John Spillane is ‘still answering the call’

Almost 40 years have passed since a young John Spillane penned his beautiful ode to Cork, ‘Princes Street’, but to hear it on his new live album, you’d think it was only written yesterday.

Backed by the Cork Opera House Concert Orchestra, Spillane’s upcoming album ‘In Another Light’ is a beautiful, career-spanning reimagining of some of his most well-known songs.

The new album, out on 14 October, was recorded live at Cork Opera House in 2021 as part of the Right Here Right Now Festival.

Looking back over 4 decades of work, the majority of which was inspired by the city he loves so dearly, John says he still sees the same Cork he’s always seen.

“It's the same Cork. Some bits have been left behind and some bits have been polished up nicely. As Frank O'Connor said, ‘The ups and downs of it, as if it was built in a Cork accent’,” laughs John.

“I find that the inspiration from the city is really continuing. I'm still getting the call and I'm still answering the call, I mean 'Princes Street' was the first one 40 years ago, and that was an early fluke, you could say.”

For a man with such a profound repertoire of work under his belt today, it’s strange to imagine John as a young fella who had become somewhat stuck on one song (‘Princes Street’) for longer than he might have liked, but that’s exactly what happened.

“It was my big song for years and I couldn't get past it. I was in the Lobby one night doing a gig upstairs and this guy I know, a musician and an actor, came in – he said, 'I've seen you lots of times. You know, all you are is 'Princes Street', you haven't done anything new for years'. He really wounded me with that comment. I used to play in the Lobby once a month and after that I always had a new song for every gig. I was stuck for a lot of years and he gave me the jolt, so it was definitely good for me.”

Since then, John has always focused on new material while keeping at least one eye on his older stuff, waiting for the perfect moment to reignite the magic that made it so important to begin with. This is clear in his latest single ‘Princes Street’, released last month. When you hear it, you might wonder, ‘Wait, wasn’t there always an orchestra with this one?’. There wasn’t, although John says he often “half imagines” orchestras and banks of strings when he’s writing.

Speaking about playing with an orchestra, John says: “It's like the way it's meant to be done or something, it seems very right. It brings out a lot of, I suppose pathos is the word, you know, it brings out a lot of emotion. With 'Princes Street' now, that's the best version of it. The song has been reawakened and I believe in the song much more now. I suppose your belief fades over time you know, and you get tired of things. Your belief gets a bit tired and you stop thinking things are brilliant and you think they're only alright.”

The single’s companying video was directed by former member of Gráda Alan Doherty and depicts a young John Spillane busking on the streets of Cork before transitioning into the present-day man. The video is the second instalment in a trilogy of films, each telling its own unique story.

“It very much brings me back to the time when I wrote the song. I used to busk on Princes Street when I was 21 and I wasn't even conscious at the time that there was a family connection.

“My father's family had lived at 16 Princes Street, where Clancy's Bar is now. My father died when we were all very young, so I've always seen him as mirrored in the past, in an old romantic Cork light.

“The song itself speaks of meeting in our beautiful city on a night where you don’t know what will happen or where you will end up. It’s an ode to the magic of Cork and I see Princes Street as the heart of the town.”

When it comes to his writing process, it seems John is a poet first and a musician second, he is driven by poetry and sees music almost as a fortunate afterthought.

“There have been songs that haven't made the cut, yeah, but I still have them in the back boiler and they might still possibly make the cut. My method usually is that I'm all about the lyric really. I do the lyrics first and if I can get that into a very good shape, if I think it's a valid lyric or poem, then I'm going to the circus really with the music and the melody. The poem is the thing, and if that's good then, the music is like a huge bonus,” explains John.

John Spillane’s new live album ‘In Another Light’ comes out on 14 October. He plays the White Horse in Ballincollig on 15 October. For a complete list of John Spillane’s upcoming show, visit johnspillane.ie.