WAYNE BRENNAN: An Intimate View

May 1st 2009. A day that marks the launch of Wayne Brennan's much-anticipated and long awaited debut Album, 'In My Hands' Preceded by a Single release on February 27th titled 'Please Please'

(To read the article please check out my blog. Further info at www.waynebrennan.com or www.myspace.com/waynebrennan)




INTERVIEW FOR DANISH MAGAZINE



RYK! Magazine Dec. 2008 edition.

(Weblink Publication. Photos provided by Damien Kelly)

http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/d80dc03c#/d80dc03c/18


(English Translation below)



Paddy Slattery
An Irish Singer

”Why walk when you can fly” – a motto the singer and songwriter Paddy Slattery has on his website a motto that runs like an undercurrent in both his lyrics and his attitude towa life.

Paddy Slattery (29) became a quad in 1996 after a car accident. Life changed totally, but in so many ways it changed for the better. This he writes on his website and his words can be trusted when you go on reading his biography.
Before the accident he was, in his own words, an average teenager. He finished school early and worked six days a week for wages he could scarcely survive on. Sleeping late on Sundays was the highlight of the week. After the accident his world and possibilities suddenly looked somewhat different. He joined media courses at a film school and thus ran into a creative atmosphere which gave deep response within him. The doors of possibilities opened in a far bigger scale than he had ever imagined. And he continues on his website: “…and one thing I‘ve learned in my lifetime of physical disability is that the only thing that truly disables a person is the boundaries and limits they set themselves inside their minds! Especially in this day and age when technology has advanced so much which makes it easier for people with disability to rejoin the workforce. (…) And if you’re fortunate enough like I am to have personal assistance then you’re left with absolutely no excuse to carry on in society as an equal. I could harp on about people’s rights all night, but at the end of the day, the level of which you are to succeed in today’s world is determined by your willingness to “stand up” and be counted. Make your voice heard, because in this life you only get what you give. I know it’s a cliché that you’ve heard time and time again, but anything is possible! It’s just a matter of setting your mind to it!”
And so far, Paddy Slattery has let his very clear and sonorous voice be heard on two CD’s, with his own lyrics and songs. His debut album, Stand & Deliver from 2006 and his second one Head over Heels from 2007. The titles alone are very telling and expressive of both his drive and his attitude to life. The metaphors queue up, all with roots way down into his credo which after harvested experience is mind over matter, - that mind is such a strong force which make everything seem possible, it is only a matter of putting your mind to it.

RYK! magasin has been in mail contact with Paddy Slattery to ask about his creative way of working.

Where do you find your inspiration and is there a connection here to your spinal cord injury?

- No, I do not think there is a connection even though the spinal cord injury in many ways have changed the prism which makes the light refract in a slightly different way, - and speaking of light, I find so much peace and inspiration in darkness, because the canvas is blank, and requires imagination to bring it to life, and that canvas has no frame around it restricting the possibilities.

So you are metaphorically speaking a painter?

- Well, they say a picture paints a thousand words, but a thousand words in turn paint a pretty good picture! And in that is the story of my life. My lyrics paint the existential, poetical and philosophical registrations and observations in my life.

What does it mean to you to have found your voice, so to speak, - to have found your way of expression, - your artistic form, by singing, composing and writing lyrics?

- My art and my imagination is my escape. It’s my inspiration, and my sanity. It’s my licence to express my insanity. It’s my universe within my world within my day within my mind within my teardrop within my soul. Throughout my life. It’s the transcendence of the divine within my body. It’s the timeless symphony composed by my clarity, and my rationality, my curiosity, and my anxiety. It’s the undercurrent of an ocean swell. It’s who I am, and who I was and who I can be. It’s my everything. - Now you got me all philosophical!


Check him out and listen to him at www.paddyslattery.com – he is an interesting acquaintance, this poetic, creative and fearless singing Irishman.





Recently Paddy raised some money for Spinal Injuries Ireland by creating public attention by a parachute jump.

- I have raised some money for Spinal Injuries Ireland (S.I.I.), but to be honest, it was the thrill of the parachute jump that really motivated me. And I guess its important to show people that certain organizations like S.I.I. need to raise peoples awareness, so that is just as important to them and me, rather than the few euros we raise. It’s all about promoting a positive mental attitude and encouraging people’s inner belief which is my ultimate goal in life.