John Hynes is an Irish singer/songwriter who recently put out his debut album called ‘A Man In Love’. Featuring nine carefully curated tunes, it’s a record that I have fallen completely in love with! Reminiscent of the timeless sounds of Roy Orbison or Glen Campbell, John’s work transports listeners to a bygone era while still carving out its own unique identity.
Desperate to know more about the artist, I was delighted when he agreed to an interview! Chatting with us about his recent autism diagnosis, what it’s like working with some of the best in the business, and his constant search for new and exciting music, please give a big welcome to our new friend John Hynes!
Hey John, thanks so much for taking the time to chat with us! Let’s kick things off with an easy one…Who is John Hynes and when did your love affair with music begin?
“Who is John Hynes” seems like it should be an easy question and yet the answer changes all the time! I have been on quite the journey of self-discovery the last few years culminating in a recent autism diagnosis. But one way to sum me up would be to say I’m a regular, suburban dad who happens to have made an album of emotionally charged classic pop songs. Growing up my parents were both music lovers, but wouldn’t have had “cool” record collections or anything. My father liked Jim Reeves, Bing Crosby and some of our Irish country music and my mother would have been Elvis, Buddy Holly and Patsy Cline.
They both loved dancing and met in the “Ballroom of Romance” showband era in Ireland when there were countless bands crisscrossing the country playing the hits of the day as well as some folk and country. I’ve always preferred artists that fused that element of being both the entertainer and the artist – I never like the self-seriousness of a lot of rock music (*cough* Steely Dan). I mean I tried (unsuccessfully) to be an unsmiling indie front man but I wasn’t very good at it. There’s a happy medium where you can entertain and still tug at the heartstrings. My wife claims I actually am a dark and mysterious and impenetrable type, so I might be totally misleading myself!
I know that you’re gearing up for the release of your debut album ‘A Man In Love’, and it’s a record that I’ve been fortunate enough to get a sneak preview of. I think it’s absolutely intoxicating from start to finish! Now that it’s out in the world, are there any specific tracks that you’re particularly excited for people to hear?
Thank you! The song that excites me most is ‘Run To Her’, the closing track. I had recorded another track that just wasn’t working, and I needed to come up with something during lockdown when the studio was closed. It’s the song that feels most like it came out of the ether and like I wasn’t even present when it happened. Usually, I’m working on songs for years before I consider them finished but with this one the demo is actually the finished version.
I recorded the vocals in my car while my baby son slept in our apartment and the other instruments in the kitchen. It features a rather “out there” guitar solo that I played once and once only and I could never repeat – I tried to re-do it “correctly” but it always lost something. My producer Gavin Glass added in piano and I added the drums after but the majority of the song is my demo. I come to songwriting as a music fan first and foremost – I want to be excited, entertained and taken on a journey – and this song really finishes the album with a beautiful kick to the gut. But one that makes you want to hit play on track 1 again.
Some incredible musicians contributed to the record, including Cormac Curran, (Villagers, Hozier) Gareth Quinn Redmond, (Glen Hansard) and Scott Halliday (Prince) to name just a few. What was it like working with such accomplished collaborators?
It was Gavin who had the contacts and who got everyone on board, as I was just a nobody who still worked in an office job. At first, I was a bit intimidated but as I went on and no one was protesting at having to “slum it” with me I was like “Hey, maybe I deserve to be here, these are good songs”. And they are all just lovely, regular folk at the end of the day. Although seeing a photo of Scott with Prince on the wall of the studio for the first time did make my brain go a bit funny!
Who are some of your biggest musical influences?
I tried it all – synth, metal, nu-metal, post-punk, banjos (even BEFORE Mumford! )…..but ultimately it all comes down to the music I heard as a child, which was a mix of easy-listening, traditional pop from my parents and then whatever was big in the 1980’s from my older brothers – Dire Straits, The Housemartins, Bruce Springsteen. And then all the amazing pop singles from the Top of the Pops heydey. The first CD I ever bought was ‘The Number Ones of Dance’! It was the Britpop era when I was a teenager and I was firmly in the Oasis camp (mainly because I felt more affinity with them due to their working-class Irish background). But I will admit that Blur won the war.
In my teens, I tried to re-record every Beatles song on my four-track tape recorder and that taught me a lot. Mostly, that I wasn’t as good as The Beatles. My 5-year-old son is currently working his way through The Beatles albums so I’m enjoying rediscovering them.
The post-punk era sort of bypassed me, as I was really getting into 70s soul like Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye around then. I probably didn’t feel like I was “cool” enough or frankly, skinny enough to be into The Strokes. How strange the ways that being a fat kid can influence your life. It was really only when I heard The Walkmen that I heard something that encapsulated almost everything I love but where I also felt “Hey I could do that”. They remain my favourite band as they somehow both inspire me and also bypass my critical music brain and make me just a fan, which is extremely rare. But I never listen to them anymore. I tend to go through phases and then once that phase is over I have no interest. e.g. I was obsessed with Sufjan Stevens’ ‘Illinois’ and Arcade Fire’s ‘Funeral’ for about 2 years and then just stopped listening to them. And I would never listen to Oasis now or have any interest in seeing them live. I hadn’t listened to The Beatles for about 20 years until my son discovered them recently and somewhat forced me to listen to them. I think that might be the autism again! I’m searching for something novel that might excite me but not in a “cool hunter” way. More recently I had my Father John Misty phase – he was an important artist when I started as a solo artist as his music is just easy-listening repackaged in an interesting way – which is essentially what I’m trying to do.
When you’re not creating music, what keeps you busy and happy? Walk us through a non-musical day in the life of John Hynes.
Well, it always starts with going to the gym (you wouldn’t necessarily know by looking at me…). It just does something to my autistic brain that means the day is always better when I’ve started with lifting heavy things – it keeps the doom at bay. Then it’s getting the kids ready for school, and then I have about 3 hours of freedom. If it was a day off from music there’s nothing I love more than walking in the city, people-watching, and visiting a few cafes and having a caffeine-induced epiphany every 10 minutes. After that, it’s back home and generally being a servant to small kids until about 9 pm when I am usually too exhausted to do anything but go to bed and read some non-taxing crime fiction like Michael Connolly.
What aspects of being a musician do you cherish most? And on the flip side of that, what would you say have been some of the biggest challenges you’ve encountered?
The songwriting process! That magic moment of flow when you’ve just created something that gives you goosebumps. The biggest challenge – all of the other stuff! I’m recently diagnosed as autistic which has helped me understand a lot of the things I found hard in the past. “Selling myself” and all that stuff has always been a challenge. But maturity has meant I’m much more comfortable in my own skin – I’m not trying to conform to some imagined ideal anymore. And I’m too old to be young and cool, so I don’t have to try.
Which of your lyrics would you like to see printed on a T-shirt?
That’s easy – “Strong, silent type”. And yes, I was influenced by Tony Soprano’s “Whatever Happened to Gary Cooper” dialogue.
Thanks so much for chatting with us John! It’s been great getting to know you a little better! Before we say farewell for now, what comes next for you musically?
I have a mini Irish tour planned for the autumn time and I will continue to release singles from the album for the rest of the year. Then I’ll go straight into album 2 and hopefully start releasing those tracks next year. The songs are written and I’m really excited about the direction in which they’ll take me – definitely adding a bit more of the ’70s soul influence.
