Matt Lucey
Recently, I was introduced to the fantastic Irish artist, Paul Sherry. After a few listens to his most recent release, Peace In Mind, I had to share my thoughts here. A stellar artist, who spends his time writing, touring and engaging in the Irish and global music scene, I had immediate respect for him and his music.
Following that review, I had the honour to interview Paul. During the following interview, I dug deep into Pauls influences, his thoughts on the music industry today, his creative process and much more!
I hope you enjoy this insight into Pauls thought process and inspirations.
What are the core influences in the music that you make?
Peace In Mind, the album, is heavily influenced by Taoism, by Buddhism. It’s heavily influenced by meditation, by the philosopher Alan Watts. So a lot of those ideas are in there, as regards to the lyrics and the ideas for the songs. And the rest is sort based around the 90s, old sort of grunge alternative rock thing, that’s the path I took for this one.
My last album, Let It Flow, was very sort of similar. I feel it’s like two books, I always say. It’s like Let It Flow and Peace In Mind is like one idea, but two books, if that makes sense. So when you listen to Let It Flow, it’s more that method of healing and then Peace In Mind is more like the struggle to stay there, even though you can be in peace in mind everyday life. You got to keep on that path. But musically, yeah, it’s been sort of like always alternative rock, that sort of thing.
Would that, the Taoism, the Buddhism, be something you would be influenced by yourself?
Yeah, the meditation has heavily influenced the full album.
It’s sort of those, those teachings from Alan Watts. I don’t know if you’re familiar with Alan Watts. He sort of took a lot of that Taoism and Buddhism to the west and did a lot of lectures on it. Those tracks like “Meditation” are sort of that calming within the rock world, you know. It’s like two sides.
Actually, with Let It Flow, I deliberately did one side electric, sort of heavier, and then the other side more acoustic. So that was very much there with the Let It Flow album. But then I wanted to introduce a little bit more of that in Peace In Mind. So that’s exactly where the “Meditation” track comes in.
You mentioned your influence from 90s grunge and rock. You got to experience the rise of modern methods of finding new music. Did your tastes evolve when Spotify and other platforms became available? Did you find that it broadened what was available to you musically?
No, not at all. I’m really old school. I grew up in the 90s. For a long time I was still buying CDs. Anytime I hear a song, I might put it on YouTube and listen to it. But not really.
Back then, I was really lucky to grow up in a musical family. Both my parents were musicians, so I was really lucky to get straight into playing at 15 years old. Getting out there playing the scene, playing gigs. I play with my wife and she’s a blues artist . So we played together and then I was getting out touring straight away. That sort of really hands on thing still stays with me.
I’m really glad to have grown up without the Internet to be honest, because I feel it was just that gritty jam play, that’s what younger musicians are missing a little bit these days. It will come full circle. But at the moment it’s a a lot of Instagram videos and stuff which is great, don’t get me wrong. That’s really great. It’s a huge platform for people. Everyone can manage themselves with all that freedom. I think it affects that connection with bands, that connection with people.
We mentioned the new generation. Have you seen any young rock and roll figures? Have you seen anyone that has potential in the next generation?
Ireland’s full of great musicians. It really is. I teach music also, I teach guitar, songwriting, and there’s college students that are incredibly talented. But to answer your question, what I do find, I would like to see more of in Ireland —in rural Ireland espcially— is a little bit of money going into it. A venue to play. A little more places where they can develop. I think there may be a little bit of a lack of that in rural Ireland. I feel sorry for younger musicians coming up.
They need a little bit more there to develop. That would be great to see.
Where do you see the music industry heading at the moment? Is it on an incline or a decline?
I believe everything’s full circle. You know, it’s the system, isn’t it? Everyone has no money. Then, everyone has money and everyone spends it on things they really can’t afford.
So I feel at the moment it’s such an important time. People like you and fans who come to the music are doing incredible work. The Hidden Track, by the way, thank you for the review, It really meant a lot to me. That really means a lot these days. Because what I’m trying to say is fans need to support smaller venues to make it grow. I see Ticketmaster charging far too much, Spotify giving no money to musicians. We all know the story at the moment, we all know what’s going on, the music business is in a difficult place.
But I don’t focus on that. There’s no point focusing on that because that’s always going to be the case. It’s always going to be in circles like that. It gets better, it gets worse, it gets better, it gets worse. What is important is that the fans go to smaller venues to support.
I see people maybe paying, what, €200 for a ticket to stand in a field in Croke park to see dots and a really bad sound! I mean no disrespect but, if you spend maybe a tenner, you can get to see incredible bands in your local venue. That is oxygen to musicians. And yeah, people do forget musicians like myself. We do have families, we do have things that we need. It’s our job.
So people supporting those smaller local venues, it’s not just going to a gig. It means you’re actually giving life support to something that really needs it at the moment.
Did you have any role models in the generation that came before you? Not in the musicality of it, but in the way they go about their craft.
Yeah. You know what? I really mean this. My mother was a musician. She was Gloria. She was in the show bands and she had a hit single, “One Day at a Time”. I’m sure people remember that song. My mom was an incredible vocalist. My dad was a musician, a bass player in the Cotton Mill Boys. And my mom in general, always held herself incredibly. It was always musical, but never took herself too seriously. She worked over in Nashville with names like Kris Kristofferson and incredible country artists around her.
I think that growing up, seeing how my Mother was, was a huge inspiration to me. And it was always positive. Always focused on positivity. Sometimes musicians can take everything a little too seriously, it sort of always reminded me about that. So for a role model, whatever way or it sounds, my mother was an incredible influence on me.
Regarding the music itself, when you are writing some music, do you gravitate to any particular pedals, guitars, anything like that?
You know what? I’m not a pedal guy at all. It’s funny, there’s are pedal beside me here. I use one pedal for boost. A boss boost pedal. My father taught me for years. He was a tough teacher, but he would put me on really heavy strings on an acoustic guitar. And I developed really strong fingers. So when I’m playing, I just plug in, it’s blues rock. So I mean, I plug into an amp, get one guitar and play.
In terms of creativity then, it takes a certain mindset to be able to sit down and have that inspiration come to you. Is there anything that you find fuels your creativity in music making?
Yes. For years I would have been writing songs, shredding, touring, playing, but I find that I took that influence from Zen or Buddhism. I take those ideas that I’m influenced by and I stay on that path because I find when I was writing, I would nearly veer off a lot of paths and would nearly have too many ideas. And as you know, too many ideas is not a good thing either.
So I try my best to get influenced by maybe those. Something like Alan Watts or those books and those philosophies, I take a word and I build around that word and I’d have a guitar and I’d stay on that path until it works.
I’m working on a song at the moment, actually. It’s called “Karma”, which is a simple title, but it may or may not get put out there. I’m just editing it, sitting with it, playing with it. So I try to get a song on the path and finish it. Hopefully.
When did you know that music would be your life ? When did you decided it would be your career ?
When I was a kid, I left school at 15. Don’t get me wrong, school is fantastic and great, but I was drawing. I was huge into art and drawing and doing all those comic things and I did my own thing. Having parents as musicians when I was 12, 13, 14, it was always around me. But I think at 15, when I got my electric guitar, I said, “Hang on a second, I really like the sound of this”. So, it really kicked off then, at that age. I left school and I started pretty much playing gigs and teaching for money.
Since then, I went over to the Guitar Institute in London when I was 17 and did about six months there, came back and I’ve been touring ever since. It’s been an adventure. It’s definitely been an adventure. Yeah.
What would you like to say to young artists starting out? Is there any advice that you have for them that maybe that you wish that you had going into it?
You know what, when you’re a musician, you really have to be all in if you want to do it. It’s difficult. It’s really difficult, but also it’s so beautiful at the same time. The highs are higher and when it gets hard, it’s difficult as well because you have to get your path and stay on it. There’s no other way.
That’s my best advice. Try to focus on yourself. Always build yourself and try to develop yourself all the time. Sometimes you can run around, maybe doing a lot of things, playing here, playing there, and that’s great. But there’s a lot of different ways. You can be a session musician, you can be an artist. But I find if you focus on one thing and really always develop it, that can be better than too many ideas.
Before we say goodbye, what’s next ?
Yeah, there is. There’s a lot coming up. I’m doing the Blue On The Bay Festival with my full band on Monday 25th May. And then I’m heading to the Rory Gallagher Festival on with my full band with me on Sunday, in the saloon at 7pm. And then I’m actually playing in Dublin.
I’ve got a load of Irish dates and then I’ve got a UK tour coming up in September and then hopefully heading out to Europe as well. But if you want to check out anything, just go to Paul Sherry, Facebook or Instagram and all the tour dates are there. So, yeah, hopefully that helps.
Paul Sherry will be on tour in Ireland and UK:
- 25 May – Blues on the Bay Festival, Warrenpoint, Co. Down
- 31 May – Rory Gallagher Festival, Ballyshannon, Co. Donegal
- 28 June – Ballyhack Blues Club, Belfast
- 4 July – Letterkenny Blues & Roots Festival, Co. Donegal
- 10 July – Arthur’s Jazz & Blues Club, Dublin
- 8 August – Howth Roots & Blues Festival, Dublin
- September (TBC) – Poc the Blues Festival, Monaghan
- 15 September – Finn M’Couls, Falmouth, UK
- 16 September – Vonnie’s, Cheltenham, UK
- 20 September – Hope Tavern, Market Rasen, UK
- 3 October – Balor Arts Theatre, Co. Donegal
- 17 October – BT Blues Club, Ballymena
- 14 November – The Weigh Inn, Omagh
