Cork singer-songwriter: 'I can’t wait to bring my show back home'

Singer-songwriter Podge Lane, born and bred in Kilworth, has spent most of the last two years up and down the highways of the United States, where he relocated to further his music career and also to develop his craft.

“Songwriting is what I am so passionate about, almost to a fault some might say! My first three albums — Outer Monologues, Common Country Misconceptions, and Multiple Dead Ends — were a trilogy based on my past, my present, and my future. I wanted to give myself a challenge as a songwriter after writing three whole albums about myself, so I made a goal when I moved to the US to meet people — not just in the industry for my career, but to meet people and more people.

“I learned that being the new person in an area makes you much more observant, as you learn to read the room.”

Podge’s reasoning has paid off as he reckons some of his best work has emerged from his new songs.

“I’ve met so many incredible people on my travels around America, and that has helped me with coming up with the stories that make up my new album Less Of Me, but it’s also helped me learn about myself.

“My songwriting has slowly evolved to be writing what people refer to as ‘story songs’ about the world around me. However, in another way they are more introspective because they weren’t about just my life. It’s a thrill to write a song such as Honesty, where people all over the states connect to it in their own way and find their own meaning.

“Since releasing the album, I’ve had messages from Australia, the UK, all over the world saying they’ve connected to it — for a songwriter that is the greatest thing to hear.”

When you check out Podge’s Bandcamp page (a website which gives musicians a chance to present and sell their music direct to the listener), you will find dozens of extra tracks that aren’t on his albums.

“I do write a lot of songs, but I’m also someone who doesn’t like to hold on to things, I don’t want to be keeping ideas if they aren’t going to be used. As a listener, an album is still king; the music I love draws from concept albums, vinyl, CDs and even tapes! I believe a good album has a strong throughline. However, I also like hearing what people left off an album. With a lot of reissues and anniversary editions of records these days, you get unreleased songs or versions that give you more of an insight into the artist.

“For instance, my absolute favourite Bob Dylan track is a version of This Evening So Soon from the Self-Portrait bootleg series. The audio of it might have been judged ‘imperfect’, but that performance is what hooked me to his music.

“So I put everything on my Bandcamp page, even EPs I released before I found my voice as a writer, and I cringe now. As an artist, I don’t think people are just the albums they released; I want to show the flaws and all, so I put everything up there. I want a library of all my music and ideas; if you like it, you can dig through it. Why keep them on a hard drive, when people might think it’s their favourite thing I’ve done?”

The mindset of sharing everything he’s done carries through to Podge having to choose a genre to describe his music, he cedes that picking a term is more for filing purposes than creative.

“I say alt-country, the ‘country’ part is because that style is what first got me into music and songwriting first — Johnny Cash, John Prine, the storytelling element etc — the ‘alt’ part does a lot of heavy lifting, as it covers all the other music I listen to, I love so many types of music.

“These days, the genres we use are being fed into algorithms and festivals. If you looked at a list of all the acts I’ve supported in concert, you’d have no idea what I ‘sound’ like, the music I make is simply authentic and honest to me.”

That sense of authenticity informs his songwriting approach, where he likes to keep himself on his toes.

“My songwriting style isn’t set in stone, I try to approach each album with a rule to test myself. This current record, Less Of Me, had ‘no changing the lyrics after 24 hours’.

“It was a tough challenge. Let Me Ask You is a song that is a good example of that; listening back I was thinking: ‘I could go back and make this sentence less brutally honest’, but it would have ruined the moment of the song. Playing them live now, I am so glad I left the words as they were, as I can see them resonate with audiences.”

Speaking of audiences, Podge has been in front of his fair share of them recently.

“I’ve played over 100 shows last year, everywhere and everything, from small outdoor festivals to venues I’d always dreamed of performing in. Me playing the songs live is the best way for people to connect with me, it’s where I’m most confident.

“My ethic is to give every audience my best show possible, but also never the same show twice. There’s no repeating anecdotes, and I’m always swapping songs in and out of the set. Audiences can tell when a show is just a travelling format of what you’ve done before.

“I can’t wait to bring my show back to Ireland and do it all at home. The one thing I don’t want is people leaving the show saying: ‘It sounded just like the record’. No matter the size of the audience, I want them to know it was specifically for them.”

Podge’s return to Ireland means he has plenty up his sleeve.

“My main two headline shows when I get home are Marino Church in Bantry on Friday, February 13, and St Catherine’s Cultural Centre in Kinsale on Friday, March 6. There will be other shows and support slots announced too.”

Go to www.podgelane.com for ticket information, streaming links, and future gig announcements.

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