For Peter Donnelly, singer/ songwriter and O’Malley-in-Chief, the new EP ‘Night Time in Montreal’ is a Donnelly family production. Peter’s song was inspired by his daughter’s immigration to Canada, his son Alan plays guitar on the recording and other son Simon made the video. Limerick Post caught up with Peter last week before he boarded a plane to do a short tour of European cities.
by Eric FitzGerald
“I USED to tell people, ‘wherever Ryanair flies, Peter O’Malley will be there!’” laughs Peter. His old tagline is still as true today as the Limerick based singer regularly plays shows in Germany, France, Belgium and Switzerland. In the 1980s Peter busked around Europe and lived in Munich for a few years before returning to Limerick where the now legendary O’Malley’s formed.
There are, of course, no O’Malleys in The O’Malleys. They took the name from the pub in Denmark Street where the band first started playing. But the name has stuck with Peter and so it is Peter O’Malley ever since and everywhere he tours.
“I’ve travelled all my life, I’ve nothing against travel, everybody should leave the island. But I don’t think you should be forced to leave the island.”
His daughter’s move to Canada inspired the new single ‘Night Time in Montreal’, a stirring ballad of Irish immigration as we experience it today.
Peter says, “It is different from my era of emigration where you went to the local phone box once a week for a call from home. Now you are on Skype and you can see who you are talking to.”
For many parents these days this is the reality of keeping in touch with family. “The idea for the song is that you are closer but you are still far.”
The songs on the EP were recorded by Peter’s son Alan Donnelly at his Shaggy Mane Studios. Alan, along with long-time O’Malley Brian Mulcahy, played guitars on the track. “Alan does a lot of work for Monster Energy writing music for videos of skiers and snowboarders.”
With a Vancouver based production company in Canada, Alan has composed music for Monster Energy, Ride Snowboards and Coca Cola, blending traditional instruments with modern electronic textures.
‘Night Time in Montreal’ is accompanied by a beautiful video shot by Peter’s son Simon Donnelly and Jacob Stack. The filmmakers produced work for the Elemental Arts and Culture Festival here in Limerick last September. Their stop motion painstakingly created animation style impressed Peter.
“It was exactly what I wanted for the song, it is not computer generated, it is all hand made and hand drawn animation.”
It proved to be a very slow process to shoot and edit with the various scenes built on separate stages filmed using high quality cameras and lighting. The results of that hard work are stunning and can be scene on YouTube or Vimeo: search for ‘Night Time in Montreal’.
Peter O’Malley’s touring sees him play all over Europe. For those solo gigs he plays a mix of his own songs and bluesy stuff, but not doing the typical Irish stuff. He recently started to play in Switzerland, which he describes as “different”. While some of his songs and banter might get lost in translation, it doesn’t deter him for taking a chance and having a go.
At his last gig he tried to tell a joke onstage he had heard earlier at the bar. He is not fluent in German so he persuaded someone in the audience to translate for him. A half hour later, he still hadn’t got to the punchline. But that is par for the course at a Peter O’Malley gig, the unpredictability of it all is part of its charm. In Europe, he laughs, “You have to be more visual.”
When The O’Malleys occasionally reunite for a show, the mayhem is amplified. Ger Costello is Peter’s partner in anarchy in The O’Malleys. He told Limerick Post last year that playing in The O’Malleys was, “a tonic for anybody to play with, it is like returning to the well to get water again. We never know where Peter will take you. He just gets his hand on the wheel of the boat and off we go its great fun.”
Anyone who has been to an O’Malleys gig will know that cheeky look in Peter’s eye as he leads the band closer and closer to the edge of the cliff where a song might just fall over and crash into pieces. The closer it is to the edge, the more he seems to enjoy it.
“Playing with The O’Malleys is still brilliant because Brian Mulcahy or Ger Costello could have some song that you never heard of and I love the idea that we all just play it. Everybody knows each other so well that you don’t have to explain the song. Just start nodding and winking at everyone,” he laughs
The O’Malleys reunite for a free Paddy’s Day gig in Dolan’s this Monday March 17 from 7pm followed by a show from Cha Haran’s Band featuring Johnny Fean. A chance to see a lot of Limrock legends on one stage.
Peter O’Malley will launch his EP ‘Night Time in Montreal’ with a solo show playing tracks from the EP and a mix of covers and original material in Dolan’s on April 16.
‘Night Time in Montreal’ is available to download on iTunes and cdbaby now.
