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Every Monday we will be bringing you interviews with unsigned UK or Ireland artists for Independent Music Monday. Recently we caught up with unsigned Belfast singer Joe Kenny to find out more…

Who were your musical influences when you were growing up and who are your influences now?
Growing up I was very influenced by Irish Folk music.bands like the Dubliners and Luke Kelly left a huge impression on me. I then grew to love rock and metal. Bands like Metallica and AC/DC. As I’ve got older I now love Folk and listen to a lot of artists like John Martin and Ben Howard. I also think I take a lot from artists like Mark Knopfler, U2 and now more Snow Patrol.

How would you describe your sound?
Folky Pop or Poppy Folk. there’s definitely a strong Blues influence there too. I don’t know. I struggle with this question more than I should.

What is your latest release called and what was the influence behind it?
I’ve just released my second single I’m All At Sea on 6 August. My first single, Chasing A Dream, was out at the start of July. The inspiration behind it was, that feeling of when you seem to always be saying goodbye to someone and there’s stuff left that you never get round to saying or sharing with them. Suppose it’s quite a reflective song but I tried to put a positive spin on the whole thing. A lot of my songs start with an idea or an emotion but doesn’t mean they’re all autobiographical.

What’s your local music scene like?
Belfast has a fantastic live music scene or at least it had before the Covid pandemic. Tourism was really booming and bars and venues couldn’t get enough live music, this meant too that there was ever an expanding original music scene.

What do you have planned for the next 12 months?
I’m totally focused on getting my EP Perfect Fool out in September this year and releasing a couple more singles. I’d really like to put together a few showcase gigs for this new music and work with a small band to bring the songs to the live stage. Ideally I’d like to do a few different venues. A tour might be a bit ambitious to put together this year. I’m just loving having songs that I can promote and approach contacts with. At the very least I want to be able to look back on this year and feel confident I gave this EP my best and to have no regrets about stuff I haven’t done. Oh yes and getting married. My fiancee and I have been trying to get hitched since April 2020 but every time we set a new date, Covid restrictions changed and we’ve had to postpone.

Is there anyone you’d love to collaborate with?
Yeah loads haha! I think recording a song with Little Mix could be fun. I’d love to sing some songs with Damien Dempsey and Paul Brady. And I just love Kate Rusby’s voice. But on a serious note, I’d love to co-write. Writing songs can be a lonely journey and I’d like to bounce ideas off someone else for a change. I used to have a production studio with a friend in Leeds and we made some crazy music – it was great. I really enjoy playing with my other musical outlet Fainne. We play a lot of Irish Trad music and well-known Folk stuff. I just wish there was more time to do more things haha.

Any funny stories surrounding your live performances?
Oh there’s been a few incidents and accidents over the years. I remember one time I was on stage singing away. Lost in the moment. What I didn’t realise was that someone had got up on stage and sat down on the stool beside me. Now I’d arranged all my guitar pedals and fx on that stool and so when I swung my hand over to adjust a setting, I was alarmed to find a human leg where my tape delay pedal had been. It gave me a bit of a start and completely ruined my big finish haha. Another time, I’d been booked to play in a bar in Leeds. It was a 3pm start I think it was. I first thought something was up when I arrived at the gig to find the place empty but looking as if somebody had been partying to the early morning. But I got chatting to the bar staff and so off I went. I should’ve known something was a bit odd when they told me to keep it down. But I started up and was just launching in to the first big chorus when this fella pops up from the booth beside me and he’s incandescent with rage and tells me to shut the fuck up. He’s trying to get some fucking sleep. It was the pub landlord and they’d obviously been having a lock-in and I’d just disturbed his beauty sleep.

What is the one thing that you want readers to know about you?
I play the guitar the wrong way round… Why? Because I’m as blind as it gets and no-one told me I was doing it wrong for years after I started playing and by the time I found out, I just couldn’t face relearning to play.

You can find out more about Joe on his website or via Bandcamp, Facebook, Instagram, SoundCloud, Spotify, TikTok, Twitter or YouTube.