This afternoon we had the chance to chat with Ryan O’Shaugnessy from Dublin, Ireland. He’ll be playing Canadian Music Week‘s Music From Ireland Official Showcase as well as a couple of other gigs during the festival. A finalist on Britain’s Got Talent, Ryan’s genre is listed as “Acoustic, Blues, Singer-Songwriter”.

Thanks to Ryan for taking the time to talk with us.

T: How was the trip over?

R: It was long enough, it was a seven hour journey. I didn’t really know how long it would take. I thought it would be like four hours or something like that, but we had some inflight entertainment, so that was ok.

T: Movies?

R: Yeah, there were a couple of movies. I actually watched “Mr. Turner”, it’s about William Turner, the artist. I watched that movie and I watched “Exodus” as well but I was getting off the flight at the end of it, so I missed the ending.

T: You’ll have to catch the end of it some other time.

R: Yeah, it was ok. I’m glad to be here. I got to see my brother who I haven’t seen in two years.

T: Did you travel over alone?

R: Well, my mother’s coming over as well around the same time. You see, my brother just had a child with his girlfriend. So my mom wanted to come over and visit and it was working out good timing with me and Canadian Music Week, so the two of us flew over together.

T: Amazing. How’d you get involved with the Music From Ireland Official Showcase?

R: Basically a family friend got in touch, who’d actually heard of me online and said there were a few opportunities for Canadian Music Week and it all just kinda came together. It clicked nicely.

T: I see you have three different sets during the festival. The set at The Supermarket, which is not the Ireland Showcase, do you know how they put together the band list?

R: I don’t really know to be honest. I know that Ben, who organized the Showcases, he got on to me and said there were a few different opportunities and all I have to do is bring my guitar and myself, and show up and play.

T: That sounds pretty easy. I was doing a little bit of research, and I was looking at the bands in the Music from Ireland Showcase and everyone is from Dublin. Clearly Ireland’s a big place, I was wondering does everyone go to Dublin for exposure?

R: The thing about Ireland is, it’s such a small place, and Dublin is the hub for music. There’ve been so many great acts coming out of Dublin. All the way from Glen Hunter, U2, there’s been so many people, Damien Rice. Yeah it’s like a magical hub for music. There’s some great venues and great promoters. There’s always something on every night of the week.

T: So it’s like for people in Ontario, Toronto’s really the place to be.

R: Yeah, so I hear. I’ve only been here two or three days now. I’m still getting to know everything. I think I brought the weather with me because it was nice when I was leaving Ireland and now it’s raining.

T: Good because I’m not there right now. I’m in Bermuda but I’m heading home tomorrow and I’m hoping that it’s nice and sunny when I get there.

R: Yeah well I hope it stays like this, because it’s beautiful today.

photo credit @bsphotographyls (instagram)

T: I’m going to switch channels and talk about social media. You seem to have a nice presence on social media and I was wondering, are you directly involved or do you have someone running it for you?

R: Well I used to have someone running for me but I just find it much easier to run it myself. It’s a lot more personal than having someone who’s paid to do it all for you.

T: Well it’s a lot more spontaneous when it’s coming from you.

R: Exactly and it makes people feel like they’ve got more of a connection with you.

T: I wanted to ask about your Twitter header picture, I was hoping that would be your answer. What can you tell me about the floating leaf photo.

R: Oh yeah, my friend, Christian Tierney. He’s only 18 years old but he’s getting really good. He does acoustic videos for his YouTube channel and we shot a video one day and that was just a little snap from it. It was another spontaneous photograph.

T: I really liked it, it was really cool. What can we expect from your performances?

R: I’ll just be playing acoustic guitar, keeping it as natural as I can, which I’ve always tried to do. My sound is kind of old school mixed in with a little bit of soul. So yeah, I just hope people keep their ears open and enjoy it.

T: Can you tell me what’s coming up in the future?

R: I’m not really sure. I just take every day as it comes. I’m happy to be here to see my brother and his family, and I’m over the moon to be playing three gigs this week. I’m just taking it as it comes.

T: Wrapping things up, I have to ask, are you planning to go back to acting?

R: A lot of people ask me that but I kinda did it for nine years. By the time I left the role I played as an actor, I’d been doing it for half of my life. So at the moment I’m not really thinking about acting. At the moment I’m just writing music and playing music and that’s what I love at the moment but you never know what tomorrow might bring.

T: Right, never say no to an opportunity.

R: That’s it. I never have.

T: It was lovely chatting with you, hopefully I get to meet you on Saturday. Have a wonderful show and good luck.

R: Thanks Trish, I’m looking forward to it.

Ryan is playing three sets starting tonight at The Supermarket at 9:00pm, followed by the Music From Ireland Official Showcase Thursday 8:00pm at The Rivoli and a final set Saturday at The Dakota Tavern another 9:00PM start. Go check him out!

You can find Ryan here:

Twitter: @Ryan_Acoustic
Facebook: MrRyanAcoustic
YouTube: MrRyanAcoustic
Instgram: Ryan_Acoustic

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Trish Cassling

Writer/Photographer/Editor

Toronto Music Blogger