Supporting Irish Musicians and Artists

It may come as a surprise that Brad Heidi has found time to channel his inner Ronnie O’Sullivan. After all, it’s been a fiercely busy 12 months for 2023’s A New Local Hero winner, with recording opportunities, support slots with megastars and solo touring escapades all vieing for his time. But he is enjoying a moment to himself in the Eglinton Snooker Club in Galway, when he answers the mobile.

“It’s been challenging and amazing,” he reflects down the line. “I’ve written a lot, I’m playing loads and I feel the overall quality of my songwriting has improved.”

The A New Local Hero award is part of Irish Music Month, and is the product of a partnership between Hot Press and 25 IBI radio stations across the country. Brad’s victory, announced in April 2023, inspired praise from President Michael D. Higgins, among others, and earned Brad the opportunity to record a single in the storied Camden Recording Studios in Dublin, working with acclaimed producer/arranger Cian Boylan (Bono, The Villagers), and mixer Ruadhri Cushnan (Ed Sheeran, Mumford & Sons). Released on the Rubyworks label, the heart-rending, super radio-friendly ‘Don’t Let Go’ is the result.

SMILES AND FROWNS

“It was amazing,” Brad says of the experience. “Winning the competition really helped set the ball in motion for me! I asked Ruadhri how he made Ed Sheeran’s first few albums. I was like, ‘How did that happen?’ He said: ‘It’s the same thing I’m about to tell you – just go in and sing. We’re not going to do anything unnecessary’. They had so much patience towards the song. They allowed it to be what it was. Going in, I was expecting loads of software and a really technical approach. But they weren’t trying to turn it into some commercial pop hit. It was all about the performance.

“The chord progression stayed the same. There was a lot of honesty from the lads and they gave me the space to do what I needed. They were just trying to find my voice.”

And what a voice. On ‘Don’t Let Go’, Brad’s powerful vocals burst with the authentic might of a genuine emotional release.

“I’ve never felt as vulnerable and as honest as on this recording,” he says with evident gratitude. “I’m going through a rough time at the minute. My sister is in hospital. I was able to play the song by her bedside – I don’t know if she heard it or not, but it felt like the song was serving its purpose to me.

“I’ve been dealing with a lot of emotions that I didn’t ever want to have to deal with. But the honest part of me is also saying what it means to see my sister on a ventilator, and thinking ‘Don’t let go’. I’m trying to give her that strength. “A part of me wishes it was out a month or two ago. Maybe if she’d heard it, it could have changed things. I don’t know. But I hope it can help other people, who might be going through a simiar crisis.”

The soul-stirring ballad also touches on Brad’s life as a wandering musician travelling solo around the southwest of the UK.

“It was a very testing, but freeing time,” he says of the experience. “I was chasing something. I didn’t know what it was, but it felt right. I lived in a car for three months with my two amps under the front seat and a pillow on top of them.

“I was showering on beaches, kite surfing and playing everywhere. It was challenging at first – like when there’s three or four days of rain, and you’re in Ilfracombe in Devon, and it’s cold and wet, with nothing happening and no one around. Sometimes there weren’t people to play to because I was literally in the middle of nowhere.”

Was there a feeling of loneliness caused by never being in one place long enough to build any steady relationships?

“In life, everybody comes at the right time, and they go at the right time, and that’s fine,” says Brad. “You might meet someone in a coffee shop, but it doesn’t mean you have to keep in touch with them for the rest of your days. It’s the ups and downs, smiles and frowns of the forward movement of time. You’re always moving to the next place and whatever else. Honestly, I met some amazing people, but life moves on.”

Niall Stokes and Brad Heidi at Irish Music Month's 'A New Local Hero' event at The Academy on April 25th, 2023. Copyright Abigail Ring/ hotpress.com

BACKSTAGE AREA

This Zen-like outlook has long defined the singer’s career. Fired by his passion for music, he originally left his native Tyrone as a teenager, ultimately finding his tribe in the West.

“I started busking while at school,” he recalls. “There were days I just wouldn’t go in. Eventually, I put an amp in my bag and slung a guitar over my shoulder and that was it. I was getting gratification from my work. To make a living from it was wonderful.

“I have some really good friends in Galway. It’s a beautiful place with a beautiful energy, particularly the people – they have time for each other. I had always felt that I was on the sidelines somehow, watching the world go by – and then all of a sudden I was in Galway, with some great people, and we’re all watching the world go by together.”

Brad first made a name for himself performing in the music-crazed streets of the place.

“I like busking,” he enthuses. “It helps me express myself, and to be honest, I would probably make more from three hours busking than I would from 100,000 streams!”

It was Galway Bay FM that chose him as their representative in the A New Local Hero talent search. “I suppose I’ve always imagined world tours and reaching more people,” he adds. And now it is bearing fruit. There must have been a real sense of fulfillment when the 23-year-old played to a packed Hyde Park in London, supporting the Piano Man, Billy Joel.

“Hyde Park was amazing,” says Brad. “I didn’t meet him unfortunately, but to have the responsibility of entertaining his audience was such a privilege. I met Daryl Hall (of Hall & Oates fame – Sub Ed) in the backstage area, which was really cool – my friends and I are always playing his songs in pubs. I also swapped details with Joe Jonas – he was lovely too, a really normal dude.”

That Brad Heidi’s career is heading in the right direction is clear, but he doesn’t mince his words when discussing the plight of the modern artist.

“When you have bills to pay it can be really hard, especially in Ireland, because the cost of living is astronomical,” he says. “That’s why what’s happening now – and the support from Irish radio that goes with it – is so important for me.

“It is an amazing opportunity, for which I am extremely grateful. There is no knowing where it’s all going to lead, but I am so glad to be on this journey.”

• Irish Music Month is funded by Coimisiún na Meán through the Sound & Vision scheme. It is suppprted by IMRO, RAAP, MCD PRoductions, Live Nation, Ticketmaster and Square One.