[lively Irish music] [lively Irish music continues] - On this episode of "TradFest: The Fingal Sessions", we're delighted to be joined by Liam O Maonlai, Gemma Bradley, Ronan O Snodaigh, and Conor Connolly.

Woo!

Ha-ha.

You're very welcome to "TradFest: The Fingal Sessions".

We're coming to you from the Great Hall in Malahide Castle.

Liam O Maonlai, my longtime friend and Hothouse Flower fanmate, [speaking in foreign language].

I don't know, this might be, is it the first time I've ever interviewed you?

- It's a weird feeling.

- It's weird, it's weird, but it's good.

It's great to see you.

- It's good weird.

Yeah, yeah, great to see you, always.

We've gone so many years down the road, haven't we?

- We have.

- We know the dark side and the bright side of each other.

- Yeah.

Did you ever think when we went busking, what lay ahead of us?

Did you have a vision of what lay ahead of us at that stage?

- I did, actually.

- You did, yeah.

- I did.

I did, and I had to have, because I had to tell my dad that this is what I'm going to do.

I went to my dad one evening and I said, "Dad, remember I told you I was gonna repeat this year in college?"

And I said, "I'm not gonna, that's not happening."

I said, "I can see this, I can see this."

And I obviously didn't see the details, but I knew something was happening, something, I could see the road, you know?

And I think we all sort of could, didn't we?

- We sort of did, yeah.

- You were in college too, and we all sort of, yeah, changed our plans.

- Does anything come to mind from that time that, you know?

- I remember at a certain point when there was, suddenly, we had to make a record, and there was a kind of a pressure to come up with songs and lyrics.

And I remember... Well, I remember walking to Blackrock, and in the course of that, the words "Love don't work this way," came into my head.

And I was loving Michael Jackson at the time, and Nina Simone, and so these kind of...

The whole lot kind of was in my head.

By the time I arrived, I had the whole song in my head.

And that never actually happened since.

But the whole arrangement, the whole song, the video and the T-shirts, and the- [Fiachna laughs] And the chewing gum.

- The whole plan, the master plan.

- Oh, it was all there.

- I love it.

I do remember it.

"I've got a song!

I've got a song!"

It was, like, urgent, you know, "Let's do it."

- And it was great, and it started with the drums.

♪ Love don't work this way ♪ ♪ Love don't work this way ♪ And this is the chorus.

♪ Love don't work this way ♪ ♪ Love don't work this way ♪ ♪ Love don't work this way ♪ ♪ Love don't work this way ♪ ♪ Love don't work this way ♪ ♪ Love don't work this way ♪ ♪ When I first met you, darling ♪ ♪ Everything seemed so fine ♪ ♪ Holding hands and roses ♪ ♪ I really thought you were mine ♪ ♪ Then you started to change, honey ♪ ♪ Stopped looking my way ♪ ♪ So I thought a lot, dreamt a lot ♪ ♪ Dreamt a lot, thought a lot ♪ ♪ And I had to say ♪ ♪ Whoa, love don't work this way ♪ ♪ Love don't work this way ♪ ♪ Love don't work this way ♪ ♪ Love don't work this way ♪ ♪ Gonna grow my hair, I'm gonna hide my face ♪ ♪ I'm gonna call your name all over the place ♪ ♪ I love you, darling, you know I do ♪ ♪ My whole life revolves ♪ ♪ Love don't work this way ♪ ♪ Love don't work this way ♪ ♪ Love don't work this way ♪ ♪ Love don't work this way ♪ ♪ Tired of standing in your shadow ♪ ♪ Only come out after dark ♪ ♪ I'm gonna take my proper place now ♪ ♪ I'm gonna meet you face-to-face ♪ ♪ You want love, you want laughs ♪ ♪ You want laughs, you want love ♪ ♪ You want laughs, you want love ♪ ♪ You want laughs, you want ♪ ♪ Love don't work this way ♪ ♪ Love don't work this way ♪ ♪ Love don't work this way ♪ ♪ Love don't work this way ♪ ["Love Don't Work This Way"] ["Love Don't Work This Way" continues] ♪ Oh, love, gonna grow my hair, gonna hide my face ♪ ♪ I'm gonna call your name all over the place ♪ ♪ I love you, darling, you know I do ♪ ♪ My whole life revolves around you ♪ ♪ I said love don't work this way ♪ ♪ Love don't work this way ♪ ♪ Love don't work this way ♪ ♪ Love don't work this way ♪ ♪ Uh ♪ ["Love Don't Work This Way" continues] ["Love Don't Work This Way" continues] ["Love Don't Work This Way" continues] ♪ Oh, love don't work this way ♪ ♪ Love don't work this way ♪ ♪ Love don't work this way ♪ ♪ Love don't work this way ♪ ["Love Don't Work This Way" continues] ["Love Don't Work This Way" continues] ♪ Mm, gonna grow my hair, gonna hide my face ♪ ♪ I'm gonna call your name all over the place ♪ ♪ I love you, darling, you know I do ♪ ♪ My whole life revolves around you ♪ ♪ Love don't work this way ♪ ♪ Love don't work this way ♪ ♪ Love don't work this way ♪ ♪ Love don't work this way ♪ ["Love Don't Work This Way" continues] - Yes.

Ha, ha.

Great.

God, thanks for that.

- You had to make it happen, you know?

That was the thing.

That's what we had... On the street especially, you have to make it happen.

If you don't make it happen, then you're just reproducing.

And it has to happen.

That's what I feel.

- Amazing.

That was great.

[speaking in foreign language], Ronan, for being powering, powering us along there.

[chuckling] - Yeah.

- Gemma Bradley, great to see you.

- Thanks so much for having me.

- You've traveled down from Belfast today to see us.

- I have, I have indeed.

- How's it been going?

- It's been really good.

Nice little trip down.

It's always nice to get to new places.

This is my first time in Malahide Castle.

- You had a little walk around the grounds on your way in?

- Yes, I had a 40 minute walk before I got here, it wasn't planned, but Google Maps said otherwise, so.

But we're here now, so.

[laughs] - A little bit like myself, you make music, and you also, you present music, kind of.

You know, you're on the radio as well.

How are you finding that process, and the kind of the- - Yeah, I love it.

- [Fiachna] The give and take between the two, you know?

- Yeah, I think for me, they kind of go hand in hand.

I love discovering new music, I love writing music, and even being here with all of you is incredible for me, 'cause I'm just caught up in that moment.

That last song, I didn't want it to end.

- Nor did we!

- Me neither.

[all laughing] - But honestly, it's so much fun, because for me, obviously there's the industry side of it, but then I get to go out and network and meet all these great musicians and see what people are writing about, and I'm like, "Oh, okay, cool, that's a great idea."

I might take influence from other people too.

So yeah, it's really been great.

They go great together.

- I know you've got a song called "Berserk".

- I do.

- [Fiachna] And will you talk to me a little bit about that?

- Yeah.

For me, "Berserk" was one of those ones.

It was when I was living in Dublin at the time, 'cause I studied down in Dublin for music, actually, songwriting.

And I was just sitting on my bed, trying to write a song, and I kind of hit a wall with that song.

And I just started tinkering around on the guitar and I came up with this sort of picking riff thing.

I was like, "Oh, I like the sound of that."

And I feel like that song just flowed out of me.

It wasn't like there was loads of thought at the time, but then I realized it was kind of a way for me to process things that I was going through at the moment.

And it was time for me to kind of take my own stride and, you know, wash off other people's, like, opinions and things like that.

So, for me it was kind of therapeutic without realizing it.

So, yeah, it's a little bit about how that song came to life.

- It's an amazing process, isn't it?

- Yeah.

It's so much fun, it really is.

- Would you like to do it?

- Yeah, I'll play "Berserk" for you.

- [Fiachna] Brilliant.

- It's always a fun one to play at gigs.

Usually do this as my last song when I play it as well.

This is "Berserk".

["Berserk"] ♪ Why're you saying that friends is gonna work ♪ ♪ Different lives, different people is driving me berserk ♪ ♪ Berserk ♪ ♪ Then strike after strike ♪ ♪ I didn't sign up for this double leading life ♪ ♪ I guess I don't try, give me grief ♪ ♪ In other perfect life ♪ ♪ Who do you think you are ♪ ♪ Who do you think you are ♪ ♪ I don't owe you any, any, anything ♪ ♪ Owe you any, any, anything ♪ ♪ Don't act like you don't see it too ♪ ♪ We've been feeling this way, feeling this way ♪ ♪ I don't owe you any, any, anything ♪ ♪ Today ♪ ♪ La, de, da, da, da, da ♪ ♪ The spray train crisis ♪ ♪ It's time to crash and burn ♪ ♪ I wonder what the price is ♪ ♪ When you going to learn ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, yeah ♪ ♪ A real control ♪ ♪ Glad we're finally through ♪ ♪ Woo, woo, ooh ♪ ♪ Can't waste another second ♪ ♪ On you anymore, anymore ♪ ♪ Who do you think you are ♪ ♪ Who do you think you are ♪ ♪ I don't owe you any, any, anything ♪ ♪ Owe you any, any, anything ♪ ♪ Don't act like you don't see it too ♪ ♪ We've been feeling this way, feeling this way ♪ ♪ I don't owe you any, any, anything ♪ ♪ Today ♪ ♪ Today ♪ ♪ Fa, da, ba, da, ba, da, ba, da ♪ ♪ Today ♪ ♪ Fa, da, ba, da, ba, da, ba, da ♪ ♪ Today ♪ ♪ I don't you any, any, anything ♪ ♪ Owe you any, any, anything ♪ ♪ Don't act like you don't see it too ♪ ♪ We've been feeling this way, feeling this way ♪ ♪ I don't owe you any, any, anything ♪ ♪ Owe you any, any, anything ♪ ♪ Owe you any, any, anything ♪ ♪ Don't act like you don't see it too ♪ ♪ We've been feeling this way, feeling this way ♪ ♪ I don't owe you any, any, anything ♪ - Yeah.

- Yeah.

[laughs] - [Fiachna] That was great.

- Beautiful.

- That's great, great.

Thanks, Gem.

- Thank you.

- Great.

Thanks for letting us play along.

- Thank you for playing along.

[chuckles] - Ronan, you were in The National Stadium.

- [Ronan] I was.

- How did it go?

Packed out?

You've kind of made it your home in the last couple of years, haven't you?

- That was the idea.

- It's a great venue.

Isn't there something about it?

- It's gorgeous, and I suppose when we were kids, that was the big gig.

The National Stadium was the, you know, mythological gigs where the big bands came and did all the big stuff, so.

- Your body of work, right, there's 10 Kila albums?

- Yeah, possibly.

- Is there five film soundtracks?

- Possibly.

- And there's about nine solo albums.

- Possibly.

- Never mind [speaking in foreign language].

- [speaking in foreign language], yeah.

- Books of poetry.

[Liam speaking in foreign language] [Fiachna speaking in foreign language] You built a building as well.

- [Ronan] Yeah, I love it.

- Where does all that come from?

- I suppose I've had amazing parents.

You know my parents and where I come from, an amazing bunch, and all my brothers.

A friend of mine, it's a funny thing to say, but I generally just say what's on conversation.

A friend of mine, Miles, turned around to me at a gig and he went, "Do you know what?

I've just been diagnosed ADHD."

And I went, "Of course," you know?

"Did you not know that years ago?

Like, aren't we all?"

And then I went, "It's just the wrong... Like, that's for people who aren't creative."

The people who are creative, and he coined the phrase himself a few months ago, it's called a compulsive creative.

- Yeah, amazing.

- I tell you what, I want to medicate the kids who like school.

They're the ones I'm worried about.

- Yeah, because when you're creating, it's not a disorder.

It's like a restlessness.

And it's a beautiful restlessness if you're in with it.

- Oh, it's a life source.

- Yeah, you know?

- If you'd like to do something, what would you like to do?

- Cool, I'll do a song from way back, since you were talking about way back, 'cause I used to sneak off to Kerry sometimes on a sulk and sometimes on a prayer, but I used to hide down there a lot, and I wrote some songs there when no one was looking.

But years and years and years ago, I remember dropping a cassette into your house, Liam.

And then I remember you, I carried it.

I don't know, I was in a car or a taxi somewhere.

- Yeah, you were in New York, you were telling me, and that you went into a record shop and you heard me singing your song.

- Absolutely gorgeous thing to happen to me.

I've had a few things like that.

I suppose that's what I want the world to do.

I want the world to do the thing that bats do.

I want to hear myself back so I know I'm here.

Some real basic thing.

And that was one of those moments.

I came out of the shop, I was eight feet tall.

- Oh, I can imagine.

- It was kind of nice in New York to be eight feet tall.

[all chuckling] - Beautiful, yeah.

- 'Cause everything else is so big.

So yeah, I walked around for a bit, half an hour of that.

"Cathain", yeah?

- Oh, yeah.

- Great.

["Cathain"] ["Cathain" continues] [Ronan singing in foreign language] [Ronan singing in foreign language continues] [Ronan singing in foreign language continues] [Ronan singing in foreign language continues] [Ronan singing in foreign language continues] [Ronan singing in foreign language continues] [Ronan singing in foreign language continues] [Ronan singing in foreign language continues] ["Cathain" continues] ["Cathain" continues] [Ronan singing in foreign language] [Ronan singing in foreign language continues] [Ronan singing in foreign language continues] [Ronan singing in foreign language continues] ["Cathain" continues] ["Cathain" continues] ["Cathain" continues] ["Cathain" continues] ["Cathain" continues] Woo!

[speaking in foreign language] - Shouldn't be allowed.

- Conor Connolly, great playing.

Gorgeous to hear your voice coming through for the first time with all of us here.

And delighted that you're here and we can- - Thanks very much for having me, yeah.

- Chat to you.

Let's chat to you about what you're gonna share with us today.

Tell us a little bit about how you got into music.

What were the sparks that lit your fire?

- In our primary school anyway, it was kind of compulsory to play a tin whistle like most people anyway, and out of a, like, class of maybe 30, you know, there was kind of maybe four or five of us in the class that kind of liked it.

And it's great when you're younger, a small bit of encouragement goes a long way, and one of my teachers at the time that was teaching us the music kind of knew that I liked it because I wasn't very much into GAA or anything like that.

I wasn't great at it.

[Fiachna speaking in foreign language] - Yeah, fast forward a small bit, yeah.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[speaking in foreign language] [both laughing] - No, what a tremendous honor.

Grew up watching the Gradam Ceoil and all the people that I would've looked up to.

- For example, who were you looking up to?

- Charlie Harris won it back in 2009.

And Charlie lives up the road from me at home, so I had, like, a great role model there from kind of young teens to mid-teens and stuff.

And a lot of people like [speaking in foreign language], and yeah, it's kind of funny, all kind of musicians that I know now and get to play tunes with, so it's, yeah, it's kind of mad the way things turned out, but it's great, kind of the way it developed, yeah.

- What will you give us?

- Gonna try two reads I learned off a great piper who was, I think was born in Boston, but from Carna parents, piper called Sean McKiernan.

I got these off a recording of his, just a private recording that was made.

First one is called "The Gardener's Daughter", and the second one is called "Dillon Browne".

- Great.

["The Gardener's Daughter"] ["The Gardener's Daughter" continues] ["The Gardener's Daughter" continues] ["The Gardener's Daughter" continues] ["The Gardener's Daughter" continues] ["The Gardener's Daughter" continues] ["The Gardener's Daughter" continues] ["The Gardener's Daughter" continues] ["The Gardener's Daughter" continues] ["The Gardener's Daughter" continues] ["The Gardener's Daughter" continues] ["The Gardener's Daughter" continues] ["The Gardener's Daughter" continues] ["The Gardener's Daughter" continues] ["The Gardener's Daughter" continues] ["The Gardener's Daughter" continues] - Fantastic.

- Cheers.

- That was great.

- Thanks, lads.

- Great.

Gemma, I'd love you to share a little bit with me about how you approach songwriting.

- Yeah, I mean, I think for me, it really depends on the song.

It differs.

I take inspiration from sort of, I'd say real life events, not always my own personal life, sometimes my friends, so, you know, watch out if any big, significant things happen in their lives, I might write about it.

I kind of like to come up with the melodies first usually, because I am really attracted to hooks and things that just really hook me in.

So I'm writing a song, that's my first main focus, because you essentially hear the music first sometimes, and then the lyrical concept for me comes after.

But again, when I go into that, I really go into detail because I wanna make sure that my audience can relate to it in some way.

It might not be the same thing I'm writing about, but I'm always making sure that the listeners are a part of that experience so that when they hear the song, they can be sort of wrapped in that world as well.

But usually most songs start out on my bed, you know, as well.

So yeah, that's kind of how I would approach the process.

And then if I'm writing with other people, which is collaborative, I just love to be in the room with someone.

I just vibe off each other, and it's like an energy that you sort of feed off of.

And that's something I love when I'm writing.

- Yeah, well, that's one of the reasons I asked you, 'cause you've written a song recently with David Little and Jamel Franklin, right?

- Yes, I did, which funny one about that is myself and David started that over Zoom because we were in the height of lockdown when we started working together, and we didn't actually meet until after we had released the song.

We met up for a coffee.

- Yeah.

[laughs] - And got to know each other, which was so interesting.

- It's called "Better".

- Yes, it's called "Better", the latest single, and like I said, such a fun, collaborative one to work on with people.

- Cool.

All right.

- Yeah, here we go.

- Give it a go.

["Better"] ♪ People talking, people going down the street ♪ ♪ They're nameless faces ♪ ♪ They're not the type that's good for me ♪ ♪ Stop, a bit of warning ♪ ♪ Before you start to preach ♪ ♪ The righteousness wrapped up in reality ♪ ♪ I don't know what's good for me ♪ ♪ What's good for me ♪ ♪ Can't look back in disbelief ♪ ♪ I know, I know better ♪ ♪ I wanna feel better ♪ ♪ It's you always I'm trying to find ♪ ♪ I know, I know better ♪ ♪ I wanna feel better ♪ ♪ It's you and me you know we can't deny ♪ ♪ Train stopped off and I'm runnin', runnin' ♪ ♪ When you jump off, why you buggin', buggin' ♪ ♪ Running through my life, running through my mind ♪ ♪ I can't even tell my wrong from my right ♪ ♪ And then you jumped down my throat again ♪ ♪ Win another round, I'm broke again ♪ ♪ You're the only one who don't give it up ♪ ♪ You're the only who don't give a ♪ ♪ I don't know what's good for me ♪ ♪ What's good for me ♪ ♪ Can't look back in disbelief ♪ ♪ I know, I know better ♪ ♪ I wanna feel better ♪ ♪ It's you always I'm trying to find ♪ ♪ I know, I know better ♪ ♪ I wanna feel better ♪ ♪ It's you and me you know we can't deny ♪ ♪ Ba, da, ba, da ♪ ♪ Ba, da, ba, da ♪ ♪ Ba, da, ba, da ♪ ♪ Ba, da, ba, da ♪ ♪ Ba, da, ba, da ♪ ♪ Ba, da, ba, da, ba, da, ba, da ♪ ♪ I wanna feel better ♪ ♪ I know I feel better ♪ ♪ It's you always I'm trying to find ♪ ♪ I know, I know better ♪ ♪ I wanna feel better ♪ ♪ It's you and me you know we cannot deny ♪ ♪ Better, I wanna feel better ♪ ♪ It's you always I'm trying to find ♪ ♪ I know, I know better ♪ ♪ I wanna feel better ♪ ♪ It's you and me you know we cannot deny ♪ ♪ It's you and me you know we cannot deny ♪ [Gemma laughs] - [Fiachna] Great.

Thanks, Gemma.

- Thank you.

- Great, "Better".

Hopefully you're a bit better after that.

[all laughing] Conor, you're not just an accordion player, an amazing accordion player, you sing a song from time to time as well.

- Yeah, I try, yeah.

It's kind of one of those things you can do anywhere.

[laughs] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Kind of do most of me thing, I don't know about you, but in the car.

- Yeah?

- When you're driving along, especially up to Dublin.

There a couple of days ago.

You find yourself roaring along some- - Yeah.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

- Well, the car is a great place for music, I find.

- Definitely.

- Great place for ideas.

- Yeah.

- So what'll you sing for us?

- An old song, I don't know if it qualifies as macaronic song, but song I got off of a great channel singer from here back in Carna, a man called Sean 'ac onna, Sean Dhonncha.

Yeah, this is one I learned off one of his records going back, and called "A Stor Mo Chroi".

- "A Stor Mo Chroi".

- Yeah.

- All right.

- Yeah.

["A Stor Mo Chroi"] ♪ A Stor Mo Chroi ♪ ♪ When you're far away ♪ ♪ From the home that you'll soon be leaving ♪ ♪ Well, tis many the time ♪ ♪ By night and by day ♪ ♪ That your heart will be sorely grieving ♪ ♪ Oh, the stranger's land ♪ ♪ May be bright and fair ♪ ♪ And rich in its treasures golden ♪ ♪ You'll pine, I know ♪ ♪ For the long, long ago ♪ ♪ And the heart that is never olden ♪ ♪ A Stor Mo Chroi ♪ ♪ In the stranger's land ♪ ♪ There's plenty of wealth and wailing ♪ ♪ Where gems adorn ♪ ♪ The great and grand ♪ ♪ There are faces with hunger pailing ♪ ♪ And the road may be weary ♪ ♪ And hard to tread ♪ ♪ And the lights of the cities ♪ ♪ May blind you ♪ ♪ Won't you turn, A Stor ♪ ♪ Towards Erin's shore ♪ ♪ And the ones you have left behind you ♪ ♪ A Stor Mo Chroi ♪ ♪ When the evening's mist ♪ ♪ And the mountain and meadow is falling ♪ ♪ Won't you turn, A Stor ♪ ♪ From the throng and list ♪ ♪ And maybe you'll hear me calling ♪ ♪ For the sound of a voice ♪ ♪ That you surely might ♪ ♪ For somebody's speedy returning ♪ ♪ A run ♪ ♪ A run ♪ ♪ Oh, won't you come back soon ♪ ♪ To the one who ♪ ♪ Will always love you ♪ - Wow.

Beautiful.

[Fiachna speaking in foreign language] - It's an amazing song.

And I remember I was asked to do a gig in Camden, in the Irish Center in Camden.

And I remember I just came, I didn't sing the song, but I played it, and I was just, you know, it just hit me, the feelings that people have who are exiled.

Generations of exile then.

- Especially back then as well, where it was kind of final in a way, do you know?

- Yes.

- Yes.

- It kind of, when you throw that context into it, it's kind of, it makes it that much deeper, do you know?

Yeah.

- Yeah, they went away for good.

That was it really.

Ronan, do you have a favorite song of your own, or like children as well, changes from day to day.

Is it possible to even choose one?

- Oh, they serve different purposes.

Depends on what time of the day it is.

Like, you won't eat the same thing for tea that you have for breakfast even, so.

I'll try and sing this, a song called "Tip Toe".

I got lost a while ago when I was away.

Touches on a...

It's not completely dissimilar to what you were singing about, Conor.

Well, that's a huge song.

But yeah, I got lost for a bit.

- When was that, Ronan?

- It was about 1995 ish, in between 1993 and '96.

I tended to get lost sometimes.

I was doing a lot of what you'd call professional work.

You know, like, I was being a professional and flying around the world and constantly working in big theaters and doing gigs and constantly, constantly.

And that's the weird thing, and maybe it's a cliche, so I try and avoid cliches, but sometimes when you've been catapulted into that, your actual self is doing the opposite.

It's a weird thing, it's like part of you pushes out and there's a string connected to you.

Like we're all just five year olds, and then we're all just 15 year olds and we're all 25 year olds.

Like, all of those olds stay intact.

But yeah, you can kind of hurt yourself by being too separated.

And maybe I'm not making sense, but yeah, I was in Sweden and I couldn't make sense of anything.

And I suppose I covered up heart with rage, and that's what I've done most of me life, you know?

So everyone thinks I'm, you know, made of hardcore material 'cause I, you know, bang me chest a lot.

- Were you touring?

- I was touring, yeah.

- Were you touring with Dead Can Dance?

- I was as well, and with Kila, and I was working with Lance a lot.

I was working.

- Sir Lancelot?

- A great man.

- Of the Round Table.

[all laughing] Very good.

- Yeah, I just got a bit lost and things didn't make sense to me.

And then I had to navigate... Like, really, sometimes for me anyway, what happens is what happens in here.

That's really what I'm doing, happening in here.

So all the other things are just settings.

And so what was happening in there was like the opposite of a volcano, 'cause I was trying to not do my usual have a big palava, and you know, fighting a little.

- An implosion.

- Yeah, an implosion, I had a total implosion in Sweden.

And what a place to have it.

At least in Dublin you'll find someone having an implosion right beside you 'cause there's so many of us here.

You sit down and someone will grab you and say, "You all right, chief?"

Someone will say something, little saying, give you something, oof, snap you out of it, push on the bus or something.

That happens a lot here, you know?

But when you're somewhere like that, you really feel like the Little Prince, you know?

In your little [indistinct].

Right, [speaking in foreign language].

- [Fiachna] Okay.

- So, "Tip Toe".

["Tip Toe"] ["Tip Toe" continues] ["Tip Toe" continues] ♪ Tip toe through tireless peace ♪ ♪ Come and go, leave your toys and sweets ♪ ♪ If I had a place, you could visit me ♪ ♪ Read fairy tales, play hide and go seek ♪ ♪ Cliff faces are far too steep ♪ ♪ Even though we try to smile through our teeth ♪ ♪ Our shadows are still out on the street ♪ ♪ My skin is still as white as a sheet ♪ ♪ Our time is short and fleet ♪ ♪ Empty pockets, trick or treat ♪ ♪ But hello soldier, please have a seat ♪ ♪ You're only alive while your own heart beats ♪ ♪ And there will always be wolves among the sheep ♪ ♪ But what's left of the Earth will be ploughed by the meek ♪ ♪ Oh, by the meek ♪ ♪ Meek, by the meek ♪ ["Tip Toe" continues] ♪ Tip toe through tireless peace ♪ ♪ Come and go, leave your toys and sweets ♪ ♪ When I have a place, come to visit me ♪ ♪ Read fairy tales, play hide and go seek ♪ ♪ And go seek ♪ ♪ And go seek ♪ ♪ And go seek ♪ ♪ And go seek ♪ ["Tip Toe" continues] ["Tip Toe" continues] ["Tip Toe" continues] ["Tip Toe" continues] ["Tip Toe" continues] ["Tip Toe" continues] - Thanks, Ronan.

Thanks for doing that.

And thanks for telling us about that story.

It's a raw story, you know?

Thanks for sharing it.

- Maybe it's how I go through life.

Like, I'm only just learning.

I've been busy doing, like you said, I've done this body of work, I've been so busy, and now I'm going, all right, I'm 53.

That's a fact.

So I've gone up the hill, I'm in my kids' mind, I remember being a kid, and I remember everything about it.

I remember how it worked.

And I made, you know, I looked at all the, you know, I counted everything and I went, all right, so you have 100.

You come into the light, you have 100, run at it.

I went, cool, all right.

What do they do at that age?

So for me, 50's halftime.

That's it, I'm done.

That's halftime.

Now I'm coming down the hill.

In the graph, I go up and down.

I'm coming down and I'm trying to be really responsible and responsive to the fact that I've been given a good 50 up, do you know?

- But listen, but in every match, there's extra time.

[all laughing] So you can count on that.

- Good.

[all laughing] - Is there a rematch?

- There can be rematches too, depending on your belief.

Anything is possible.

Anything is possible.

- Good, yeah, I like the rematch idea.

- The rematch.

- The replay.

- Maybe this is the rematch.

- Could be.

- Liam, yourself and Ronan have done loads of gigs together, you know?

Is there any song in particular that you've done together that you might like to do now, or?

- Sure, yeah, definitely.

The great thing, yeah, I think the first kind of... Well, the first tour we ever did was in the west coast of America.

We were supporting Glen and Marketa.

- [Fiachna] Oh, yeah.

- And they had just won the Oscar, and they said, you know, "We'd love you guys to come because you were part of the story somehow, and the picture."

And Ronan and myself, we'd done a couple of gigs together before that.

And here we were in these fantastic big theaters.

And I had the use of a grand piano.

Ronan had the guitar and the bodhran.

And we went on stage without a plan every night.

We just went onto the stage.

And whatever it was about the people who came to see that show, as soon as we stepped on the stage, according to the audience, the show had begun, so we didn't feel like a support act at all.

And we had a great...

It was just sound was beautiful, and we had a great time.

- It's very hard to remember anything when you're going off script all the time.

- Yeah, which is great.

Not remembering is a gift.

[all laughing] So yeah, possibly... - And we found our way.

- [speaking in foreign language] to get the soldiers riled up, that your mother gave you this big, long poem that was about getting the warriors riled up, and you transformed it into something to get the spirit- - So we're gonna climb through "Bi Ann"?

- "Bi Ann", yes, "Bi Ann".

[Ronan speaking in foreign language] - I'd love that, yeah.

- Great, great.

- Yeah, so it's a poem.

Well, it was based on a poem.

I kind of wrote it to myself.

Again, like you were talking about walking, I wrote it on a walk from town to Dalkey.

I just walked the strand.

And I remember working every phrase as I walked.

And by the time I got to Dalkey, Lance was in the house, and I says, "Press record."

I walked in the house, "Press record."

- Yeah.

- Like that, I'd figured it out.

It's a great way to write a tune, to go walk further than I can walk, and I'll have it when I get there.

[Ronan singing in foreign language] [Ronan singing in foreign language continues] [Ronan singing in foreign language continues] [Ronan singing in foreign language continues] [Ronan singing in foreign language continues] [Ronan singing in foreign language continues] [Ronan singing in foreign language continues] [Ronan singing in foreign language continues] [Ronan singing in foreign language continues] [Ronan singing in foreign language continues] [Ronan singing in foreign language continues] [Ronan singing in foreign language continues] [Ronan singing in foreign language continues] [Ronan singing in foreign language continues] - Woo!

- Ha-ha.

Great.

- Only one.

[Fiachna chuckles] - Well, that's it for another amazing, amazing session.

[speaking in foreign language] for watching "TradFest: The Fingal Sessions", coming to you from the Great Hall in Malahide Castle with Liam O Maonlai, Gemma Bradley, Ronan O Snodaigh, and Conor Connolly.

We'll see you soon.

[speaking in foreign language] [no audio] [no audio] [no audio]