roe - Irish Artist Of The Week

0:00Row first of ten us a little bit about you. So I have been a songwriter for over 10 years now which feels a bit mad. In that time I have turned around the world and met some really cool people. I've gone from genre to genre and at the minute I'm in a band with my best friends and I make in the folk pop rock. How did you first get into music growing up? Was there someone that inspired you or someone within your family or was there an artist that you loved? My family has always been big in the music and I think my dad had a lot to do with it because he would have taken us to a lot of shows and big concerts and kind of opened up that world to us but our house was a big it still is a big U2 and then Lizzie and Pondj over house so it was a lot of rock music and then I think my mom was the one that pushed for us to do music lessons so me and my two

1:02brothers when we were younger so I kind of started out through the classical route of Dean Graves through piano and cello but if you asked me to play cello now I don't think I would have a note in my head but then when I was about 14 my big brother got a guitar for Christmas and he wasn't too interested in it so I knocked that off him and began playing covers and then I was really begging to create a writing and school and kind of the storytelling aspect of it just translated really well onto it so I started writing my own stuff but yeah that's kind of fun music came to be my life I guess. And tell us about the band that you're in with your best friend is it? Is it something different to your own stuff or is it the same? No so my band whenever we are Dean van shows is my partner Ethan Jay and Jon's and Dylan on bass and we're all really good mates so it's really nice being able to share the stage with people that you feel so comfortable with

2:05and they're also great players so it's just it was one of those serendipitous things that kind of came about so it's it's really fun being able to play these songs with them. When you're writing and performing your music is there somebody that you kind of take inspiration from? A lot of people to be honest my my inspirations change weekly and monthly and when it came to the album when I was writing and thinking about thinking about the way that I wanted these songs to come across it was a lot of North American influence so Pine Grove and Angel Androma and Divorce and you know a lot of indie bands that I really look up to now but I always have big idols like Johnny Mitchell I think has always been a staple for me and she's just such such an amazing storyteller and guitarist and the way that she puts across scenarios and her songs and she is one of the best to ever do so I think she is always a big idol for me and your track team player

3:10is one of the reasons we're chatting tell us a little bit about the story behind the track. I started writing the song a couple years ago actually and it was only one of the past year that I sat down to finish it and I think it's because the topic is pretty difficult to come to terms with. I wrote it or any kids that have kind of grown up as the weird kids in school always kind of been on the outskirts of friend grips. I don't really keep in contact with anybody from school and I guess that's a natural thing like people have different interests and you kind of grow up and out of that but I was never kind of the one that people naturally went to so this song kind of came about because of that feeling of being on the outskirts and the kind of loneliness that comes from that. I'm a big fan of movies and all of the songs on the album I kind of envision little cinematic moments for them but team player for me was very 90s 2000s kind of college

4:13school so I wanted to, lyrically, I wanted this song to be universal and for anybody anywhere that's less than he has had that kind of experience or is having that kind of experience to relate to it so it's very like mean girls 10 things I paid about you in that kind of genre. I think the song is just really for anybody who's ever thought that kind of loneliness growing up. And you mentioned your album last dog has just come out, tell us a little bit about the album itself. This album wasn't intentionally written as an album. It kind of appeared I've nowhere. I've been through a big period of grief in my life. It's a family dog actually. It's two family dogs pass the way within like a month of each other. I was dealing with that and a lot of change in my life over the last couple, both for last year. I tend to write myself out of my head

5:15so these songs were the kind of culmination of that of the creative side that came along with the grace. The album kind of knotted itself together and that way it was never pretty meant to be an album until I sat down and thought oh I actually have these songs and they belong together and this is what I want the meaning behind the album to be because it just it was a very natural thing. So it's called last dog because not only because of the dogs passing away but because the past year of my life have kind of been wandering and a wee bit less less and it felt like this perfect way of explaining the past year of my life. So it was a beautiful thing to kind of come out of a really dark period of my life I guess. Tell us a little bit about the Glastonbury's love that came off back in 2017. Yes so that was my first ever festival appearance. We just went to Hell for Latter and decided well not decided but they came to us. It was three the BBC here kind of

6:18patched a few artists for the festival and they came to me and it was an insane experience to have as the first time you get up on a festival stage. We spent the whole weekend just in awe of being around these artists and 17 year old me just couldn't believe that she was on the same stage as people that she listened to so that kind of came out in a word and it was and that amazing experience to have that young. I don't think anything could probably beat that for you would it? There's been moments I've had hairline shows where it's been really special because they sell out and then you know that the audience is there for you and the stories the people tell you after and I've had I've had a lot of big shows and a lot of small shows throughout this career and the most special moments for me are whenever I get to connect with somebody and I think that's why I write is because it's sharing a part of me but it's also being able to put the word standing

7:19right in that people might feel but not necessarily know how to put into the world. You've done some amazing things over the past 10 years but sometimes this doesn't happen to Irish artists. All that often is your songs making it on to television. You've had tracks on made in Chelsea, the only way is Essex and also a Netflix production called Terrace House. Tell us how something like that happens. It's the weirdest thing and you know what it does it's just that people come across the music whether it's through a playlist or through a recommendation and it always surprises me whenever creatives and that kind of world see my songs as the sign check to something they've created. I think it's an amazing thing and it happened the past couple years maybe two years ago now take Nataro and their film Am I okay with the kuda Johnson in it like I they picked the song that I'd written over seven years ago. To this day I have no idea how they

8:20find it but it's an amazing thing that they they lessened the song and thought that that felt it's always a surprise. Out of everything that has happened throughout your career has there been a standout moment for you I know you said the gigs are great and stuff like that and you get to connect and they sell out and but has there been something that you're particularly proud of that has happened. There's been many many many probably moments might my first album we did a gig in in dairy and it was an incredible night because it was people I'd grown up alongside that I really respected that had come down to the gig and it was just the most awesome thing you could imagine so that for one one of the other biggest ones would have been the snobot shelter where got to do a you-carrying a run with them and it just opened my eyes and I couldn't believe that I was playing the same stage as them and they're also the most lovely guys and the whole team is so lovely so it was just it was the best way to to do that so I I still can't believe I was playing

9:26those stages with them so I think it's something that I'll never forget. And how does a tour like that come a bice? It was three guys themselves they're notorious for supporting local artists and small local artists and if you look at their lineups out throughout the years they they always put on maybe people that you haven't heard of that are from like from Ireland or from Northern Ireland and it's just such amazing thing today when you're on that level of notoriety you know they don't have to do it but they do it just came through guy hearing my songs and deciding that I was going to be on the tour. And talking about gigs how have we got anything to come over the next couple of months I suppose with you bringing it out a new album? Yeah so I'm playing Belfast on October 14th it's Macausie Cafe and Maharshan Hotel it's kind of like this game Mark Macausky puts together a series of gigs where it's very intimate and storytelling

10:26and it's just going to be the loveliest night I can't wait there is a couple other gigs but I can talk about them yet but yeah that would be the main one isn't Belfast. For people who are looking to stay up to date with you and maybe maybe hope and to go to some of those unannounced gigs over the next couple of months where can they find you on social media? It's usually at real music but I also have a newsletter at I'm on subsite if you want to keep up with anything that I'm doing and that's probably the best place to subscribe to.