Orla Gartland Interview: Quirky, Down to Earth and Catchy.
12:34
If I could name an artist that I genuinely like both as a musician and a person, Orla would have to be one. She has become increasingly successful in the last few years, my sister introduced me to her singing covers on Youtube, we went to see her perform as Lewis Watson's support act in Cyprus Avenue, Cork a few years ago and now we see her releasing EPs, playing popular festivals such as Indiependence. I'm definitely delighted for her.
She's known for making certain faces when she sings, but that's a quirk of hers that fans know and love. Anytime I've interacted with her on Twitter she was absolutely lovely.
A song of hers called "Roots" was instantly relatable and my sister and I sat very proudly in our sitting room watching Orla perform on the Saturday Night Show. I love seeing musicians grow in success. Her song "Lonely People" is so catchy. The music video is made up of clips sent in by her fans all over the world. I'm always proud when I hear it play on Irish radio station 2FM.
 |
| Orla's EP "Roots" |
__________________________________________________________
You recently played Indiependence in Cork. What's the best part of playing festivals?
I really like the idea of playing to a bunch of people who toddle along out of curiosity - it feels like you have more to prove than when you play to a headline crowd, which keeps you on your toes. I'm lucky enough to have quite a few music-playing pals too, so it's always nice to see everyone if they're on the bill too!
What gets you into the mood for songwriting?
Having ideas! It's hard to start something without having that initial seed of a song, but once you grasp it and flesh it out, it's addictive and so rewarding. It's like "AH. This morning I didn't have a THING and now I made a THING and now this thing exists". Cool.
What was the reason behind the clips for the 'Lonely People' music video? Why not make a video of your own?
I actually shot a video of my own that never made the cut - it just didn't feel like it matched the song well enough. The clip compilation idea was a last resort, and in the end it saved the song for me. I had been so frustrated about the whole process so it was cool to put together the final edit and feel excited about the song all over again!
What do you like about being an Irish musician? Is it more difficult to get shows, or play festivals, or do you think it's a good thing?
I think it's a great thing. The Irish music community is awesome, each musician so supportive of one another! For a year now I've been based over in London where everyone and their mother is an up & coming musician, so there are times where being Irish is great as just a little something to set you apart from the crowd. People seem to respond well to the Irish over here and in the States. We're lucky that way!
You took a gap year to focus on your music, do you feel you made the right decision?
Without a doubt. With careers like music I feel like you really only get small windows of opportunity to leap through; jumping straight into it after school felt like the right thing to do as I had no ties or real responsibilities at the time. I'm still learning the ropes with it all but I feel super lucky to have gotten that chance!
 |
| Orla's EP "Lonely People" |
Who in the Irish music industry would you like to collaborate with?
Patrick Sheehy from Walking on Cars and Steve Garrigan from Kodaline. I wrote with Gavin James a while back which was so fun - collaborating with people you're a genuine fan of is pretty special!
Any tips for singer/songwriters?
Take advantage of social media, it's incredible! Oh, and embrace any little thing that makes you different; your accent, your sense of humour, a weird hat you always wear, a unique lyrical style; anything. Milk it!
 |
| Source: Orla's Instagram |
Orla posts covers of songs on her Facebook page so I encourage you to like the page and keep up to date with her music and other adventures. Orla updates a playlist of her own favourite songs on Spotify, link here.
If you read my blog you'll know that I love supporting anything to do Irish film. Well I'm the same with Irish musicians, I love seeing them do well. So I hope that you'll keep on supporting Orla if you already do and help her out if you haven't already!
As always photos are merely decorative and belong to their respective owners.
Thank you for reading, as usual.
Thanks for helping me reach 20,000 page views.
Please follow me on Twitter, to keep up to date.
1 comments
Brilliant! I bought 'Roots' ages ago and forgot how much I liked it. Orla Gartland has such a lovely voice! I always feel a little bit more pleased when Irish musicians and singers do well
ReplyDeleteLaura x
https://whatshewroteblog.wordpress.com
I love hearing feedback, all constructive criticism welcome!
Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.