I was born in Ireland in 1976 and moved to Melbourne Australia in 2011. Until then the path in life was writing, recording, touring a succession of albums, six in total, mainly funded by the exhibition and sale of my art. In Australia I became a Dad, studied, graduated, and worked as a graphic designer for a number of years.
With the pull back to music forever gnawing, I packed in design, moved to the hills, and crowdfunded the means to record and release my 7th album 'Wolf Counsel'(2015). While immensely proud of that body of work, the fact remained, my own music had reached comedic levels of financial return.
Although the dizzying heights of cleaning a school had sustained the basics of living through the making of 'Wolf Counsel', I needed to keep singing while making a living and the obvious answer to both was cover gigs.
"Though he went on to simultaneously..."
APOLOGIES!!! I momentarily slipped into a past life of third-person chest beating in an attempt to get that festival, radio slot etc. across the line...YAWN...Shudder me timbers!.
I also lived in South-West Victoria for a spell, selling my art at the markets in Port Fairy and the coastal surrounds while continuing to gig the bars. A push back to Melbourne came in various forms but a successful job interview to milk buffalo coincided with the offer of a residency gig in the city, meaning " the stroking of buffalo udders was never meant to be for Roesy - The Irish Times."
Fast forward too many 'Khe Sanh' requests to mention, I quit the pub-gigs, worked behind the bar, studied to be a disabilty worker and drove Uber.
As a farewell to that chapter in life, I recorded a bunch of Irish ballads which I'd made my own and released 'The Day Before The Fair' (2018), recorded in both Australia and Ireland.
The album features some of my favorite musicians from back home including, Donogh Hennessy who produced the album into one of my favorites to date. When the alienation of homesickness hits like a tonne of bricks, these songs from my youth take me home and singing them makes geography irrelevant.
Living in Melbourne back then was at the back of a movie prosthetics studio in a caravan, which became a piece of art in itself. I had a studio space separate which I spent most of my time in between Uber alerts. A fare could take me out locally for a short run or all over the city and surrounds. In a lottery of location and time I'd often merge into the 5am airport run, sleep it off, wash, rinse, and repeat. Some of those 1000+ trips are like short movies in my head, vast ranging the gammit of human being and beast.
In the same week I completed my placement at an aged care facility, both the art studios where I lived and the pub where I worked sold. The Pub's owner was to manage a kitchen in a small country town two hours North of Melbourne.
"When you ain't got nothing, you got nothing to lose" whispered Bob and I asked if they needed a barman. "Tell me how does it feeeeeeeel"
With suburban life well and truly tested to a remarkable level of depression, each and every-time, myself and my daughter spent a number of days and nights exploring what is now a happy home in the countryside.
I worked as a barman initially, transitioned into Care Work for an agency until January 2019 when I set up my own business 'Rogha' as an Independent Support Provider.
I built a home recording studio during 2020 lockdown doubling as a space to offer a music service to my existing clients which has now grown to capacity. I'm not trained as an art or music therapist, nor do I ever promote myself to be. I am back at the beginning of my own journey, using creative exploration in spontaneous and exciting ways to communicate and connect with another.
In the online space I've released 'The Gold of Solstice June' and every Tuesday @ 8PM AEDT I'm live streaming from my Twich Channel
I think that gives a good scope of where the boat has drifted this past decade,
Welcome/Welcome Back