Claire Regan from Local Group the Birds interview 21st Feb 2011This week Shane had the pleasure of chatting with local singer songwriter Claire Regan. Currently you can hear The Birds on local CD the Marine Sessions with a recording called Wildflower from The Birds. as Claire herself says this was a great song by All about Eve so we rearranged the guitar added vocals and bass and hey presto our version of this song. I asked Claire to take us back to where it all started
it all started wen I went to college Stiofan Naoife in Cork and I was always listening to music and taking my poetry and adding music to it for my course work, However I wouldn’t consider myself a very strong lyric writer rather do the arranging and add music to a song. currently we have just started writing all three of us so it’s great fun at the moment when we sit down and go over new stuff, Sinead writes great lyrics I rather write the music she is so strong at putting lyrics together it works for us well. Ken then adds music ,he is really amazing it’s one of the reason we don’t have a drummer the three of us seem to gel together we have control of the music and sounds as well as the speed of each song the tempo and rhythm of the music.
I get a buzz out of working with other musicians but I love writing the cords music and arraangements to the lyrics. I am looking forward to the next few months. I asked Claire what sort of guitar she uses she replied I have an acoustic Honer guitar and I have one that is set up so well but I don’t know who made it as the name is worn off but for my favourite guitar is the fender Jaguar guitar it’s electric and my hero Johnny Marr uses one so I went to my local credit union took out a loan and bought it I just had to have it. I started playing guitar when I was 16 I used to busk around the city with my sister but then I moved to Dublin and gave it up for a few years and then a band I knew we looking for a bass plaster so I fell in with them for two years then I moved back to Youghal and went to collage and started back at guitar at 32.
when I was in college I was more into electronic and digital music using garage band tracks and a little guitar and put them online and got a great response from that so it kinda moved on from there. I started playing live by accident really I used to visit Sinead and we would mess around with lyrics etc and I would play guitar, and from there we just got invites to play at local sessions from the musicians christmass session to other local open nights. once I got my head around using a PA we ewre on a roll. then we added a bass player and Ken arrived on the scene. ken from Cobh is so talented playing different instruments but really adds to the whole sound with his great bass lines so gentle smooth but important to the overall sound. So since then The Marine sessions have been wonderful. Giving us a chance to play live in the local area.
I asked her if her style of songwriting had changed over time and she said since the birth of her daughter Molly she had changed a lot up till then it was a sad melodic stark songs but since then it’s all uplifting bright happy type songs, the odd sad song still escapes but for the most part it’s all positive, I think it has something to do with looking at Molly sitting there so full of life my own outlook to life has changed dramatically since she came along. We spoke at length about many things from Bill Bailey to Jedword but through it all her love of music shines through. So keep an eye out for this new three piece band in your local area. The Birds Claire,Sinead and Ken. You can also check them out on Facebook
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