LOCAL MUSICIAN AND COMPOSER DAVID O’DOWDA ON HIS HIGH NOTES
DUNDALK MAN DAVID ODOWDA COMPOSES FOR TV FAVOURITES
Settling down to watch tv over the Christmas holidays, chances are you heard a song composed by Dundalk man David O’Dowda.
The man behind the music for adverts such as Boots No.7, and the teaser trailer for the upcoming sixth series of the US espionage series ‘Homeland’, he reflected on how it all began as he chatted with the Argus this week.
Growing up surrounded by music, he recalls how he was keen to start piano lessons at a young age, and still credits his first piano teacher, Ann Murphy from Bellurgan, for starting him off on that journey
‘I am from a very musical family, so I guess that’s where the interest came from, it’s in our blood.’
He played drums in many local bands throughout his teenage years, including M.I.A, After Purple, Pandora, and a quick stint as keyboard player with The Cabin Fever Band.
As his talents developed the first sign of things to come emerged when David along with fellow ‘ Dundalkian’ Eddie Lawrence played with the band ‘ Tinkers Daughter’ in the 1997 RTE ‘Search for a Star, taking first place.
This success subsequently led to a live performance on UTV’s ‘ The Gerry Kelly Show’ which was a major coup for the teenage stars.
Like many young musicians though, David knew he had to plan his next step, and in 1999 he made the move to Manchester to study popular music and jazz.
‘I wasn’t really writing music at that stage, but studying it was a great base for me,’ said David, who has since made Manchester his home from home.
After graduating, he toured all over Europe supporting Peter Gabriel, playing keyboard/synths in the hotly tipped ‘Sizer Barker’.
‘ That was the opportunity of a lifetime really, an incredible experience. I did get to see the reality of life on the road as well as how the music business worked.’
Playing major venues such as London’s Wembley stadium, it was he says ‘ an eye opening few years.’
‘My mum actually came to see me playing in Paris on my 24th birthday, which is a great memory to have.’
After returning to Manchester, he formed a new band ‘ Table’ which received critical acclaim and endorsements from people like Guy Garvy from the hit band Elbow and Marc Riley of BBC6music and ‘ The Unthanks.’
The first signs of a change in direc- tiontion for the Dundalk man came when he stopped playing the drums in favour of his first and main instruments the piano and voice.
Despite the initial promise, O’Dowda disbanded Table in 2012 to concentrate on songwriting and composing.
‘I had been writing music for a while, and had an album of work already completed. A guy I knew in Manchester asked if he could submit to a company in Los Angeles, and it all sort of went from there.’
David’s songs now provide the soundtrack for many popular television programmes and promos throughout the world,including promotional trailers for ‘Homeland’, ‘ The Walking Dead’, and the hit Sky Atlantic series ‘ The Affair’ and his music has also been used on various TV shows around the world.
‘It’s strange sometimes when me and my wife might be sitting watch- inging tv and one of my songs will come on with an ad or a tv show. I usually won’t ever know where the music is used until afterwards, so it can be a bit surreal.’
In a strange and unexpected twist, David has also gathered a respectable following in Poland as his music features regularly on their number one TV drama‘ Na do breinaze ’.
‘I actually went over to Poland a few times, and it’s weird because everyone knows the music to the show, so they knew my work already.’
In 2014 David began to compose to picture, and began a number of new commercial ventures, with instrumental compositions for advertising for IKEA, Stella Artois and Boots No.7 makup.
And in 2015 he composed the score for a full length feature film starring Clarke Peters(The Wire) and Alison Doody, an Irish actress best known for her role in Indiana Jones.
Although songwriting and composing has taken up most of his energy over the last few years, the Dundalk man admits that performing will ‘always be an itch I have to scratch.’
Indeed, he still performs live occasionally and has been flown over to Los Angeles a couple of times to perform his music for music supervisors and other people in the tv and film industry.
With a busy schedule ahead, he admits to one little known secret.
‘One of the highlights of 2016 was spending three full days recording piano on Chris Martins piano at Coldplay’s private studio in London, working for Grammy award winning producer Marcus Dravs.’
The nature of the project is still under wraps, but he adds: ‘Hopefully, at some stage in 2017, people will learn what it’s about. I’m looking forward to that.’