Singer- songwriter Colin Andrew spoke to David Hennessy about his new music, touring with Kiefer Sutherland and opening London shows for acts such as Nathan Carter and Lorraine O’Reilly.
Colin Andrew is a singer- songwriter becoming more and more visible on the London scene.
He opened the show for Lorraine O’Reilly when she launched her album at the London Irish Centre recently and the Nathan Carter-headlined Irish Hooley at the Electric Ballroom in Camden in September.
Na Cairde, his band formed with other London- Irish creatives in solidarity with Kneecap, have just finished supporting Chasing Abbey on their UK tour.
Later on this year Colin will be supporting Kiefer Sutherland. Although he is known for his acting in roles in titles such as 24, Kiefer has also released several albums.
Colin, from Beaufort in Kerry, spent some time in America and then Edinburgh before making the move to London.
He will also be releasing an EP of his own later this year.
We chatted to Colin during Na Cairde’s dates supporting Chasing Abbey.
Colin told The Irish World: “I suppose the ultimate plan was always to come down here to London.
“I did two years up in Edinburgh, recorded a bunch of music and then came straight down because I knew this was the place to be for original music in particular.”
When you came to London did you find it very easy to find your Irish crowd through things like the Irish Creative Collective?
“Definitely.
“If anything Edinburgh was a great introduction to coming down here because it helped me kind of integrate quite quickly.
“Being plugged in with the Irish Creative Collective has been literally instrumental in any bit of success I’ve had down here and I’ve brilliant friends out of it as well and that’s just as important.”
Your collective Na Cairde was born out of that collective, wasn’t it?
“That’s how we would have all met each other.
“Basically the band was formed at the court case of Mo Chara.
“The whole impetus of the band comes from that so absolutely it comes from being plugged into that Irish community and the Irish Creative Collective.”
Was it just meant to be a one off thing until someone very renowned happened to ask your name?
“Exactly, Brian Eno was there and he was like, ‘What’s the name of the band?’
“We were like, ‘It’s not really a band’.
“And we were like, ‘Well, we need a band’.
“If Brian Eno asks you what the name of your band is, you immediately make a band. That’s kind of the rule.
“I kind of couldn’t believe it.
“I saw in the crowd this very stylish older man and then he came up and they introduced him.
“I was like, ‘That literally is him’.
“I couldn’t believe it.
“He’s very involved in the cause and he’s really ardent about it which is super admirable for someone in his position as well, to take such a serious stance and stick by his word.”
That is not your only connection to Kneecap as you featured on their last album..
“Absolutely, I sort of know the guys anyway because I did backing vocals on the album so I’m quite pally with Naoise in particular.
“They were delighted just because it created an atmosphere like a fleadh, like a ceili kind of thing in what was a very serious situation.
“It was very much, I felt, an Irish approach to it, to do something different with it and everything that was organised made it into a real statement, I suppose.”
Which track on the album would we hear you on?
“It was a song called Way Too Much.
“I was brought in by Lisa Canny who’s an incredible Irish musician.
“She brought me in for some backing vocals with a bunch of other musicians.
“It was just a beautiful experience.
“It was a mad one, met Dua Lipa in the hallway on the way to the toilet.
“I was like, ‘This is wild’ but it was great working with the lads.
“They’re really passionate about what they do and they’re brilliant artists.
“They’re brilliant musicians.
“I know a lot gets said about everything else because they are such an all encompassing group but they really are talented rappers and artists.”
Lisa Canny is a real trailblazer, isn’t she?
“She’s a runaway train.
“She can’t be stopped.
“I’ve seen her in action as well.
“She’s absolutely incredible, such a brilliant musician but an amazing arranger and musical director and cajoler of people.
“She’s able to get everyone on board in such a massive way.
“Honestly, a force of nature.
“I can’t say enough great things about her because I’m just such a fan and the fact that I’m sort of friendly with her as well is amazing because she passes things on.”
You supported Lorraine O’Reilly at her London Irish Centre album launch recently, how did you enjoy it?
“I’ve only come across her music recently and I’ve been obsessed with the album since.
“Her voice is undeniable.
“She’s one of those talents, really incredible.
“That was such a great night.
“It really goes to show how far you can get by just being kind of being open.
“And she’s one of those characters, was so warm inviting me in.
“I do a lot of support slots for different people and everyone’s been, by and large, fantastic but she was just like, ‘Whatever you need’, you know?
“Just nothing was a problem.”
Before that we saw you opening the ICAP’s Irish Shindig at the Electric Ballroom in September with a bill including Nathan Carter and more local acts like The Reels and Two Canoes..
“Brilliant night.
“I got to chat to Nathan a little bit.
“It’s amazing going around meeting all these people that I admire a lot for what they’ve done in their careers.
“It’s fantastic.”
I also saw your name on the bill for a showcase of Irish talent in Clapham a little while ago by the name The West’s Awake organised by Cillian Davoren of Sean Treacy’s GAA club.
“Brilliant gig.
“And again everything seems to be about the community.
“It was fantastic, loads of great Irish acts.
“And Cillian was great.
“The whole GAA club came down.
“It really felt like a family affair, like all these things.
“It’s really amazing to see the London Irish scene be that strong, especially in a time when the Irish are being put on a on a pedestal, are being given a platform.
“It’s amazing to see that on a grassroots level, we can all come together.
“That’s a massive ethos for Na Cairde as well.
“Obviously the group names means the friends so it’s like we want to bring in people from all aspects of the Irish community or any community that wants to be involved in what we are doing.”
How mad is it that you are going to tour with Kiefer Sutherland?
“Incredible.
“I opened up for him two years ago on tour but this is going to be even more crazy.
“It’s a full six week run on the tour bus with those guys.
“I became quite good friends with everyone in the crew so it really feels like a family thing there as well.
“It’s crazy how it all came about.
“I was just doing a hotel gig in London.
“I was there on a random Tuesday night and Kiefer stuck his head in, gave me the thumbs up.
“I was like, ‘There’s no way that’s him’.
“And he was off to the side.
“So I went out during my break and I was chatting away to him.
“I was like, ‘Come in for the second set, hang out and watch a bit more’.
“And he was so gracious.
“And he was like, ‘Okay, well, I’ll take you on tour’.
“I was like, ‘Yeah, sure. Sure you will’.
“But lo and behold, the next day I got a call from his manager.
“And we’re really hitting every corner of Europe this time.
“We’re playing the Academy in Dublin which I’m delighted about and the Empire in Belfast so it will be great to get back home for those as well.”
You’re currently supporting Chasing Abbey with Na Cairde..
“That’s right.
“They’re such a great band and I’m kind of just recently turned on to them as well.
“They’re really, really great guys.
“We’re having a blast.”
You also have an EP coming out..
“That’s right.
“I’m working on three tracks.
“We’re going in a different direction a little bit, certainly in the same vein of what I’ve always been doing but just maybe a little bit more of a mature sound this time so we’re really excited to get into that and get those out and just keep doing what I’m doing.
“I’m really enjoying my music at the moment because I’m just seeing all the positive things that come from it.
“It’s been a graft, it’s been a grind for the last 10, 15 years but stuff is starting to come together and I’m working with the right people and I’m working with people that I really enjoy spending time with and that’s just as important.”
How would you describe your sound?
“I suppose everything kind of starts from the trad side of things but really I’m more of a pop writer and so I guess somewhere that lands in between that is something a bit more Americana.
“A huge influence of mine is Foy Vance and he’s very much on the Americana kind of country, kind of folky kind of sphere.
“He dips in and out between all of them.
“I’m a massive Foy Vance fan.
“I would pull plenty of inspiration from his stuff so I guess it’s in that vein, for sure.”
You say you started in trad, were you a Fleadh kid?
“I suppose I wasn’t as much of a massive Fleadh kid but I know that culture really well because I’d be friends with a lot of them.
“It’s a wild one.
“It really is.
“I suppose it was more for me playing pubs around Killarney and all over Kerry but the thing was Killarney, because it’s such a tourist tow and Kerry in general being such a tourist area, you’re given opportunities really, really young to give it a go.
“We had a little trad duo together gigging pubs around Kerry and that’s where I grew my live side of things for sure.”
When did you know you were going to be a singer- songwriter?
“Yeah, I suppose it probably was the time that most people decide what they’re going to do, just before you leave secondary school and I was kind of at a crossroads.
“It’s funny really when you look back on these things. It is funny how important these interactions are.
“But I met a lady on a train.
“Her daughter is Stephanie Rainey, the singer-songwriter from Cork.
“I met her mother on the train and she told me about this course in Cork.
“It was a pop music course in Coláiste Stiofáin Naofa.’
“I was like, ‘Okay, that’s I feel like the one for me. I’ll try that for a year, and we’ll give it a go’.
“And I ended up doing that course and I suppose that just put me on such a fantastic trajectory.
“I had my music theory, I had my recording, I had my live sound.
“It really gave me a super solid base to start off and do it the right way and I’ve been using those skills ever since so those courses are absolutely vital.
“That was part of what made me make the decision of, ‘Okay, I think I’m good enough to go and do this’.”
A number of well known singer- songwriters seem to have done that same course. Just recently I’ve heard of it from Lorraine Nash and John Blek..
“Mick Flannery was there, a bunch of other people and it’s been going for 30 years, long before your BIMMs and your pop music degrees in Cork and stuff like that so it was pretty groundbreaking.”
Someone else you have worked with is singer- songwriter Mark Caplice..
“That’s right.
“The last single I did Still Waiting was written with Mark and he’s another guy that I met through the London Irish scene and he’s just super talented.
“I can’t tell you how much I learned about songwriting from him.
“I knew about how I write songs which is sort of feeling around in the dark really but he had a process for it and a way of going about it.
“We wrote a couple of things but that particular song, he was literally just dogged, ‘We’re not moving on from this line because I know that this line is going to be like the linchpin for the song’.
“I genuinely think we sat there for two hours thinking of this line and I was like, ‘Cappy, you’re actually killing me. I can’t sit in this room any longer’.
“And he was like, ‘I’m telling you. We’re gonna get it’.
“And we did.
“We did get it.
“That was one of the lessons.
“I learned so much from those two or three sessions.”
You’re a Kerry man, did you grow up obsessed with GAA?
“I think you have to be.
“I genuinely think it’s mandatory.
“My family would be big involved with GAA.
“I played for Beaufort myself.
“My uncle was a coach for Fossa GAA, the Cliffords’ club.
“He’s massively involved in that.
“And my mam’s side of the family is massively involved with the GAA in Kerry and I love it, competitive sports.
“I genuinely think it’s totally underrated how much that feeds into being a musician and that the discipline of learning a skill. I learned that from growing up in Kerry.
“I don’t think I’m necessarily naturally talented at absolutely anything but I will sit down and I will hone a skill.
“I literally learned that from left foot, right foot against the wall playing GAA, just Trying to get better at something and I strongly feel like I put that into my music.
“As soon as I started learning guitar I was like, ‘Okay, you apply the same discipline.”
A Kerry person who is doing very well right now although not in GAA is Jessie Buckley, didn’t you see her recently?
“Me and my mate Sean, actually from Na Cairde and another pal of ours were going for a run around Regents Park and we were stretching off after a run and I was like, ‘That’s bloody Jessie Buckley’.
“And I was like, ‘Well done, Jessie’.
“And I think I freaked her out completely.
“She turned around and was like, ‘What?’
“And I was like, ‘Congratulations’.
“But I was like, ‘She’s just gonna have to get used to that’.
“She’s gonna have to get used to random Kerry men roaring congrats on the street.”
Colin supports Kiefer Sutherland on his European tour in April and May.
Colin Andrew’s EP is out later this year.
For more information, click here.
