Interview with Keith Plunkett

Interview with Keith Plunkett

The term 'rising star' is used so loosely in the music industry nowadays, but trust me when I say that Irish singer/songwriter Keith Plunkett is one of the country's hottest prospects.

At the tender age of 20, Keith has succeeded in mastering his own unique style of music and performance and has received widespread praise and recognition. 

I caught up with the Mayo man, who now resides in Dundalk, as we spoke on the set of his new music video for his original song 'Hold On', which I was delighted to be a part of!

"I started playing the guitar when I was about ten years old, and then two years later I took up singing and it developed from there. I come from a musical background so it was always going to be part of my life. I joined a band, which was great but it fizzled out when some of the lads went off to college, but I knew I wanted to continue singing and that's when I decided to go solo."

One can only assume that the transition from working in a band day in, day out, with other members to going completely solo can be a massive change. However, Keith believes that he found a nice balance between positives and difficulties of being a solo artist.

"Songwriting is definitely easier. I mean, I now get to write more about my own personal experiences, that I never would have written when I was in a band. Everything is entirely up to me. It is like self-employment, so I have to freedom to express myself, which I love."

Well one way that people can hear exactly how Keith expresses himself will be through his new EP which is set to be released in the near future. The name of the record is yet to be finalised but Keith is extremely excited about its release nonetheless. 

"I wrote most of the songs around last summertime, based on my life experiences, relationships and stuff like that. And I found writing this EP to be a great release, personally. Originally, we were going to call it 'Long Way Down EP' but when everything got recorded, I started leaning towards calling it 'Different Things EP'. We've only just finished recording it and we are delighted with how it went so I can't wait to get it out there and have people listen to it."

As I have already mentioned, this interview was conducted on the set of Keith's music video for 'Hold On', which was filmed around the streets of Kildare and predominantly in Alice's Restaurant, Naas. This track will also feature on his EP and my fat head will make an appearance in the video too! Keith hopes it will be released within the next month or two and he was really happy with how his first proper recorded video went.

"I loved every minute of it. It was amazing. I've done a few live videos before but I hadn't much experience in scripted videos and working on so many different scenes. Myself and Richard Kearney from Frame It Productions in Sallins met up for a coffee one day and went over a rough idea of how we wanted the video to go, and he went off and worked really hard on the detail of it with his intern Sarah and it all just fell into place from there, thankfully!"

But the hard work doesn't stop there for this artist, as he says himself, it's really only beginning!

"If all goes well, this EP will be out by September and then we plan on going on a little bit of an Irish tour, doing launches in different cities and towns. And also driving around the country in a little Volkswagen camper van and doing gigs and selling CDs from the back of that, so that should be great fun! And then hopefully, in a couple of months we are going to work with a producer in Poland, to get some ideas from him for my second EP and then we will work on releasing that!"

Keith is signed to DowndaRoad Productions and he believes the work of the company and in particular, Mike Gleeson, has had a huge affect on his career thus far.

"Before, I was completely on my own trying to promote myself, selling DIY CD's and handing out flyers on the streets for gigs that I was playing and that was really exhausting. Since Mike came on board with his label, it really has taken off for me. He works so hard, organising gigs and doing lots of promotional stuff behind the scenes. He's great!"

Now I want to cast your mind back to the beginning of this article. Remember I said that the term 'rising star' was thrown around aimlessly in the music industry these days? Well now I'm going to be a hypocrite, because I truly believe that Keith Plunkett is Ireland's rising star.

Check out his music, upcoming gigs, pictures, videos, bio and more
in the following ways!        

Twitter @keithplunkett1
Website www.keithplunkettmusic.com
Facebook /keithplunkettmusic

Also stop by his label www.downdaroad.com
And the company that made his music video www.frameitproductions.com
Finally, a massive thanks to Alice's Restaurant in Naas for their hospitality while the video was being made. P.S the sandwiches are gorgeous! www.alicesrestaurant.ie

EOIN!