Garron Noone: "I was doing pub gigs, playing finger-style folk guitar – until the whole TikTok thing went nuts"

The first thing I notice about Garron Noone is his t-shirt.

It isn’t his instantly recognisable face – the one that now appears daily in the palms of two-and-a-half million Instagram followers. Nor is it the famous chops, the comic timing, or the voice that has turned “Follow me, I’m delicious!” into a national catchphrase.

It’s his t-shirt.

Across his chest, loud and unmistakable, is the logo of Big Star, the Memphis misfits who sold almost nothing first time around. Then the world caught up, and somehow they became one of the most influential guitar bands of the last half-century. And immediately, the terms of the encounter shift.

This is not going to be a conversation about viral fame, algorithms, catchphrases, or becoming one of the most recognisable figures in Ireland almost by accident. Or at least not directly.

It’s his birthday, and when I wish him a happy one, he receives it with a kind of amused politeness. He has the air of someone still catching up with himself, having only recently returned from East Africa, where he had been travelling with a charity convoy delivering ambulances to Uganda – a journey that had taken him from Mombasa inland, across that long, red-dust road towards the interior.

I know that road – in another life, I’ve done it a few times myself. We chat easily about that corner of the world – its incredible beauty and beautiful chaos.

“So, the ambulances are retired Irish ambulances,” Garron explains. “But they’re still only about 10 years old. There’s a really interesting story about hospice care in Uganda. It was an Irish woman that basically started the whole thing, and the guys who started Hope on Wheels had met her and got inspired to do this. They told me the story and I was like, ‘Absolutely, I’m 100% on for that.’”

A Ballina boy from County Mayo, Garron’s primary employment – pre-social media fame – was as a working musician.

“Since I was 17,” Garron confirms, “I was doing pub gigs, playing finger-style folk guitar, and that’s what I did until the whole TikTok thing went nuts. Before that, I was playing pub gigs and doing weddings. I was teaching music production with a company in the UK. I was playing with a girl; her name is Grace Killeen. She’s amazing, way better than me, but me and her had a two-piece, and we did that for about eight years.”

Take a step back. Inspired by hearing his mother singing songs when he was kid – “I thought it was so cool,” he says, “that she could just sit down and play old Buddy Holly and Johnny Cash numbers” – Garron began noodling on the guitar. His mother’s record collection – Bruce Springsteen, Eva Cassidy – was also a massive influence. Indeed,  Garron confirms Cassidy is his favourite vocalist of all time.

So, let’s talk about that t-shirt.

“I love Big Star,” I declare.

“Big Star,” Garron breathes, “…so underrated. I’m a big Elliott Smith fan. And he covered one of their songs, ‘Thirteen’. It’s on his compilation album, New Moon. I can’t understand why they weren’t the biggest band in the world.”

We do what Big Star fans have been doing for 50 years – politely relitigate the crime of them not being massive, before moving on to similar sacred bands: The Replacements from me, The LA’s from Garron. “They were never going to let themselves win,” he grins knowingly.

Garron has just released his own debut single, a cover of the Jimmy Webb song ‘Highwayman’. It wastes no time settling the matter – the man possesses the pipes. His voice is a deep, lush baritone with lived-in grit.

“People have been very receptive,” he accepts. “I’ve been surprised. I’m really looking forward now to releasing some of my own music as well.”

Touchstones for what that may sound like include Paul Brady and John Martyn, while themes contain some deep freight – the agoraphobia from Garron’s teenage years which he has spoken openly about, and the devastating loss of a close friend.

When I ask if any of the songs deal with the madness of the sudden, massive detonation of his social-media life, he shrugs it off as something still too strange, too transient. Which is fair enough. Some things are probably too bizarre to process in real time, not least finding yourself onstage with Robbie Williams at Croke Park.

“That was mad,” Garron confirms. “Robbie Williams got onto me. It turned out he had seen the social media videos. He had a couple of guys from The OARS and BIIRD as well, who are great – he wanted to do a cool Irish thing in the middle of the show on the C stage. He wanted me to sing a song, and I was like, ‘100% I’m going do that!’ So that was it. I went to their staff do the night before. They did a table quiz, I was on Robbie’s team.

“I got one answer correct and pretty much sabotaged the rest, it was a crazy experience. I mean, I can’t process any of that stuff, because three years ago, I was playing to two people in a pub. We did a version of ‘Take Me Home, Country Roads’. My monitors went and I couldn’t hear myself. Robbie actually had to clap in my face, so I knew the time. It was amazing, I never thought I’d get to do something like that.”

Garron with Robbie Williams

Wild stuff sure befalls Garron Noone.

“I met Bob Geldof at a charity event we were doing for Focus Ireland,” he casually adds. “It was Rock Against Homelessness, and Sharon Shannon was there, it was a great night. Anyway, somebody says, ‘Oh, Bob would like to meet you’. I’m won’t lie, I thought Bob Geldof wouldn’t be a huge fan of what I do.

“I didn’t think he’d see the artistic merit in tea reviews, but he came in and said, ‘I like the videos. I send them to Noel Gallagher sometimes. We should make a video for him’. And so we made a video of the two of us making fun of Oasis while we were eating a pizza. It was just crazy.”

Meanwhile, Garron, BIIRD and Aslan are among the Irish artists announced as support acts for Westlife, when they decamp for five nights at Dublin’s 3Arena in September. The group was recently honoured for their record-breaking run of 82 shows at the venue.

“I can’t wait for that,” Garron beams. “They’re such nice lads as well. I think in any other context, I’d feel daunted. But having met them and done The Late Late Show with them, I feel so comfortable going into it. I know their fans are going to be great.”

There’s so much happening in Garron Noone’s world that I almost forget one detail It’s only as he’s leaving Hot Press HQ that I remember to ask him about 20th Century Paddy, the upcoming Shane MacGowan tribute album. Garron will perform ‘White City’, one of Shane’s most cherished songs, in a stripped-back arrangement.

He tells me that when Shane’s wife, Victoria Mary Clarke – who’s guiding the tribute album into being – reached out to him directly. She told him that ‘White City’ was Shane’s favourite song. It’s a telling detail that gives Garron’s version a little extra charge.

Like I say, wild stuff befalls Garron. And may it always be thus...

• Garron Noone plays Dublin’s 3Olympia on December 3, and Belfast’s Telegraph Building on December 19. He also supports Westlife at Dublin's 3Arena on September 10, 11, 12, 15 & 16,