{"id":25659,"date":"2022-04-02T10:10:00","date_gmt":"2022-04-02T14:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/?p=25659"},"modified":"2022-04-03T10:12:49","modified_gmt":"2022-04-03T14:12:49","slug":"remembering-a-legend-fergus-ofarrell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/?p=25659","title":{"rendered":"Remembering A Legend: Fergus O’Farrell"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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I was traveling back to the USA from Ireland on Aer Lingus last Sunday when I viewed a documentary on Fergus O\u2019Farrell. I wish I could have got to meet him as he was just an amazing talent. He had a voice that was unmistakably beautiful. The songs that he wrote and sang were so superb that I had a tear in my eye on how soulfully he sang with every word that came out of his mouth, my God, what talent this man had, RIP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Fergus O\u2019Farrell came to prominence I had already emigrated to the US and I missed this beautiful human being who was oozing with talent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a feature on both Fergus and his amazing band Interference that has to be told that I can tell you I regret that I had not seen them perform live, so here we go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fergus O\u2019Farrell was the vocalist of the Irish Rock Band Interference. A songwriter, singer, composer, painter and poet, active and influential according to his peers during the late 1980s through to the 2000s. He was the composer of the song \u201cGold\u201d which featured in the box office hit movie \u201cOnce\u201d. The song features prominently in the Broadway Tony Award-winning musical of the same name, often being the song of choice for the cast to perform when making television or promotional appearances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

O\u2019Farrell\u2019s band Interference with Glen Hansard on vocals have performed his music to a growing audience ever since his passing. O\u2019Farrell suffered from Muscular Dystrophy which proved a constant hindrance to his career, an inability to tour for lengthy periods and a possible reluctance from the record industry to invest in an artist with a limited lifespan.
In 2018 The Trinity College Dublin\u2019s Music Society awarded his band Interference an Honorary Patronage\u00a0to the College faculty in recognition of their contribution to Irish Music. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Interference\u00a0is an Irish band based around the late singer-songwriter\u00a0O\u2019Farrell. The band is featured in the Academy Award-winning movie\u00a0Once. Amidst the performances by the main characters, played by\u00a0the Swell Season\u00a0duo of\u00a0Glen Hansard\u00a0and\u00a0Marketa Irglova, Interference have a cameo moment and play O\u2019Farrell\u2019s song \u201cGold\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Interference have also had songs included in the soundtracks for\u00a0Alan Gilsenan\u2019s\u00a0\u201cAll Souls Day\u201d\u00a0and Damien O\u2019Donnell\u2019s\u00a0\u201cInside I\u2019m Dancing\u201d,\u00a0both critically acclaimed films.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A collaboration with Glen Hansard, the song \u2018Don\u2019t Go Down\u2019 features in another\u00a0John Carney\u00a0film,\u00a0\u201cStreet\u201d.
Interference have appeared three times on the Irish television show\u00a0\u201cOther Voices\u201d. One such appearance was a one-hour Interference special which led to the release of the live CD\u00a0Interference \u201cLive in Dingle: Songs from Another Room\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2018,\u00a0Trinity College\u00a0Dublin\u2019s Music Society awarded Interference an Honorary Patronage to the College faculty in recognition of their contribution to Irish Music.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A film documentary on the life of O’Farrell entitled\u00a0\u201cBreaking Out\u201d was released in November 2021. Filmed over ten years, it follows O\u2019Farrell and his band from their own recording studio set-up in Dublin in the early \u201990s to their triumphant performance in\u00a0Radio City Music Hall\u00a0in 2008 with Hansard and the Swell Season and onwards to the last recording sessions, O\u2019Farrell\u2019s death from muscular dystrophy in early 2016 and the release in 2017 of their last album\u00a0\u201cThe Sweet Spot\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To accompany the film a soundtrack album was compiled, featuring the thirty-one Interference tracks heard in the film. Eleven of these have been re-mastered by 12-time\u00a0Grammy award\u00a0winning\u00a0Bob Ludwig\u00a0in Gateway Mastering Studios, Portland, Maine, USA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Interference still performs live with Hansard often assuming lead vocals, or as their alter ego Dogtail Soup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Interference outings became sporadic as O\u2019Farrell’s health caused long periods of inactivity. There was a very special third\u00a0\u201cOther Voices\u201d\u00a0appearance where Interference with a new collective of mainly Cork and West Cork musicians performed new material they had been working on for their second album. That night introduced the songs \u201cGold\u201d, \u201cDon\u2019t Go Down\u201d and \u201cSail On\u201d, alongside many old favorites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

O\u2019Farrell was joined on stage by band members Paul Tiernan, James O\u2019Leary,\u00a0Maurice Seezer, Marja Gaynor, Darren McCarthy,\u00a0Anthony Noonan,\u00a0Bertrand Galen,\u00a0Colin Vearncombe\u00a0(aka Black)\u00a0and Camilla Griehsel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many Interference songs are written with lyricist Malcolm MacClancy, with whom O\u2019Farrell had worked since they met at school. The song \u201cGold\u201d, however, is an O\u2019Farrell solo composition, and it features in\u00a0John Carney\u00a0Box Office Hit film\u00a0\u201cOnce\u201d. Released in 2007, the film features a house party scene where Interference performs the song. The song features strongly in\u00a0\u201cOnce: The Musical\u201d. The success of \u201cGold\u201d led O\u2019Farrell to sign a worldwide publishing deal with\u00a0Warner Chappell Music.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Glen Hansard was touring the world with his band\u00a0The Swell Season\u00a0on the back of the success of\u00a0Once\u00a0and invited O\u2019Farrell and Interference to join them in\u00a0Radio City Music Hall\u00a0and\u00a0Tower Theatre\u00a0in Philadelphia for the final shows of the tour.\u00a0The Swell Season\u00a0was made up of the duo of Hansard and Irglova along with Marja Gaynor and Bertrand Galen who were also members of O\u2019Farrell\u2019s Interference collective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

O\u2019Farrell co-wrote and often shared his stage with\u00a0Colin Vearncombe\u00a0(aka Black), David Bickley (Hyperborea),\u00a0Gavin Friday\u00a0and\u00a0The Man Seezer,\u00a0Maria Doyle Kennedy\u00a0& Kieran Kennedy,\u00a0Glen Hansard,\u00a0Liam O’Maonlai,\u00a0Mundy,\u00a0Nina Hynes\u00a0and Paul Tiernan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

O\u2019Farrell, Vearncombe, Griehsel, Seezer and Paul Tiernan came up with the idea of creating a group where each of them would alternate the role of singer, performing their own songs as well as covers. This was to be called Dog Tail Soup, a name derived from a line in one of Vearncombe\u2019s \u201cBlack\u201d songs, \u201cCold Chicken Skin\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This alternate version of Interference has garnered its own very loyal following West Cork and has toured the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Several more band members have come and gone, including Darren McCarthy (upright bass), Gareth Hughes, Gareth Forsyth and Paul Griffin (guitars), Karl Penny (drums).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Interference and Dogtail Soup became popular in the\u00a0Czech Republic\u00a0and\u00a0Slovakia\u00a0in the 2000s, following several tours, accompanied by\u00a0Maria Doyle Kennedy,\u00a0Mark Geary,\u00a0Glen Hansard\u00a0and\u00a0Marketa Irglova.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Interference performance on \u201cIrish night\u201d at the\u00a0N\u00e1mest\u00a0Folk Festival is available on a live CD called\u00a0\u201cIrsky Den\u201d.
O\u2019Farrell often said this night in the beautiful Czech Castle was his best night on stage ever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

O\u2019Farrell teamed up with David Bickley and James O\u2019Leary in 2014 forming a new musical collective calling themselves Avian Attak, creating atmospheric electronica. They released two albums,\u00a0\u201cAvian Attak\u201d\u00a0in 2015 and\u00a0\u201cSpinning World\u201d\u00a0in 2019, as well as some EP CD singles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Interference performed infrequently as did Dog Tail Soup throughout the remaining noughties and into the teenies. Work continued on the elusive new album. This was to prove a near decade-long journey. O\u2019Farrell\u2019s health was seriously deteriorating, necessitating long periods of rest. Meanwhile a film project had commenced, when Michael McCormack began filming O\u2019Farrell\u2019s various projects, a process that went on for over ten years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The resulting award-winning documentary tells the story of Interference, from O\u2019Farrell\u2019s schooldays when he met O\u2019Leary and MacClancy first met, through to the final recording sessions with\u00a0Glen Hansard\u00a0and members of\u00a0the Frames.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Entitled\u00a0\u201cBreaking Out\u201d,\u00a0the film was due a cinema release from Element Pictures in 2020\u00a0but was postponed due to Covid-19 restrictions, eventually released in November 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Colin\u00a0lost his life after a car crash in January 2016 as O\u2019Farrell, Hansard and The Frames were recording the last of the album sessions. O\u2019Farrell died only days later on 2 February.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A year after these events, 32 musicians took to the stage in\u00a0Cork Opera House\u00a0to celebrate O\u2019Farrell and his work. During the near 4-hour show, vocal duties were shared by\u00a0Glen Hansard, Camilla Griehsel, Paul Tiernan and Maurice Seezer. The band was joined by\u00a0Liam \u00d3\u2019Maonla\u00ed,\u00a0Mundy, Jerry Fish, Alan Tobin, Ciara O\u2019Driscoll,\u00a0Katell Keineg, Joe O\u2019Leary, Gavin Harte, Maurice Culligan, Sara Caccamo, Noreen O\u2019Donnell and Mick O\u2019Callaghan, James O\u2019Leary, John Fitzgerald, Anto Noonan, Cal McCarthy, Bertrand Galen, Marja Gaynor, Colm McCaughey, Darren McCarthy, Jerry Fehily,\u00a0Graham Hopkins, Justin Healy, Herbie Macken, Jack O\u2019Rourke and Niall O\u2019Driscoll.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many other Interference collaborators sat in the audience. There was a repeat performance in\u00a0Vicar Street, Dublin, a couple of days later, both shows completely selling out. The shows were organized by Interference archivist Marc McDonald and compered by\u00a0King. To coincide with these performances, the second Interference album,\u00a0\u201cThe Sweet Spot\u201d, produced by Dan Dan Fitzgerald, was released on February 2, 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The band continued to perform with\u00a0Glen Hansard\u00a0on lead vocals, selling out every show they\u2019ve played both in Ireland and abroad.\u00a0Shows included 2017\u2019s\u00a0Electric Picnic\u00a0and the 2018 Clonakilty Guitar Festival, following which the band returned to the Czech Republic to headline across a series of Festivals over ten days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2018 Interference were awarded an honorary patronage to the\u00a0Trinity College Dublin\u00a0Musical Society in honor of their contribution to Irish Music.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I hope you enjoyed this feature as much as I have put it together to give you a little inside on the talented musician Fergus O\u2019Farrell and his band Interference <\/p>\n

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