The Life of O'Reilly
Say what you like, there really is no substitute for hard graft. It seems that in an era when....
image and marketing are such crucial ingredients to snaring that all-important record....
deal, many otherwise competent acts are hidebound by chin scratching, navel gazing....
and other immobilising activities while they figure out their plan of action. Not so Ryan O’Reilly. Just one glance at....
his MySpace page will tell any interested party that they won’t need to wait long to catch this....
guy in action, such is the length of his gig list. Although at the time of writing, the young....
Winchester singer-songwriter is unsigned, with substantial press and label interest, it looks like.
his impressive work ethic is reaping dividends..
Already being compared to the likes of Jeff Buckley and Ryan Adams, O’Reilly is unfazed.....
“I love playing live; that’s all there is to it really,” he says nonchalantly. “I’ve never....
bothered looking for shortcuts to getting my music across. Playing every night that you can....
is better for your soul. If anyone wanted my advice I’d say that stage time is everything.”....
Wise words. Although they sound like they’re from the lips of a veteran, Ryan is still....
only in his early twenties. But perhaps not unusually for the youth of today, he benefited....
from having cool parents – receiving his first guitar from his dad at age ten, accompanied....
by sage fatherly advice: “He said all my friends
would get guitars when they were sixteen, to impress the girls. They’d learn enough....
to get girlfriends and then give up. He told me if I started at ten I’d be good enough not....
to forget everything when – or if – I got a girlfriend.” And his dad was right.
Having the opportunity to catch Bob Dylan at Portsmouth Guildhall....
at just fifteen inspired him to write his first songs. Ryan was soon gigging the local....
venues with school friends and recording an album that they released themselves.....
He also spent time getting back to his Irish roots at his cousin’s house in Wicklow,....
something that fuelled his writing no end “I’d usually sit with a guitar the morning....
after a heavy night,” he says. “And there is a peaceful view across Wicklow harbour that....
always seemed to spark off an idea. When I’ve gone travelling alone I’ve always been content....
to go along with whatever seemed exciting and different; it’s the only way to get the kind of....
experiences you need to write things that people will be interested in.”....
Having read Kerouac’s On The Road and Guthrie’s Bound For Glory, upon....
finishing school Ryan started getting itchy feet. Discovering he had a distant....
uncle in Canada, he blagged himself an invitation and headed out there.....
It was in Canada that he met Tyler Kyte and, later, Nick Rose, with whom he....
recorded last year’s Blue Fox EP “Tyler Kyte was like Dean Moriarty....
to my Sal Paradise,” says Ryan. “We started writing songs together and....
we both found it worked right away We specialise in different aspects of....
songwriting so it works really well for us. A year later Tyler came to....
Europe and we travelled all over by train, playing a few shows and doing....
some busking along the way. After that I went back to Canada and in the....
wilderness of Ontario, Nick Rose joined us –.everyone should listen to the music he makes....
because he is a genius.”.It was while playing solo gigs on his return to the UK that Ryan came to the attention of the....
popular What’s Cookin’ club in Leytonstone,East London. His gentle, Celtic-influenced....
Americana was an immediate hit with the locals, and proprietor Steve Ferguson was so....
impressed he ring-fenced the track ‘Nightmares’ from the EP for the third volume of the club’s....
What’s Kickin’ compilation series. Subsequent reviews and airplay singled this out as a....
favourite “I’ve also got to say that the What’s Cookin’.club is a hidden gem,” he says. “I always have....
such a good time there that I don’t even mind that it’s all the way out in Leytonstone!”....
Having toured the UK in last spring with Blue Fox, Ryan recognised the practical need for....
homegrown backing musicians. This led him to conscript Tali and Brad from support band The....
Wellbeing. “They are two of the most musical people I’ve ever met,” he says. “And they have....
a similar ambition. Now we’ve formed a band that has progressed very quickly.We’ve played....
some exciting shows and we’re getting close to being able to record our album.”....