CPI Archive 2007: This is more the Garrett Wall interview than the Garrett Wall podcast. Some of the audio clips used on the original podcast are now copyright protected, so I am unable to upload the original podcast. But below please see the text of the newspaper interview with Garrett Wall.
Andrew Hamilton talks to Garrett Wall about his Spanish musical redemption and his triumphant return to Ireland.
DUBLIN, September 1998. As the Celtic Tiger finally begins to growl, Ireland’s second greatest revolution of the closing days of the 20th century bides its time in the fringes, silently. It would be three full years before David Kitt’s The Big Romance first sparks the flames. A further 12 months before Mundy would rein- vent himself in 24 Star Hotel. Not until Damien Rice’s O, in the heady summer of 2003, would the transformation finally be complete. In 1998, as the cold Dublin winter closed in around Garrett Wall, the cult of the Irish singer-songwriter was nowhere to be found. Timing, they say, is everything and for Wall, faith had conspired to deliver him slightly too early — a musician ever-so-slightly out of time. The only option was to leave, to travel to Spain and reach for a fresh start in Madrid. “I came over here in 1999, so it has been eight years almost. I had been quite busy in Ireland, gigging around with my band and had released a couple of records. I guess I was burnt out with the scene at home,” he said. "At that time, it wasn't as healthy certainly for singer-songwriters, as it is now.
I always thought they were waiting for me to leave before the scene really kicked off over there! “There were a couple of other things that happened to me in Ire- land that gave me a bittersweet taste in my mouth. Also, at the time I had a relationship, and you know, the usual reason for going anywhere is either because of work or because of a relationship. “I guess I came over here for a break. I actually thought at the time that I would give up music altogether because I was so cheesed off with it. That was the plan, to start a new life for myself in Spain. It was a big move, I had to start everything off again from zero.” The music business is a lot like the Mafia: you’re not really out until you're dead. And just when Wall finally thought he was free, slowly but surely he was dragged back into it. “I started getting work over here in advertising, singing jingles and things like that. I was lucky, the most sought-after thing over here is o be able to sing in English and to be able to copy someone’s voice. I mean, I’ve done Bowie, I’ve done Bono, I’ve done Simple Minds. I found a little niche there that let me into other areas, like writing sound- tracks for movies,” he said. “It was great to be able to make a living that way as a singer. Then I was offered the opportunity of making an album of new music. It was great to get back into writing songs and doing concerts. But I didn’t really think hard enough about it and I made a couple of mistakes in terms of the people that I worked with and the direction that they took me down. “It was a good introduction to the music scene here though. It was good to start from scratch in a new scene, to be able to start with no taboos and avoid the pitfalls that I might have fallen into in Ireland. But it took a long time and a lot of working with people to rediscover the sound that I really wanted. And that’s what I’ve got now.” Wall’s latest album, Sky Point- ing, meshes guitar, trumpet, bass and cajón drum in an atmospheric soundscape that has more than a modicum of the Mediterranean. “My music has never really been too definable. I mean, people could listen to me and never know that I was Irish. But I think that this album has been defined in a lot of ways by the use of the cajón, which is a Flamenco instrument. It gives it a definite sound. The thing is that we’re playing pop/rock/folk music but with these Flamenco instruments,” continues Wall. “I remember playing in Waterford a couple of years ago, with the Guggenheim Grotto. Their drummer was there playing a bongo. He saw our drummer, Robbie, playing away on the cajón and now I see pictures of them all playing away on the cajón. Robbie is almost spearheading the cajón movement in Ireland. “We also included a lot of clapping in places, which is a very Flamenco thing to do. I like to include the Flamenco bits, even if it’s only a little nod. It’s a lot of fun.” This tour means a lot to Garrett Wall. Finally, he’s coming home with an album and a collection of music that he feels he can be truly proud of. "I had a long tour back in Ireland about four years ago. I enjoyed that, but at the time I wasn’t really convinced by the music I was doing. I wanted to come back with music that was 100 per cent right. And that does make a difference. Even the reactions and the help that we’re getting from the media are at a different level,” he said. “I think that my confidence about going back this time is really rub- bing off on people. It’s exciting for me. We are going to some nice venues and a lot of the lads have never really been in Ireland before so it’s sort of like a road trip, where you get to show your mates around the country you’re from and play a little music along with it. For me, it’s a complete adventure.”
