THE REAL McEVOY

ELEANOR McEVOY is feeling the pressure. She's in the middle of the last week of the 'Woman's Heart' tour, she's suffering from a heavy cold and she's just about to launch her own solo debut album. A hectic day is planned for the record launch including several radio appearances, a live set at the new Tower Records store in Dublin and the usual meet-the-press party. By the time you read this she'll be flying around the U.S. on a two-week promotional trip.

"They're talking about putting me on the road in America for up to a year," she sighs, "so that'll be quite rough. Though people say to me 'you must be excited going on the road and doing all these shows', but I've been touring and playing in bands for over ten years."

As writer of the 'Woman's Heart' theme song, she can claim to be the composer of the biggest selling Irish song ever. Indeed, the popularity of the song has surprised even her.

"I don't think it's my best song," she says, "although I do like it - it's really an acoustic rock song and sometimes I feel that it doesn't come across that way in the context of the Woman's Heart album. I wrote it when I was feeling a bit depressed and I kinda forgot about it. People were coming up to me saying how much they liked it and when Joe O'Reilly heard it he decided to use it for the album."

As she prepares to concentrate on her solo career it's likely that her association with the 'Woman's Heart' success may now be at an end. She enjoyed the experience and is philosophical about leaving it all behind.

"Maybe we should quit while we're on top. They're talking about a 'Woman's Heart Two' and I'm not sure if it's a good idea, though the tour's been great crack and the money's been pretty good too - a real bank robbery job!" she laughs. "We were reading in the paper the other day that we'd make a hundred thousand from it - I don't know where they got that figure from, but I hope to be rich in a few years time when the royalties come through!"

There's no getting away from it. Whether you like it or not, you can't ignore the 'Woman's Heart' album/tour/phenomenon/eighth wonder of the world. It'll undoubtedly go down in Irish music history as the most successful home-grown music project ever. Sales figures have now reached something like two hundred thousand and still rising. (That would be the equivalent of three million in the U.K. taking population into account.) The tour, on its second outing, has sold-out everywhere and could probably continue indefinitely were it not for the commitments of the various participants.

If there is a 'Woman's Heart Two', it's not inconceivable that the second album would feature completely different artists from the first. Perhaps Mary Coughlan, Leslie Dowdall and newcomers like Marian Bradfield or Katell Keineg.

Theories as to the success of the 'Woman's Heart' project are many. While cynics might offer that it's simply a case of shrewd marketing, others have called it an assertion of woman-power in an Ireland where women are still oppressed - a sort of a musical celebration of the election of Mary Robinson and the idea of the mna na hEireann. The truth probably lies somewhere in between. It is, after all, a compilation album - a selection of very popular Irish singers gathered together on one handy collection. Some of the songs had been available previously but put in the context of the album, they somehow managed to form a cohesive theme. Still, Eleanor McEvoy isn't sure herself why the whole project has been so successful.

"Who the hell knows?," she ponders, "I think a lot of people look at it as a bunch of women out there doing things . . . things that maybe they wish they were doing themselves - a lot of women in Ireland are still fairly trapped with kids and that."

Of all the 'Woman's Heart' participants, Eleanor McEvoy was probably the least well known at the beginning. The others, Frances Black, Dolores Keane, Maura O'Connell and to a lesser extent, Sharon Shannon had already well-established careers. They had particular songs that were identified with them and could carry their sets with ease. But Eleanor McEvoy had been known more as a musician and backroom girl.

"It was more difficult for me" she agrees. "Partly because a lot of my own material is different from the overall 'Woman's Heart' sound. Even at the end of the show where we all had to sing something together, it was hard to find something that we could all do. It had to be a song that incorporated a folk element, a trad element, a countryish element as well as a rock element. We picked Van Morrison's 'Moondance' and that one seemed to work well and kept us all happy."

In the period before 'Woman's Heart' Eleanor McEvoy had been a backing musician and singer for Mary Black and prior to that she'd served time as a classical musician and had played on countless recording sessions. Now, as the second 'Woman's Heart' tour winds down, Eleanor has every chance of becoming the biggest beneficiary of them all. She's signed a six album deal with Geffen Records in the U.S. and her eponymously titled debut has just been released. With jangly electric guitars and the crack of a snare drum in abundance, the overall sound is in marked contrast to the predominantly acoustic folk flavour of 'Woman's Heart'. Not surprisingly, she's anxious to let people know that her own style is different from that of the 'Woman's Heart' sound.

"My heart's definitely in rock, that's what I want to do" she says. "When I signed with Geffen, I was really worried that they'd want me to do an album's worth of folksy type songs. Some of the other companies who were initially interested, wanted me to be a kind of Beverly Craven which is not where I'm at. Even when I've done my own gigs I'd have people coming along expecting it to be like the 'Woman's Heart' thing. They'd be looking for the seats and I'd hear them complaining about how loud it was. It wasn't really fair to them, being blasted out with feedback and distorted guitars when they've paid their money for something else so I'm anxious to clear that up in interviews."

So there it is everybody. Take note, Eleanor McEvoy is a rocker!

Although she had interest from several companies, Eleanor's signing with Geffen was more the result of fate than by any grand design on their or her part.

"The A...R guy from Geffen was in Ireland - I think he had just signed My Little Funhouse and he was at some gig in the Harcourt. He was leaving, and somebody suggested he go to the Baggot where I was playing. As it happened his driver was a fan of mine and recommended me, so he ended up at the gig. He arrived for the last seven or eight numbers, was obviously impressed with my stuff and said he was interested.

"He didn't know about the 'Woman's Heart' thing," she continues, "So I was really blessed that he was able to judge me solely on my own work. When we started negotiations I told him that I wanted to do a rock album and he said 'fine'. I told him I wanted to use my own band, he said 'OK'. I said I wanted to use a producer that I know and he agreed. I couldn't believe my luck he agreed to everything I wanted. I couldn't get over how fortunate I was 'cause I know other bands have had problems with their record companies trying to slot them into categories they weren't happy with. When I'd mentioned doing the rock album he said to me 'well, I signed Guns 'n' Roses and Nirvana' so that's not a problem with me'."

In fact, Geffen, it seems, reckon Eleanor has across-the-board appeal.

"As far as I know they're going to promote me in all markets in America," she says. "The 'alternative' and album stations as well as what they call 'adult contemporary' - they do different mixes for each market bringing up the drums and guitars for the more youth orientated stations and stressing the softer tracks for the thirty-something market."

Whatever happens in the near future Eleanor McEvoy is simply happy to be making music.

"I don't have anything in my life except music," she says. "I don't even have a television, I don't go out that much except to do a gig. I'm amazed that everybody else isn't into music as much as I am. I kinda think 'what else is there in life?' If there is something better I haven't found it yet. When I was in the Symphony Orchestra I used to come home and put on the Rolling Stones and now that I'm playing mainly rock, I come home and listen to classical - I suppose it's all to do with balancing your tastes."

While she may have always loved playing music, her family had different plans for her. Growing up in Cabra on Dublin's northside her folks wanted her to be a performer of a different kind - in front of a classroom full of kids!

"They wanted me to be a National School Teacher" she says. "I seem to remember a huge row about me not signing the application form for St. Pat's in Drumcondra. I think my signature eventually got forged on that particular form but I didn't go there. I did a degree in music in Trinity instead which was completely academic, there was no playing. I was doing stuff like arranging pieces for orchestration and analysing melodies and harmonic structure - all that kind of stuff. I remember having to take four bars of a Bach piece and then finishing the rest myself! But it was good training and I still played with various bands at the time."

Her classical training paved the way for a stint with the RTE Symphony Orchestra where she spent three years.

"I loved that, it was really enjoyable although there was a fairly routine working week there We'd do a lunchtime concert on a Tuesday, maybe recording Wednesday and Thursday and a show on Friday night. We'd also tour around the country and do proms and that kind of thing. I was contracted on a month to month basis so I kinda came and went - I was one of the less permanent members of the Orchestra!"

Spells with various bands followed and among others, Eleanor has played with acts as diverse as Autobop, The Pale and the Phil Coulter Orchestra. (Phil Coulter has now recorded an instrumental version of 'A Woman's Heart'.)

"Yeah, I actually played with Phil for a long time," she remembers, "I was on the road with him for ages. We did a tour of the States with loads of dates - I didn't know where I was most of the time. But I've done sessions for people who wouldn't even know I played on their records, including some I wouldn't be too proud of. I've had to prostitute myself at times but I was always glad to be able to make a living out of playing music - that was the most important thing to me."

As a female musician in a predominantly male world Eleanor McEvoy has more than once come up against the usual prejudices.

"In the Mary Black Band I was a fiddle and keyboard player as well as doing backing vocals," she explains. "At one particular venue down the country, the sound guy was setting up the levels before the gig and I was at my keyboards pressing a few buttons and playing a bit, the usual thing before a show. Suddenly he started shouting at me 'Don't touch that', he roars from the back of the hall. I kind of looked at him wondering what the hell was wrong with him. 'You're over there' he says. 'No, I'm here', I said. 'That's my microphone', I said. 'Oh, all right', he sighed and proceeded to pick up my microphone from behind the keyboard and move it over to the other side of the stage. So I said to him, 'How am I going to play and sing at the same time?'. It was only then that it dawned on me that he didn't realise I was the keyboard player - he thought I was a mere backing singer. It never entered his head that I might be a musician as well as a singer. That kind of thing can be really annoying, though it doesn't happen that often, thankfully," she concedes.

Speaking of women in music, Eleanor did a session for Sinead O'Connor for her last album. Given her own commitment to a career in the music business and her willingness to co-operate with record companies, how does she feel about Sinead's apparent indifference to the business side of making music?

"It's difficult to understand her position," she says. "I mean she's obviously going through a crisis and I hope she gets over it. She was nice to me when I did the session for her but I know of some musicians who worked for her and had severe problems with her. I'm always careful to treat my own band carefully 'cause they're extremely talented and I know how lucky I am to have guys like that who aren't cynical and love the music as much as I do. With Sinead, I don't think she's set out deliberately to hurt people but she has . . . It's very easy when you've lots of money to forget what it's like when you had none so if you advertise a gig you should turn up. Somebody has saved their hard-earned twenty quid or whatever and you have to treat them with respect."

Eleanor has already attracted some criticism and controversy herself for the lyrical content of 'A Woman's Heart'. She's been accused of focusing exclusively on women's depression and of ignoring the fact that men also suffer from the problem.

"Well those people misinterpreted the words in the song," she says. "A lot of the depression I was suffering when I wrote the song was kind of pre-menstrual, and it can be a horrible type of depression that only women get and that's what I was trying to say in the lyrics. I know that men get depressed too - they have a higher suicide rate than women so they must do, but some guys were very aggressive to me about it. I actually got a death threat over the phone, it was left on my answering machine and this guy sounded pretty serious."

She concedes that most of her songs are written when she's feeling a little depressed.

"I think I'm less inclined to be creative when I'm in good form," she says "I'm probably too busy having a good time to be sitting around writing songs. My main routine would be when I come home at two in the morning after a gig and I sit up and try to write. I like that time of the day - it's very still and nobody's phoning me. I used to write with the guitar or the piano but that was beginning to dictate the course of the song so I just write the melody on a piece of paper now."

Living alone she feels, is an advantage for someone in the music business where family life can be disrupted by the vagaries of touring and recording.

"Yeah, I'm single at the moment," she laughs, "I'm afraid I don't have anyone to wave goodbye to. Not that it doesn't get me down sometimes, but at least I can go off on the road for six months or whatever and not have to think about how it'll effect anyone else - I just say goodbye to the plants and I'm off!"

Given the gameplan for Eleanor McEvoy's career over the next few years it looks like those plants might be facing a thirsty future!