Dermot Kennedy | This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von

Dermot Kennedy's Music and Career

• Dermot Kennedy has upcoming tour dates in Colorado Springs, Casper, Billings, and Missoula. (8s)
• Dermot Kennedy played a show at the Bluebird Cafe in Nashville, Tennessee. (2m44s)
• Dermot Kennedy finds the most exciting part of making music is having new material to share. (8m20s)
• Dermot Kennedy's songs often blend lyrics about a variety of experiences, including both positive and negative ones, but he strives to convey an overall message of hopefulness in his music. (17m59s)
• Dermot Kennedy writes songs from the perspective of family members and friends, acting as a "mouthpiece" for their shared feelings and emotions. (21m13s)
• The speaker describes himself as a solitary figure in the music industry, content with working alone and avoiding collaborations. (31m4s)
• The speaker recounts a performance with Zac Brown Band where he joined them onstage for a song but then felt awkward standing onstage after his part was finished. (32m45s)
• The speaker describes his journey into music, starting with singing in the car as a child and later performing at open mics in Dublin. (34m26s)
• Dermot Kennedy has been pursuing music since he was 19 years old. (35m23s)
• Dermot Kennedy's show included a poet named Joshua De Shooter who tailored his poetry to fit around the songs. (45m26s)
• Dermot Kennedy found Joshua De Shooter on Instagram after seeing a poem about two people who come up out of their graves in a cemetery every night. (45m45s)
• Dermot Kennedy strives to perform and create music without overthinking or self-analyzing. (56m10s)
• Dermot Kennedy has written 25-30 songs for his new album but finds it challenging to decide when an album is finished and struggles with overanalyzing his music. (1h23m57s)
• There are six people on stage during Dermot Kennedy's concerts, two of whom are Irish. The rest of the band is from Australia, Switzerland, and the UK. (1h29m22s)
• Dermot Kennedy enjoys when solo artists incorporate their bands into their shows and views it as unusual when they are not meaningfully included. (1h30m16s)
• Dermot Kennedy likes to write music and be in the studio daily; however, he finds it tiring and likes to relax in the forest with his dog. (1h32m14s)

Irish Culture and Identity

• Drinking milk straight from a cow felt illicit. (11m5s)
• Irish people are very supportive of Irish talent and quick to celebrate their own. (13m54s)
• Irish Olympic athletes are very humble, downplaying their achievements in interviews. (12m51s)
• There is a podcast called West Cork that covers a real murder in Cork, Ireland. (24m48s)
• The Giant's Causeway in Ireland is said to have been built by an Irish giant named Finn Mol so that he could cross the Irish Sea and fight a Scottish giant named Benandonner. (51m57s)
• Wayne Parks is a successful road bowler who has earned €13,800. (59m25s)
• Tom Salman is a strongman who participates in stone lifting competitions. (1h1m1s)
• Páraic Flood is a road bowler who won €50,000 in a competition in County Cork. (1h2m50s)
• Irish people value their small communities and use gatherings, including music events, to connect with each other. (1h19m54s)
• Irish names can be difficult to spell, with examples like Saoirse, Tadhg, and Caoilfhionn. (1h21m25s)

Personal Experiences and Relationships

• Dermot Kennedy used to feel more confident and a little arrogant when playing for audiences who didn't know his music. (6m10s)
• Dermot Kennedy splits the management of his social media with his producers. (9m2s)
• Dermot Kennedy found socializing, particularly with girls, difficult during his school years, describing himself as quiet and awkward. (22m16s)
• Dermot Kennedy deliberately avoided social interaction in school, carrying all his books to avoid going to his locker. (22m6s)
• A friend of Dermot Kennedy passed away. While laying in the friend's living room the day after, Kennedy felt the presence of his friend. (50m56s)
• Dermot Kennedy played football as a child but realized he wasn't good enough to pursue it professionally. (57m36s)
• Dermot Kennedy is in a relationship but prefers not to discuss it publicly, as he sees it as separate from his career. (1h14m46s)
• Dermot Kennedy has a dog named Tom, whom he considers emotional support and plans to take on planes. (1h17m18s)
• Dermot Kennedy and his girlfriend grew up in the same area and have a relationship akin to high school sweethearts. (1h30m42s)

Societal Observations and Issues

• Dermot Kennedy believes there are issues in Ireland with men, particularly, not being open about their emotions. (4m54s)
• Cameras and the ability to view images of people on demand have reduced the role of imagination in attraction. (15m51s)
• Dermot Kennedy believes his imagination is his livelihood and that it is important to be mindful of what influences it. (16m23s)
• People who were left-handed were forced to write with their right hands, even as late as the 1900s. (1h5m34s)
• The term "refrigerator mother" was coined in the 1940s by Leo Kanner to describe mothers whose cold parenting was believed to cause autism in their children. (1h5m49s)
• Valor Recovery, founded by Stephen Walt, is a program that helps men overcome pornography addiction and sexual compulsivity. (1h8m41s)

Music and Artists

• J. Cole is a musical influence. (30m35s)
• Theo Von believes most people who reach a certain level of success in their field have put in significant time and effort. (35m32s)
• Theo Von believes the arts chose him as a career path. (37m58s)
• It is suggested that artists should focus on developing their unique style instead of imitating the styles of successful artists like Louis Capaldi, Noah Kahan, and Zach Bryan. (40m18s)
• Authenticity in music is valued, as seen in the popularity of Zach Bryan's raw and unpolished recordings. (41m2s)
• Musicians face the challenge of evolving their music while staying true to themselves and keeping their audience engaged as they mature. (41m31s)
• The speaker met Bono from U2 at the MTV Music Awards. (1h11m15s)
• The speaker plans to listen to the band Thin Lizzy. (1h12m29s)
• Morgan Wallen has released an album with 37 songs. (1h25m32s)
• Matt McCusker had a tour where he played a couple of shows every weekend. (1h29m1s)

Other

• The BTK serial killer was an electrician and ran his community church in Witchita, Kansas. (25m42s)
• A man met someone on a plane who was going to play with Dermot Kennedy. (44m49s)
• A family in America attempted to increase business at their motel by creating a haunted attraction. They made alterations to the electrical wiring for effects and had someone dressed as a ghost walk across the hallway between rooms. The plan was eventually discovered by police, and the person playing the ghost was apprehended while driving home still wearing their costume. (50m43s)
• Dermot Kennedy believes people in Nashville are more supportive of musicians and their craft. (54m21s)
• Theo Von expresses a desire to get married but acknowledges the difficulty of relationships, particularly in his line of work, which often involves travel and can make trust and commitment challenging. (1h15m20s)