Irish singer-songwriter Mundy has been a mainstay in the Irish charts since bursting on the scene in 1996 with his debut album Jellylegs, which also had a song featured on the Romeo and Juliet soundtrack. His 2006 cover of Steve Earle’s “Galway Girls” went on to top Ireland’s download charts for two years running. He’s heading Down Under for the Shenanigans Festival, so we dragged him away from his Guinness…
Hey Mundy, how’s it going? It’s 11 pm in Ireland. I’m just having a pint of Guinness in a bar in Dublin, there’s a young guy playing downstairs.
Ha, I’ll try not to keep you from your Guinness then… Ah no problem, work away!
So what have you been up to? Well I’m doing the artwork for this new album I’ve recorded, it’s a collection of my favourite American, kind of Americana-style songs. It’s not an original album so to speak. I’m bringing it over to Australia for the tour. I think Australians will get the first copy of it, mid-March. So yeah, 15 songs of all my obscure favourite American songs.
Looking forward to some Aussie sun? How’s Dublin at the moment? It’s absolutely freezing. At least its not snowing. It snowed very badly around Christmas time. Now it’s getting brighter in the evenings, we’re starting to feel more positive.
Have you been to Australia before? Yeah this will be my third time. I toured with some friends a good while back, then I toured by myself last year, and that went really well.
And you’ll be touring with the Wolfe Tones on the Shenanigans festival? To be honest, I’m kind of lumped in as the rock alternative band thrown into the traditional thing. I think they want to mix it up a bit, the Wolfe Tones are traditional, I’m kind of down the Ryan Adams, Springsteen, Neil Young kind of path. The Wolfe Tones are good at what they do, they’re quite political, reminiscing about the war and the old times, but it’s not what I do.
There will be probably be a big Irish crowd. Is it strange crossing the world to play to the Irish? Well it’s the first time I’ve been offered a decent fee to play in Australia, to a decent crowd, and to be honest my main reason is to reach out to the Irish punters. Plus, there will be a lot of second and third generation Australian Irish who will come to the gigs and I’m coming back over in October and November, so I’m hoping that they might come see me and I’ll win a few people over. I’m doing it for St Patrick!
Mundy joins the Wolfe Tones and Celtic Fire at the Shenanigans Irish Music Festival, in Melbourne (March 19), Sydney (March 20), Perth (March 25) and Brisbane (March 26). See www.ticketek.com.au.
We’ve got a double pass to each Shenanigans show to give away. For details on how to win, click here
