Former Revelino guitarist Bren Berry has just released his debut solo album, In Hope Our Stars Align.
Revelino released three acclaimed albums in the nineties and since their split, Bren has been a quiet force in Irish music and comedy, working behind the scenes at Vicar Street in Dublin.
He talks to Oliver Callan below about releasing his solo debut at 61...
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We asked Bren for his choice cultural picks...
FILM
Kneecap - I came out of this film ready to change the world. It deserves all the kudos it is getting, and the band are an inspiration on so many levels. They are also hilarious, and it is such a delicate balance to get that level of seriousness and humour right. Elvis Costello played four nights at Vicar St recently and he spoke every night about how great he thinks the film is and the way it speaks about language without being pious.
MUSIC
There is so much great music being made by Irish artists at the moment and my good friends and ex-labelmates Sack have released an amazing comeback album called Wake Up People, which has just come out on vinyl too.
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BOOK
The Complete Haiku of Matsuo Bashō by my good friend Andrew Fitzsimons. Matsuo Bashō (1644–1694) is arguably the greatest figure in the history of Japanese literature, and the master of the haiku. This book is an incredible achievement for an ex-Ballinteer Community School pupil! As per the publishers, University Of California Press: "In Andy’s rendering, Bashō is much more than a philosopher of the natural world and the leading exponent of a refined Japanese sensibility. He is also a poet of queer love and eroticism; of the city as well as the country, the indoors and the outdoors, travel and staying put; of lonesomeness as well as the desire to be alone."
I also often buy Fup by Jim Dodge as a gift for friends – it is a really hilarious little book!
THEATRE
I don’t go to the theatre enough, but the best show I saw last year was Illness as a Metaphor at the Project Arts Centre as part of the Dublin Fringe Festival. It was adapted from the book by Susan Sontag by Dead Centre and featured six amazing participants living with long-term illnesses. Wonderful - I had a gig afterwards that night, but went straight home as I couldn’t handle going to work.
TV
The Tommy Tiernan Show - Tommy has played Vicar St over 350 times now and has become a great friend. He’s a beautiful bloke and his TV show is such a great idea. It is also so well executed by Tommy and the brilliant team involved with the show. It is understandably loved by so many people and the guests who appear on the show – you just know how much they trust Tommy.
GIG
Upcoming: I’ve just confirmed a Dublin show with Rory Scovel who is an incredible American improv comic. He has performed at our comedy festival in The Iveagh Gardens twice and this is his first headline show in Ireland. And he’s a really sound dude.
The last gig I attended that I wasn’t promoting was The Jesus Lizard in The Button Factory. What a band. Ferocious.
ART
I love Steve Simpson’s work and was delighted that he allowed me to use his Journey to Mindfulness trilogy for the video for my song Hairpin Bends which was edited by Mark Rizzo at Global Tour Creatives (an amazing creative agency based in Chicago / Los Angeles / Dublin and owned by our friend James Hyland from Dublin). I wrote the song when I had coronary heart surgery and was drawn to the trilogy because it has the heart at the centre of the three beautiful pieces of art. We also commissioned Steve to design something special to celebrate Ed Sheeran’s stadium tour of Ireland in 2018.
RADIO/PODCAST
Any radio show or station that plays and champions Irish music! I don’t have any one favourite podcast, I tend to dip in and out of a variety of them but The Blindboy Podcast, Three Castles Burning by Donal Fallon and Frank Skinner’s Poetry Podcast would be regular favourites. If you’re looking for a short 14-minute listen, then check out Tommy Tiernan’s More Blather from a few years ago. Mystical and hilarious.
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TECH
Logic Pro is a digital audio workstation (DAW) or, in plain English, software for recording music. It is the most important thing that helped me to find my voice and to write and create this album. It is an incredible, cheap tool that you can use to compose, record, arrange, edit, and mix music. It is so easy to use, and it gives you a really powerful set of tools to enable your creativity.
THE NEXT BIG THING...
Thee U.F.O. are one of my favorite young Irish bands and I’m really excited to hear new music from Aoife Nessa Francis & Nuria Graham’s new collaboration Red Stamp this year. Róis is a very special young artist, too.
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In Hope Our Stars Align is out now - find out more here.
