Seamus Fogarty

Seamus Fogarty is the first act to be announced for Howlin’ Fringe!, a new Lost Map all-day event taking place on Saturday August 8th, at Penicuik Town Hall.  

TICKETS AVAILABLE HERE

Q: Hello Seamus Fogarty, it’s been a while. Tell us about your worst ever haircut please.

I used to get my hair cut in town in a place that was very much like the hairdressers in Coronation Street. This particular time I was very nervous because the last time I’d been in there the nice lady sent me out the door looking like Gary Barlow. We decided she would go with the bowl type haircut that was in vogue at the time, straightforward, neat. When she showed me the finished product the line of the bowl at the back of my head seemed to be at a 45 degree angle, yet straight at the front, very odd. I said this to the hairdresser but she just laughed it off saying it was a imperfection in the mirror. I showed my mother when I got home and she had a good chuckle as well, blaming my eyesight. The next day at school I got torn to shreds, everyone laughed at me and I’ve never really gotten over it.

Q: That’s funny and also quite sad. Now how about telling us about the songs on your new EP Ducks & Drakes? How do they compare to the stuff from your album God Damn You Mountain in terms of their musical/lyrical content?

They’re quite a bit different, mostly due to the fact that this EP was written and recorded in London and my album was written/recorded in a cottage in the west of Ireland. The album was kind of me looking back where as these tunes are more about where I am now and how I got here. I’m from the country but soon I’ll have spent most of my life living in cities. Fields and rivers have been replaced by parks, ponds and the tube, but I don’t think I’ll ever fully adjust to city life, and that’s fine with me. That’s probably why I fill songs with samples of various friends and neighbours I grew up with, to remind myself of where I come from, who I’ve met and where I’ve been. I think with these tunes I set myself the challenge of making something that sounded bigger even, even though the space I had to record and mix them was much smaller than what I had previously. To do this I used more electronics, bass, saxophone, drum machines and a real drum kit. So that’s a departure from the last record too.

Q: What have you been up to in the last few years since the release of God Damn You Mountain? 

Lots of things. I’ve toured around the UK with James Yorkston and The Pictish Trail, and toured around Ireland with Lisa O’Neill, and toured around the living rooms and cafes and bars of Europe by myself. Earlier this year I worked on a soundtrack for Islanders Rest, an animated short film by director Claudius Gentinetta commissioned by Swiss TV, and also an installation opera La Celestina, which was a collaboration with London based experimental opera company Erratica and British composer Matt Rogers, commissioned by The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. My main hobby these days is painting pictures of ducks.

Q: Is a second album in the offing anytime soon? 

I’m working on it at the moment but I’m slow, so very slow. I need someone to stand behind me and beat me when I go on Youtube and watch videos of people falling into holes when I should be recording. It’s not easy, but I’m hoping to have most of it ready by the end of the summer, and maybe another EP too. And an album of me performing Secret Soundz Vol 1 & 2 using just saxophone and nose trumpet.

WATCH THE 'DUCKS & DRAKES' VIDEO