Interview with Dermot Kennedy

A few years back, we could have easily thought Dermot Kennedy was going to follow the path of another folk wizard. But 2017 -and the release of his EP « Doves & Ravens » and single « Moments Passed »- marked a turning point. The Irish artist demonstrated his ability to blur the lines with hybrid melodies. There’s hip-hop, folk, electro, rock in Dermot Kennedy’s music and also a constant and striking fever in his voice. From his busker debut to the soon-to-be-realized dream of a sold-out Dublin Olympia, Dermot Kennedy tells us all about his promising musical journey.

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n The Move : Hi Dermot ! Thanks for being here with us today. For our readers to get to know you a bit more, can you tell us more about one of your first memories of music?

Dermot Kennedy : One of my first memories of music, well the very first one actually, was probably seeing my cousin play a Thin Lizzy’s song at a party, just on an old crappy guitar. It made me buy a guitar a few days later so it was definitely a really important and defining moment for me.

On The Move : You made your debuts on the streets, as a busker or also in open mics. Pretty formative to start, right ?

Dermot Kennedy : Yeah, it’s funny, it’s true actually because open mics and busking are very similar in a lot of ways. You can have to win the street as you have to win the room so I think it helps you vocally, to get louder. These days, a lot of my songs in my set are like loud songs. I think it might come from what I did on the street to win the attention. So definitely, it pushes you. It also means you’re not too kind of sensitive or too afraid to open yourself out there. I think it helped you that way.

« it made me a better musician to have been on a band »

On The Move : In your college years, you formed a band with one of your classmates. So you had an experience in a formation before going solo. Which position suits you best? What are the good and bad aspects of both?

Dermot Kennedy : Actually this guy I met in college, he is still with us now, he plays the drums ! There are tons of good things about being solo or in a band. In a band, you’re with your friends all the time, you try music together, you create together, and that’s beautiful. And when you’re solo, everything you do is on your own. I was in L.A. for three weeks before Christmas. I was alone, and even if you can get lonely, creatively you get to do whatever you wanna do and that’s what I like ! But it absolutely made me a better musician to have been on a band, with people who are for sure, better musicians than me.

On The Move : You are inspired by the organic sound of Glen Hansard or by the density of Kanye West. But what are your main inspirations outside of music?

Dermot Kennedy : One thing I was doing when I was in L.A. or London is that I went a lot to the cinema. For someone who’s trying to write music, with imagery in it, with a visual side to it, this is really important. A part from that, I try to be influenced by the people around me in everyday life and it has become more and more important because I’m at home less and less. I remember hearing somebody talk about comedians and that they become obsessed with stations, airports, airplanes and stuff like that because they are just used to these places in every day life. It’s about kind of holding on to that. And yeah, when I have time, I might go to the cinema and take something in you know.

On The Move : You’re talking about being less and less at home; in Ireland. Is there anything Irish in Dermot Kennedy’s sound ?

Dermot Kennedy : Maybe... I think probably just through the fact that Glen Hansard is Irish. In the early years of me writing songs, I was hugely into him. I think he embodies the Irish song-writer to the core. So, that’s probably how it happened. I can’t necessarily say that being Irish makes me sound this way or that but, as a songwriter, it definitely shaped me through him.

On The Move : Could you describe the sound of «Doves and Ravens» for someone who would have not heard it yet?

Dermot Kennedy : I would maybe say it’s an EP by somebody who found music through songwriters and then somebody who listened to hip-hop pretty much all the time. And that is starting to mess around with all of that a little bit. But not going too far !

On The Move : Your sound is very hybrid indeed.Dermot Kennedy : Yeah, for now, let’s say... (laughs)

On The Move : And there is also a certain nostalgia running though it...

Dermot Kennedy : I think that’s actually the perfect word. I think nostalgia kind of runs through all of my songs. Whether it’s like being nostalgic about childhood or previous relationships with friends or someone you were in love with before. It’s all nostalgic and it’s all that kind of feeling. And people can relate to most of that stuff.

On The Move : Is it this nostalgia, or feelings overall, that are the triggering elements of your creation process?

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29Dermot Kennedy : These days, it’s generally music. Well actually, it’s always the music. I start with it and it can kind of make me feel a certain way, think certain things or make me want to follow a certain subject. That’s really important to me, taking music to a good place so I can write really easier.

On The Move : You were saying previously that you try to juggle with the influences of songwriters as well as urban ones. Nowadays, many artists are questioning the notion of genres considering it is more and more obsolete somehow. What is your opinion on that?

Dermot Kennedy : When somebody is good, he carries some values and principles he shares with his audience. That why I’m a huge fan of Kanye West and Bon Iver because I feel like they are so similar in certain ways. I get that certain music fits in a certain genre but... before Christmas, I was in a studio with Mike Dean - Kanye West’s producer- and that sounds crazy because I only write songs on my guitar but it worked because we both kind of feel the same way about music and we both have a similar sort of process. We like similar things so I think these are the stuff that runs, that everybody share and that can be more powerful that strictly ranking music through genres.

« nostalgia runs through all of my songs »

On The Move : Last december, you unveiled your first music video, for «Moments Passed» that Nabil Elderkin (Kendrick Lamar, Frank Ocean, Kanye West) directed. Is building a visual universe around your music important to you ?

Dermot Kennedy : For now, it’s music and this is what I gotta do in ways that I can sort of fulfill other things next. But we had the opportunity of doing this video and it was really special. I wanna go further into it, also in the sense of having videos on stage. You see so many acts playing gigs and they don’t have videos playing or stuff going on. But if you’re singing to someone and you try to make them feel something, you got these extra tools that can help you. So that’s hugely important to me. This is all really exciting. I just want everything I do visually to be really really great. I’m not talking about trying to make a movie or anything right now but I just think that if I’m trying to make people see things, feel things, I’d I’m trying to remember things , it makes it

a lot easier when you’ve got those things behind you. We’re in a very visual society after all.

On The Move : What is the quality you value the most in an artist ?

Dermot Kennedy : I don’t wanna say something that would sound a cliché or anything but still, passion or integrity. Like we were saying, there are so many genres that are blending now and people are not necessarily separating them anymore so they are trying different things and in all of it, you gotta be yourself, more than ever ! So probably integrity yeah.

On The Move : What can we wish you for this new year ? Any achievement you want to fulfill ?

Dermot Kennedy : Well that’s funny because when I met my manager the first time, they kinda asked me what was the dream I’d like to pursue and that was to play the Olympia in Dublin and that’s like in a few weeks now. So we’re doing that! And I actually hadn’t thought that far ahead (laughs) I wasn’t even worried about when it would happen like whenever. But now it’s happening in a few weeks! So I need a new goal (laughs)

On The Move : What can we expect from your shows?

Dermot Kennedy : It will be a bit more intense that you might expect from someone that was just busking on the street two years ago. It’s not just acoustic stuff, it’s bigger than that. But it still exists within it. I hope you like it!

INTERVIEW BY CORALINE BLAISE PHOTOS BY PAOLA LEONARDIS FOR ON THE MOVE

Dermot Kennedy’s EP «Doves & Ravens», April 2017