Everyone in my family plays music, and it was just a fact of our family that everyone started to learn an instrument at some point. Family gatherings are music sessions, and we used to get songs at bedtime instead of bedtime stories. I started playing piano when Iw as about 5 or 6 I guess – I remember hearing my sister practicing and deciding that I wanted to learn to play as well.
Why do you do it, now?
Because it’s how I express myself best. Music is my second language more than any spoken language could be. Sometimes I’m tempted to say that piano is my first language. I didn’t really start writing songs in a major way until my mid twenties, but I’ve always been involved in music performing, writing, arranging, and directing in some way or other since I was a teenager. It’s hard to escape the melodies in my head, so singing or playing them seems to work.
What were some of your early influences and what inspires you today?
I don’t think I developed my own taste in music until my early teens, and I got into the music of people like Alanis Morissette and Roxette, which were like my gateway into popular music after being so focused on classical and musicals with my piano studies. But shortly afterwards I discovered Tori Amos, Nina Simone, Kate Bush and Joni Mitchell, and those were my biggest influences in various ways when I was young.
What was the last song you listened to (disc in the car or what-not)?
Steve Reich’s “Different Trains: 3: After The War” was playing in my car as I was driving home. But I plugged in my headphones to type this up and my friend Annika Hammer has come on singing her cover of “Off And Running”. She’s phenomenal. I’m very lucky to have friends who are musicians as well, and a lot of the music I listen to is the music my friends make.
How did you connect with Artists in the Plus and what attracted you to working with them?
The first people I circled on Google+ were all musicians, and through some of those pages I saw AITP and it seemed like an interesting way to get involved in multi-artist hangout concerts.
Last year’s festival was a huge success and changed a lot of things about music on the net. Were you a part of that?
I was indeed. It was quite an interesting experience, and pretty brilliant to be involved and playing to people around the world from here in the west of Ireland.
What would you like to see as a result of the festival, this year?
I’d like to see a strongest European audience develop for hangout concerts.
Have you been using services like Hangouts On Air, U-Stream, Street-Jelly, or others to perform live via video on line? What kind of reaction are you getting?
I’ve been using Hangouts a little bit over the last year or so. I think europe-friendly time slots are the trickiest thing, as it seems that North America in particular got on board with hangout concerts a little quicker than European audiences, but it seems to be balancing out a little more. For me, I find it difficult to have the space to do a hangout concert from, and only very recently sorted out the messy audio setup I’d had, so I’m hoping to try more hangout concerts more often now.
Village Studios in LA will be hosting the festival, this year and there will be a studio stage in North Carolina and another in Norway. Will you be travelling or performing remote from your own studio?
I’ll be playing from my home. I’m toying with the idea of building a blanket fort to perform from so I’m nice and cosy for the festival. We’ll see how it goes.
If you could ask one performer to join you on a record, who would it be?
Sinéad O’Connor – as some of her collaborations and vocal contributions to other acts over the years have been so strong. She brings something really special to anything she lends her voice to.
What one thing would you change about this world, if you could?
Someone needs to hurry up and invent teleporation so it’s easier for me to visit my friends around the world.
Where can we find you and your music?
All sorts of places, but they’re all linked to from my website, so use that as a base: http://www.misterebby.com/ You’ll see links on there to places to buy or stream my music, as well as to social networks where you can interact with me and follow what I get up to.
In closing, is there anything you would like to add or anyone you would like to shout-out to?
Just a shout out to anyone who has been in a hangout concert with me before now – it’s always a pleasure, and I hope to see your lovely faces in a hangout again soon!
Eamon Brett / mister ebby
http://www.misterebby.com/
@misterebby
