well, you know, you can sleep when you go to bed in the night time. Exactly. So, so, yeah, that's what I done. That's what I done. And I just worked at it and I got really good at it. I always again, I always jeer myself off saying that I was known on the building site as the executioner and that, like, but I wasn't. It was just I was good at it. I was good at it. I was quick. I was I was able to do what I was very knowledgeable. And I eventually served me time and I became a fully qualified electrician. And then I had money. I was dangerous down in the city. I had money. And I bought me, I bought me first bazooka and. Can you tell us what a bazooka is? Just I know. Yeah. So like a bazooka is like, it's a, it's kind of like, it's an eight stringed instrument. And they are two choruses of four. So if you can imagine a tenor banjo or a mandolin, that would be an easier one. If you could imagine like a mandolin, it has a roundy body on it and a short neck with eight strings on it. Well, this instrument is like that, except for it has a longer neck, more like a guitar neck, in some cases even longer and the same amount of frets or maybe more. And it has eight strings on it like that and they're doubled up. And it's a very trebly, excuse me, it's a very trebly sound. And it's just it's a yeah, it's a beautiful instrument. I don't have one to hand actually down downstairs. And it's a traditional Irish instrument, isn't it? It's a it's a traditional it's a traditional Greek instrument. OK, it's actually a Greek instrument. And yeah, it originated. It originated as a bowl. So actually there is one here. I know that this will probably be only the audio that you're using, but I'll just, I'll take it out. If I have it in my hand, I can explain it to you a bit better. But what it is, is it's, it's like it's an eight stringed instrument that has like a round body on it. And it has this floating bridge, which means the bridge is just placed on the instrument and the strings are kind of keeping it in place. And they're kind of, they come through this tail piece here. It has a flat back on it, if you know what I'm talking about. So it's flat. But like in Greece, they would have a bowl back on it. It would be like a pot kind of thing. So it's kind of been tweaked. Can you just do a little strum for us to hear? Yeah, sure. Absolutely. Sure. No problem. It might not be in tune, but it's getting a beat here off the apex. That's the kind of thing. So like, although I'm playing like two strings at a time, it doesn't sound like that because they're, well, they're supposed to be tuned together, you know? So that's kind of it. It just gives that extra depth. Yeah, it gives it a bit of extra treble and a little bit of extra bass and a bit of extra color. If you could imagine the ukulele would have four nylon strings on it. But if a ukulele had eight, if the same ukulele had eight doubled up, you know, two courses of four strings on it, it would probably just collapse because it would be too much tension. As these instruments are built with, like sometimes they're built with carbon fiber rods through the neck of them and everything, just to give them that extra bit of strength, you know, because they're under a serious amount of pressure and they're very taught instruments and... If you get a good one like that one there, it's probably really top of the range. That one is, it's actually very much one of the kinds, you know, we'll talk about it later. But it's a it's just a wonderful instrument. And with it having a flat back on it, it's acoustically louder than a Greek bazooka, which is very important in an Irish session because a Greek bazooka. Yeah, like, I mean, a Greek bazooki would probably be a solo instrument, like that they would play solo, you would play a bazooki, you know, a Greek bazooki, you play Greek bazooki music on a Greek bazooki solo, whereas the bazooki, the Irish flatback bazooki, or the folk bazooki, would be used a lot in sessions of music where it might be an accompaniment for fiddles and pipes and flutes or accordions or something like that. And also it might be an instrument that you would back a song with, you know, or an ensemble singing and, you know, arrange an arrangement of a song. So that's the kind of thing. And it was introduced, sorry, now one second, now what it was introduced into, I need this is important because you are saying it's an Irish instrument, but it was introduced into the Irish folk scene in around the end of the 1950s, the start of the 1960s. Wow, I thought it was so much earlier than that. My pick, no race, it's done on this side. It's not sure about it, it's not anyone's bad. It's an instrument that it's, in fact, I bring that a lot of the time. What happened was is I started bringing it a lot of the time to sessions because I didn't know a huge amount of songs. And what would happen is that a two hour gig would eventually become a one hour gig because there would be so many people coming up to ask me, what the hell was this that I was playing? and so I didn't have to sing that many songs. I would spend five minutes each time explaining what the instrument was and they might even leave you a tip and I was like wow this is great. The entrepreneur and me kicked in and went oh I need to start playing this more you know and that's what happened but then I learned a heap of songs on it and I just I love it. It's a fantastic instrument so yeah so it's one of the most kind of new instruments in Irish traditional music but it's caught on and it's... melted in so well. Yeah, there you go. It really has. Why did you choose, had you played Bazooka before you purchased, you know, you said you purchased your first one. Had you played instruments before growing up? Or was this something that you found in your, I'm assuming, early 20s? Hmm, yeah, I'll tell you why it worked. It was really weird because like, my dad used to put on Planksy and the Botti Band when I was a young fella, like when I was really young, he used to put that music on in the hopes that I'd go asleep, like, you know. And oftentimes it works because, you know, we were talking earlier on about early, early learning and music and stuff, and, you know, it's really easy to. Like when my kids wake up in the morning, they want to listen to a certain song and they want to listen to a certain amount of songs. They have five or six songs that they like to listen to in the morning. Now, it's as simple as this. Just general, yeah, kids, kids songs. And what used to happen is. is another way like you would read your kids a book, maybe going to bed. Well, what used to happen is, oh, Bondi, only a couple of weeks ago, because we've just moved house. But I used to have a guitar hanging on the wall and before they'd go to bed, we'd get them dressed and ready for bed. And then I'd sit down with the guitar and I would sing the five or six songs. I'd sing Frozen, Let It Go. Sing, you know, probably old McDonald, The Wheels on the Bus. Yeah. I'd sing probably Tipping It Up to Nancy or something like that. And another song, there was another song, can't remember what it was, Baby Shark, right? Oh my God, Baby Shark. I can't remember. So much. And I would sing these songs because I would do that rather than put the TV on, you know? Because they get kind of spaced out and something happens and then they don't go asleep quicker. But they dance around the room and I would speed up the bit where you say run faster and they just run, run. And it would just turn them out. And Katrina was saying to me, oh, that's a genius idea. Like, you know, we'll do that every night. So, but since I moved over here, I haven't brought my guitar with me. It's still in the old place, which I'm not in a hurry to leave, but I will eventually bring it over and get back into that regime again. So, to answer your question is, the first instrument that I ever, I think like the first instrument that I ever played was the Bowron and the guitar. But the first time I ever started kind of listening and appreciate music was when I was about four or five years of age, you know? Like... because my dad used to listen to it. And he still says it to this day. My dad, he'd say, I wish I learned an instrument when I was younger, but they couldn't afford it. I couldn't afford an instrument and lessons and stuff like this. Right. So. But what he did in a kind of inadvertently pushed me into the music in a very, very clever way. Like, you know, he would he exposed me to it and I loved it. And. But that was as far as he led me to the bridge and he couldn't cross it. He led me there. He said, now, if you want to know any more about it, you're gonna have to go and figure it out yourself because unfortunately I can't teach it to you, but I can pay for your lessons and stuff, he'd say to me, you know? So, which was great. So I started playing the bow on the guitar and then I got a mandolin and a banjo, tenor banjo, four string banjo, and they're not unlike the bazooka. So I went off and I'd done my college course and everything like this. And by the time I was 25 or six, I think I was, probably 26, and I was given my first bazooka in the college. I think that's how it happened. The teacher, the lecturer in the college, he said to me, I have an instrument here called a bazooka and you can take a loan of it. There's a scheme where you can take a loan of it for a couple of weeks. So I took it and he says, but I want you to kind of know three or four songs in two weeks time. He says, you know, loosely know them are really heavily arranged. One of them and are something to the equivalent of that, like, you know, so it took it and that was it then I ended up, I had it for way longer than two weeks. I had it for like four weeks because I think he could see that I was progressing on it so quickly. So kept the instrument and eventually I went and bought me own. And it was very like that one that I just showed you. It was actually made by that guy. His name was Joe Foley. So he made that instrument for me. And he's a, he's a The Suzuki maker in Dublin here, and he's one of the finest in the whole world. You know, that's thick. Now you chopped straight into another college. This was an electric electricians college, was it? No. So you're talking like 2007, 2007. And that big business crash was coming. You know, the Celtic Tiger was falling, you know. And my boss in the electrical company came to me and he says, I'm sorry about this. He says, he says, you've been a loyal, loyal employee. He says, but, but he says, I've no more work. He says, I'm sorry. He says, I'm going to have to let you go for a couple of weeks. He says, until I get another contract. And I think he was being genuine. I think there was, we didn't always see eye to eye, but I think he was very genuine. And there was no need for him to tell lies, you know, that kind of a way. Right. So I don't think he was lying to me. In fact, I know he wasn't because I spoke to him afterwards about it. And he wasn't. He was really like the company was really on it to me as, as was Ireland. Like, you know, it was. So I ended up leaving the company and I went to college to study music. And that was where I kind of, you know, started playing the bazooka and singing. That was the first time that I'd sung. It was the first time that I played the bazooka. And I absolutely loved it. Just loved it. It was the best two years of my life, was the first two years. And it was only a diploma. It wasn't a degree or anything like this. It was just a diploma, but it had given me so much confidence, how to be on stage and how to shake the nerves if you felt like you were getting nervous. It was just incredible. And I really, really enjoyed it. And then I went on to do a degree. then a two year degree, it was actually a three year degree, but they took me first two years as one year. And then they let me do a two year degree, which is kind of really four years, you know what I mean? So I went on and I'd done a degree in applied music and different genres of music. And then I went on to do a master's in performance, a one year master's in performance. And that... in the west of Ireland and yeah, it was fantastic. But I was gigging hard at that stage. I was on the scene playing music. I was finding it very hard to break in, you know, to the trad scene. Although I had a lot of friends and stuff, it was just, it was hard to get in. And then I started working with a couple of business people who are in the music industry. And it kind of started to fire it up and go then. That was probably around 2000. I'd say probably 2014, 2015, you know, took a long time. That was after you won the Flachiole in 2013, wasn't it? 2013. So if you think about it, 2008, 2007, late 2007, I left my job and then I started in this college. And then in 2009 I had graduated and I'd brought out the first album the first turn. I never intended for that to be, that was a college project, but it actually became an album. Like, you know, and that was the first solo album that I ever had. Then I was playing gigs around Ireland and Germany and things like this. And I would, I'd never been to England to do a gig, but I would play gigs in Germany and, and kind of, you know, in Europe and things like this. and then come back on time to go back to college and stuff. It was great, but it was really hard to break into. And I actually had, in 2015, I think it was, I was offered a job as an electrician again, and I was gonna go back. So it's like, that was a long time, it was like 2009, 2010, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15. I was offered a job, a really good job as an electrician. And I was going back to it and I had... got onto the music trail of other voices, right? That's a really long story. But anyway, I got in there and I done the music trail. And I was in Dingle. I remember being in Dingle in Canby Carey. And I remember sitting on the beach going, this is great and all, but it's not a career. It's just not enough money to be a career, right? I was starting to think about money and like, I'm gonna have to make a living if I want to keep enjoying this kind of thing. And this woman rang me and she said, You know, I'm an agent, I'm a manager, and this and that, she says, I'm a music manager, and I'm a people manager, and she says, and I'd like to have a chat with you. But she says, the only thing is that I'm in England, she says, and you'll have to come and see me. She said, so you'll have to book a flight. She says, this is part of the interview. She says, you'll have to book a flight and meet me in Dover, right, a place called Dover. She says, for a gig, she says, and I want you to bring your instrument with you because I need you to do a support slot. So it was one of those things where there was no money and it was kind of like, oh, is this for exposure? And I was like, yeah, this is gonna be bull. But I did it anyway. I don't know why, but I did it because I kind of believed in myself or something. I don't know, or somebody that, maybe somebody that was hanging around me at the time probably said, no, I believe in you. I think you should do it. So I did, I booked the flight and I went over and I went and I met this band that I had met years ago in Canada. And it was those guys that I was doing support for. And one of them just said something really quick, just one sentence, he just said, I'm delighted you could come here to do the support act for us. He says, and I'm really happy now that I introduced Terry to your music. He said, you know, which was the agent, you know? And I was thinking, I was wondering how the connection, I was wondering how she got my number and why did she get my number? And that's what it was. It was because Michael, that guy Michael had put her in touch with me. and said, you need to hear this guy, he's really good. So somebody believed me and I kind of put a rocket up the ass of the fall on a part kind of music career that I was kind of, I was gonna just throw there. And so I started doing mini tours, small tours of England, five and six gigs and kind of just built from there. Went on then to, so I had won the Flac, all and all at this stage, I'd won that in 2013 in County Derry. which was for me at the time was a huge thing. It still is a big thing and I'm really proud of it. But, but like. It just led it kind of just was all we like that led to something else and then that led to something else. And then eventually here I was in England and I was doing support to the young ones like, you know, the band that was then that was the young ones like, you know, who had put me in touch with this agent and they're fantastic acapella singing band, you know. And So like that was it, like, you know, I was gone. I was, it was gone. It was started. I was doing an annual kind of a tour of the UK and little bits and pieces here and there and things like this just grew. And then I recorded the second album in 2016. Took me a whole year to record it. And I'll call them. Throughborn Irishman, it was called. And then that went on. I've got a copy of that. Do you? Yeah, yeah. Because we've got it in the CD, the CD player. Yeah. Fantastic. Good, good for you. That was a lovely album. There was something about that album that was very special, I think, you know? And the people that played on it and the people that helped me record it were great. And so... It was just, it was mad. It was actually mad. And the place where I recorded it isn't even there anymore. It's completely gone. It's just huge, high-rise apartments, you know, really expensive apartments in Dublin city center. Very sought after. You actually couldn't even get in onto the grounds of it now. Like, but it used to be a recording studio at one stage, you know, you know, a small little place in the middle of this kind of like a wasteland, you know? And yeah, it was class. So, so like everything about that album was special. And then it went on to win the BBC Folk Award. for our best traditional track, you know, which I was really, really proud of. And yeah, that's the key sticking in my bone. So, you know, that was great. So it was like, well, you can't back out now, you know? I was thinking, you know, I can't back out now. So, yeah, so I'm still doing it. I recorded another album then in 2019, an album called A Lifetime of Happiness. I recorded that with... Don Loney and a couple of other people. And then the most recent one was The Wedding Above and Glenn Cree, which I recorded last year and released last year, wasn't it? Yeah. And that's the most recent one. So here we are, you know. And you've just, you know, you recently come back from America and Australia and what next? What have you got planned next? got like this Irish tour planned next now, which is going to start in, I can't remember when I said to you. I know I've written down September, that's all. Yeah, it's based out over a couple of weeks, which is great. I love the Irish tours. It's starting in September. Is that a solo? How do you go on an Irish tour? It's going to be a solo tour, right, I think. Now it's going to be a solo tour. musicians onto me saying we're not taking no for an answer, we're going to come and play with you in this place. Actually one of them rang me yesterday and he said to me I'm going to come and I'm going to play that gig with you on the 18th of September. And I was like oh okay a really good musician this guy, like a really good friend of mine who played on all of my albums and you know, He says, yeah, I'm sitting here. I'm having a coffee. He says, I'm looking at it. I'm on the computer. I'm having a look at it. He says, yeah, I'm going to come do that gig with you. And I was like, wow, like this is amazing. You know, like I couldn't believe it. And I got really emotional actually. I couldn't, I was like, I don't know. No, you don't have to. And he says, no, no. He says, I'm sitting here. I'm thinking about it. He says, that's going to be killed. He says, we'll try and get a practice in this week. He says, this week, like, for the wedding, like he wants to get a practice in. Like, you know, and I was going, ah, okay. Yeah, cool. So I haven't told Katrina yet, but so, so maybe it won't be a solo thing, but he might forget about it. Maybe he's feeling different today, but that's what he said to me yesterday. So he was like, well, he was drinking coffee and it wasn't alcohol. So I don't think he's forgotten. I don't think so. You know, so that could be really interesting. I actually never thought of that. I never thought of, Hey, invite a few friends along to play like, you know, and you know, of course I wouldn't have them do it for nothing. Of course. But it would be a really great idea. But it's just sometimes like, like that. kind of going back to what I was talking about earlier on, it's nice to step back away from something and look at it, or go for a run and think, you know, or do something and kind of say, hey, you know, it would be a great idea to make that actually extra special, would be to maybe invite a few guest musicians along. Wouldn't that be lovely? And don't tell anyone until maybe a week before, oh, look, we're gonna have guest musicians here at this, like, you know, you're in for a real treat. Because it just kind of boosts it a little bit more than just 30-final on stage, you know? But I don't know. Yeah. So, so that kind of thing, that's, that's great. You know, you'd forget every now and again that you have friends, don't you? You know, from all the different things that have happened to you in your life and you know, the different paths that you could have taken or that you've taken. And then it's slightly, you know, turned this way or turned that way. It seems like great things happen to you. You seem like a really. You know, you're, you're kind of open and you remain curious and you've got your idea. You're not, you know, it's not all planned out. You've got some ideas of what you'd like to do, but then you're also open, um, to things that just happen out of the blue. And that's, that's a really lovely thing. I think that's a really important way to kind of view life. Cause we don't really know what's going to happen, do we? No, absolutely not. You, I can tell you that now. Absolutely. You don't know what's going to happen. You really, really don't. And being in that creative space, being in the musical world and being able to tap into creativity that way, I think that's one of the beautiful gifts about being in the creative world, in the musical space, is that you tend to just draw people around you or you're drawn to people that do it because they love it. The emotions are there, the joys are, you know, you talk about with your children, with your young kids and that you're singing. a simple song, but it's giving everybody so much joy and pleasure, you know? So I hope, I hope, I hope so. I hope it is like, cause because that's why I got into it in the first place is because I remember being at a party a couple of years ago in a house and there was a guitar in the corner and I don't know why it was in the corner because nobody seemed to be able to play it. And I picked it up and I said, that guitar is not even in tune. And the guy kind of who owned the house, he was kind of like, Oh, I know nothing. He says, I did. housemate of mine left that here and he left and he still hasn't been back for it. And I said, no, you can chill that really easy. So it was, I was having a beer and I tuned it up and I only knew like three or four chords and I never taught this because I never ever played the guitar outside the house and I started playing it. And next thing, when I looked up, like they were all kind of sitting around me in a circle going, Oh, play this one, play that one. Now, unfortunately, I didn't know the songs that they were asking me to play, but it did play. I played what I did know, like for probably four songs. but a talk about an hour between talking in the middle and, oh, how did you learn that? And when these were people that like, are still really good friends of mine, but they never ever intended on playing an instrument or never even thought about it. And they were totally mesmerized. And actually one of them started playing music after that. And he's a really great musician now, you know? Well, like I sound like that gave me a huge incentive to go and learn a little bit more on music kind of, you know, I would be singing a few Oasis songs and things like this. Yeah. And then, you know, you'd kind of get invited to places, you know, people would say, Oh, sure, there you show. Why don't you come along? You know, and then on the last minute they might say, Oh, sure. Bring your guitar. You know. Yeah. Oh, and by the way, bring your guitar, please. It's like, you know, do you want to do you want to, you know, do you want to come out years ago? Like we used to say, do you want to come out and play with us? Yeah. Bring your football. Like, you know, that's the only reason we were never invited. You own the football or a bike or something. People get a go on it. Or if you're the house or your friends got the video games, you know? Yes, exactly. That was it. Yeah, we used to always hit Brian for that, you know, this fella, Brian, you know, and he had a computer game. We used to always say, oh, yeah, let's go to Brian's house. Like I said, tell him that he's great. But he was great. He was great. Like, you know, so yeah, so that kind of thing. Yeah, it's gas, you know. It just brings people together. I love it. I get, you know, I get I'm so excited that we, you know, happen to And I'm just trying to think how we actually stumbled upon your gig. Cause it was a long drive. Three hour round trip. And normally we wouldn't do that on a school night because, you know, we're on a farm, we have to get up pretty early. We've got jobs to do. We've got, you know, things to do, but we're like, no, this guy, this guy's apparently he's awesome and you exceeded our expectations. So thank you. Thanks for coming. It was a really beautiful place. You're very lucky to live there. I mean, this, I get to see a lot of places in the world where I really didn't want to leave there. Like, you know, I really would love to go back and just don't want to go fishing or anything like that. I just want to go and see the place and sit at the side of the river or whatever. I kind of just, you know, it was like as if everybody that was there had a really easy way of life. And I think it was beautiful. Yeah. You find that when you get to the North Scotiate as well, you'll find that people have it. You know, you might meet people who have a really, I did, I met people when I was there who had a really easy, easy living kind of, it's not like that until them. Well, I mean, you're right smack bang in the centre of a city, a busy city. And cities are like that, aren't they? You know, they are. Yeah, yeah. There's always something happening, you know, it's great. You know, yeah. Well, listen, Darry, it has been so. Lovely to chat with you. I've really enjoyed hearing your stories and a little bit more about your journey and how you, you know, how it all came to you being the musician that you are now. And, and yeah, it's, it's just been fabulous. I'm sure the listeners are going to take a lot out of it today. So thank you very much for your time. And I will get the information from your tour, from your Irish tour. Will you come back to Australia? Do you think? Oh, yeah, absolutely. We got plans. Yeah, yeah, loose plans at the moment, like I said, like we're not talking to anybody deliberately at the moment because we're trying to organise the wedding and stuff like that. But yeah, you know, I will talk to him while you go over there and we will definitely come back. And I would absolutely love to take a few days to go back out there to see that beautiful place again, you know? Yeah, that would be awesome. Well, definitely, let's keep in touch and then we can share any. any Australian tours and then yeah, we'll, um, if people want to find out a bit more about you, what's the best place? You can find out on www.dairy.com. That's how you spell my name and that's the website. www.dairy.com. Yeah. Beautiful. I'll put all the links in the show notes as well. Thank you.   It's been really lovely to chat to you. Take care, okay? Thanks very much. Bye bye.