Keep rockin', and then die | In their own words - John Spillane and music makers of Cork
John Spillane on success as he turned 60 in 2021.
- Elaine Malone on the impact of the housing crisis on Cork arts: “I’m really disheartened by dereliction (in the city), and how often good spaces are left to rot when they could be used for housing or arts spaces.”
- MueseuM’s Darren Keane on the need for publicly-funded music venues in Cork: “The Events Centre isn’t going to happen, the Triskel caters to an older age group, so we’ll need a space to avoid the ongoing turnover of venues. And wouldn’t it be great to have it? There’s so much goodwill for public projects and people aren’t listening.”
- Auld Blue Eyes’ Ian O’Callaghan on balancing music with working on the frontline throughout Covid: “It was fairly hectic at the start. Lots of people at our work got sick, and they weren't coming in. Everyone else was expected to do double the hours. I kept that up for a while, but, at a certain point, there was kind of no end in sight, and 'I thought, like, I can't keep doing 60- or 70-hour weeks'.”
- Cyprus Avenue’s Ger Kiely on what’s kept the venue going all along: “Our thing is music. We've been doing music for, coming on to thirty years now. That's what we're proud of. Most places don't do music, they don't see a return on music. But we see the value in it”
- Quiet Lights’ Jonathan Pearson on what his festival was missing this year: “I'm very sad that we don't have the Kino this year. That's the one thing that I'm very sad about, I think it's a real loss. And I think it's the biggest venue loss in Ireland, not just in Cork, y'know, that we've lost that.”
- Dali’s Hope Alo on what the city needs next: “We've lost those places - like we had the Print Shop, Camden Palace, all those kinds of artsy places that were putting on DIY gigs, I think we need to see more of those going back. We need to see more places run by independent owners.”
- John Spillane on success with his new album as he turned 60: “I’ve always liked a variety of things to do, but I’m so proud of this record, and that’s going to encourage me to write more songs. That’s the best thing I can do, and wouldn’t it be sweet if the best ones were at the end? Just keep rockin’, and then die.”
