Brilliant or what? Cork ‘treasure’ Spillane on life, love and his music
NEW BOOK OFFERS FASCINATING INSIGHT INTO THE MIND OF A MUSICIAL GENIUS. LIKE
WITH album sales of more than 100,000, two Meteor Awards under his belt and a number of TV shows to his credit, singer, songwriter, poet and raconteur John Spillane could rightfully be considered something of a Cork treasure.
A self-confessed dreamer, John gave up a safe job at the bank when he was 18-years old to pursue his love of making music full-time, much to the horror of his mother.
“She nearly killed me for leaving such a good job,” he recalled.
In fact, when John left the bank, he was asked to rewrite his letter of resignation because it was too poetic. Needless to say he refused.
That sense of poetic drama has been the driving force behind John’s writing for more than three decades, earning him a deserved place in the pantheon of the great Irish songwriters and storytellers.
Over the years he has played with many bands and musical outfits, served a number of musical apprenticeships and performed at venues and music festivals, both big and small, across Ireland and farther afield.
Whether it be singing to Presidents, in front of 45,000 people at Croke Park or in front of 45 people in an intimate venue, his performances are funny, quirky and massively entertaining.
His songs have been covered by Christy Moore, Sharon Shannon, Pauline Scanlon and Cathy Ryan to name but a few, a testament to their lyrical mastery and soulful melodies.
Surprisingly, for all the gift of his gab and the willingness with which he engages anyone willing to listen, one thing that he had never done up to now was write a book.
He has now remedied that, finally putting pen to paper on his first ever book, a hugely enjoyable read that has been described as like “having him in the room chatting with you.”
Packed full of music and stories, ‘Will We Be Brilliant Or What?’ is an opportunity for fans to get inside John Spillane’s head and find out exactly what it is that makes him tick.
With a foreward by Christy Moore the book offers a fascinating insight into the inspiration behind John Spillane’s best loved songs.
With typical good-humour, John admitted that writing songs can all too often be a case of trial and error.
“I wrote my first song when I was 16 and have written about 200 more since then. Some of them maybe you couldn’t really call brilliant like, but what harm?”
“Each one teaches you some little lesson, and maybe you have to write the small ones so you can go on and write the big ones,” he said.
In the book he offers sage advice to budding songwriters keen to follow in his footsteps.
“Decide what you are going to write about, write like mad for five minutes and most importantly, defend your song,” he insisted.
“To be honest songwriting can be a lonely enough old road, but hearing people ask you to play their favourites takes you outside of yourself and makes you part of a community. That is what excites and inspires me,” he said.
Despite a career that has taken him to the top of the Irish music scene, John said he is far from finished yet. “Far from it,” he laughed. “I know there are some beauties of songs out there that are just waiting to fall into my lap.”