ELLEN’S LIVING THE DREAM ON STAGE AND IN MAGAZINE
WHEN we last met Ballypark woman Ellen O’Reilly, she had just finished top of her class and earned a prestigious musical award in London.
The talented bass player won the highest possible accolades in her field of study, as she was presented with ‘Best Overall Bass on the HDip course at her graduation from the London Institute of Contemporary Music Performance (ICMP).
Now six years later, having completed a degree in contemporary music, she is living her dream, writing for Bass Guitar magazine and playing bass in live performances.
“I finished the higher diploma in 2012 at the institute of contemporary music performance having won “best bassist” that year, I then went on to complete the degree in contemporary music,” says Ellen, who has been playing bass since she was 17.
“As part of the scholarship I won to go to the ICMP, I also had to write my experiences in a monthly column in bass guitar magazine and the editor (world renowned metal author Joel McIver) liked my writing so much he offered me a job there as a freelancer writer.”
In the magazine, Ellen does gear, gig and event reviews and even had her own beginner harmony and theory course.
“I’ve done many interviews where I’ve gotten to meet my bass heroes; Chuck Rainey, Stu Hamm, Rhonda Smith, Yolanda Charles, John Myung and most recently Geddy Lee,” she explains.
“I find being a female musician over here far more acceptable then back home, but that could just be down to the fact that I live in a huge city like London. There are more and more female players out there with each new generation, so I don’t think it’s as big of a deal nowadays.
“Female players confidence can get knocked about quite a bit, I teach at BIMM music colleges too and I always try to give the female players that extra helping hand and attention.”
Aside from music journalism and teaching, Ellen’s main work comes from session playing and basically being a musician for hire.
“I’ve worked with artists such as; Sarah Harding (Girls Aloud), Mark Richardson (Skunk Anansie) and Erika (Mika) amongst others,” says Ellen, “but the biggest chunk of my income comes from working at the House of Song venues across London, where we play for up to five hours a night and we only play songs that the audience requests, so your repertoire must be huge and you are kept in your toes playing songs by ear all the time!”
Work means Ellen doesn’t get back to Drogheda as much as she’s like to visit her mum Kathleen in the family home in Bally park, my brother Gordon in Duleek and sister Linda, who all encouraged her to follow her music career.
“Most of all I miss my dad Patrick, he was my biggest influence and best friend,” she adds. “I’ll never forget the day I told him I was going to take up the bass. He said “good, you’ll never be out of work!” And he was right!”