With Mike Hanrahan still on a high from the success of the Stockton’s Wing reunion gig, he dropped into the Wexford Songwriters Club for a short but intense run-through of five songs from his What You Know solo album. An appreciative audience of budding songsmiths and music fans alike took to his most searing songs, such as ‘Garden Of Roses’, ‘Cradled In Your Arms’ and the highly personal ‘Firefighter’ (a tribute to his Dad).
‘Out Of The Blue’ is an upful lovesong about the appropriate pairing of Mel and Colley, while ‘Falling Down’ is a timely and angry anti-war song. Hanrahan is a much under-rated guitar player too, and his occasional open-tuning approach brings an added urgency to his literate song canon.
Earlier we heard fine sets from several local songwriters. Brendan Keane’s aboriginal ‘Ularu’ had the audience taking on percussion duties, and his ‘Thailand’ has the added spice of a verse in Thai. Ian Doyle from Chaplin applies his nifty riffs to the delicious ‘Puppeteers’ and ‘This Story Goes’. Darren Byrne thinks, and plays, outside the box with a funky bodhran and vocal rap entitled ‘Mad Fancy Dream’ that Mike Skinner should seriously pay attention to. Ian Barry impresses, with his biblical ‘The Dutiful Son’, scoring heavily on the clapometer.
Finally, Dave O’Brien’s ‘Ordinary Irishman’ asked serious questions about blind patriotism before he sealed the night with a song about bondage that won’t be on any radio station’s playlist this century. All in all, an entertaining and stimulating experience.