Wit me baby one more time

Most mere mortals can only dream of treading the boards as a Shakespearian actor or landing a major label deal and touring the globe. At the tender age of 24 Johnny Flynn has done both. Don’t hate him – to be fair he is disgustingly talented and the acting thing is in the genes apparently.

“My dad is an actor, as are both my brothers and sister. There’s pretty much only one or two people in the family who aren’t actors,” he explains during our pre-gig chat in Dublin’s Crawdaddy. “We have great family Christmases though. Charades are always fun!”
Johnny and his band (deliciously titled The Sussex Wit) are on a whistle-stop tour to promote current single ‘Leftovers’, a slice of elegantly-crafted, quirky folk-pop that exudes a worldliness at odds with the youth of its creator.
“I think what we are doing reflects what we are listening to,” he ponders. “There is a root and truth in folk music and blues that isn’t prevalent in modern music. Most two-minute pop songs don’t really take you anywhere. There is a lot of really good pop music though. I guess I’m always looking for something that transports you or a story that grabs you through its specificity.”
And don’t get him started on James Blunt. Mr Flynn has an axe to grind with the current crop of singer-songwriters.
“I just find that so boring and pointless. It is elevator music, it is acceptable on every level and so inoffensive. I don’t really have a problem with it being there but I choose not to do that. There is a self-importance that tends to go along with it as well. There is like a frivolity to what we do, we are enjoying each others’ company.”
That playful nature is also evident in his songwriting, case in point, ‘The Wayne Rooney Song’.
“I thought that if I called a song ‘The Wayne Rooney Song’ someone might give him a copy of it and he might listen to it. It’s funny to think of Wayne Rooney listening to the song that we called ‘The Wayne Rooney Song’,” he muses. “It’s not even specifically about him. It is called that because it was written on a picture of Wayne Rooney that I tore out of a newspaper!”
With the impending release of debut long-player A Larum, he is now fully in musician-mode but only finished a year-long acting jaunt last summer touring Taming Of The Shrew and Twelfth Night. So how does spouting Shakespeare compare to wowing the crowds on the gig circuit?
“It’s like eating an apple and eating an orange,” he explains. “They are two different things but there are certain functions that kick in with both. There is a sense of performance or a perception or awareness of the audience. I try and use some of the skills I learnt in acting in performing music and vice versa.”
Impressively, Johnny’s actor father (whose own father hailed from Cork – hence Mr Flynn’s inclusion in our Irish Ones To Watch For 2008, invoking the FAI grandparent rule) starred in an episode of iconic series The Avengers. When queried he replies modestly.
“Anybody whose Dad was an actor in the ’60s was probably in The Avengers!” he laughs.
A trained Shakespearian actor by trade, Johnny has performed at London’s Old Vic in front of Artistic Director Kevin Spacey. You’ll be glad to hear Keyser Soze is quite friendly in the flesh.
“He’s a nice guy, very chummy and amenable,” notes Johnny. “He walks into a room and everyone is very aware of him being there. He has lots of presence, he’s very smooth.”
Watching Johnny on stage later that night in front of a rapt audience, I am reminded of these words. He oozes charisma.
The vivid imagery of his lyrics dance across the rustic soundscape painted by the lilting violin and cello flourishes propelled by playful mandolin and inventive steel-guitar.
If music be the food of love, play on indeed!

‘Leftovers’ is out now on Vertigo