When Mick Flannery’s acclaimed sophomore album White Lies lost out to Jape’s Ritual at the Choice Music Prize earlier this year, the Blarney-born singer-songwriter could at least console himself with the knowledge that he has another career to fall back on if the music business doesn’t work out for him.

“That’s right, I’m a stonemason,” the 25-year old Corkonion laughs. “I started doing that when I was about 15, just working at it during my summer holidays. But I haven’t done it in a while now. The last time was last Christmas when I helped a friend to finish up a job. Maybe it’s something to fall back on... if there’s any work left in the country!”
Not that he’s short of musical bookings right now. Recently added to the Electric Picnic line-up, he’s been gigging fairly consistently around the country for the last year or so.
“I’m full-time in music at the moment. It’s an average of maybe three gigs a week now – which is enough. But I think we might be exhausting people at the moment, because we’ve done so many gigs and we’ve been coming back to the same places every three months or so. We’re gonna tour the UK in October so that will be a good break – for everyone!”
That same month he and his band will also be going into the studio for 10 days to lay down some of the tracks for his as-yet-untitled third long-player. While he has a number of new songs in the can, Flannery – whose best work has earned him comparisons with Tom Waits and Bob Dylan - admits that he hasn’t exactly been punishing himself with his writing schedule recently.
“I’m not writing a whole lot at the moment. I’m quite lazy, to be honest. I don’t have any schedule or sit down at any desk or anything like that. It’s usually more of a middle of the night kind of thing. Annoying! You’ve to get out of bed, go downstairs and record something.”
Home at the moment is his parents’ house in Blarney.
“I was renting a cottage, but I was just never there so I couldn’t justify paying the rent for it. I’m hardly ever even in Cork these days. With all the gigs we’ve been doing, I feel like I live in the van anyway.”
Will the Electric Picnic show be the biggest audience you’ve played?
“I’m not too sure. I know that we’re playing the Crawdaddy tent, but I’ve no idea how many people fit into that. Myself and John Spillane did a big gig together, a double header, in a marquee in Cork recently and that was a couple of thousand.”
Do you get nervous before playing?
“Well, I did at that gig anyway, because the crowd was so big. I still get nervous, but not as much as I did when I was starting out. I used to get crippled with nerves. But it’s different now. I used to worry that I’d mess up playing the songs, but now it’s more will they like me, or like the songs, or will I say something totally stupid that I think is funny and nobody else does, and I’ll just be self-conscious.”
Have you ever died onstage in that way?
“Oftentimes!” he guffaws. “My stage presence is similar to that of a dying cat! Some people have it down, but I tend to mumble quite a bit.”
Ever opt for a nerve-calming pre-show beverage?
“Yeah, I do. Sometimes I have a couple too many. Just to calm the nerves a bit, nothing too hectic. Hopefully I won’t go overboard at the Electric Picnic – though it is ridden with temptation.”