JINX LENNONThe idiosyncratic and iconoclastic punk-poet of Dundalk
What's your earliest musical memory?Seeing Horslips playing in Mount Melleray back when I was in the scouts. That was some time in the late 1970s: a golden era for pop and rock. Phil Lynott was my hero but, to be honest, I loved all chart music in those days. Even disco, which my sister loved and I pretended to hate.
Who is your biggest musical hero? Probably Mark E Smith of The Fall. He has been knocked down so many times, yet he always seems to bounce back with something really great. By all accounts, he's a difficult human being. But he's well into his fifties now and you really have to respect him for sticking to his guns. A lot of his contemporaries are an embarrassment to themselves at this stage.
Are you referring to John Lydon's butter commercials? There's also a DVD he did about bugs. I came across it in a shop in Liverpool last week. It was like, John, what you doing man?
Which non-musicians have had an influence on your work? JG Ballard is a writer I have tremendous respect for. His take on modern life, the relationship between people and their environment, captured my imagination.
Like a lot of Irish singers from outside the traditional idiom, you started out singing in an accent other than your own.When I started out performing in the early 1990s, I was playing contemporary rock. I didn't purposefully put on an American accent. It just seemed kinda stupid to sing those sorts of songs in a Dundalk accent. It seemed more natural to copy my influences.
Was there a eureka moment where you suddenly discovered your own voice? Not quite. About 12 years ago, I did a song called Call The Guards, which became very popular in Dundalk. Up to that point, I'd been trying to compose the perfect pop song, like I was Phil Spector or someone. This Call The Guardsthing seemed much fresher and more immediate. So I wrote some more songs in that vein and the audiences seemed to like them. That was where the whole Jinx Lennon thing started.
To judge from your lyrics, you haven't always found the most receptive audiences around the country? I suppose, I see myself as a contemporary folk singer. Christy Moore is a great friend of mine, but a lot of others who play in the traditional folk idiom, as you put it, they prefer to play things pretty safe. They don't know what to make of me. I sing about the bad side of humanity and that's a thread they don't want to pull at. When I play in the midlands, audiences will literally ask me, why are you singing like that? Why are you doing that?
Is this what 'The Perfectly Formed Stars of Mullingar' is about? Yes. It's about playing in Mullingar and literally offending people with my music. It's hilarious. They'll kick the heads off each other no bother. But they're so conservative about their music. If you're not singing ballads about how great life is, they think there's something wrong with you. I could make it easier for myself if I wanted to, by sticking on a few uileann pipes and singing some patronising guff about working-class values. But that's not for me.
You've decided to give away your new album online. Without questioning the rationale, does it piss you off at all, giving away for free something you worked so hard on?No, Hungry Bastard Hiberniais really just a bunch of songs I've recorded over the past few years that didn't fit on any of my earlier albums. It's about clearing out the warehouse before I move on to the next thing. It's not like I think I'm Bob Dylan, that people will be coming back in 20 years time trying to find this stuff. I prefer to think of it like one of those mix tapes that hip-hop artists give out free to their fans between albums.
You've mentioned your friendship with Christy Moore. Any chance of a collaboration at some point in the future? Christy rang me a couple of years ago out of the blue. I think I was going through a toll bridge or something and he just says: "Well Jinx, this is Christy." And I said "Who?" And he said, "Christy Moore." He told me he was a big fan of my work. That was great to hear and we've kept in contact ever since. He comes to see my shows. About a collaboration? I wouldn't think so. My stuff might be a bit too blunt for his fans. But we'll both be at this a long time yet so, I suppose, you never know.
Hungry Bastard Hiberniacan be downloaded at jinxlennon1.bandcamp.com
