My Weekend: 'My idea of a wild night out is a movie or a game'

Tell us a little bit about yourself and your work:

My name is Dylan, I am a multi-instrumentalist, composer and producer. I play with the indie band Rowan and as a solo indie-folk artist called ‘Hánt’. I’m from Blarney St, in the northside of Cork. I went to the North Mon for school, where my teacher Paddy Hill introduced me to Irish trad music.

He noticed I had an ear for music so he asked me to join the Grúpa Ceoil on mandolin and fiddle. (Paddy’s brother is the famous concertina player Noel Hill, mentioned in Christy Moore’s Lisdoonvarna). Around the same time, my mother Grace suggested I join the Butter Exchange Brass & Reed Band on clarinet. I was fascinated with music and immediately drawn to it from a young age, so I absolutely loved being a part of both of these groups, playing different styles of music.

This gave me a solid grounding in music, as I had the ear training from Irish traditional music, and the more formal reading/theory side of music from the brass and reed band.

As I was getting closer to my teens, I started to explore metal and indie rock music. Guitar made an appearance into my life then and I was obsessed with that. I would get CDs from either my uncles, brothers or charity shops, and sit down next to the radio and play along for hours. I definitely learned a lot about guitar through transcribing almost every solo from bands like Metallica, Iron Maiden and many others.

A friend in school then introduced me to the the music of The National, Villagers and The Antlers, and that changed my music taste forever. I was sucked into the world of indie bands and haven’t left since really.

In college, I started studying jazz piano with Cormac McCarthy, so I got obsessed with the likes of Brad Mehldau, Julian Lage, Miles Davis and loads of other jazz artists. I wasn’t long playing piano before going to college, so it was a steep learning curve.

I learned a lot about restraint in music here, as the world of extended jazz harmony was at my fingertips, so I had to explore when to use this and when not to. I was playing gigs with folk artists and putting these mad chords in their music, sometimes it worked, other times it didn’t...Since graduating from college, I’ve been performing with and touring the world with a lot of different artists, and learning a lot about music.

I’m very grateful and lucky to be able to perform with such a variety of different artists on lots of different instruments and roles. Sometimes I’m the frontman, sometimes I’m the backing singer, or the sax player, the MD, the producer, the pianist, or a bit of everything. It keeps it interesting for me and sometimes it’s a challenge, but I enjoy that sure.

I also feel lucky that I was never questioned on whether a career in music was for me, my family have always been very supportive and never steered me into a more conventional career, so I always felt it was possible to make a career in music.

At the moment, I’m focusing on ‘Hánt’. I just released my debut EP at the Sounds From A Safe Harbour festival, though I’m only releasing it physically for now, as streaming services aren’t sufficient for artists at the moment. I am also in the indie band Rowan, we have finished recording our second album so that will be released next year. I do a lot of session work with artists like The Frank & Walters, The Stunning, Toucan, Pa Sheehy and many others as well. I love working with other artists and I’m lucky that they’re all very sound as well. I also compose music for TV sometimes.

What is your ideal way to spend a Friday night? I’m more of a introvert so I think either being at home relaxing or at a concert is ideal...Or playing a concert, is even better.

Lie ins or up with the lark.. which is it for you?

Lie ins definitely, I could stay up until all hours if I’m working or researching something.

Does work creep into your weekend at all?

It never stops really, whether it’s emails, writing, recording or just thinking about songs/pieces. Weekends are probably the busiest time usually, although I’ve tried taking it easier on Sundays in recent years.

If money was no object where would you head to on a weekend city break? And who would you bring with you?

I think I would go to Lisbon with my partner Aislinn, we were there before and loved it.

Closer to home, is there some place you like to head to recharge the batteries? I try to get to the beach and get a bit of peace as often as I can. I love stoney beaches more so than sandy ones, so any stoney beach where I can sit and watch/listen to the waves, is perfect.

Do you like to catch up with family/friends at the weekend?

Definitely, I’m terrible at contacting people though, but I bump into people a lot and have spontaneous catch ups all the time.

Do you get to indulge any hobbies? Even as a spectator?

I do love films, particularly a lot of the A24 movies. Anything with great cinematography, soundtrack, and of course storyline.

I’ve rediscovered games also in recent months, I play some Nintendo Switch when I have a free hour, but I haven’t had a lot of time to do this over the last while. It’s definitely very relaxing for me to jump into another world for a small bit of time, Films and games are great for this.

I love the soundtracks in these also. There’s a movie called Minari with a soundtrack from Emile Mosseri, the whole experience is stunning from start to finish with an incredible story line also.

When all parts of the art work in conjunction like that, it’s spellbinding. Similarly, in the Nintendo game Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom, the artwork and the soundtrack are incredibly beautiful in it, it’s very calming to be engrossed in that world for a while. I don’t drink so my idea of a ‘wild night out’ is probably a movie or a game. I play tennis occasionally too and I really enjoy it, but I’m not great at it currently.

Entertain or be entertained? If it’s the latter do you have a signature dish?

I mostly like to be entertained, if it’s just cooking we’re on about, as I wouldn’t be the most amazing cook. My signature dish would be a Tuscan Stew though, I’ve gotten good at that the last few years. In terms of entertaining with music, I’d rather be entertaining than being entertained.

We have so many places to eat out in Cork — where are your go to spots for coffee/ lunch/ special meal?

We are spoiled in Cork, to be fair. I was recently playing for the Sounds From A Safe Harbour festival, where a lot of international artists were in Cork for a week, and they all commented on how great the food is here.

My favourite spots for food would be Sonflour (I even have a piece of music named after it on my EP as Hánt), My Goodness and Cafe Paradiso. For coffee, I’m a huge fan of Filter, Some Dose, and Three Fools. We’re also spoiled with great coffee in Cork.

Sunday night comes around too fast.. how do you normally spend it?

I used to always work on Sundays, but it still had the same feeling as taking it off as it was always super relaxed around the city. We had a weekly gig where we played our favourite music in the round, it was myself, Clare Sands, Niall McGuinness on bass, Cian O’Sullivan on drums and we used to get special guests in. When he lived in Cork, Ariel Posen used to play with us a lot at that gig.

What time does your alarm clock go off on Monday morning?

That really depends, If I’ve had a tour, a long run of gigs, I’ll have to make up for the lack of sleep. I generally aim for 8 and a half hours sleep, so if I sleep late, I’ll try and get up a bit later...but in the middle of a tour, that could become impossible if there’s a lot of travel involved.

Anything else you are up to right now...

I’ve just started studying a masters degree in Music Composition in the Cork School Of Music and I’m excited to start my work as an Artist in Residence in Baile Mhúirne at the Ionad Cultúrtha down there. My goal is to collaborate with the community down there and to write music in Irish, as I’ve lost touch with the Irish language since secondary school.

• Music Network and Ionad Cultúrtha in Baile Mhúirne recently announced Dylan Howe, known as Hánt, as musician-in-residence for their residency specifically for a professional musician who is autistic/a person with autism.
• Hánt will commence his residency this month and the two month opportunity will provide him with dedicated space and time to develop his artistic practice and create new work. This programme is presented by Music Network in partnership with Ionad Cultúrtha, supported by the Arts Council, Ealaín na Gaeltachta and Cork Education and Training Board.