Robert has spoken for the first time about turning his back on the Irish music industry, his recent experience on a major film set and why he wants to get in a meeting with producer-of-the-moment, RedOne. Read the interview below.

Robert, it's been almost a year since our last talk, what’s happening with your career?
I obviously played a number of gigs in Dublin with the band, though the last one was in January. We have sort of concluded that there’s no market for my music here at the moment, and although I do intend on moving the sound in a different direction for my next album, I still don’t believe Ireland is the place to be when trying to get a music project like this off the ground, it's all about who you know and fitting into a specific type, they don't know what to do with me here!

So does that mean there will be no more gigs in Ireland?
Not necessarily. I won’t be doing any more gigs directly promoting Distance. I’m still in touch with some of the great musicians I was playing with, and some new ones, and if a great gig or a support offer came up I’d probably take it. Realistically, I have thought about going to Asia, going to Germany, you name it, everyone has had an idea where I would fit in, and right now I’m hearing a lot of “go to the states” and in fairness that’s where Adult Contemporary ballads can really work if you get the right radio support.

Will you be taking the album to America then?
I am toying with the idea of going to the states in a couple of months and checking out the situation. I have hit a brick wall here, and when I look at the artists that I am inspired by, like Jem for instance, they sort of shifted to the states when nothing was happening in their home country…in my gut it feels like the right thing, you've got to make yourself truly uncomfortable to achieve success I think, get away from home and all your comforts and luxuries.

What else have you been doing?
I’ve finally finished journalism at college so I have a qualification there to fall back on. I don’t see myself going any further down the academic road at this point, it’s make or break for the music in a lot of ways, I mean, it’s been four years since I recorded “Ten Years Time”, and yet I have never ventured outside of Ireland due to my college commitments. I’ve been doing some extras work for film and TV, I’ve just finished working on a film called Leap Year with Amy Adams as the lead actor, that was a really fun experience, and it all happened in Dublin and Wicklow which was convenient for me.

Has being on set made you want to revisit your acting roots?
You know, I’ve done theatre as a child, I’ve done a few acting courses here and there, but again in Ireland there’s no real film industry. Unless you want to be on Fair City or something, you need to leave the country. Jonathan Rhys Meyers told me that a few years ago and he was right, and if I’m going to leave the country, which I would say is almost a certainty, it will be for music, but I wouldn’t say no to an acting role either, combination careers are the way forward!

Will Distance see a release outside of Ireland?
Essentially it is available in most countries, digitally or to buy online, but as a physical release, I can’t really say. I would love to promote it properly in the states or Europe, but I think the moment may have passed for that album now, I want to record and release new material quite quickly.

Will this new material be a departure from your debut?
Yes. The idea is to sell records and I didn’t do that the first time around so really it’s time to change and I am very much looking at what’s happening in the charts on both sides of the Atlantic which is something I was ignoring when recording the first album. I didn’t care for any of that, I was just so obsessed with creating something that I felt represented me well. If I wasn’t under pressure to sell a single copy I’d go and record another album of mellowed-out pop, like I’d love to work with Pierre Marchand or Lester Mendez, that’s the type of music I’m listening to at home and loving, but that’s not the key to commercial success at the moment, at least not outside of America, so I suppose get RedOne on the phone and we’ll make something infectious for the clubs…and send me into irreversible debt!