As part of Parallel Tour 2016 Bennigan’s Bar introduces us to Patrick Gardiner, Cassy Hoare and Jack Rayner (a.k.a. Dirty Blonde) Three solo singer/songwriters from Falmouth University in South West of England.
But first we caught up with Patrick Gardiner before the night kicked off in Bennigan's to talk music, touring and much more...
But first we caught up with Patrick Gardiner before the night kicked off in Bennigan's to talk music, touring and much more...
1. So you travelled down tonight to play here in Bennigan’s Bar along with two other solo artists as part of The Parallel Tour 2016 across UK and Ireland., So tell us a bit about that?
Patrick: Well the three of us study together at the university of Falmouth down in Cornwall. We wanted to do a tour together as three solo artists where we all perform in Parallel. We basically decided that we would do this Parallel Tour, the three of us. They would kind of organise a few gigs for us around England as that’s their patch and I would organise a couple of gigs for us here in Northern Ireland.
So we just come from Gloucestershire where we have done two gigs near the forest of dean area round Gloucester and now we are over here in Bennigans tonight in Derry and then tomorrow night we are off to do Portrush in Kiwi’s Brew Bar. Then we are back over to England then for the end of the tour finishing off back in Cornwall down at our university.
2. So your touring throughout the UK and Ireland throughout this year?
Patrick: Yeah that’s it, I think there is a few from our university doing tours and kinda sticking to England but obviously me being from Northern Ireland. It made sense for us to use the connections I have here, I have played in Bennigan’s before and I played in Kiwi’s in Portrush before. So I said to them lets head over to Northern Ireland and do a few dates there so we kinda went out on a limb booked our flights and said we are gonna try and do a couple of Northern Irish dates.
Patrick: Well the three of us study together at the university of Falmouth down in Cornwall. We wanted to do a tour together as three solo artists where we all perform in Parallel. We basically decided that we would do this Parallel Tour, the three of us. They would kind of organise a few gigs for us around England as that’s their patch and I would organise a couple of gigs for us here in Northern Ireland.
So we just come from Gloucestershire where we have done two gigs near the forest of dean area round Gloucester and now we are over here in Bennigans tonight in Derry and then tomorrow night we are off to do Portrush in Kiwi’s Brew Bar. Then we are back over to England then for the end of the tour finishing off back in Cornwall down at our university.
2. So your touring throughout the UK and Ireland throughout this year?
Patrick: Yeah that’s it, I think there is a few from our university doing tours and kinda sticking to England but obviously me being from Northern Ireland. It made sense for us to use the connections I have here, I have played in Bennigan’s before and I played in Kiwi’s in Portrush before. So I said to them lets head over to Northern Ireland and do a few dates there so we kinda went out on a limb booked our flights and said we are gonna try and do a couple of Northern Irish dates.
3. So Cassy and Jack are performing alongside you tonight so how did you all get involved and to bring this tour together?
Patrick: I think it’s really interesting, obviously I study with Cassy and Jack which goes under the stage name “Dirty Blonde”. But they are songwriters and solo artists like me but we all have such different styles. As I got more of the acoustic guitar Damien Rice kind of thing going on, Casey has got more of solo ballad stuff like I would compare her to Sia maybe or Lady Gaga and then Jack has got this whole theatrical sort of persona really inspired by a lot of 80s music, a lot of Fleetwood Mac kind of throwback stuff and he incorporates that into his music in a really fresh way. It’s really nice to tour with them and we are essentially doing the same thing playing our songs as solo artists but in such different styles and across such a wide range of genres and performance styles.
Patrick: I think it’s really interesting, obviously I study with Cassy and Jack which goes under the stage name “Dirty Blonde”. But they are songwriters and solo artists like me but we all have such different styles. As I got more of the acoustic guitar Damien Rice kind of thing going on, Casey has got more of solo ballad stuff like I would compare her to Sia maybe or Lady Gaga and then Jack has got this whole theatrical sort of persona really inspired by a lot of 80s music, a lot of Fleetwood Mac kind of throwback stuff and he incorporates that into his music in a really fresh way. It’s really nice to tour with them and we are essentially doing the same thing playing our songs as solo artists but in such different styles and across such a wide range of genres and performance styles.
Patrick Gardiner Touring with Cassy and Jack AKA Dirty Blonde:
You can see more photos from the night on our Facebook. Twitter and Instagram...
4. As you’re from County Down direction so you must be quite more familiar with your own areas music scene?
Patrick: I am to an extent yeah, I brought out an EP last April and I did the launch of that in Belfast in Voodoo on Fountain Street there and it was quite well attended good gig. So I’ve done a fair bit of gigging around Belfast, Lisburn, Lurgan and those kinda places. But I have played up here as well. I got family from the North coast and good friends from Derry The Wood Burning Savages who are a great band from Derry and I’ve played with them in Belfast. So I’ve played up here in Bennigans before and I think I like to get around the gigs in Northern Ireland to be honest.
5. On your Facebook you describe your music as Acoustic alternative singer-songwriterish jazzy folk pop tunes. That covers a lot of genres.
Patrick: I don’t like to pigeon hole myself in one genre, because I never sit down and write songs and think I am gonna write in this style. I just write my songs and how ever they turn out and people describe them in different ways. I was featured on a couple of blogs around Belfast The Thin Air and Chordblossom and The Guardian. Those kind of guys described me in very acoustic terms Damien Rice, Villagers that kind of stuff and I think that’s where largely my sound is and that’s the stuff I kinda like listening to and the stuff I like to write but there is always influences of Jazz and stuff creeping in, as I grew up listening to jazz and blues records. So I consider myself an acoustic singer songwriter but I think there is different influence’s that seep into the music I write.
I just listened to your sound check there sounding like a mixture of everything, so you kinda go from all types of genres.
Patrick: I like to keep it quite eclectic but at the end of the day I hope it still sounds like me, it’s my voice, it’s my playing and it’s my songs but they can branch off in different directions and span a couple of genres.
Patrick: I am to an extent yeah, I brought out an EP last April and I did the launch of that in Belfast in Voodoo on Fountain Street there and it was quite well attended good gig. So I’ve done a fair bit of gigging around Belfast, Lisburn, Lurgan and those kinda places. But I have played up here as well. I got family from the North coast and good friends from Derry The Wood Burning Savages who are a great band from Derry and I’ve played with them in Belfast. So I’ve played up here in Bennigans before and I think I like to get around the gigs in Northern Ireland to be honest.
5. On your Facebook you describe your music as Acoustic alternative singer-songwriterish jazzy folk pop tunes. That covers a lot of genres.
Patrick: I don’t like to pigeon hole myself in one genre, because I never sit down and write songs and think I am gonna write in this style. I just write my songs and how ever they turn out and people describe them in different ways. I was featured on a couple of blogs around Belfast The Thin Air and Chordblossom and The Guardian. Those kind of guys described me in very acoustic terms Damien Rice, Villagers that kind of stuff and I think that’s where largely my sound is and that’s the stuff I kinda like listening to and the stuff I like to write but there is always influences of Jazz and stuff creeping in, as I grew up listening to jazz and blues records. So I consider myself an acoustic singer songwriter but I think there is different influence’s that seep into the music I write.
I just listened to your sound check there sounding like a mixture of everything, so you kinda go from all types of genres.
Patrick: I like to keep it quite eclectic but at the end of the day I hope it still sounds like me, it’s my voice, it’s my playing and it’s my songs but they can branch off in different directions and span a couple of genres.
6. Your music described as ““It's young and its fun. He has been recognised at Glastonbury as an Emerging Talent and is one to watch." By The Guardian, what do think of The Guardian mentioning you in their blogs?
Patrick: Yeah that was really nice to get featured by The Guardian and back in 2013 a couple of years ago. I got picked for Glastonbury emerging talent competition to play at Glastonbury. I didn’t actually get in to play Glastonbury but they put me on the shortlist for their upcoming artist’s kind of competition and that was really nice and then I think after the back of that The Guardian ran a little feature basically just saying “This is Patrick and this is his music” and that was really nice to get that mention from them but I almost like it more to get mentioned by the smaller blogs around Northern Ireland and obviously Derry Vibe is one of them so I am not just sucking up to you..
But like any of the local blogs that mention you is nice as it’s taken an interest in you as a local artist and that kind of thing.
Patrick: Yeah that was really nice to get featured by The Guardian and back in 2013 a couple of years ago. I got picked for Glastonbury emerging talent competition to play at Glastonbury. I didn’t actually get in to play Glastonbury but they put me on the shortlist for their upcoming artist’s kind of competition and that was really nice and then I think after the back of that The Guardian ran a little feature basically just saying “This is Patrick and this is his music” and that was really nice to get that mention from them but I almost like it more to get mentioned by the smaller blogs around Northern Ireland and obviously Derry Vibe is one of them so I am not just sucking up to you..
But like any of the local blogs that mention you is nice as it’s taken an interest in you as a local artist and that kind of thing.
You’ve got a lot of recognition for your music on radio so far, like you got airplay on BBC 6 Music, Radio Ulster so it must be good to have that support from them too?
Patrick: Yeah a bit of airplay around Radio Ulster and Tom Robinson’s show on 6 Music which was really nice, he does a show on their called “Fresh On The Net” which is a really great show. So it’s nice to get featured in that. But now I am living down in Cornwall I find myself getting more airplay on BBC Radio Cornwall which is funny as it’s a like a total different scene down there. So it’s refreshing to get played on different stations.
Patrick: Yeah a bit of airplay around Radio Ulster and Tom Robinson’s show on 6 Music which was really nice, he does a show on their called “Fresh On The Net” which is a really great show. So it’s nice to get featured in that. But now I am living down in Cornwall I find myself getting more airplay on BBC Radio Cornwall which is funny as it’s a like a total different scene down there. So it’s refreshing to get played on different stations.
7. Who would inspire you to create music locally or worldwide artists?
Patrick: Locally there is a few artists that I’ve played with throughout the last number of years who I still stay in touch with who really inspire me. The producer and multi instrumentalists, soloists from Ballinderry Michael Mormecha who’s bringing out debut his solo album. He still is the front man for Mojo Fury and they obviously done amazing things In Northern Ireland music scene but he is bringing out his first solo record this year called “Called Low Fly Life” and he actually produced my first EP back when I was 16 years old and he’s be involved in my recordings for a while. He played drums on my recent EP and he was one of the guys that I hung around with was a teenager to get tips from in the local music scene and people from around Lurgan area, Ciaran Lavery who has been going up in the world getting featured by South by Southwest. I remember playing with Ciaran in a tiny little art gallery for about 20 people in Lurgan a couple of years ago so it’s mad like. He’s getting so much recognition for his music but yeah people like that.
Patrick: Locally there is a few artists that I’ve played with throughout the last number of years who I still stay in touch with who really inspire me. The producer and multi instrumentalists, soloists from Ballinderry Michael Mormecha who’s bringing out debut his solo album. He still is the front man for Mojo Fury and they obviously done amazing things In Northern Ireland music scene but he is bringing out his first solo record this year called “Called Low Fly Life” and he actually produced my first EP back when I was 16 years old and he’s be involved in my recordings for a while. He played drums on my recent EP and he was one of the guys that I hung around with was a teenager to get tips from in the local music scene and people from around Lurgan area, Ciaran Lavery who has been going up in the world getting featured by South by Southwest. I remember playing with Ciaran in a tiny little art gallery for about 20 people in Lurgan a couple of years ago so it’s mad like. He’s getting so much recognition for his music but yeah people like that.
8. So you like a huge list of musical influences like Amy Winehouse that you would follow?
Patrick: Amy Winehouse for me is like one of my absolute idols in the sense she was essentially a jazz artist but she was never really labelled that which she managed to be a pop artist but it was all about jazz and I thought it was incredible and just an amazing singer.
Patrick: Amy Winehouse for me is like one of my absolute idols in the sense she was essentially a jazz artist but she was never really labelled that which she managed to be a pop artist but it was all about jazz and I thought it was incredible and just an amazing singer.
9. Following this gig tonight where can we see you next?
Patrick: Next is actually tomorrow night we are playing in Kiwi’s in Portrush and then after that sadly I am back over to England to play in Cornwall in Jacobs Latter in Falmouth which should really be a fun gig and then in a couple of months I got a new EP coming out which is been mixed and mastered and stuff at the minute, so when that new record comes out then I hopefully will be back over for a full Northern Irish tour just as myself promoting my new EP. Hopefully summertime is when that is happening..
Patrick: Next is actually tomorrow night we are playing in Kiwi’s in Portrush and then after that sadly I am back over to England to play in Cornwall in Jacobs Latter in Falmouth which should really be a fun gig and then in a couple of months I got a new EP coming out which is been mixed and mastered and stuff at the minute, so when that new record comes out then I hopefully will be back over for a full Northern Irish tour just as myself promoting my new EP. Hopefully summertime is when that is happening..
10. Where can we can find you on social media so people can follow your music online?
Soundcloud.com/patrickgardiner
Facebook.com/patrickgardinermusic
Patrickgardiner.com has got all my music links which you can find on the website.
You can also find Patrick Gardiner’s Music also on Spotify and I Tunes.
Soundcloud.com/patrickgardiner
Facebook.com/patrickgardinermusic
Patrickgardiner.com has got all my music links which you can find on the website.
You can also find Patrick Gardiner’s Music also on Spotify and I Tunes.
