Tralee’s Ross talks music

Fergus Dennehy talks to well-known Tralee musician, Ross Brassil about getting started in music, what he loves about the craft, why a full tour of Ireland is something that he’d love to do and some of his standout memories from his almost 20 years of playing.

YOU think of live music in Tralee and one of the first names that pop into your head is that of Ross Brassil - it’s as simple as that.

Whether it be for his passion for singing, his energetic performances on stage or even just his famous beard, Ross is very much an instantly recognisable face around the town.

Having been playing guitar and entertaining audiences for almost 18 years now, one could be forgiven for thinking that Ross was born with an instrument in hand, but he admits - with a laugh, of course that this was not the case at all.

“It was through family initially that I got involved in music. We had a few music teachers in there when I was growing up and although they tried to teach me different instruments when I was about seven or eight, - they, eh, sorta failed miserably,” he laughed, speaking to The Kerryman on Thursday.

After these early failures, it wasn’t until his mid-teens that he attempted to start again, this time choosing the guitar as his instrument of choice. Years of practice followed, leading to his first ever live performance in the Abbey Inn bar here in town - an experience that Ross remembers fondly.

“Some friends of mine in my class in sixth year in CBS, The Green, they used to play in a band. We weren’t 18 or anything but they used to play in the Abbey Inn every Friday night and I used to go down and watch them play,” he continued.

“One night, one of my friends-just asked me to come up on stage and sing Metallica - they knew I was big into them - so I just went up and roared my head off and that was the start of it all. Being on stage, it was just brillant, it was an amazing feeling,” he said.

After graduating from college with a degree in Business and Accounting at the height of the recession, Ross said that he, like many others at the time, struggled to find employment in his sector thus forcing him to find other ways to sustain himself.

“I’ve been playing here [on the Tralee pub scene] since I’d say around 2010. I was fortunate after college that a few bars gave me the odd gig here or there - maybe one gig a month - not for much money at all, sometimes I’d even just get a few free pints,” he laughed.

“Everything sorted of just escalated from there then,” he continued.

With now almost ten years experience of playing pubs under his belt, Ross says that he enjoys (almost) everything that comes with the pub scene.

“Every night playing in a pub is different. You can meet so many different people from all walks of life - you can never fully predict how everythings going to go, and sometimes that’s not the best thing,” he laughed.

“You can have some good nights and then, you can have some really bad nights,” he said.

“You might have a sore throat, you might be sick with a cold or flu, your hands and fingers might be sore from playing and of course, there might be an odd plague or two in the crowd,” he chuckled.

“Other than that though, I really enjoy what I do; I just enjoy singing. It’s as simple as that, I just get a great joy and excitement out of getting on stage and singing, I think it’s safe to say that I’ve given up on using my degree. At least with singing, I dont’t have to shave!” he laughed.

Listing his musical influences at Metallica - “maybe it’s not so cool

to still like them,” he laughed - and his sing writing influence as Leonard Cohen, it’s easy to see where Ross gets his very varied style of performing.

As for the future, Ross says that there are still a few items that he’d love to tick off his music bucket list - including a recording session and a national tour of Ireland!

“At some point in the future, I’d love to record some music properly. There’s been a lot of songs that I’ve had a part in writing and I would love to have them recorded properly, you know?”

“I’d love as well to just hop in a bus for a week or two, head up the country somewhere and play in a number of different places; preferably, I’d like to do this with a band as well, I love playing with other people. I’d love to travel around for a two week period, to be living each others pockets and just having the craic,” he laughed.

“Just to be able to do that once before I eventually stop playing, that’s something I’d love to do,” he finished.

Still only a young man, this writer easily sees Ross achieving this goal and much, much more.

Ross is available to sing at a number of occasions, including hotel functions, birthdays, weddings, christening and much more; he is available to contact through his ‘Ross Brassil Music’ Facebook page.

I just enjoy singing. It’s as simple as that, I just get a great joy and excitement out of getting on stage and singing.