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Singer-songwriter aidan talks to JENNIFER MEAGOR about finding inspiration in the great outdoors...

INTERESTING BACKGROUND. AIDAN PERFORMING IN THE LITTLE ROOM AT THE PALE ON THURSDAY 12TH OF FEBRUARY
PHOTO BILLY WALSH (www.justwilliam.info)

IRISH FOLK-ROCK MUSICIAN aidan released his debut album Walking Into Walls in 2002 in Belgium to great success and an Irish debut album is due out this year. "Introducing..." is aidan's re-emergence onto the Irish music scene.

His style is that of Ani diFranco and Ed Hamill with the songwriting talents of Jeff Buckley, but somehow, aidan manages to sound little like any of them. He's definatly folk-rock genre but doesn't preach or dictate, he simply writes about his experiences, which he relates in his casual exchanges with the crowd in-between songs.

Aidan clearly enjoys his own music and performs with conviction. He sings as if he might run out of breath - giving every syllable his utmost concentration. The little room at the Pale, where he launched his ep, was silent while he sang songs about human intolerance, post-war American families and death, but somehow the feel of the gig was not despairing. In fact, his rendition of the Jungle book theme was more the atmosphere of the gig overall, each turn receiving raucous applause.

Aidan's colourful background in music has bough him travelling all over Europe, most notably to Spain where he went as a volunteer to Galicia to clean up an oil spill. This event saw an outpouring of passionate material that also appears on "introducing..." He has also travelled France, Belgium, England and Scotland writing and performing, gathering inspiration from what he observes in the natural world, "I spent a lot of time camping and writing music in Scottish nature reserves and the rest of the time waiting part-time in Edinburgh." This globalised sense of home is central to aidan's style of music and is what makes him quite unique.

When asked what he thought of Irish music now, Aidan told us "at the moment I spend so much time at gigs, that it's there I listen to the most music. I liked ITO, Ann Scott, Declan O'Rourke, Life After Modelling... I could keep going, actually, there's lots of great music at the moment!"

He recognises the value of Dublin promoters Phantom and Gigsmart: "the gigs and clubs that they organise have been packed to the ceiling every time I've been there... I'd say they were getting a lot more of the listeners in my age group (twenties) than the "legitimate" radio stations.

In fact, since they've gone off the air, I rarely listen to the radio. I think that the musical network that they have helped create is incredibly positive. It makes recording, getting gigs and getting airplay seem so much more accessible to the learning musician or band."

One thing you can bet on is that aidan will be taking his energetic show all over Dublin and the rest of Ireland and will be in great demand this year.