UK label Needle Mythology, founded by music journalist Pete Paphides, has re-released Brian's debut album, Understand, under the new title of Understood. We asked singer Ken Sweeney the BIG questions . . .
Brian was Ken's band in the 1990s. Ken is now an entertainment journalist znd has made radio documentaries about R.E.M., The Go-Betweens, and The Trash Can Sinatras and a radio play about Terry Wogan.
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"Understand was a collection of demos I sent to Keith Cullen at Setanta Records in London, hoping he’d pay for me to re-record them with a producer but Keith loved the feel of the demos and released them.
"He was right. It’s a break-up album. I’d recently moved to London and was pining for my first girlfriend. Things had ended badly. Guilt and sadness. Writing these songs was a way to make sense of it. And hearing back what I was feeling helped a lot."
He adds, "It was Needle Mythology boss and journalist Pete Paphides who decided we should call the 2025 re-issue Understood - an acknowledgement of the distance elapsed between then and now."
Tell us three things about yourself?
Ealing in London is like a second home to me. I lived there during the nineties and I reference places like the art deco Hoover Factory in my songs. Renowned Ealing photographer Martin Sapsed took an amazing shot of a RAF Spitfire on the Vanguard Building for the inner sleeve which is how I remembered it.
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Music affected me so much growing up, I only wanted to make music that moved me emotionally and if it didn't happen. I wouldn't make records. So, my second album, Bring Trouble, didn't come out until 1999.
When I wrote songs I could hear what every instrument was playing which made it hard to work with a band. I don’t give up. I’ll keep working on something for years until I get it right. A song, a radio doc, a play.
How would you describe your music?
"Saudade’ (pronounced "sow da da*) is a Portuguese term meaning "A yearning tinged with resignation and the melancholy you feel longing for someone or something you have lost".
Who are your musical inspirations?
R.E.M., The Blue Nile, The Go-Betweens, Miracle Legion, The Stars of Heaven. The Blades. Stina Nordenstam.
What was the first gig you ever went to?
Max Quad band at Navan Road Assembly Hall, in 1977. Adam Clayton joined them for a while and I recall him calling to our house.
What was the first record you ever bought?
The Stranger by Billy Joel.
What’s your favourite song right now?
The Monkees - Me & Magdalena (written by Ben Gibbard of The Postal Service).
Favourite lyric of all time?
"His father’s watch, he left it in the shower" - Cattle and Cane by The Go-Betweens.
If you could only listen to one song for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Scott Miller Said by The Revenants.
Where can people find your music/more information?
Needle Mythology, my website, Insta @kensweeney.
Alan Corr
