Q: You’ve performed all over the world. What is one performance you know you’ll never forget?
ÁINE: I actually think it was the Kinsale Arts Festival, when I was on the main stage and when the gig ended, the audience sang “I’ve had the time of my life” and crowd surfed me all the way across the square.
Q: The concept behind the Duffbox is so cool! Can you tell us more about it? What can audiences expect?
ÁINE: Sure, it was a little donkey box in need of some TLC. I had a notion to convert one and use anything I had left over from the little passive house I am doing for myself. I had restrictions to deal with but found one off a lovely mother and daughter in west cork. Then it developed……. I knew that people wanted live music, I wanted to release my music and things had to be safe. Also venues and promoters and artists need time to plan their bookings, some bookers have had to re schedule acts 3 times already. I can’t wait to get back to the great venues we have and have a lot of empathy and respect for them. So some pop up events , organized none the less, would be a great start. Getting the live music feel and positive impact it has on mental health back.
I’d love other artists to also be able to preform on the Duffbox and hope for collaborations and defiantly Trad sessions!I got the Duffbox as far as I can , and needed a PA system with battery power and able for a good outdoor sound. We can’t work so funds are tight. So I did my first crowd fund on GoFundMe, as I felt it would not only benefit me and raised the money for the PA in just over a week. Thank you to all those whom supported the Duffbox already.
Q: I love the non conformist themes in “I’ll Wear White.” Did a specific event inspire “I’ll Wear White,” or was the inspiration a collection of experiences?
ÁINE: Thank you so much. It’s definitely a collection of many experiences , both mine and the many people I meet on my journeys. A little empathy and kindness is needed in this world.
Q: Do you find a specific relationship between the voice and the guitar?
ÁINE: On a personal level yes, once I am playing a riff my voice comes from a feeling that riff is giving me. The lyrics also come from the feel of the groove and else if I have a lyric idea for a song the guitar rhythm has to match the emotion.
Q:There is so much going on in your world right now. Is there anything in your future that you would be able to share with us?
ÁINE: The future is a strange one for most at the Moment. I have many countries I want to go and preform both again and for the first time and people I want to work with, that I had to put on hold. Before the pandemic, I had played a show in Paris with Philippe Cohan solal of Gotan project and we were planning a collaboration.
Hopefully this will happen. I also had great craic playing in Belgium, Feb 2020, and was meant to be back in November. So traveling and touring for sure.
Besides this, I would really like to see if there is a way I can make awareness of the housing crisis and show there IS a way of sorting it! The small passive house I did during lockdown can show this.
The government can fix it, if they choose empathy and common sense , look the models around the world. With shipping containers, train carriages, timber, cob and even 3D printed villages! If this and bio diversity were high in the list of importance , the whole of Ireland would benefit. So I will most likely be planting native trees and so should everyone else .
Interviewed by Sarah Scott
