paul talking about paul

Q:When did you start playing music?

A:It was when I was still in school...I had an insatiable urge to play the guitar for years and life being the way it was then, my parents didn't pay much attention to my desire to play music so i bought a guitar from a girl up the road from us and played it completely out of tune for a year until someone showed me the basics. I must have been around 16 years old.

Q: I know this is a question that everyone asks but who were your first influences and who are you listening to now?

A:I was a 70's teenager and absorbed Americana in all it's aspects.....Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen......I should really say Canadicana! Songwriters that described the way i was feeling.....with a poetic sensibility. All through my musical career they have been my beacons.I also listened for period in the 80s to a lot of Pat Methany, I found an awful lot of the music at the time cold and difficult to digest so instrumental jazz was an escape for me. I'm listening to whatever fits my mood.....my girlfriend's daughter has introduced me to Jack Johnson and KT Tunstall.....sunny day music. Neil Finn, American Music Club, Miles Davis.

Q:When did you taste your first bit of success?

A:I've always lived on the fringe of the music business...a friend of mine once said that I was constantly running away from success and I guess that I've been pretty successful at that.....successfully unsucessfull! In the mid-80s I had a band with the unwieldy name of 'Flex and the Fastweather' and we had our moments of minor glory....one of them being a publishing contract with Paul McGuiness (manager of U2) and Bill Whelan (composer of Riverdance).We lasted for a few years but disintegrated eventually through lack of money.....that kickstarted my life as a solo artist.

Q:I believe that you have worked as a session guitarist with other artists?

A: Yes, it's something I love doing....I've worked with Sinead Lohan, Katell Keineg, Donovan...the list is getting even longer now that I play the mandola...I'm beginning to corner the market in rock and roll mandola playing! I like touring with other musicians, I find it very stimulating...at times frustrating if the chemistry isn't right but that's like any job I'd imagine...