Petal To The Metal

The young Fiachna tries some flower power

lready a familiar face around his adopted hometown, Fiacha Ó Braonáin has long been merrily lost in music.

From his early years in Booterstown to his current Greystones bliss, that sweet spot between diddley-aye and Bo Diddley has sparked a long and winding musical journey.

Including, of course, fame and something on the road to fortune with The Hothouse Flowers.

Ahead of his Whale love-in with another rock’n’roll survivor-turned-presenter Tom Dunne (of pop combo Something Happens!) at The Whale on Saturday, May 21st, Fiachna took time out to chart his journeys into sound…

Music has always spoken to me as if it were a family member! It’s just always been there…

Early memories of coming downstairs on a Saturday morning to find my parents’ vinyl records scattered all over the floor after having friends over the night before – The Chieftains, O Riada, Alan Stivell, Brendan Behan Sings Irish Folk Songs, Na Filí and many more. Is it any wonder then that when I first went out to buy records it was the music of Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan and the Who that first ended up sneaking its way onto the trad turntable at home!

And ahem…. The Saturday Night Fever soundtrack!

These were quickly followed by The Beat, The Specials, Led Zeppelin and Elvis. But traditional music was in my blood and I never really forsook it in favour of rock n’roll Music is music – that’s all there is to it for me.

As I grew up my father took me to trad sessions and tin whistle classes. I really loved those nights. The pin-drop silence as someone sang a sean-nós son, the whoops and yelps propelling the jigs and reels along, the stomp of the set dancers to the Kerry polkas. The chats, the conversations, looking up to the older fellas who had an encyclopedia of tunes at their beck and call. I tried to learn them as I played along. Listen first, then play on the second round through, off by heart the third time round. Forgotten until the next time!

They were exhilarating sessions for a young Fiachna. At the same I heard the blues wail of BB King and Muddy Waters somewhere, the psychedelic dreamings of Jimi Hendrix, the moody snarl of the Rolling Stones and the a-changing times of Bob Dylan.

I never really imagined I would or could do anything else other than play music. My careers guidance officer once handed us a questionnaire in and around 5th or 6th year, and all my answers pointed to a life in music. I went off to study law in UCD for a year, but spent my time organizing gigs for Hothouse Flowers or The Incomparable Benzini Brothers.

And 38 years later I am still doing just that!

Now, here are the songs that are currently my all-time favourites…

Bob Dylan Boots of Spanish Leather
I discovered Bob Dylan at a young age through my next door neighbour, an ex-US Marine, whose young son I looked after when he went out of an evening. He would come home and, before I would go back to my own house, he always insisted on putting on a few early Bob Dylan albums before I went on my way. I was maybe 12/13 and the genius of Dylan went into my soul forever as a result. Boots of Spanish Leather is a beautiful tale of two lovers, one of whom is off at sea and the boots end up a parting gift. A ballad of transporting beauty.

Rolling Stones Gimme Shelter
I remember seeing the Rolling Stones in Barcelona years ago. I was standing beside my brother in the stadium as close to the front as we could get and when Gimme Shelter came on tears started rolling down my face. I’m sure it was because there I was beside my brother watching one of my all-time favourite bands. And not only were we at the concert but I had also just been on the same stage with Hothouse Flowers opening for them! The song has always carried a sense of power and a sense of redemption.. a rallying call against the troubles of the world.

Mick Flannery & Susan O’Neill Baby Talk
One of the standout Irish releases in recent years, this song seems to have spoken to everyone. The push and pull of a fragile relationship captured by these two remarkable voices – it always pulls me right in. And the recently-released version accompanied by the Cork Opera Orchestra recorded live at the Cork Opera House takes it to a whole other level of brilliance.

Anais Mitchell Brooklyn Bridge
Anyone who has been to New York knows the magic feeling that comes over you when you cross the bridges in or out of that city at night. Something about that extraordinary energy New York City evokes, and Brooklyn Bridge is a story of love. A story of rising high at the end of the night, two lovers in the backseat, Brooklyn Bridge taking them onwards… It transmits a feeling of endless possibility for me.

Allison Russell 4th Day Prayer
Allison Russell is a remarkable singer and songwriter whose work I have been following since her band Birds of Chicago and subsequently her stirring work as part of Our Native Daughters alongside Rhiannon Giddens, Amethyst Kiah and Leyla McCalla. Together they have been setting the record straight in relation to Black American music and highlighting some of the struggles that brought about that deep well. On her first solo record, Outside Child, Allison took from her own personal struggles and transformed these stories of suffering into moments of real beauty – and 4th Day Prayer is exactly that. The alchemy of transforming suffering into beauty and hope.

Planxty The West Coast Of Clare
Planxty are the perfect accompaniment to any road trip along the west coast of Ireland, and Andy Irvine’s West Coast of Clare is a stunning song of lost love. I believe it was written after the 1967 Fleadh Cheoil in Kilrush, Co Clare and ‘returning to a place after a mighty event. Sitting in a now empty pub or walking through a once crowded street, vivid with memories‘. It is one of those relatively recent songs that seems like it has been there since time began.

Jimi Hendrix All Along The Watchtower
This was the first song I ever recorded with my guitar teacher Jimmy McGuinness on his reel-to-reel tape machine. He was my guitar teacher in my mid-teens. What a powerful combination – my favourite guitarist at the time, Jimi, taking on my favourite songwriter, Bob! It is, of course, an all-time classic. Even Dylan himself tried to perform it with a Hendrix feel once he heard Jimi’s version. I must learn it again!

Fiachna Ó Braonáin & Tom Dunne bring On The Road Again to The Whale on Saturday, May 31st – details here.

You can also check out our 2017 int with Fiachna here. Cover pic: Niall Meehan.