I have some new tour dates to tell you about. These are new. I'm going to let you know Colorado Springs in the Colorado, October 23rd. Casper, Wyoming, October 24th. Billings, Montana, October 25. In Missoula, Montana, on October 26. Looking forward to getting into that beautiful part of America. Also, we have shows this week in Las Vegas, August 30th and 31st. Then Bend, Spokane, Portland, Vancouver, Oklahoma City, Northern Little Rock, Springfield, Kansas City, Sioux Falls, La Crosse, Green Bay, Moline, Lafayette, and Beaumont, Texas. Get all your tickets at theovan. Com/taur. Thank you so much for supporting Live Comedy. Make sure you go through that link. Otherwise, you'll end up on a secondary site, and those aren't the prices that we are charging. Gang. Today's guest is a singer-songwriter out of Ireland. Ireland is one of the most beautiful and complex and simple places all at the same time. A wonderful time that I had there recently. I'm really grateful to spend time with him. I've been a fan for years, and we've been in touch for years, and glad to make this happen. He has had hits like Paradise and Kiss Me, amongst many others. I got to see him play last night here in Nashville, Tennessee.

Today's guest is my friend Dermot Kennedy. Shine that light on me. I'll sit and tell you my stories. Shine on me. And I will find a song I've been singing just for. Kiss me the way.

Oh, man.

Sorry.

No, it's okay. I didn't mean I meant that for me.

Oh, yeah. I understand.

I like that you did it.

Dude, yeah. Listen, I think after the first song last night, I leaned over here, I was like, God, dude, I might be gay, dude. I was This is really awesome, man.

It felt so serious. Like I was saying to you afterwards, it felt like a very serious show. When I play a headline show, we've got moments that are down and somber and the moments that are fun and up. When I do a show like that, like the Blue Bird last night, it stays serious, and I haven't done that in a long time. I think crowds sometimes want both. I would worry while I'm doing it if people are like, this is a lot of seriousness.

It feels serious, yeah.

Yeah, which it should be. I take it seriously, but it's just like, I think sometimes you need relief. But I think then as well, I like having funny moments in between songs talking to people because I don't take life very seriously, but I take the songs very seriously.

Yeah, man, when you got into the songs, you were at Blue Bird Cafe last night for our listeners, and that's a small venue in Nashville, and it's probably... I mean, it may seat 60?

Yeah, if even. Yeah.

I was in the second row and I was 5 feet from Gabe Simon, who was playing with you, accompanying you. I could have done a couple of notes. I could have...

You could have. You should have.

Yeah, I could have chimed. Literally, I could have chimed in.

Yeah, it would have been nice. It would have been a very welcome thing, I think.

But yeah, it was captivating, man. It was so incredible. I was like, yeah, it felt so intense in there at moments. You could see everybody going through... I was going through the history of relationships and I felt bad. After one song, I was like, I got to text this one gal.

Yeah, we spend so little... I think in daily life, we go through the motions. I think I would like to think moments like that maybe put you in a spot where you think about life and just assess things a little bit. That's what it does for me. I don't know who I'd be without it. You know what I mean? I think sometimes in terms of the therapy and catharsis I get from it, I think I take it for granted 100 %. I don't know who I'd be without that outlet. You know what I mean? I find it Sometimes it's tricky. Like last night, started the show, I loved it. End of the show, I was feeling good. In the middle of the show, I went within myself for some reason. But yeah, I think I'd be a much worse person if I had all that emotion bottled up.

Are the Irish notorious for struggling to show emotion or something?

I think there's definitely issues in terms of... Men in particular, I think in terms of not opening up to people, I think it's something that's improving constantly, but definitely. And I think, I mean, it's no surprise that Ireland has a rich history in the arts because that's how it comes out. You know what I mean? Authors, actors, musicians, everything.

Yeah, man, it was crazy, dude. It was like I went through it all. I was sitting there, I was like, I even got home and I texted an ex-girlfriend. I was like, I think I owe you a call.

That's a nice thing, right?

No, it was good. And yeah, I'm glad I did. Yeah, there's a lot of ballads there.

I know. Yeah. I was thinking where you...

And it's because you don't have all the instrumental. I've listened to your albums where it's like you have the whole... And some of those are upbeat songs, and it's different. But when you're playing them just right there for everybody.

Totally. But even how you frame something is so important. I even laughed when you were singing Kiss Me There a Minute Ago because that, to me, is one of the best songs I've made, lyrically, in terms of how it's put together. But if I could do it again, it would just be me and a guitar. It'd be like last night. You know what I mean? And I think You frame things in a certain way for certain goals and stuff. But when I play that song by itself, I'm like, oh, it should be this way. I think it takes courage to take everything away from a song. And it's only recently I've got that back. Because like I said last night, when I would play shows like that when I was younger, I felt so confident. You know what I mean? Because I love that no one knew who I was, and I loved that I had something to bring to the table and people might be excited. And I felt, like I said last night, I felt borderline arrogant about it. But now when I'm doing it, I got quite nervous for last night. But if it's 10,000 people, I don't get nervous at all.

But things like last night, I do get a bit nervous.

Yeah. Yeah. Just now when you said it used to be nice to be a surprise. Dude, that was the best. Yeah. That's one thing I miss the most about... I'm grateful for having people come out and people get to know you and stuff, but it was awesome when only you knew you, in a way. And you got to be this... You were always your secret because you're you, right? And you build up this, especially as a comedian, you build up this rapport with how to interact with the world and to surprise people. They're like, What is this guy? That always seemed interesting to me. And then people get to know how your instrument works. It's just the surprise isn't there anymore, and it's different.

Totally. I mean, that moment, I'm sure you feel this, that moment where you feel like you've arrived and people know who you are. And yet no longer do you surprise people. And so you feel like you have to change or deviate from what you're doing and to try and keep that feeling. It's tough. I find it difficult. I know for myself, I remember seeing a I think in my thing, an interview with Drake years ago, and he was just saying that moment where people are sharing your music and say, you got to listen to this, you'll never get that back again, no matter how successful you get. Because that's the most exciting part. I don't know. I think for what you do, for what I do, for anyone involved in the arts, I think the work is the only thing that's exciting. It's the only thing. And of course, you play big shows and you have ambition and you try and grow your career, and all those things are lovely. But at the root of it, if you're not, I always say you could be miserable playing in stadiums. Do you know what I mean?

Or you could be completely content playing shows like last night. So I think it's very important to keep that.

Yeah, I noticed when I have some new stuff, and that is the most exciting time when I'm ready, when I'm like, wait till I get to this new part of the show, and it's going to be fun for me, and it's going to be fun for them.

Oh, yeah. And I'm sure you could play to 40,000 people, and it can go either way. It can be completely euphoric or it can feel hollow either way. But nothing, the work is the only thing, I think.

It's a good point. Yeah. Yeah, and especially these days, there's so much surrounding things that you have to do to manage yourself, like social media and just... I mean, specifically, I guess, social media, probably. It's such a big world of it all.

Do you get involved with that side of things? Do you run your own stuff and all that?

No, I split it with my producers and stuff. But I'm particular about what we put out and try to be sensitive or try to think, okay, this feels like me. Sometimes they're like, no, this is good. And I don't have an idea.Of course.

Yeah.

So trusting other people sometimes with your own voice. Totally.

I think I find it hard sometimes. I spend way too much time worrying about how I'm perceived. You know what I mean? And I think things like social media only make that more inflamed. And then, yeah, you just get closer to forgetting what you're actually truly about. I try and stay away.

Yeah.

But it's healthy sometimes.

Well, before this conversation gets any gay or dude, and no offense if it does, dude. I think Irish people-No offense to me. Yeah, sorry. And it's probably me, dude. I mean, look, who knows what will happen with us. But I think, yeah, dude, the Irish I couldn't believe what the Irish were. I always had an idea.

That wasn't your first time there, though, recently, wasn't it?

It wasn't, but it was my first time, really, with my eyes open.

Yeah, I saw you in a field with a lot of cows. Where was that?

I was down in Cork County. Brilliant. You'll milk anything down there, people. Yeah. And there's no women. This is the thing about people are always like, Oh, the girls are coming. They're going to be here. And you'll go to the next place. They're coming, the lasses are coming. It's a false promise. They never come. Who made all the men? What did they fall out of?

Yeah, they're the ones that stuck around, I guess.

I guess. I mean, here I am. This is some women we met. It was like, unbelievable, dude. Actually, these are some drunk and mixed fellows that we met out there, dude. These are the blackest guys I saw in Ireland right here.

Were you invited to this field?

No, we got there and we wanted to just drive out into the distance. So we stopped at a farm and a man took us and showed us all about the dairy and gave us fresh milk or whatever. And Did you drink the milk straight from the cow? We drank it straight out of it. Did you really? I mean, it felt, and I don't know how old the cow was. It felt a little illegal, I'll be honest with you. I mean, the first sip, yeah, that's normal. But if you... I had a couple of sips and I'm like, how?

You got into it?

It's like, you'd We'll definitely peek around for the police after a bit. But it was just unbelievable. We just wanted to see the countryside. We wanted to feel something that felt normal. A farmer took us into his home and sat at his table.

No way. I'm glad you got around the country. I think a lot of people go to Dublin for two or three days, and they just experienced that. But Ireland's a beautiful place, and you can see so much of it in a couple of hours. It's a small country.

Yeah, and you have to see it because if you ask somebody something, you can't understand what they're saying. And so you have to just believe that they're going to be okay when you meet a lot of Irish people.

Yeah, they love you, too. Did you like... You had good shows?

Yeah. I felt a lot of love and support. And it was awesome. And it's just such a unique culture. They have a good time. They know how to have a good time. They're not as overly concerned with a lot of other bullshit as we are in the States.

Definitely not. If I go on tour in Australia, I feel a similar thing. People just don't take it too seriously.

You've been down there? Yeah. Australia is so great, man.

Yeah, similar thing. There's no bullshit. You feel good energy from people.

But I have a comedian friend, Mark Hayes, and he's Irish. And so he's always cuing me in on just the shame of the Irish and the dark I guess there's a lot of shame over there.

I guess there is, but also, I don't know if you heard this phrase earlier there about notions, this idea that when you start doing well at anything, you get notions. You start feeling yourself a bit, and you have to be very careful I love that. I think humility, you see Irish people who just won medals at the Olympics, they just, in the interviews, they're just like, No, I don't know. I stink. They're so mean to themselves. It's terrible. But yeah, happy medium would be good. I think sometimes you are constantly downplaying what you do. I think it would be nice if people celebrated themselves a bit more. But notions is a real thing. I know people have said it about me. You get to a certain point and some people just don't like you for no reason.

Yeah, I could maybe see that because there's this more unity of us as a group.

Yeah, I remember there was a thing years ago. I think it was Damian Rice told the story. They were in a restaurant and there was lobsters in a...

And who was Damian Rice?

He's a brilliant musician from Ireland. He had a song called Canon Ball and an album called, Oh, It's like a Classic. But he was talking about lobsters in a tank. I think it was him. I don't mean to attribute this quote to him if it's not him. But he was... Apparently, there was a lobster trying to get out. And he was like, oh, careful, it's going to get out. And someone was like, no, they're Irish lobsters. So the other ones will drag it back down. Oh, yeah. Apparently.

The shellfish. I don't know.

I love it. You feel massive support, too. Don't get me wrong. It's the best place in the world for doing anything because people just were so quick to celebrate our own, and I love that.Oh.

That's beautiful.Yeah. Yeah. What's There's an article right there. It was about an Olympian, Irish Rower's Brilliant response to winning an Olympic gold medal goes viral.

It's all right. Yeah, I can't complain.

In a BBC interview, following the win, the pair were asked, Paul O'Donovan, Fenton McCarthy, gold medal winning athletes. How does it sound? How does that sound? It's all right. Yeah, you can't complain about it, really. I wouldn't go around introducing myself.

Yeah, it's that type of thing. You wouldn't talk about it. But I love that, too, because we do take care of business, but don't talk about it too much.

Yeah, there's a bit more humility.

Definitely.

Yeah, man, there was so much like There was something you said last night that I really resonated with. It was about wishing you could slow down time or grab on to a moment a little bit more and just how impossible it is and what a fight it is.

Yeah, I'm crap at it. What about you? I can't. When things are good, I don't know, I feel like I'm... Sometimes I feel as if I'm waiting for something bad to happen. You know what I mean? You're almost just waiting for bad news or bad phone call or something. I don't know, instead of just enjoying the fact that it's good right now. I feel very bad at that. And again, music puts me in a better place. But yeah, I feel that way. I find it very difficult to settle into a good feeling.

Yeah, I think it's hard. I mean, it's hard to have the moment. I've talked about this before, but the moment used to be a real thing because we couldn't record it all the time, right? We couldn't capture it. So the moment, it was like it had so much value. The only way you were going to learn about what had happened was through someone else, through a storyteller. So it promoted so much more storytelling. It's like cameras have taken all that away from us. Not all the time, and not all of it, but it's Definitely, it's squashed a lot of that. Definitely, yeah. In the moment, if you got to see a girl at school, you couldn't go home and look at pictures of her. You had to imagine.

Oh, so you would wait till tomorrow.

What she was doing, and mostly in your mind, you imagine, Oh, she's thinking of me. She's drawing pictures of me in the walls and everything. And then you got to school the next day, and she still didn't care about you.

Yeah, or you would see that they're online and they're not texting you. That type of thing. Yeah, it's squashed.

Yeah. I think stuff like that I miss because your imagination became so much more of a... It did its natural work.

Absolutely. I think about it. Yeah, my livelihood comes from my imagination. You know what I mean? That's all I have. And so, yeah, you got to be careful. I think what you put in is very important. If I read, I can feel it. I can feel ideas start to generate. If I walk around just all day and stay just literally looking at the most boring stuff, I can feel ideas start to come, but I got to be careful and not let it get squashed all the time.

What do you mean? Get squashed by what?

As in, if I look at my phone too much, it's just sludge in my brain. Do you know what I mean? It's just bad thoughts and stupid stuff. No good song is going to come out of that. But also, I spend so much time by myself and all that thing. To stay creative, I find it difficult. I don't know. I know we were in your car last week and you were saying you thought of something and you were like, Oh, I need to write that down. It's that constantly. You're constantly trying to grab that thing or that moment of inspiration or something that can translate to part of your show. Yeah.

You notice, especially a phrase or a thing, you're like, Oh, I've never said that, or I never thought about that. After a while, I notice it's like, if it makes me laugh, then it might make somebody else laugh. I have to Because at this point, you have to think maybe you and your audience have some symbiosis or whatever. We're similar people, yeah. Yeah, we're similar. Definitely. Yeah, if they told you this thing you just heard, you're like, Oh, this will probably play. Do you base songs? Do you start with a nugget of a line?

Definitely. I find it hard when someone's like, What you want to write about? It's like, I don't know yet. I'll have a lyric in a song last night. So the first song I played is called An Evening I'll Not Forget. And I know there's a lot of lyrics in that from the best days of my life and from the worst days of my life, and they just mix together. So I struggle sometimes when someone's like, What's this song about or what you want to write about? It's everything. There'll be one lyric about hanging out with my friends and one lyric about someone pass in a way and difficult things all mixed in together. But it all... I think sometimes when I, and this is overly serious, but I think the one lasting message through my music, hopefully, is a hopeful thing. You know what I mean? So if a song seems down, it's never all the way down. There's always a hopeful moment. And if it's up, it just I'm trying to lift people up a little bit. If I could have a goal from people coming to my show is just they feel a bit better about where they're at and how their life is.

And not in a corny way, but just that they think about things and realize that life is good a little bit. I would love that.

Even a down moment in Ireland is pretty good, probably, I think. Yeah. Like I said, the Irish like, oh, yeah, we'll take it.

Oh, definitely. Yeah. People are good. We... Yeah, like I even... I don't know. When I get too far from home, I I miss that feeling. I don't know. There's so many people that are happy, go lucky. Good people. I'm sure you saw tons of them. But just... Yeah. So that's what I mean is between songs, I don't feel serious. We're all on in-air monitors on stage and in between songs when we're on tour, it's relentless. People shouting at each other. And we're all just communicating on stage. It's just people taking the piss out of me while I'm doing something. I'm trying to sing through all of that. Everybody on stage will be slagging me in some way in my ears while I'm trying to say something really sincere. And then I'll laugh and the whole crowd will cheer because I look happy. But it's really because someone's slagging me about something. Yeah.

You know what? There's nobody likes to laugh more, I think, than the Irish, maybe. Really? Yeah. Maybe that's something that I realized. I was just so... Yeah, people just love to fucking laugh there.

It's very sarcastic. Yes.

They love to rip on each other, and it's okay. They don't take things as personally. No.

Yeah, in a way that sometimes I'll say something sarcastic over here, and it doesn't necessarily land, and people think I'm quite serious about it, so you have to be careful. Yeah.

Some of the songs last night, it was like... Yeah, a lot of them felt relationship-based or trying to capture a moment from a relationship or relive a relationship. Where does some of that energy come from? Do you feel like that's been something that's been very important in your life? I mean, it's important in a lot of people's lives.

Yeah, I think I think even the relationships, you know sometimes- Were you on the Bachelor or something? No, I was meant to sing. What was I meant to sing on? I was meant to sing on the Bachelorette years ago, and it fell through. Thank God. Yeah. But I was-Yeah, because after some of the songs, I'm like, Jesus, how many? No, No, you think it's like this?

This guy's been, yeah. I'm like, this guy's been on a lot of dates.

No, that couldn't be further from the truth. But I think sometimes I'll sing a song and it'll be from the perspective of anybody, like a family member. Sometimes I'll just embody someone else in my life. I think it's an interesting thought, right? To think that my community, say my close friends or my family at home, we all have the same feelings and emotions. It's just I sing about it. Do you know what I mean? And so sometimes I feel like a mouthpiece for them.Oh, yeah.That puts me in a good place because I'm not thinking about my own life all the time. So that's where all the dates come from. I've been on very few.

Were you not a big dater growing up, really?

Oh, man. I was like... I'd say these people went to school with me.Well.

There are no women there.

Supply and demand. I was...

That's not your issue.

I'd say this. A lot of people went to school with me who have, if they watched this, would hear me speak for the first time.

Wow, really? Yeah. What do you hate? Like the public speaking of it or something?

Not even public speaking, but just... I just felt so awkward in school. We used to go to... You know the way you'd have your locker at school and you would get your books for the first half of the day and then get your books for the second and drop them off. I would walk around with every book for the whole day in my bag so I didn't have to go to the lockers for that potential interaction. I hated it, man. Yeah, not good.

God. And is that a a general Is that a Irish thing? I don't think so.

I don't know what it was in me, but I just felt quiet. Even nowadays, I feel that way. I think it's lovely. I'll talk to you and I know we can talk about things and get into it, but just general socializing, I suck at it. You You get to an age where you don't apologize for it and you don't care anymore. But when I was a kid, yeah, I hated it.

Yeah, I got so nervous around girls. I just remember, well, on the school bus, I would get erections all the time, I guess, because of the motor going. And they would play music that we weren't allowed to listen to at home. It was not sexy music, but just pop music or whatever. And so I just would turn my whole body just facing.

Just a constant state of arousal. In school, you mean?

That was just on the bus, dude. When I got to school, I think there was so much violence and stuff at our school that it was hard to stay a rector on a lot of violence. Yeah, that's a difficult thing. If there's broken glass or somebody getting beaten, I can't get an erection. Nor should you. Yeah. Maybe I'm old-fashioned or whatever, but it's like... Yeah, I just... But yeah, around girls, I was always afraid. Never could ask a girl to a dance or anything. This one girl, man, I loved her. I think I did anyway. I don't know. I looked at her really hard every day. Yeah, finally, I needed to express to her how I felt, and I saved up as much saliva in my mouth as I could one day, and I just spit it right into her hair.Oh, lovely.

Like an animal. You know what I'm saying?

Every primal thing.

Yeah, it was all I knew.

Yeah, you lost control. Yeah, I guess I lost control. I remember. Yeah, I don't know. I couldn't... Those situations didn't even come up for me. I would just hide. I remember there was a girl that used to fancy me, I guess, and it got to the point where I stopped putting gel on my hair and stuff because I was like, I need to look scroffier for school, so no one pays attention.Wow.Weird, right?

I got to tone this down.

Yeah, too good, man. Yeah, I can't be like this.

Back into the more.

Yeah, just hide in the corner constantly.

What is a more, anyway?

More is a British thing, I guess.Oh, I thought it was like a swamp.I.

Thought it was like a swamp, is it?

In my mind, I would think of a misty moor. Yeah, it's like a swamp in the middle of nowhere. It makes me think of Jack the Ripper.

Oh, yeah. Was that you guys as guy, Jack the Ripper?

No, no, no, no, no. We don't claim Jack.

Who's your most famous serial killer ever there?

Well.

Besides alcoholism, I'm going to say.

If you look at, there's a great podcast called West Cork, and you could think it's fiction, but it's a true story. Now, it's not a serial killer. It's one stand-along murder. There's very few things like But it's an amazing story. And it's about this lady that was killed in Cork, in West Cork, by the ocean. Horrific thing years and years ago, but they still haven't found the person that did it. And you know how Ireland is. There's a lot of talk in the town about who did it. And even up until recently, the fellow that they thought did it was selling pizzas in the market and stuff, and everyone will go just to see him and all that stuff. But no, I know I'm wrong, but I don't think there's many serial killers. I know here you've got classics.

Yeah, I guess. People, it's definitely, there's a lot more, we kill over here. Who's your favorite? My favorite serial killer? That's a great question, man. You know, there was the He was a BTK serial killer. Who's that? He was out of Wichita, Kansas. Yeah, he was like an electrician. He ran He ran his community church, and he was just killing people.

They're all weirdly handsome as well, aren't they? Not him.

Not him. We've had some of the handsome ones. Ted Bundy, I believe, was the handsome guy. Dom was a famous one. That show was pretty great. But yeah, I guess. I don't know. I should think about that a little bit more, who my favorite one is.

Yeah. No, there's very few things like that in Ireland. It's a small country.

Well, and you also, yeah, you'd rather If you kill somebody, they're not going to be able to drink anymore.

Yeah, true. So true.

It's like, Hey, we got to keep this guy alive. We got to keep the pub in service.

Local commerce, yeah.

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Definitely. But tons of hip hop. I'm listening to hip hop 99% of the time. Oh, you are? Yeah. I remember my friend had 50 Cent's first album, and that was just huge for me. It's funny because I listen to it all the time, and I never try and let it influence my music too much because I'd just be pretending to be a rapper, and that would be ridiculous. But it does influence the way I write. I'll write verses in a hip hop type way, and no one really knows or acknowledges it, but to me, I can feel the flow. If there's no beat or anything, there may be no drums or whatever, but it's just to me, that's written in a hip hop way. I would love to get certain features and stuff. That would be my favorite. Yeah, definitely.

Yeah, I feel like that could easily happen, especially now because there's so many... There's a lot more featuring now, it feels like.

Yeah, it's important. J. Cole, to me, is number one. That would be an incredible thing to me. I would love that so much.

You're here working in Nashville right now on music? Yes. Yeah. Have you met up with other artists while you've been here?

A little bit, yeah. It's funny because, like you said, Gabe Simon and Joshua were with me at the show last night in the Blue Bird. But also the idea is you have your friends with you playing songs, and it's like you go back and forth. I'll do a song, you do a song, they do a song. But I don't have friends like that. Do you know what I mean? I feel quite solitary when I go to these places. Sometimes people have tons of features and have tons of friends on songs. I feel quite content in this way, but a bit of a loner in the music biz. I feel like I go about my business in a loner-y way, which is fine. I'm okay with that. I love people. I think they're incredible. I think the other artists in my genre that are doing well, I absolutely love them. But oftentimes, if I'm doing a thing like last night, I'm just like, I'll do it by myself. It'll be fine.

Yeah. Definitely. It's not really a choice that you don't want to work with other people. It's just like, this has been going fine. This is how I'm doing. Do you feel like you don't want to bother other people ever?

Yes, definitely. Also, I don't want to seem as though I'm reaching out to somebody for their clout or whatever. I don't want to seem sweating about it. I don't think you could seem like that. Nice one. Yeah, I appreciate it.

To be honest with I don't think just... I don't know you super well, but we've gotten hung out a few times. I don't think that you could seem like that.

Okay. Yeah.

That doesn't help anything.

No, but you know when you can- You're still not working with Jay Cole.

But I think you easily could. I mean, we went out the other night and Zack Brown saw you, and he was like, Immediately, he brought you onto his show.

Yeah, thank you for that. He said that immediately. He didn't think at all. It was cool.

He just asked. He was like, so excited to see you. Yeah, we randomly ran in and we were at the Red Clay Stray's, and yeah, there you are right That's crazy, dude. I saw that video. It gave me chills, dude.

It was nuts. It was funny. I lingered for so long because we rehearsed it beforehand and he was like, I'll sing the outro verse. He said, You sing the first half of the outro verse, I'll sing the second half. I was like, perfect. So I sang my bit, then went and hit away with the Bongo player for a while. And then the outro verse came along and I walked back out to the walkway and I was like, All right, sweet. Here we go. And then he started singing the outro verse. I was like, Oh, no, now I'm just standing here. So in Being an awkward person, I was like, I'm just standing here in front of 70,000 people with nothing to do. I should have been gone ages ago. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He was lovely, though.

God, that's so cool looking, dude.

It's nice. It's the best thing. I don't get nervous for that, which is weird.

Yeah. Oh, man. Yeah, karaoke makes me so sad. I could not even imagine having to sing in front of people. So when did you start to learn that you had singing talent? I know that some of this will be like elementary stuff to you, but for some of my audience that doesn't know you. When did you start to learn that? Because how do you go from being this, not recluse, but this like... Quiet kid.Shadow lurkering.

Yeah, of course. Good guy.

We don't want to make it sound like a villain. No. But this guy who's this patient person. How do you go from that to being able to express yourself? Because, dude, when you It's like there's a lot of levels to what you do. Sometimes I feel like there's some Mac Miller. Sometimes I feel like there's this Dr. Seuss of Irish funerals going on. There's so many. Then sometimes it's just like this, you almost feel like you're at an opera or something. It's really impressive.

Nice of a man. Thank you. I try and do a few different things. But I remember my sister played piano, and she still does when we were kids. Classic thing, I would just sing in the back of the car, and I remember my mom, I was just loud. I'm still out. And so, yeah, I just started figuring out. I played soccer quite seriously when I was a kid, seriously in my head. And so music was like a secondary thing. So I never worried about playing to people because I was thinking about playing football. So I would always... It came quite easy to me to play to people because I didn't see it as being that important the first few times. And so, yeah, it just gradually became a thing. I started realizing I wanted to write music. I'd go into town and do open mics and stuff.Oh, you would?Yeah. Like Dublin is so supportive. That's what I mean. I know I always talk about notions and all that stuff, but it's just like, it's a nice place. I was 15, 16 playing in these pubs and people would do anything to help you.

I don't know what it's like in the States. Oh, yeah, yeah. No, that Irish will do anything.

Yeah. And if they see some potential in you. They'll just say, I know this person, I know that person. Be careful with this and da da da. And loads of advice and all that thing. So, yeah, just gradually. I mean, I'm 32 now, so I've been doing this since I was 19, I guess. You know what I mean? So it's a long road. I know we were talking about the red clay strays and how they put time in. I think if you get to a certain level, there's very few people who haven't had that journey. Do you know what I mean? I know you had Luke Holmes on here. I know everybody's got their journey in music, but there's so much time you spend knowing you're good and being frustrated that you don't have a career. You know what I mean? I think you just have to be patient. It's so silly to me. It's so arbitrary in a way because it's this thing where, like you said, you're lurking in the shadows knowing you're good, but no one's paying attention. And then out of nowhere, people decide you're just really good. I knew that before.

But it just takes time.

Yeah, it is. That is such a fine line.

What's it like for you? You know what I mean? When you knew you had this potential, but people didn't know you were. Yeah, I thought that I was funny.

I think I was sitting on a porch one day at school in college, and this kid's like, You should do stand-up comedy, man. And I was like, Fuck you, dude. You're an idiot, right? And the guy was an idiot. So I was right. But Yeah, eventually I started doing comedy. But was it that classic thing? Yeah, there were times you start to do good. Yeah, and then you're like, why? You see other people like, I'm doing... But I think a lot of it's just time, and it's like, yeah, weather weathering that storm. And then weathering that storm of other people's careers have been going, they have to have their successes. And so that's just the way that time works.

Do you find that hard sometimes when you see people having massive moments? Yeah. I know you are, too, so it's probably made easier by that, of course.

I definitely did earlier on. And then now it's like we're able to sell out a club and able to sell out some spots. So once you can do that, you start to feel a little bit more like In control. At least, okay, at least I'm doing my job. I think that's part of it, too. It's like, hell, it's hard to admit to somebody that you're a comedian because everybody's funny and everybody has good stories, especially being from Louisiana. So They don't even have any comedy clubs in Louisiana because people are so funny just talking to them. Yeah. So it's like, I'm not going to go pay $7 and go in that.

When my friend is funnier than I am. Yeah.

When it's fucking Randy out here.

Did you spend a lot of time doing sets and clubs with just tough ones?

Yeah, for years, man. Yeah, I would drive and do all the sets. I think there was a part of me that wanted to be good at it. Of course. And then I think, after a while, I think the art chooses you because I didn't end up getting married. I didn't have a child. Those things didn't start to take up my time. So I was still available for it.Of course. Yeah. So, yeah, I think there's a moment where some of the art chooses you.

I keep thinking about you spitting on that girl's head. Terrible times.

God, if she only knew. I tried to, I think, draw a heart when I spit or something.

I tried to-Yeah, I tried to save it.

I tried to do something. I remember doing like that a little or something. I don't know. I wanted it to be artistic. I don't fucking know. But that was the only way I could express myself.

I know what you mean about the saliva. I find it even when I'm doing this.

I don't know, man. Yeah, where were we talking?

But it's been good. I love being here, honestly. Have you? It's a good place making music. Yeah, it's a good place. Definitely.

I think-Yeah, and I think if you You have to put yourself out there some here. And if you like to do your own thing. I mean, your music does feel very important to you, like you said, right? Like the stuff you're not trying to go for, it doesn't seem like some pop thing or trying to read a bunch of other people's songs that they've written. No. It seems like you're trying to make your voice.

Yeah, if it was like someone else, there'd be no point. There's people I'm a fan of and there's people I'm inspired by, but you got to take a mix all that and make your own thing. Yeah, otherwise it's boring.

Because that's a big part of the culture here is all the big songwriter groups, and then they service the musicians.

Totally. And you got to be careful because you find... I've written songs where I'm like, Oh, no, that's too like this person. There's no place in the world for that. I think it's funny. Sometimes you'll have people... See, I remember we were talking about Louis Capaldi the other day. I remember for a long time, I was pushing to do just piano and vocal, and it never really worked out. And then He had his massive song. I was getting used to being someone you loved. And then I remember someone in my team that I worked with was like, I was thinking maybe piano and vocal, and I was like, This is so obvious. You did that already. So it's so senseless that I would go and I don't know what I'm talking about. Unless it felt right. But this idea of just copying something else that did well is weird, and we'll never get the right results, I think.

Yeah, I think you see a lot of that with music. You see someone breaks out of the pack, and then there's a lot of other people that start to sound just like them.

Oh, totally. You see it now, like Saint Noah and Zack Bryant having these huge moments. I'm inspired by it, but I have to make sure I do my own thing and don't, what's the word, try and replicate it, I guess, because you'll just end up on your ass. Yeah. Because you'll just end up on your ass.

Yeah, because then you're just like, Oh, he sounds like this person. Totally.

The reason it works for them is because they are them, and they're uniquely them, and people are drawn to that, definitely. I think even the attitude that's contained within your music, you see Zack Bryant, the recordings and everything, they're quite, what's the word? Like they're so rough and ready, but people are drawn to that. Everything's so perfect nowadays. So people just like that. If he's literally just pressing record and that take is that take. I think it's incredible. Again, I heard Luke Holmes say, they'll go in and do five songs in an evening. I think that's beautiful. I've been in situations now where things can get quite fragmented and you're like, okay, we'll do piano, then do vocal. It's all quite polished and put together. So I want to get back to that side of things.

Yeah. Yeah, that feels like a challenge. I think it's a challenge in any art. How do I stay me? And then how do I stay me as I change? And then is it okay? Is it okay in any art? How do I stay me? And then how do I stay me as I change? And then is it okay? Is it okay in any art? This changed me at the risk of the people who are paying attention to me will understand.

Totally. I get to hide behind the music. In your line of work, I think you are your brand, right? Changing has got to be a whole different thing. Do you know what I mean? I can change my music all I like, and I'll still be me underneath it. But I find for comedians or people that do what you do, it's tough because your name is the whole thing, right? If you change as a person, people could criticize, could enjoy it, whatever.

Yeah, but to not even evolve, I think. I think that's the thing that I'm thinking of. A guy told me one time he's a manager, he's worked at a fancy management company in Los Angeles. And he said, your audience will grow up with you, so you have to grow up as well, or it can get stale. And I thought that was just interesting. It's just like, yeah, that's true. If I be afraid to change or don't grow up, then they're going to grow up past me.Of.

Course.yeah, I got that with music, too.Oh, yeah. You try and about what age you were when people first started listening to your music and then change with that. At 50 Cent is a good example. He always... He stopped making music sometimes because he was just like, it's not relevant to those people anymore. It's interesting.

Yeah, I'm trying to think. Yeah, there's a little bit of Zack. Brian, I want to hear this a little bit of James Blake, but it's you. It definitely felt like this guy at the shipyard who's just going to fucking show you what's going on. I hope so. You know?

I hope so.

My voice was blown out too last night. His girl, she better pay attention. It felt like that.

Yeah, it's stories.

If he goes out on the boat with you to fish or crab or whatever, he's going to be a little loud sometimes.

Yeah, I got told I even talk too loud. A speech therapist recently was like, You need to relax Really?Constantly, yeah. They said, because I have trouble with my voice sometimes. Even last night, my voice went about halfway through, and I don't know how to not go full beans constantly.

You must get so many... Dude, every girl I know, my brother's wife, my ex-girlfriend, every woman is looking for you. I don't know if you... I'm sure you have... How many ring cameras do you have?

Here we got the cameras in the house at home. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, it's just people can connect to real feelings. Yeah, the feelings. So can you.

I saw you.

You were nodding along. Oh, I was. I had one song that had rhythm in it last night, right?

Oh, no, there was a couple of moments you hit some rhythm. Yeah, When it's not the whole band and it's just you, that's a lot of pressure. You had the boys with you there.

The poet, Joshua. Yeah. He was great.

Dude, he was at my show in Halifax. I'll tell you that.

Was he at the show? Yeah. Because he said he bumped into you on the flight. I didn't know he was at the show.

Yeah, he came to the show in Halifax In the morning, I'm on the plane. Brilliant. He said, Hey, I was at your show last night. I was like, Oh, you're heading to the US? He's like, Yeah, I'm going to play with Dermot Kennedy. I said, Oh, I'm actually going to his show. No way. And so I'll see you there tomorrow.

Yeah, he's a nice guy. He was so much more confident than me. He was funny. Yeah, Yeah, he's 22 as well. So it's just like, I don't know. I think that's a difficult gig when it's just spoken. The music, you can hide behind it and stuff. But when it's just spoken word, that's not easy. Yeah.

But it added this element of like... Because last night, so just for the listeners. So there was Dermot, there was Gabe Simon accompanying him on guitar and mandolin and some different instruments. And there was Joshua De Schutter, and he's a poet, and he was like reading lines at certain points.

And he had tailored his poetry to fit around the songs. It was just cool. I don't know. Yeah, it was cool. I know when I was that age, I was dying to do things like that. So I was excited to work with him.

Yeah, I thought that was super cool. How did you find him?Instagram.

I saw him doing a... He had a really cool poem. I couldn't even point it out now, but he had a really cool poem about two people who every night in a cemetery, they come up out of their graves, and one guy was really rich and one guy was really poor. And it's this beautiful poem about not forgetting what's important in life. So I thought it was cool. I think there's a lot of bullshit poetry on Instagram, and I think he's not that. So that's why. Yeah.

I like even just having a younger person. It added this element of nervous energy and approach to the world, which was like such a dichotomy to some of your music. Some of it's more like, I don't think a young person could even write something. I think you have to have some experience.

I definitely think about that now. Even having any degree of success, I feel better equipped now. I used to be annoyed that I wasn't getting gigs and stuff, but I guess I'm glad it happened the way it did because now, even as a person, just in society, I try not to... You learn how to not take shit from people and you learn who you are in the world a little bit. I'd be scared if I was 22 doing this. Do you know what I mean?

Oh, yeah. Having a lot of success at that age.

Just anything, any traction. I feel like I'm easily led or gullible even at this age. So I don't know what I'd be like if when I was younger.

Yeah, it seems risque out there. I want to think more about Ireland, dude. Somebody said the Irish started Halloween. Is that true?

Sauna? Yeah, I think so. Yeah, because what is it? It translates like the night of the Lost souls or something like that. I'm not sure, but yeah, Ireland's very pagan and a lot of things like that. The dead are very important.

The dead are very important.

You know the way in Coco? Yes. In those movies.

That's the Mexican dead, right?

Yeah. Yeah, it feels like there's similarities in that sense. There's like the Keltic Sound Festival. Yeah. Wow. Actually, I was talking about it last night at the gig, the island my Auntie lives on. Halloween is really important and it's all the Lost souls. What is it called?

Inishinishmore.inishmore. I thought her name's Dierdra.

I thought you were about to say her name. I was like, You know my Auntie Dierdra. But they have these traditions where there's very few people live on the island. I'd be bullshitting, maybe a few hundred people, thing. And there's this tradition where someone, someone you know will knock on your door and they're allowed to walk around your house in silence and open drawers and close drawers and then leave. And then later on everyone's in the pub and you don't know who is in your house. So there's all these creepy traditions. Ireland started Halloween.

That's guessing. Halloween was invented in Ireland. The roots of Halloween can be traced back 2000 years to the Celtic Samwen.

Samwen. Samwen. Yeah, I think those things are important in Ireland, like ghosts and all that thing. Do you believe in ghosts?

Yeah, for sure. You must, right? Yeah, from Louisiana, we got fucking ghosts over there. Oh, true. Everybody's eating, drought or something. You'll hear a ghost eating something. Yeah. We have fat ghosts down there. You'll be at the hospital and be like, Yeah, there's a ghost in the other...

In the other ward?

Yeah. He broke his legs.

New Orleans is Louisiana, right? Yeah. Ghosts are like, that's a ghost town, right?

It's a ghost town.

There's ghost tours. You can do tours about...

The crazy thing, you'll be on a ghost tour, somebody will get murdered because it's so dangerous there. Then another ghost will show up. You're like, Oh, damn, that's Reginald.

Yeah, I knew him.

Yeah, he just got here. He's fresh. But yeah, there's a lot of that energy there. There's tons of ghost tours and stuff like that. We had a dude in our town who got busted by the cops for being a ghost, dude. We had So this family-owned, they bought a Ramada, and it was like a small... What's that? It's a small motel. Okay. It used to be nice, and now it's still nice, but it's not swanky. And they were trying to get on the ghost tour. So when people came to America to go learn about ghosts and everything, it would show up on the ghost like, Oh, you got to stop here, right? So they wanted to make it haunted. Okay. So they did some low-key the haunty shit, the wiring and stuff. It was getting a little bit of a buzz. But then they're like, Oh, we're not getting enough people that love ghosts. And so somebody would dress up upstairs, and they had hotel room doors that were across the hallway They were walking away from each other. So they would open a door on each side, and when you walked up the stairs, the person would just walk across.

So you'd see something. Just, What was that? So it was getting some heat, and people were like, Holy shit, there's ghosts. Ghost, and people were outside, fucking hanging out and drinking Dr. Pepper, and fucking sometimes even people, because there people would get really excited. And then they busted the guy. The guy forgot to take off his ghost sheet or whatever. He was driving home. It was like the owner's son, and they Perfect.

I'm going to have a fucking pause.

I'm going to be an idiot.

Yeah. Have you had any encounters properly with Ghost?

Oh, yeah. A friend of mine died, and I was laying in his living room the day after, and I felt him. He was right outside. Wow. No way. And I It felt as if he was right there. I don't know. I never felt like he was standing around me before or since, but it just felt real, and I just started crying. It was just super intense. Wow.

I believe in all that stuff so strongly, but never anything like that.

Ireland, you guys have the Giants-Causley? Causley, yeah. It's supposedly made by Giants. Did you go there? Did we go to Giants Causley? We didn't.

No, I haven't been there. Is that good? Is that helpful?

I haven't been there. But the story is that there was a giant from there and a giant from Scotland, and they weren't getting along. Is that right?

I feel like you know more about it than I do. Yeah, I think so. Oh, Fin McCool.

That was one of the Giants. There was another giant. Legend has it that an Irish giant named Fin McCool created, and everybody's going to think this is extremely exciting. An Irish giant, Fin McCool. To cross the Irish sea and fight his rival, the Scottish giant, Ben and Donna. It just looks like there's these big square stones heading out into the water from each side.

Yeah, beautiful thing. There's one of them in Scotland as well?

That's a good question. Hopefully, there is. If not, You made it up?

Yeah. Fuck it.

The Scotland giant Cosme. We'll say that there is. Let's keep the lore alive. But yeah, there's a lot of stuff like that in Ireland. A lot of like, well, there's lepertons, there's mystery.

Ancient things. Yeah. A lot of that.

There's a lot of like, lore.

Definitely. Absolutely. There's a lot of myths and stuff.

It's romantic in a way.

Yeah. I think I love Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, and all that stuff, purely because I think being Irish, you grow up loving those things. Yeah, definitely. I would hate to be without that. I think, to be honest, in my songs, I had a song last night called The Killer Was A Coward, and it's just made up story. I love it. It's just about a king and a person that finds his way through this castle and kills him. And to me, I was just like, fuck it. Why not make a song like that? Yeah.

What is the songwriting experience been like in Nashville? Has it been inspired by any country vibes, or is it just this is a place that you feel is good to write and be?

I think it's a good place. I think you can't downplay how talented people are. Sometimes if I'm writing somewhere else, I can get stuck and come away with half a verse or half a course or something. Whereas here you come away with a full songs because people just do not stop. It's like, Gabe, who was there last night, he just... He's relentless, you know what I mean? He can just... He never runs out of ideas. So people here are just so talented. Plus, it's just a better place to write. I don't know. I like being here. It feels like it's not the be all and end all, the music business, even though it's here and it's based here, and there's so many people here that are working on music. It doesn't feel like people are writing to try and be successful. It feels like people are trying to just make music and see what happens.

Yeah, I agree. There's a nice sense of just being alive here. Definitely.

And you just take time and people are nice and you'll be playing a song and someone will invite their friend over and play guitar, whereas in LA, that'd be like, what's in for me? Why would I do that? You know what I mean? Whereas here, it's just supportive.

Yeah. Yeah, I think that's really true, man. I mean, we went out and saw some great music, and then you met up with Zack Brown, then you were playing with... Yeah, I think it's definitely people... It's more of a sharing culture here, for sure. And it feels like it's its own place outside of just the possibility of of making music.

Totally. I think sometimes when I write, I question how important it is. Do you know what I mean? That's why I've had moments in the past where I struggle with getting music over the line because I'm just like, who cares? And I completely forget about the fact that people listen to it. You know what I mean? I have dismissed that. And I don't mean who cares. It's always important to me. But also in the past, I've been like, I don't know. You get so caught up in it. You're just like, does it really matter? Really? And I don't know. It's nice to be back at a place where music is the most important thing. It's lovely. I think when you go chasing a career, it can be a tricky thing, and it can get in the way of doing the right stuff creatively. So I'm glad to be here.

Oh, yeah, that's a good point. Do you feel like you've had such a great career already. Do you feel like... Yeah, does a new desire arise in you once you're already doing well? Is it a maintaining desire? Is it No, I think it's a returning.

For me, it's returning to who I was before doing any of it. You know what I mean? You being funny on the porch because it just makes you feel good. You know what I mean? Me playing music at home just because it's the thing I love. I have yet to play a show where I come away being like, Oh, wow, that was perfect. I'm so happy now. Do you know what I mean? When I'm on the tour bus after a gig, I keep an even keel constantly. I don't come off stage wired or I don't come off stage really sad. I just like, Yeah, it was good. And if it was good, I'm happy with it. And if it was bad, it's okay because I'll do it again tomorrow. But yeah, getting back, I said that last night, I want to be able to play music like I don't care. Do you know what I mean? There's no thought about whether it's good or bad. I'm just doing it because it feels right. And it's fun. Yeah. I blow my voice out because I'm just trying so fucking hard all the time. Do you know what I mean?

I need to get to a place where I don't feel very confident doing it. You know what I mean? Not at all.

Doing what?

Just performing for people. I self-analyze constantly. To the point that it's detrimental. But then I think a lot of musicians do that, right? You're hardening yourself. You're hardening yourself. Yeah, you're hardening yourself.

You want to do your best. Totally. Yeah. That's something I got out of your stuff, too. It's like, I felt like I felt like I want to give everything that I'm capable of while I'm here.

Yes. Yeah, of course. It's only last night.

You talked about- While I exist, even. While I exist, I want to get everything that is possible out of me.

Definitely. Having played sport for such a long time when I was a kid, that felt like such a powerful feeling. I think sometimes I'm trying to get that feeling from music. I think if you play well in a match or a game or whatever, the reason you feel like you leave nothing out there. I take that into music, I think. I think it's important to not be competitive as a musician, but sometimes I can take the gigs in a competitive way and just make sure you have nothing left. I think that feels important.

What happened with sports, with football?

I just wasn't good enough.

Really?

Yeah. Damn. I was all right. Don't get me wrong. I'm always conscious of if I was on here being like, Oh, yeah, I had to decide between soccer and music, there'd be someone in Dublin and be like, Arsehole, not true. You know what I mean? I was all right, but I wasn't doing that. Yeah, no way.

That's the biggest sport over there. Oh, wait, have you seen that road bowling?

Yes. Yeah. I don't know what it is. Really? Well, I know what it is.

I follow them on TikTok.

Do you really? Have you seen the stone lifting?

No, I haven't. But I know this is people, and these are adults, most of them, it looks like. Yeah. And they get up. Second shot here.

In Shannonville. Shut it off. I'm lovely. Shut it off.

I'm lovely from Tim Young.

Not a bad effort at all.

And they throw a ball, and this is a real thing that happens. This isn't like a prank. They throw a ball down a street and try to get it as far as they can, and they want to get to a certain finish line in the least amount of tries. It's like golf just with your hand.

Yeah, on the road.

It's an iron ball. It's a steel ball.

You should look up the stone lifting. The stone lifting seems to be back in a major way. Really?

Play one more of those. I want to see. Because here's Hup Wayne Parks here going. Turn it up, Bob.

Thirteen, 800-year-old side. For cancer research. Charlie Weekend here in Shannonville. Here we go. He runs so far.

He's playing it like a jet for Wayne Parks.

He's playing it like a jet for Wayne Parks.What a big, big shot.

What a big, big shot from Young Park. It's the best thing that I've ever seen.

How much did they get? They said 13,800.

No, really? All 13,800 aside. And Wayne Parks is on fire.

Good man, Wayne Park.

Wow.

Yeah, there's certain things are back. There's people lifting stones at 300 kilos and stuff. It's probably on TikTok. I feel like it's a big thing again.

Lifting stones.

Yeah, and they're awkward. It's random. It's not like those big round ones. It's like a proper awkward stone in a field.

There we go. Let's see it. Yes.

Holy shit. Come on, let's go.

Holy shit.

Come on, John.

That's it. Come on, John. Holy shit, John. You're on it, John. Let's Come on. And those are his coaches.

Yeah, yeah. When I'm not on guard, this is when I'm there. Come on. Holy, John.

Let's go.

So strong.

Oh, unbelievable. Now, how high do you have to get it up? I guess you have to get it above your waistline, it looks like.

I feel like it needs to be on your chest.

Play one more of those. That's unbelievable. That is a huge... Strong people, yeah. That was a huge stone. Play that top one. Just play the top one. Oh, and this is a more rounded stone. Yeah. Wow. This guy wants to make an omelet. There's his brother who can't lift them. We're talking shit all the day, probably. Oh, yeah. This is crazy. There's something so Irish about all this, I think. I don't know what it is. Good rat.

I feel like I've seen him before.

I told you, it's a strong one. Yeah. What's that guy's name?

With the awkward ones.

Tom Saltman. Tom Saltman, official.

Oh, wow. Where's that? England. Strongest Brothers, the T-shirt. Oh, they're both strong then. It does seem one-sided. He's doing all the work.

Yeah, but I will say this. One of them is doing a lot of the work, lads. Yeah, that road bowling. Play one more of those. I just couldn't see if you can find a pa. I'm trying to think pa. There we go. Play that one then. Gary Daly there. He's an off-duty police officer.

I never really knew this. Well, I knew it was a thing, but I didn't know people got it.

You throw it into a crowd of people. That's the crazy part. Some of them move, and sometimes they don't move.

Yeah, look at that one. 3.2 million views. Wow. 50 grand.

Wow, it's a massive amount of money. What is that? 50 pounds, yeah?

Yeah, 50,000 euro.

Find the one with somebody right there.

Who is this lady that's just constantly-That's Michelle Smith.

Oh, Pa Flood right there. See what she says about him? Go up. Road bowls in Ireland.

So just to let you know-Who you know, you've been keeping track of Pa Flood.

I'll follow this, yeah.

Approximately 20 past 3 on Road bowls in Ireland on Facebook. So who's going to win? And it's a qualifier to take part in the King and Queen of the Roads Festival 2024 happening in September.

That's Pa Flood versus Colm Rafferty. Colm Rafferty is a big thrower from County Arnault. And Pa Flood needs no introduction here.

So tune in in about 20 minutes. You should have gone to this. Half an hour on Facebook.

I tried. Did you really? Yeah, they were out of Cork. They were far away or they were in Europe somewhere. There was one that actually made a little message to me.

There you go. Shortest bowl in history.

Shortest bowl in history. Let's see it. That's pot flood right there.

That's him?

That's him, yeah. Oh, shit. Oh, How does it best work. Gosh, my flood, huh? Just joking, pot. That guy will throw one of those through my house. Oh, imagine that, though, lad. You're just...

In your shins?

Yeah, that's Michelle Smith official. How much is that? 50,000 pound for the winner.

50,000 euro, yeah. So I don't know. 55,000 dollars, probably in and around.

And look up the rules for road bowling real quick. I just want to read it so I can... $60,573. Wow. To throw a damn ball down a road.

Yeah, I don't know where that money comes from.

Now, that's a great question, brother. That's an IOU. Road Bowling is an Irish sport in which competitors attempt to take the fewest throws to propel a metal ball along a predetermined course of country roads. The sport originated in Ireland and is mainly played in counties.Arma.Arma. Yeah. And Cork. Road Bowling in is governed by the Voluntary Irish Road Bowling Association.

Arma won the All-Ireland this year in the football. Oh, they did?

The bullet or bowl is a solid iron cannon ball, seven inches circumference, and it weighs 28 ounces. There are two or more players or teams in a match. The one with the fewest shots to the finish line wins. If two players or teams approach the finish line with equal shots, the winners decide about which throw goes farther past the finish line. Wow.

You should have played this. God,that's what I'd love to. You could play this.

I guess you really have to have the shoulders for it.

Are you lefty or righty?

Yeah, I'm pretty much righty. Normy. I'll do it, but... When I was younger, I used to try to eat with my left hand. I'll be like, I'm going to change things up. I'm going to be different, and I'll do it for two bites. I'm like, Fuck that. Yeah.

So fork in your left hand? Yeah. So you would now eat with a fork in your right-hand?

No, now I go fork in my left hand. You have a knife in the right Yeah. But every now and then I try to change it up. Yeah.

I remember at home, if you were lefty, this probably happened there, too. If you were writing with your left hand, they would slap you and put the pen in your right-hand. I remember my dad's lefty, too, and they would make him write with his right-hand when he was younger.

Why? They don't like it over there.

No. Yeah. I mean, it's not to stay on Google the whole time, but I bet it's like an old Irish thing. There was some weirdness about being lefty. Wow.

They just don't want you to be different.

100%. Yeah. You get slapped on the back of the hand.

It says right here, It was all It was believed to an unloving refrigerator mother. Even as late as the 1900s, some schools in Ireland were still forcing southpaw children to write with their right hands. Nowadays, we know that nine out of 10 people are right-handed, and that left-handedness is likely to be genetic.

What's a refrigerator mother? Yeah. Is that like a latchkey kid in Ireland?

The term refrigerator mother was coined by Austrian physicist Leo Kanner in the 1940s to describe a mother who's cold, uncaring style, so traumatized her child that they were treated into autistic. So they thought maybe if he was left-hand, he was autistic. We had a fellow with Down syndrome in our town, and his mom just thought he was Irish his whole life.

I can't even be saying that before.

And it was just crazy, man. Yeah, and he might have been, actually. He would dress him up in all these Austin Celtic shit all the time? No way. It's crazy.

Leprechaun things.

Yeah, just different. Different, just joyful outfits.

That poet yesterday, the guy we were doing the show with, I had green shoes on, and he called me a leprechaun within five minutes. I had never met him before. He called me a leprechaun. It's terrible.

Yeah, he was outgoing like that.

Yeah, he was. He had a couple of pups.

Do people get married young in Ireland? What's that like?

Not so much. I don't know. What's it like here? I feel like it used to be, but not anymore. Yeah? Yeah, I would say 30s, early 30s, maybe. Nowadays. I know my parents got married when they were 23, so I was just gradually growing up.

Yeah, I guess I just wonder how the cultures are super different.

Oh, yeah. In a A lot of ways, I'd imagine. I mean, that guy, Joshua, the Paul, last night, he couldn't drink. He was 20 years old. I mean, in Ireland, that is not the case.

People can drink that early, eh?

Well, 18, but you know.

Will they let him in the pubs as well, some?

Yeah, especially down the country. After the road bowling. Everyone's getting in, I'd imagine that.

Yeah, dude. Cork was something else. I couldn't even believe when we got there, I was like, This is so wild.

You played the Marquis, too. That's great.

Yeah, in the tent there.

I played there one time. It was brilliant.

It was totally different. The acoustics were a little bit different in there.

Do you have to change your set in a cultural way? Probably not, right?

Oh, I learned stuff about Belfast when I first got there. Yeah. Like the NRA. The IRA? Yeah, in the IRA. Yeah. Yes. And we learned about the IRA and like, oh, up the raw. We learned about that. And then we learned, fuck, England was the big thing we learned.

You were saying you could just lean on that whenever you wanted to.

Things got bad. Yeah. You just yell it out. Yes. People are great. Some guy pulled out a sword. I'm like, who has a sword? I think he worked there. Yeah. I'm like, Well, that seems.

It's just security.

Yeah, that seems a bit out of sorts, but yeah. Is pornography causing a problem in your life? That's a good question. It's a real question. It has in mind. It has at certain periods in my life, watching porno and everything and watching porno was making me... It was ruining my life. It was ruining my life, man. Made me feel just so much That's what it did. Well, I'm watching, pornography has become commonplace today. Oftentimes, men will use porno to numb the pain of loneliness, boredom, anxiety, and depression. That's all I want to introduce you to my friend, Stephen Wolt. Steve is the founder of Valor Recovery. He is a dear friend of mine. He is a dear friend of mine. Valor Recovery is a program to help men overcome porn abuse and sexual compulsivity. That's right. Their coaches are in long-term recovery, and they will be your partner, mentor, and spiritual guide to transcend problematic behaviors. There is zero commitment if you reach out to them. It's This is the first step in trying to figure out if you may need some help, if you can get some help. To learn more about Valor Recovery.

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No, no, no. Hosey is a big one for me. Oh, yeah.

He's playing here coming up at the Pilgrimage Festival.

Oh, I saw that. I was sad because I'll be gone. But he... Yeah, he just... He's Irish? Oh, wow. Yeah, I think sometimes people don't know that. I remember I was talking to someone recently, they thought it was from here, but it's just cool. He blew up way before me. It's just a nice to see. It's a cool role model to have. He just carries himself very well, I think.

Will you keep touch or hit him up if you have any thoughts?

Yeah, definitely. Not even thoughts, but just to talk. I think artists don't talk to each other enough. I find it hard to talk to other artists sometimes because I feel like it's very... We're all quite selfish and we're all so locked into our own existence that it's tricky sometimes. I find him much easier to connect with people who are involved in sports. I think that's easier sometimes. But he's... I don't know. It's just cool for me to see him. He's got this huge career where he's got so many followers and supporters of his music, but it's always just about the You know what I mean? It's just he's inherently him, and I think that's a pretty cool thing.

It's good for me to just see that and follow it.

Yeah, definitely.

I'm trying to think of some other Irish musicians. You two are obviously probably the biggest ever.Oh, yeah.Of course.

Dude, one time I went to the MTV Movies Awards or something. It might have been Music Awards. I think it was Music Awards, actually. So I got dropped off there. I'm walking up and all these people start cheering, right? And I got a pass, like the artist pass, whatever. And I'm walking up, all these people are cheering. And I just, in my head, I was like, these people are cheering for me? And I was like, what? And then I looked next to me and it was Bono. Bono?

Yeah. Were you talking to him?

I said, nice glasses. That's what I said. Because I didn't know who he was. At the time, I was just like, the guy was 19. I was like, I didn't have a clue.

He's the best. Sometimes when you're talking to somebody that's so famous and has been for such a long time, you feel like you're not getting it. There's nothing beneath the surface. With him, it's the complete opposite. Really? You can tell. If you were talking to him, he's just full undivided attention. It's so cool. Gives feedback and will pay attention to you and stuff. It's great.

I've met some of these guys. Niall Lauren.

Yeah. Neat guy. Who else?

Oh, the Cranberries. Yep.

Van Morison. Oh. Thin Lizy are the best. Have you listened to Thin Lizy? Uh-uh. Oh, man.

I got to get in it.

You like rock and roll? You like the right place, Rays? Yeah. Oh, man. Thin Lizy is... That's up your, Straza.

I'll have to get into that. Thin Lizy.

Oh, the best. He passed away a long time ago, but the music's incredible. The Boys are Back in Town. You know that song?

Where were they?

What do you mean?

Why were they? Where were they? Does he ever say that?

I actually do know. They're hanging down at Dino's is the lyrics. Dino's is here, too. But there's a Dino's like restaurant in Dublin.

Oh, yeah. That's where they were. That's where they were hanging at. Where did they come back in town from?

I don't know. But I think about that all the time, and I always think about them. Going on tour back then, it must have just been like, See you soon. Imagine in the '70s, and no one knows where you are, no one knows how it's going. You're not on social media. It must be insane. And you just come back and hopefully it went well.

Yeah, and I don't even know if you knew how well it went, really.

No, never. You just get feedback every night. A lot of drugs and drinking, though.

God, that must have been fucking funny. Crazy. Did you ever struggle with any of the gear or whatever they call it over there?

No, I find it... I don't know. Again, not to hop on about it, but I think sport was crucial for me. It was just... I always... When I tour, I'll often do... I feel like it's not sustainable nowadays in music. It was different back then. I don't know how heavily they toured and stuff, but nowadays, touring is so key. I don't know. Personally, I wouldn't be able to sustain it at all. No. Even drinking, I got to be careful.

Yeah, I just think it'd just be impossible to be hung and then to the responsibility of getting to the next place. It It just seems like...

It's not worth it.

I don't know how people do it.

No, I know. Sometimes, I don't know. I don't know how some artists do it, but I wouldn't be able. Even last night, I'm tired today from just playing an acoustic set in a cafe last night. I'm very pedestrian.

What about the love life, man? How does that look for you?

It's solid and always has been.

Not always has been, but for a long time. You've always been good with the ladies then?

No. No, no, no, no. I've always been good with one lady. Oh,not in a corny way. That's the cornyest thing I've ever said.Do people know that you have a girlfriend?That's my experience. Yeah, yeah, I don't talk about it much, but I think if people wanted to know, they would know.Oh.

So you had a lady then?For.

A long time.Wow.Yeah. I'm happy to talk about it, but I don't see it as a relevant part of my career. Do you know what I mean? I don't see it as something to promote. She definitely doesn't. So it's just our existence outside of my career.

Does that inspire some of your music with some of the emo stuff or no?

What do you mean the emo stuff?

Some of the loving type stuff. Definitely.

All of it. All of it. That's where it all comes from. I never talk about it, but it's all good. What about you?

I don't know, dude. I think. Yeah, I got to get a wife. I would like to get a wife. I will say that. I got to get some of my affairs in order. I got to get some of my affairs in This is like a follow-on from the serial killer chat.

It feels like... Yeah.

Yeah, dude. I've had it. Yeah, I mean, I date. It's just hard. You're in town, you're gone, and then you're supposed to be date. It disappeared, come back three weeks later. But I think that's one of the reasons why I stayed in comedy, because I was like, Oh, well, I had so much trouble staying in relationships and being committed in relationships. I was like, This always gives me an excuse to leave. You know? Yeah. So it was like, I got to go. And then you come back and they might have found someone else. You'd hope they found somebody else. Oh, really?

A lot of times. So you can detach from it. Yeah.

You're like, Oh, gosh, good luck with Stanley or whatever.

Yeah, I'm glad you found him. Yeah.

So things like that. I'm trying to think of... I don't know. It's just always hard for me to trust somebody. I think that was just the hardest thing. I just had no idea of how to do it. It was like a foreign practice.Trusting somebody?Yeah.

Really? Anybody? Only romantically? Friends? Anything?

No, it even goes over in to work and everything a lot of times. I think I have to really... Yeah, I don't know.

Does it take time?

Yeah, I think it takes time. Sometimes you can tell with people, easy, but it's just been a tough for me over the years. Sure. I don't even know why sometimes.

It's crazy line of work to be in, too, right? Yeah.for that situation.

Yeah. And then you're leaving her all the time or something. It's like so many of my friends have been divorced that are in comedy and stuff like that. I think it's just a tough go of it.

Yeah, of course.

Do you own any animals, Dermot?

I have a dog called Tom. That's it. I miss him dearly. He's a puppy.

Does he write?

Does he write, yeah. Tom, the writing dog. Yeah. He is the best. It's the best thing in the world. I always took the piss out of the emotional support thing, but I believe in it now. You know what I mean? Emotional support dogs, flying with them and stuff.

You take them on planes and all?

I haven't yet, but I will.Oh.

You're looking forward to it.Yeah..

You think like, no, I can. He was in Dublin with his big German Shepherd. I was like, if he can do that, I got to be able to get my little puppy on the plane.

Wow, he took a German Shepherd with him?

Now it's a nice dog. It's well-behaved. I think it sleeps under his legs while he's on the flight.Oh my God.Yeah.

It's badass.That's beautiful.

It's the best thing.

I don't Here's a Dublin zoo enlist help of breastfeeding mothers to encourage female orangutans bond with her newborn. So this is happening over by you guys. Oh, no way.

Brilliant. Well, not brilliant.

What app did this monkey or this woman off of? Because this seems like... And if those are Irish breasts, brother, they're full cream, I'll tell you that. Dude, I saw some breasts over there. You did? Oh, my God. It's just like, I'm coming home. Tell the world I'm coming home. It just feels like the root of time started in them.

Right, right, right. Lovely.

I mean, God, they just like the fucking just like the eyes of the moon. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just those fucking front hammers, baby. You'd see some goddamn... I mean, you'd see they literally looked like they were sculpted out of just A fine, fucking thick yogurt.

This is wild. You thought you said there's no women.

Oh, but when you saw them, you'd-And there was one? Yeah, or they'd see... Yeah, you'd see a fucking shadow coming over, and it'd be a big tit. A woman would have leaned out of a window to look for something. You had your eyes peel constantly. To make sure a man was still at the pub. Because the pub... I went into a pub, no furniture, a bunch of guys holding each other up, fucking just yelling and drinking. No furniture. You would go into a pet store, no pets, seven people drinking in there. Just drinking. Talking about animals. You're like, what? Everything there is just people having a beer, man.

It's funny, though. Do you ever see the way Italians live to be really, really old? Because they all just hang out constantly. I like to think Irish people are like that, too. We just need each other. There's all these small communities and stuff. They need somewhere to gather. Music is part of that.

And I grew up in New Orleans, and there people were drunk, vomiting. You didn't see it in Ireland, man. Puking? Yeah, I didn't see a lot of it.Oh, there's plenty of people.Oh, there is? Oh, yeah. Oh, and they do it all at once or something?

I would say it's just like you maybe missed it. There's plenty of it, though. Yeah. It's the worst feeling in the world.

It's crazy.

I would say that nearly keeps me away from drinking too much is the puking. I fucking hate it.

Well, the first part of puking, I don't like you start to get this little sweat out of the middle of your neck or top.

Yeah, or the saliva. It's like the saliva all over again.

Yeah, it's like your saliva to be like, Hey, guess what? Fuck you.

You're in trouble. Yeah, you're in trouble.

Yeah, that's pretty hellish.

I like how you take moments to think. You just scan your mind.

I don't have a choice.

Yeah, I wish I could just call upon it.

Yeah, man, my brain retired years ago. Years ago. Yeah, and Some of the names in our life, I feel like people are trying to have the most Irish name. You'll meet somebody, A-O-I-F-E. Efa. Efa, yeah. That doesn't really spell that.

Niamh. We were talking to someone yesterday called Niamh. It's N-I-A-M-H.

Yeah, and that's not anything. So it's like you have to have real names if you're even going to...

You should guess some. These are very run of the mill.

All right.

You got some spicier names.

Perhaps very hard to spell Irish names, but without the answers. All right. Cahoy. Cahoy. Cahoy. Cahoy.

Cahoy. Cahoy.

All right. Nope. Siobhan.

That's nice.

But it's Siobhán. Siobhán, okay. I didn't know they had black people there. All right. Rory. Rory.

That's nice. Yeah, Rory.

Oh, Rory. That would be like Rory.

D-h-r-o-i. It's like silent.

Okay, they spelled it so you know it home. R-u-a-i-d-h-r-i. Okay. Yeah. So they don't spell it like Rory. The next one, T-A-D-G-H. Tada. Or Tig.

Tig. Tig. Tig. Tig. Tig. Tig. Tig.

Okay. And the next one, N-I-A-M-H. Noah.

No, Neev. Neev. Just N-E-E-V. Neev.

And then the next one, another The one that's not real. S-a-o-i-r-s-e. Siri.

Searsha. Searsha. Searsha, yeah.

Oh, this is unbelievable. Then I'll do this last one because I've seen this one before.

These are good now. We're getting some good ones.

Okay, here we go to G-R-A-I-N-N-E. Granny.

Grania. That's the closest you've been.

Oh, that's beautiful, actually. Yeah. And this one right here is not anything, but I'll read it. B-l-a-t-a-n-n-e. H-n-a-i-d. Blotnid. Blotnid.

Blotnid. Blotnid. Blotnid. Yeah, you're doing all right.

All right, here's one right here. C-a-o-i-l-f-h-i-o-n-n. Kevin.

That one is even weird for me. I would say Quailin.

Quailin. Yeah. Yeah. There's just everybody you meet over there, you're like, I'm quailing Madonna Gargi.

Yeah, but I see that here, too. Oh, yes, true. You know what I mean? I was in the Boot Barn last weekend, and there was a guy called Loughlin. Yeah. Yeah. And he was like, I'm Irish. He just claims it, but he doesn't know.

You're like, No shit. What about the new album? Are you working on a new album? What is it like for you right now?

Yes, I am. I have written, I would say 25 to 30 songs. Yeah, but it goes crazy. It's like you can do as many as you want. You can do hundreds. Do you remember that song that Rihanna had? I want you to stay, not really sure how I feel about it. That song. No. I was with the fellow that featured on that song and huge success. And then his second album, he wrote 250 songs. So it's just like, at what point do you call it? You know what I mean? And then I've heard Billy Eilish do interviews where she says, if the album is 12 songs, I've written 12 songs and that's it. So I'd rather be like that. It's crazy to me the idea of throwing songs out. I don't know why I would do that. So I got a bunch now, and I feel good about them. I never know. That's what I'm saying. I analyze myself too much, and I think sometimes I lose perspective and I could have the best song in the world, but I can't see it.

And is there certain people you go to to get really clear perspective? No.

I don't play music to anyone. Really? Yeah, because if it's good feedback, I'll be like, Yeah, I know. And if it's bad, then I'll be aggressive.

Wow. What about a management or an agent or anything?

Yeah, some of that. But then that's hard, too, because you question, what are people's criteria? To me, I only care that it's good, but then they might be like, Oh, this song could be successful. And it's like, What does that mean? It could stink, but it could... It could send me down the wrong path musically, but it could make money on the radio. I don't know. So you got to do the right thing.

Will you choose a certain number out of those?

Yeah, I like 10. I know. I've seen Morgan Wallen's album with 37 songs and stuff. I don't know if I'm able for that thing.

Yeah. I mean, different people have different stuff. Definitely. Yeah. I wonder, would I be scared? God, it's just got to be so scary putting an album out.

It's going to define your life for two or three years.

It's almost like throwing a stick of Dynamite into a room or something. Definitely. And then what if you don't hear anything?

It may not go off. Yeah, definitely. Definitely. You never know. I think that definitely scares me sometimes, and it might not happen. You know what's almost even worse is that middle of the road, just like some people like it boring. For me, what's funny is I've never had I've never had a song go crazy. Do you know what I mean? I've never had a song. I play big venues in most places, but I can walk around all day and no one knows who I am. So I think I exist in a sweet spot to some degree. You know what I mean? I think for me, it's like a careful what I wish for scenario sometimes because my life is still very normal. But then I get to go on stage and do very abnormal things. If I had to stay in my hotel room all day because that would make me sad, definitely.

Yeah, you're almost like Clark Kent or.

Yeah, Quail in. Quail in, kinship. Yeah, I just...

Just because you have some anonymity still.

Definitely. There was one time, you You have a chip on your shoulder sometimes, though. I do. I was playing for a football team in New York, and we were at training one night, and one guy was like, Are you playing shows or whatever? And I was like, Yeah, I'm playing a show at the Garden. And he was like, Oh, cool. Are you part of a bigger bill? Are you supporting somebody? I'm constantly just like, No, it's my show. People will be there, hopefully. So I think people are constantly surprised how big the shows are because I don't feel like a very famous person, which is lovely, honestly.

Yeah, I think you keep You seem like a pretty regular demeanor. Nice, I meant. Which I think is probably one of the best compliments you can get. Yeah. But then to go and have that many people show up for something, yeah, that's pretty freaking unbelievable.

I think if I feel lucky in the sense that before I did all this, if I had a checklist of what I wanted, I feel quite lucky. I feel like I've ticked most boxes, which is nice. My life hasn't changed. I get to play to lots of people. I get to decide what music I put out. That feels good to me.

Yeah. How long do you think two of your album will come out? Or do you have a plan on it?

Does it matter? I'm trying not to care. It matters, but I don't know how it works. Do you feel a pressure? Yeah, definitely. You do? Yeah. Will people stick around? You know what I mean? I think in music, you have to stay relevant and stay present and release music all the time. I think you have to do stuff constantly and constantly bring stuff out. But But you got to be careful, too, because if people just get bored, you know what I mean? I'd love to bring out an album, definitely in less than a year, but I'm not in a hurry to do it either. I would rather have a good one. You know what I mean? I don't think it needs to be just constantly doing it.

And the tour off of it, yeah. We've been doing touring very slow. We'll do like chunks. Yeah, I see. It's taking three years now to do the tour. Oh, man. But it's fine.

Yeah, people don't care. As long as you show up, people don't care.

Yeah, it's been good. And I couldn't handle doing like a seven month tour or something.

I've seen who did I see? I saw Matt McCusker's tour, and it was just every weekend, a couple of shows. I was just that must be so sweet to do shows and go home. But music, you can't do that because you got an abandoned crew on the road and you're paying everyone every day. So you just you be bankrupt immediately.

Yeah, that's true. You got to do it all. Yeah, definitely. When you have such a squad. How much do you have a big band supporting you when you go out?

What is it? There's six of us on stage.All Irish? No, two of us Irish. And then Everyone else is from Australia, Switzerland, and the UK.

Yeah.pretty.

Diverse.yes, indeed. But it's important. Even though it's a solo project, I think it has to feel like... I hate when a songwriter, it looks like it's them and their employees. I think that's crap. I think it makes for a bad musical connection. I think you want to feel like a band.

What makes that happen?

I mean, bottom line, the way you treat people and you give people creative freedom, you let them play the way they want to play. I think if you stifle it and restrict people too much, it stops being fun. Do you know what I mean? I think people come to see my show to see that musical interaction. It's not just me playing. You know what I mean? I think it's weird sometimes when you see a solo artist and their band is just in the background and not really part of the show. That's weird to me.

Yeah. Where'd you meet your gal at?

Like, what? 25 years ago, probably at home.

No. At home, or was she going door to door?

No, she wasn't. But we were...

It's not your sister?

No, we grew up in the same area. Yeah, it's a very high school sweethearts thing.

Oh, there is some romance right there, then. Definitely. There's something romantic about that. I guess Ireland makes me just think everything seems like a fairytale over there a bit. Yeah.

Sometimes too much. Certain movies and stuff. What was those?

I wonder if you're talking about Gangs of New York.

That one's cool, though. There was this movie recently, The Irish Wish or PS I Love You, those types of things. They were terrible.

Good. Fuck. If you found your wife in a wishing well or something, you're out of your fucking mind, dude.

Could happen. You could do it. Hey, look.

That's true, man. You need to go back. Oh, yeah. I want to go back so bad. I want to do a couple more spots there and maybe do one more. I think I owe a little bit better of a show to maybe Belfast. It was good, but I think you just want to do it better.

Yeah. I like the way you say, I tried my best at the end of your shows. I think that's good.

Yeah. Thanks, man. I think I usually... I definitely... 99% of the time I feel that way, that I tried my best. Now, the outcome sometimes.

Yeah, but then that sentiment stands above everything, right? Even if it doesn't go the way you want it to, I tried my best. People appreciate it, too.

Yeah, I think people appreciate it. I think so. That's probably a good point. What will you do when you get back to Ireland? What's something you look forward to doing?

I will... To To write music every day and to be in the studio every single day, I know it's a very privileged thing to say, but it's a very taxing thing. I got tired of it. Where I live is in the middle of nowhere. So I'll just be in the forest every day with the dog. Do you have a dog?

No, I would like to get a dog. As soon as I quit touring, in seven months, I'm going to try to get some dog.

It's the best thing I've done. Oh, man. It's just like a companion. It's a nice injection of real life as well. It amongst all the weirdness. It's just nice. It's this thing that would die if you didn't look after it. It's a powerful feeling.

You guys got a... Is it a staff here over there? What you got?

No, teeny little scruff terrier. No. Yeah. He's a rescue.

Oh, yeah. Everything is in Ireland, huh?

I'm a rescue, yeah.

If he's a male, is he?

He is male, yeah. Oh, yeah. God. He still got his cojones.

Well, he won't be using them. There's no girls. That's true.

There's nothing. I'll have to bring him to America.

Dermot Kennedy, thanks so much, man.

Thank you very much.

Thank you for having me. I appreciate it. Thank you for all the awesome music, man. Thanks for just sharing whatever you can to the best of your ability. Yes, sir. That's how I feel when I listen to your stuff. I had a great time. Thanks for inviting me last night. Yeah, thanks for the ticket, dude. That was awesome. Not at all.

Thanks for going.

Thank you, man. Yeah. Cheers on you, bro. Now, I'm just floating on the breeze, and I feel I'm falling like these leaves.

I must be cornerstone.

Oh, but when I reach that ground, I'll share this peace of mind I found I can feel it in my bones. But it's going to take.