By David Hennessy
Irish Creative Collective are set to mark their third birthday with a celebration this week at the London Irish Centre in Camden.
Three years ago founder Joe O’Neill hosted the London-based networking group’s first event at Maddens bar in East Finchley, it was only a small group but since then the collective has gone from strength to strength.
This paper has often featured people and work that has come from the collective.
The upcoming birthday celebration, on Friday 25 April, will be hosted by Mark T Cox and feature performances from singer- songwriters Blánid, Mark Caplice and Gareth Freiheit as well as a special performance for the Irish Creative Collective All Star Band, a one time only super group of Irish Singer-Songwriters based in London, that will be performing a mix of covers and originals.
We chatted to founder, organiser or as he’s affectionately known ‘cult leader’ the writer/ director/ comedian Joe O’Neill (35) from Naas in Kildare to look ahead to the group’s big milestone.
Can you believe it’s been three years?
“Yeah, it is kind of wild that it’s gone the way it has gone because when we met up for the first time in Maddens pub in East Finchley, there was 10 of us and six of the people out of the 10 were performing on the night and were mates were mine.
“And then to go from that to us having our third birthday party…
“Last month we had our own stage in Trafalgar Square as part of the Paddy’s Day festival, and we’ve had events in the Irish embassy.
“We’ve had big events in the Cultural Centre, in the Irish centre.
“We’ve had influential people of Irish extract and first generation born Irish as well who have come over and performed for us.
“It’s absolutely wild.
“Also, I’ve made the best friends I’ve ever had in my entire life and met some of the most wonderful people.
“For me that is probably the biggest part of it really but it’s just crazy.
“In the most positive way, it feels like it’s been 10 years, even longer.”
You’re in London four years and the group is three years old so you clearly weren’t here long before you identified the need for something like this..
“Well, it was more for me.
“I didn’t know anyone.
“I came over here and I didn’t know anyone.
“I didn’t feel comfortable and I was like, well, ‘If I’m feeling like this, there’s gonna be loads of other people that feel like this’.
“And that turned out to be the case.
“There’s loads of people who have lived in London for years and never get the chance to kind of celebrate where they’re from or the influence they had growing up, so I did it for that reason.
“And then it turned out, I guess accidentally, that there was just a massive gap in the market to use a business term on it of celebrating and showcasing Irish creatives.
“But I know that there’s been a Bulgarian Creative Circle and then there’s been a North American Creative Collective which is set up by North Americans which has been, in some ways, directly inspired from what we’ve been doing, which is great because when you’re abroad, when you’re not at home and you don’t have whatever home comforts you have, there should be a place you can go where you’re like, ‘Oh, I’m with the people who get my references’ at the very least.
“The one thing we have over, let’s say the Bulgarian Creative Circle and the North American Creative Collective, is that there is such, and not just particularly in London, but across the UK, there’s such a strong Irish connection and the roots dig so deep.
“The more you talk to people, the more you realise that basically everyone has got an Irish grandparent, at least one.
“We are so entrenched into the Culture and Society of London and to have places like the London Irish Centre and the Irish Cultural Centre and the Irish Centre in Lewisham and the one in Luton and the one in Wimbledon, it kind of shows that we are everywhere and we have been here forever.
“And because of the great work that has been done by our ancestors that have come here in generations gone by, it makes life a lot easier for people like me who want to come over here and try to give a platform for Irish creatives, because all of the actual hard work is done.
“People say to me, ‘Can I perform at your gig? Only my granny’s Irish’.
“I’m like, ‘Well, of course they can. You’re still Irish’.
“Our unwritten motto is, ‘If you can play for the football team then you can play at our gig’.
So it’s the jack Charlton rule, isn’t it?
“Exactly, if it’s good for Jack, it’s good for me.
“If it’s not broke, don’t fix it.
“I speak to non-Irish people who are like, ‘Is it all, as they say, diddly eye music?’
“I’m like, ‘No, because there was as many people who are inspired by Bob Marley as they are by The Cranberries, by David Bowie as they are by Aslan. So just come to me and you can perform whatever it is that’s inside your soul, inside your heart and all we’re there to do is give you a platform, give you support, and give you an audience that wants you to do well’.”
And I’ve seen the fruits of it. We covered a play last year called A Silent Scandal that was put on by people who came together in the collective..
I also met the singer songwriter Gareth Freiheit at the Bloomsday celebrations in Embassy Gardens..
“A Silent Scandal we didn’t produce but I gave Meade (Conway, playwright) a helping hand.
“Every so often we have a scene and monologue night.
“After our birthday on the 25th in The Irish Centre, the next things is at the Cultural Centre On 13 May 13, we have our third scene and monologue night.
“And if you’re an Irish writer, director, whatever it might be you come to showcase yourself to a crowd that wants to hear it and want to support you. It’s all free. No one gets paid, very low risk, and you get to just explore and showcase yourself.
“But we also have a weekly drop-in class which we started recently so for the 13 May one, the first half of that is going to be curated from the artists within the drop-in class which is in the Irish Centre on Wednesday evenings and the second half is going to be the opportunity for new people who aren’t part or haven’t been as active to have a chance to showcase themselves.
“But at our very first one, Meade got onto me with a script for A Silent Scandal.
“And he said, ‘I need a director. I need a cast’.
“And I got him a director, Sally Hennessy, and then myself and Sally helped get a cast which was Senna O’Hara, Ben Carolan and Eoghan Quinn.
“And from that, they had a run in The Old Red Lion and then they went up and had a week in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival as well as doing nights in Dublin as well.
“So I look at that and we the small part.
“We just helped with the spark, obviously they all worked together to make the beautiful art that Meade wrote and brought such life to it.
“But I felt like we gave them the platform that allowed them to go on and do everything they did.
“And with Gareth as well, who’s performing on the 25th.
“He’s one of the best, most charismatic front men and songwriters anyone will ever see.
“He’s been doing it for a few years now and that man deserves to be on billboards.
“He is an absolute rock star and superstar and for us to have him on our third birthday and having him perform so many occasions with us, it’s actually just an honour really more than anything else.
“And eventually when he makes his millions and millions and millions, he might still send me a Christmas card.
“That’s all I hope for.”
And they’re just two examples that come to mind. There is also the band Hawke the Band that we have featured..
“Hawke the Band have gigged for us loads.
“Richie, Darragh and Eoghan gigged at our very first night at Maddens.
“The lineup we had on our first night, I’d say you’d be spending 40 quid to go see them live now because we had Hawke the Band who are incredible, the music they write and the songs they write are so catchy and they’re so clever, they’re dead sound as well.
“But we had Hawke the Band played and Dane Buckley, Jack Hester, Marty Gleason performed stand up.
“Each one of them have gone on to win multiple awards and are touring everywhere.
“I can’t remember how I got them on the lineup but that lineup that we had on the first night is what every booker would dream of.
“And it’s only kind of gone up from there because the guys have come back obviously and it’s been a pleasure getting to know all the artists and getting to know everyone’s stories, and just doing whatever we can to like make sure people know who they are.”
This upcoming night of celebration will have performances from Blánid and Mark Caplice, two more singer- songwriters we have featured..
“We have Blánid who is opening: Exceptional.
“She’s like the modern day Enya.
“I always say her voice is like a banshee in a good mood. She’s just haunting and beautiful.
“We have Mark caplice, one of the best songwriters in Ireland and beyond, there’s no doubt about that.
“And he’s very good friend of mine since before I even moved to London.
“The first time I ever heard about him is when his auntie, who I worked with as well, told me that he was writing songs for the Eurovision.
“And I couldn’t, couldn’t even fathom how he could get on that sort of thing.
“Then we have of course Gareth Freiheit who I was telling you all about earlier on.
“And then we have the Irish Creative Collective All Star band which is lineup made up of different singer songwriters from across London who are coming together for one night only to make a super group where they’ll do a mix of original songs and covers.
“And it’s all going to be brought together by our host Mister Mark T Cox, who is the funniest man you’ll ever meet.
“He’s the most hilarious person and talented, incredible piano player.
“The tickets are £11.50 including booking fee and all the money raised is going back into the London Irish Centre to support all the amazing charity work that they’re doing.
“If you’re coming, whether it’s to support up and coming Irish artists or whether it’s coming to support the Irish Centre, you’re going to be a gig that is like no other.
“You will not experience what you’ll get for the price anywhere in London any other time and that is one thing I can guarantee more than anything else.”
It’s three years old but will go on for many more years?
“Yeah, absolutely.
“There’s lots of plans for the future.
“But there’s a lot of Irish people in London.
“There’s a lot of showcasing to be done.
“I always said that we are not here to be part of the chorus, we’re here to be the leading person.
“It’s about celebrating where we’re from but also showcasing the fact that we are so important to the world and it’s about time that we are taken seriously.
“It’s en vogue to be Irish at the moment across the world so we might as well take advantage of it.
“There is a lot planned.”
Irish Creative Collective celebrate their third birthday at the London Irish Centre from 7.30pm on Friday 25 April.
For tickets and more information, click here.
