You don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s John

There’s a wonderful energy about John Spillane that I can’t quite put my finger on – a kind of hyper-romantic urgency that radiates from his being at all times. The man is Ireland in the flesh and Cork to the bone.

He’s in Passage West when I call him on WhatsApp and I’m worried he won’t answer because in my mind, the world of smartphones and 4G is a million light-years from the mythological realms that John inhabits.

But he does answer and I can immediately tell he’s in flying form. John has a new album out tomorrow (Friday) called ‘100 Snow White Horses’, the “crop” of five years of songwriting and recording.

The 11 track album was recorded in London between 2018 and 2020 with renowned producer John Reynolds and Dingle singer and close friend Pauline Scanlon. It’s the fourth collaboration between the trio and the first in close to ten years.

“It’s good to go to London to record an album because it does feel liberating to be outside of Ireland when you're chronicling Ireland,” says John.

It’s easy to tell John’s proud of his latest record, and so he should be considering it has already received a 9/10 rating in Hotpress magazine.

“We say we don't care about reviews, but deep down we do. It’s a big album. We came back after ten years of a gap and we are painting this, our masterpiece,” he declares.

This statement naturally prompts me to ask him where he can go from creating a masterpiece, to which he responds: “Another masterpiece!”

A strong theme of Irish mythology and place runs throughout ‘100 Snow White Horses’ with the title track painting a mental image of a mythical event based on a classic traditional air called ‘The March of the Kings of Laois’.

“I was the doing Irish language songs with primary school kids in Laois and I wrote the song for them,” explains John.

“The song is very long and specific to Laois. I wouldn't have put that song on the record myself because it was so long and historical but my producer loved it. The odder stuff that I write is the stuff he prefers. That gave me the opportunity to use it as an album title.”

Since leaving his job at Bank of Ireland when he was 20, the two-time Meteor award winner for Best Folk/Trad act has devoted himself entirely to his art and to his journey, something he fondly calls his “long, slow crawl to glory”.

“There were certain magical moments along the way. I suppose the first time that Christy Moore recorded one of my songs was a big moment. Selling out the Cork Opera House was another one. A lot of those moments come much later in life.”

Like so many fellow musicians, John’s diary was wiped clean with the arrival of Covid-19 when he found himself unable to do the thing he loves the most.

However, lately he’s had plenty to keep him busy between the promotion of the new record and the occasional online performance.

“There was an initial shock. I had a lot of work that was cancelled. Gigging is my main thing. When I got over the shock, things were good. I had a good year. It was a great break for me and I had the record on its way so that was something big to look forward to.”

John will launch his new album ‘100 Snow White Horses’ with an online performance streamed live at 9pm this evening (Thursday) from the iconic DeBarra’s Folk Club in Clonality.

Tickets for the performance are available at johnspillane.ie where the album is also for sale via MusicZone Record Shop.

‘100 Snow White Horses’ is available now to pre-order on CD and vinyl from MusicZone in Cork and Golden Discs nationwide.