London based artist Sample Answer talks about leaving Dublin, making his mother proud and being inspired by dinosaurs with Limerick Post Newspaper. He returns to Ireland this week for an Irish tour playing Limerick this Saturday.
Sample Answer is Dublin singer/ songwriter Maurice OโConnor who has released some very impressive EPs and videos since signing to ACP Recordings, home of Orbital and David Gray.
Maurice left Dublin for London at the young age of 18 and has been based there since gigging, writing music and making contacts. He started playing in open-mic sessions; his first break was support slot for Pete Doherty of The Libertines.
Sample Answerโs EPโs have garnered widespread critical support and radioplay. His singles โGood Boyโ and โTextile Babyโ were played by BBCโs Annie Mac and Zane Lowe. Music discovery site Pigeons and Planes included Sample Answer in their tips for โartists about to blowโ.
Limerick Post caught up with Maurice OโConnor in London preparing for an Irish tour that includes Limerick city this weekend. The affable and super laid back 22 year-old singer is very welcoming and buzzinโ to get back home.
โJayus, canโt wait. Iโm going on Tuesday to get home a little bit earlier. Just chill out and see the fam and all that!โ
Sample Answerโs music is a soulful mix of pop with hip hop and blues influences. He writes from the heart and his track โProudโ, written for his mother, is an honest statement from the singer who has spent the last three years away from home perfecting his craft.
โI give you everything thatโs mine,
cos I want your time alive to be spent bending a smile,
you walk miles for me.โ
โYeah, the song is about my parents and anyone who has my back, really. Friends, teachers, anybody who seems to be on your side. Sometimes it does feel that we are all in it together rather than little old me doing it for myself. People acknowledge what you are doing and that is quite nice.โ
Though playing solo, Maurice uses loop stations and samples for his live show giving his music a full-band feel to create the sounds of bands he used to listen to, bands that influenced him.
His influences are surprisingly from the classic 60โs and 70โs era of pop music, The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Bowie with a special love of T-Rex.
OโConnorโs father played records by Marc Bolan and T-Rex to his son and the music and much more caught his imagination.
โIt was me Da! Iโm going, โthis is deadlyโ! And because I was obsessed with dinosaurs it all linked together and he looks like me, thatโs weird.โ
At school, Sample Answer was a bit of a rebel. Starting out as a T-Rex obsessed glam rocker wearing glitter, purple pants, and frills and looking like Prince. His version of โYonkersโ by Tyler the Creator went down a storm at the school talent show when bashed it out on an acoustic guitar and beats from his Casio keyboard.
Since moving to London, OโConnor has worked hard to make a name for himself.
โI used to sell self-made CDs, wrapped in lined copybook paper, held together with duct tape. Sold them on Camden High Street for a fiver. Sometimes Iโd only sell one, maybe two at gigs, so had to live off that.โ
Sample Answer will play Dolanโs this Saturday November 19.