The Dublin trad band play a special one-off gig next week

The Bonny Men are one of Ireland’s most exciting contemporary trad acts.

Its eight members are hugely decorated - with awards within the Irish trad/folk scene including multiple All Ireland championships, a world bodhran champion and a recipient of TG4’s Young Musician of the Year award. 

Ahead of their gig at Whelan’s for Powers Golden Hours on April 30th - which will bring together trad legends and emerging talent for a night of song and story-telling  - we caught up with the band to learn more about them.

1. What’s the music that you listened to growing up, that you still listen to today?
A broad mix of everything, really. I consumed traditional Irish music growing up, which wasn’t all that entirely normal in the northside of Dublin! Anything from The Bothy Band to Frank Harte. I still listen to quite a lot of Irish music now, as there’s a wealth of recordings out there. My older brother then introduced me to Led Zeppelin when I was about 15 and I still listen to a lot of Rock’n’Roll, as well as a healthy dose of good dance music that I started getting into when I was about 16 or 17.

2. In three words, describe the minute before you walk on stage.
Where is Natalie? (our piano player that likes to go walkabout before we play.)

3. How do you wind down after a gig?
It depends, really. If we’re at a festival we’re usually straight out into the middle of it and more than likely it’s always a late one! Or if we’re abroad or away in Ireland, we will normally just find a nice pub and have the craic together. There’s 8 of us in the band so it’s a ready-made crowd. We all get on very well together, so we’ll always enjoy the afters of a gig.

4. What’s the one song (by another artist) you wish you’d written or recorded first?
As a trad band that’s a difficult one, as a lot of the composers of the tunes and songs that we play are unknown. All we can do is respectfully put our own stamp on it and keep the tunes and songs alive for the next generation. But one set that I wish we had come up with is 'The Morning Dew' by The Chieftains - it's brilliant.

5. What is your pet peeve? 
Football pundits pluralising the names of players and teams…”You have your Dublins, your Tyrones, your Kerrys..."

6. Name one record, one book and one film that everyone should hear / read / see.
Record: Crosby Stills Nash & Young - 'Déjà vu' (1970). All round one of the best albums recorded.
Book: Bill Bryson 'A Short History of Nearly Everything' and 'Adulting for Dummies'. Both will have you sorted.
Film: 'Blackbird' by Michael Flatley. Wow.

7. Pick the director and lead actor(s) for a biopic about your life. 
Director: Dubliner Lance Daly of course, great director.
Actor: If Cillian Murphy isn’t free, I suppose Brad Pitt will do.

8. You’re ordering take-away, what do you get?
Can’t go wrong with a good Thai. San Sab is probably the best out there (and closest to me.)

9. Describe your perfect day off.
Me and my partner Áine just had a new baby girl, Molly. She’s incredible. However, there are no more days off…

10. Tell us, in one sentence, why we should come to your next gig (whenever it may be.) 
You should come to one of our gigs because we’re playing music that needs to be heard live. The speaker on your phone won’t cut it! Our next gig is in Whelan’s on the 30th of April as part of the Powers Golden Hours series. However, it's already sold out so just keep an eye on The Bonny Men social pages for gigs this summer.

BONUS QUESTION: Recommend a podcast and tell us why we should subscribe to it.
'Fire Draw Near' by Ian Lynch, it gives you a good insight into traditional Irish music and songs, definitely worth a listen if you want to learn a bit more about our shared music and culture.

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The Bonny Men play Powers Golden Hours at Whelan's on April 30th.