Hot Press meets Eoin Glackin

Eoin Glacken’s life changed forever the night he heard Seize The Day by Damien Dempsey

“Something woke inside me. I cried, instantly. It was mad.”
Just 16, Glacken was struck by Dempsey’s searing honesty.
“There’s no bullshit.”
Several years on, fan and idol are now firm friends. They struck up their acquaintance in unusual circumstances.
“I sneaked in to the soundcheck at one of his gigs and gave him a demo. Two weeks later he gave me a call. It was funny because he rang me off a private number. And I was expecting a call from somebody else. So I answered the phone messing, saying, ‘What do you want?’ thinking it was my mate. And he was like, ‘What?’ Still joking, I said, ‘What the fuck do you want?’ Sure, it was Damo. It was like getting a call from Jesus at the time.”
Shortly afterwards Glackin went to London in an attempt to kick-start his career. He also was fleeing the Celtic Tiger.
“I was 20 at the time, and went over on my own. I needed to get out of Dublin. There was a terrible vibe. I remember walking up College Green, and stopping, looking at people. Everybody was being horrible. We all had our heads up our arses. That was the tipping point.”
In London, Glackin was approached by a Sony representative, which eventually led to the recording of his debut album, Not Lost in June 2011. The record was well-received but Glackin was effectively dropped by Sony, something he’s not afraid to admit.
“When I left my old record company I was adrift. However, I kept writing. And then, without really thinking too much about it, I said, ‘Right, next step, let’s get a record done’. I decided to keep moving, put the album out myself.”
It was around this time that Glackin received an unexpected text message from one Glen Hansard.
“He told me to move forward. Things like that sort of pick you up and help you.”
Back in Dublin he recorded his new record, Rain Finally Came.
“Without sounding cheesey, Dublin is my muse. There’s a great energy to the people. It’s a part of me.”
One of the most moving songs on the LP is ‘Mrs. Campbell’. It addresses the needless death of innocent Dublin teenager Anthony Campbell, murdered as part of the gangland assassination of Marlo Hyland in 2006.
“It’s a fucking disease that’s eating at us,” declares Glackin with ferocious intent. “I don’t scan the headlines looking for some injustice to write about. But the fact that he was a young fella, like any other young fella out working... for that to happen to him.”
He has strong opinions on drugs as it happpens. While pro-legalisation he is of the opinion that those who use drugs, and thus stuff the pockets of the criminal underworld, should think about what they’re doing.
“These drugs are illegal. Whether they should be or not, they are. And by buying them you’re financing these murderers and scumbags.”

Rain Finally Came is out now and available to stream on hotpress.com.