Irish singer-songwriter, Dermot Kennedy, joins the show! What festival does Kennedy have coming up?
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00:00I went up to get, uh, Neveah the dog.
00:02Yes.
00:02You ran into somebody, celebrity-wise, that you are- is one of your favorite celebrities in the- on the planet.
00:11Yeah, I saw them perform last year, two years ago, um, and they're coming back to perform again.
00:17Alright.
00:17Um, so I asked if they would come on.
00:19They happen to be in the building.
00:20Yes.
00:21Doing another radio show.
00:22Yes.
00:22Okay.
00:23It's Wayne Newton.
00:24Let's bring- let's bring the person in.
00:26Alright, let's go, person!
00:27Uh, male or female.
00:29Okay.
00:30It is a- it is a male.
00:32What's up?
00:32Alright, how you doing?
00:33How are you?
00:34Got a nice, swagged-out hoodie.
00:35Ah!
00:36Okay, Courtney, tell everybody who you have brought into the- into the show this morning.
00:40Dermot Kennedy, who is- if you don't know him, you gotta get to know him.
00:45I saw you perform at MGM Fenway.
00:48That was- I think that might have been two years ago now, um, but you're coming back-
00:52What is it now, twenty-four?
00:53Yeah.
00:53Yeah.
00:54Maybe last May or June, yeah.
00:55Yeah.
00:56Yeah.
00:56And it was an awesome concert, but you have, like, a love connection with Boston.
01:02Definitely, yeah.
01:02I was here when I was nineteen, which is a long time ago.
01:05Uh, we- I spent the summer here and I spent, you know, like, I- I- I had intentions of getting a job
01:09and then I ended up playing in the street in Newbury and all that kind of stuff.
01:12Yeah.
01:12It was just a lovely-
01:13I- I- I read that- that you used to just play randomly on the street on Newbury Street.
01:18Yeah, it was the best.
01:19And it was a lovely, like, musical education.
01:21Busking.
01:21Yeah, it was the best.
01:22Yeah.
01:22People are so nice, though.
01:23And everyone had cash.
01:25Well, and you do a cool thing.
01:26Like, last night, I was talking about dating show Mary.
01:29It's her birthday.
01:30And Mary Offering is your biggest fan of all time.
01:33She's traveled to see you everywhere.
01:35And she was late for her birthday dinner and she said,
01:37it's for a good reason, I'll tell you when I get there.
01:39And you go and leave tickets.
01:40You're gonna be back here in March for a festival that you just announced.
01:43And he'll go and leave tickets around the Common, around his favorite places on Newbury Street or Boston
01:48for fans to be able to go find them.
01:50So she was looking for those.
01:51She didn't find them, but, uh-
01:52Yeah, I don't know.
01:54But it's really-
01:54Maybe not the Common.
01:55Maybe avoid the Common at this point.
01:56Yeah.
01:57Until we get things back to order over there.
01:59Wait, you were at the Bruins game last night?
02:01Last night, yeah, I was.
02:02Courtney brought that up earlier.
02:03Yes.
02:03Um, no hockey in Ireland.
02:05No professional hockey.
02:07I wouldn't even-
02:08Like, it's not a thing, yeah.
02:09Okay.
02:11Do you love the Bruins?
02:12It was good.
02:12I really liked it.
02:13Like, to be honest, like, my sport at home is soccer.
02:16And so in terms of, like, build up and score, it was kind of similar-ish.
02:19Yeah.
02:19You know?
02:20Like, 6'4'' would be high for a football match, obviously.
02:22But I loved it.
02:23It was really good.
02:24Where are you from in Ireland?
02:25From Dublin.
02:25From Dublin.
02:26Yeah.
02:26Okay.
02:27Yeah.
02:27We did a golf tournament over there for Gregg's Foundation a few years ago.
02:30Where'd you play?
02:30Um...
02:32We were down at, uh, we were at a castle.
02:35Kilkenny Castle?
02:36Kilkee Castle.
02:37Oh, nice.
02:38Kilkee Castle.
02:38Um, but we went to Temple Bar area-
02:41Did you?
02:41For a while.
02:42Pines for ten euros and-
02:43Yeah.
02:44I mean, great.
02:45I mean, uh, the one thing about Ireland that is sometimes surprising is the, um, uh, people still smoking an awful lot of cigarettes over there.
02:54Outside, I guess.
02:55Yeah.
02:55Yeah.
02:56Outside.
02:56Temple Bar.
02:57Yes.
02:57Yeah.
02:58And only in the Temple Bar area.
02:59Yeah, yeah, yeah.
02:59Temple Bar area.
03:00Um, so-
03:01I haven't been to Temple Bar in a long time.
03:02Your festival show is-
03:04Is, it's called Mishnach.
03:05It's the Irish word for courage.
03:07We're doing it.
03:08So, the way it's gonna work is, I was in Australia just two days ago, so we're gonna go on the 16th of March, do Australia, and then travel on the 17th, and then here in Boston do a smaller show at Brighton Music Hall on the 18th, and then TD Garden on the 19th.
03:23And we're talking, like, St. Patrick's Day week.
03:25I know.
03:26So, that is going to be very cool to have you here for that.
03:29I hope so.
03:29I'm excited.
03:30Um, emergency top five, from your perspective, greatest Irish artists.
03:35Oh, okay.
03:35Any genre.
03:36Okay.
03:36I was like, hold on, this is gonna-
03:38Um-
03:38Any genre of all time.
03:40In order?
03:41Or just, uh, just five artists?
03:43Yeah, we can put the list together, uh, put it together together.
03:46But you have to have, I'm assuming, you two on there, or maybe not.
03:49I feel- no, definitely, yeah.
03:51I feel like, uh, yeah, okay.
03:53You two, definitely.
03:55I'm gonna throw you a bit of a curveball here.
03:58He's the music guy.
03:59I was like, this is gonna be maybe a little- I'm not- I'm near Boomer, I'm not Boomer.
04:04Yeah.
04:04So this may be a little old head for you.
04:07But Thin Lizzy?
04:08Oh, yeah.
04:09Okay.
04:09So good.
04:10Alright.
04:10It's funny, yeah, the show we did in Sydney was out, like, last year was outside the Opera House.
04:15And it's in the, like, forecourt, beside the Opera House.
04:18Where the statue is?
04:20Because there's a statue-
04:21Of Phil in it?
04:22Yes.
04:23That's in Dublin.
04:23But in Sydney, we did it, and Thin Lizzy had done the same show.
04:26And there was a picture of Phil in it, like, with the Opera House, and it was so good.
04:29That's really cool.
04:29Going to do it, I was like, that's my inspiration for this gig.
04:31Alright, who else you like?
04:32Uh, okay, so you sorted me out for two of them.
04:34Thin Lizzy, you two.
04:35I like Hozier a lot.
04:37Mmm.
04:38Um, and then I'm gonna say Enya, just because it's so cool.
04:41Yeah.
04:41And Sinead O'Connor.
04:42And Sinead O'Connor.
04:43What about Bewitched?
04:44Solid, right?
04:45Bewitched, yeah.
04:46Bewitched followed me recently, yeah.
04:48Really?
04:48Yeah, yeah, yeah.
04:49That's cool.
04:49What about Selio?
04:50I know when I was in Dublin-
04:51Selio?
04:52I was looking for him.
04:53I met Selio last year, yeah.
04:54He's a- he's a pretty cool hip-hop artist out of, um, cause I'm- I like the European hip-hop,
05:00cause I was kind of looking.
05:02So you in- is that like part of your genre, hip-hop?
05:05I guess, like, it's all I listen to, but I gotta be careful, you know?
05:09Like, I'm not trying to pretend to make rap music.
05:12Okay.
05:12But I do- I love it so much.
05:14So when I play it, like, it influences me in a singer-songwriter type way.
05:18But I'm just a fan, yeah.
05:19Like, Selio's brilliant.
05:20I met him last year, and he kind of gave me an education on Irish hip-hop.
05:23I need to learn.
05:24So who-
05:24One- one glaring omission on the list.
05:27Yeah, but he only gave me five.
05:28I know.
05:30But how is Van Morrison not on your list?
05:33Yeah, I know.
05:34Huh?
05:35Too old?
05:36Not too old, no.
05:37He's brilliant.
05:38He's brilliant.
05:38It's a good list.
05:39It's a nice genre.
05:39It's tough.
05:40I need top six.
05:41It's tough, okay.
05:42Sorry.
05:42So you said hip-hop's a big influence.
05:44Definitely.
05:45Who are some of the hip-hop artists that influenced you?
05:47I know Greg went top five Irish.
05:49I guess you could go top five hip-hop artists.
05:51No, Greg got to make a list.
05:53We got in quite late last night, and J. Cole dropped that new song.
05:57Okay.
05:58Port Antonio.
05:58Oh, man.
05:59I listened to it, like, 20 times last night.
06:01Who am I a fan of?
06:02J. Cole.
06:05I mean, I don't want to be too overly mainstream.
06:08I like Joey Badass a lot.
06:09Okay.
06:10I like him.
06:11Yeah.
06:11I loved it.
06:12My wife loves him in Power.
06:14He's in the TV show.
06:16Oh, yeah.
06:17Yeah.
06:17But Joey Badass, he's from Brooklyn.
06:19Yes.
06:19We did a cover a few years ago on the radio of a Joey Badass song,
06:22Temptations, and he reposted it.
06:24It was one of the coolest moments of my career.
06:26Who else?
06:27I like Meek Mill.
06:28I feel like I'm going to discredit myself.
06:29No, you're good.
06:30No, that's good.
06:30You're good.
06:31You're great.
06:31Rob Fortnight, you got to check him out.
06:32Really?
06:33Yeah, Rob Fortnight.
06:34He's a New Orleans artist.
06:35Everybody's on Boss Man D-Lo.
06:37Do you know La Russell?
06:38No, I don't.
06:39He's from Vallejo.
06:41And someone showed him to me a couple of years ago.
06:43He had a few thousand followers, and now he's millions or whatever.
06:47But he's incredible.
06:48He's extremely independent.
06:50He does shows in his backyard, and people can apply, and you can pay
06:53$1 or $200, whatever.
06:55He's unbelievable.
06:56It seems like it's a lot of the non-mainstream hip-hop artists that
06:59kind of influence you.
07:01I would say so, yeah.
07:03I think I'm very inspired by hip-hop in the sense that I think if you
07:07do what I do, play guitar and write songs and stuff, there's certain
07:10things you feel like you have to do, whereas in hip-hop it feels like
07:12there's less rules maybe, you know?
07:14Boston being your second favorite city.
07:16Yes, indeed.
07:17What are things that you have to do when you come here?
07:21Raising canes.
07:22Oh, raising canes.
07:23Oh, wow.
07:24I know it's not even necessarily a Boston.
07:25Yeah, yeah.
07:26When I was younger, we stayed out in Alston, and so it's up there on
07:29Commonwealth Ave.
07:30It's right there, so that was a thing.
07:32I always go back to the park because that's where I used to play.
07:36Yeah, like a lot of my memories are from Alston because we were on
07:41Gardner Street, and is it Agonis Arena?
07:45Yeah, Agonis.
07:47Agonis was at the end of the street, and we would always go out through
07:51the hockey rink to the soccer pitch out the back, and we were there
07:54all the time.
07:55That's the worst hockey rink ever.
07:56Is it really?
07:57Yeah, B.U., terrible.
07:58It's a venue, right?
07:59I want to play there.
08:00Yeah, it is.
08:01Who's your soccer team?
08:02Mine and I did.
08:03Yeah.
08:04Oh, it's tough times for them?
08:05Terrible, yeah.
08:06You pick some bars to go to every time you're here, too.
08:08Yeah, we were in Emmett's last night until, oh, I don't know.
08:11Before?
08:12In and around.
08:13In and around there.
08:15Who's your dream collab?
08:17J. Cole.
08:18J. Cole?
08:19Wow, okay.
08:20Yeah, because if I do covers of Bon Iver or Ben Howard or Van Morrison
08:24and stuff, it's fine, but they do that perfectly, so why should I do it?
08:28I would rather do something that's a bit different.
08:31Oh, okay.
08:32So cool.
08:33You made Courtney's ear.
08:34Yeah, you did.
08:35She is a huge fan.
08:36I'm very excited for March.
08:37I'm glad you opened the door because we were stuck in the car park.
08:39Do you want to adopt a dog?
08:41I do.
08:42I genuinely do.
08:43Or a bagel.
08:44We were with that dog for like 20 minutes.
08:45Seriously.
08:46All right.
08:47Curtis thought you were the bagel guy.
08:48I know.
08:49I'm sorry.
08:50Yeah, Curtis thought you were delivering bagels.
08:52The bagel saved it, yeah.
08:53Curtis hears a foreign accent and he assumes a lot of things.
08:56He's going to kill you.
09:02All right.
09:03Listen, awesome to meet you.
09:04Thanks for coming down.
09:05Not at all.
09:06We'll come see you when St. Patrick's Day.
09:09See how you're feeling.
09:10Yes.
09:11And you know what?
09:12While you're here, have you ever seen the Dropkick Murphys?
09:13No, I never have.
09:14I know they're doing like four nights in a row.
09:15Yeah, so you guys will have to trade shows back and forth.
09:18Yes, I would say so, yeah.
09:19All right.
09:20Awesome.
09:22Thank you very much.
09:23All right.
09:24Awesome.
09:25Appreciate it, guys.
09:26We got to get to Nick Costos and oh, what?
09:27He's not quite ready yet.
09:28He hasn't checked in yet.
09:29He should be here any moment though.
09:30Well, that gives us more time to chat.
09:31There you go.
09:32Yeah.
09:33Where do you fall on Taylor Swift?
09:34I think she's great.
09:36What do you mean?
09:37Is it like a-
09:38No, I'm a Taylor Swift.
09:39I'm going to see her next weekend in Miami, but I get made fun of on this show all the
09:43time that she's not talented.
09:44She doesn't write her own songs.
09:45I try to tell them all the time that that's not the case, but-
09:48But can you see-
09:50You have no clue, guys.
09:52I think he looks differently.
09:55He's looking at a musician versus an entertainer or an artist, right?
10:00Because listen, when you bring up J. Cole, J. Cole is like a real MC.
10:04Yes.
10:05And from seeing you perform live, yours is just solely talent.
10:10You're up there and it's really stripped down and that's very impressive.
10:14He's an artist.
10:15Yes.
10:16It's a very different-
10:17She's an entertainer.
10:18Right.
10:19But you're an entertainer as well.
10:20It's just a very different-
10:22He plays instruments and he sings.
10:24Yes.
10:25So does she.
10:26Yes.
10:27No, she's brilliant.
10:28Of course she's brilliant.
10:29Yeah.
10:30But also, who am I to say she might be a robot?
10:31Say whether she's good or not.
10:32Oh my gosh.
10:33Well, right now we have the issue because she's in the football world.
10:35No, no, no.
10:36I'm joking.
10:37Let's settle-
10:38I don't want to get you in trouble.
10:39You won't.
10:40You won't.
10:41It's all good.
10:42Like music industry royalty.
10:43Right.
10:44I don't want to get you in trouble.
10:45Let's settle our discussion.
10:46Top five MCs, rappers.
10:49You got Eminem in your top five?
10:53In my personal top five, like-
10:55Your personal top five.
10:56Music that I would listen to?
10:57Your personal top-
10:58No.
11:00But it doesn't mean I don't think he's top five.
11:03It's just-
11:04No.
11:05Like if I leave here, I won't go listen to him.
11:06I have him like top seven and he gets all upset because he has him number one on the list.
11:12And I just think of-
11:13He's a great-
11:14I love his new album.
11:15I ain't going to-
11:16The Death of Slim Shady is a good one.
11:18The song for his daughter is really, really nice.
11:20Yeah.
11:21But I just like, I think that like, you know, so when I look at my top five, I don't have
11:25him in there, but he says I know nothing about hip hop.
11:27Do you like UK hip hop?
11:28I do.
11:29I like Central Sea.
11:30He's good.
11:31Yeah.
11:32I like Central Sea.
11:33What's the other kid?
11:34The Stormzy.
11:35Is it Dave?
11:36Dave is the best.
11:37Yeah.
11:38Dave is, I like him.
11:39So yeah.
11:40Yeah.
11:41I'm into the big Because of Top Boy.
11:42We had a bad experience in Dublin.
11:43Oof.
11:44I knew you were going to go there.
11:45Did I?
11:46I thought it was great.
11:47I loved it.
11:48You were complaining.
11:49You were not allowed into a certain place.
11:50Oh, yes.
11:51That I could say I did have a-
11:52He was not allowed into-
11:53Very disappointed.
11:54Not allowed into a strip joint in Dublin.
11:55He was very upset about it.
11:56I was allowed in, but my wife wasn't allowed in.
11:57Oh, that's what it was.
11:58Yes.
11:59They don't let women in strip clubs.
12:00I'm like, where the hell am I?
12:01Dublin?
12:02I don't know.
12:03Yeah.
12:04Yeah.
12:05I don't need as much of a scene.
12:06Yeah.
12:07It wasn't much anymore.
12:08I would say not much.
12:09Yeah.
12:10He found the one.
12:11Yeah.
12:12We were just trying to look for, see what it was like.
12:13I had never been to Europe.
12:14Yes.
12:15And I wanted to see what their vibe was like.
12:17Yeah.
12:18No magic city.
12:19I'll tell you that.
12:20All right.
12:21Well, listen, thank you so much.
12:22Thank you very much.
12:23Yes.
12:24We appreciate it.
12:25I appreciate it.
12:26Thank you, guys.
12:27Hopefully we didn't do any damage to your reputation by being on this show.