This much I know: Jack L, Songwriter and Musician

I was always obsessed with music because I could sing.

I have never taken what I have for granted. I was aware from early on that when I sang, people would listen.

I came from a music loving family. My father was a good singer and there were lot of records in the house. When I was a kid, I felt my voice was like having an inbuilt guitar.

As a teenager I started writing bad poetry which turned into writing songs. Playing guitar followed as more of a necessity for the song writing.

I always enjoyed singing. I never suffered major stage fright but it takes a while to get used to performing and it is something you learn to do simply by doing it.

I believe we dictate our own fate. But I don’t think it’s as random as we like to think. There is a certain amount of destiny as well as free will.

I believe the consciousness lives on after we die but nobody knows what happens for certain. All religions are merely geographically installed. I believe everybody should be their own priest in their own way, all religions are cults. Maybe when you die you wake up and this is just some place for the spirit to experience material reality.

Home is Dublin although I live a transient life and am on the road a lot. It’s the nicest way to travel as when you visit other countries you are not a tourist, you get to see the culture and engage with people at a different level once you are working in a place.

I have no strict rules before a gig although I tend to not talk a lot beforehand because speaking is a grinding sensation, it wears the voice away far faster than singing.

Playing a gig is like going into a kind of meditative state. You go somewhere in your head. It is a bit like standing in the eye of a storm. You cannot be distracted by anything. Who knows exactly what is going on when you are creating those songs on stage and touching people with the music? Singing is a mystical type of thing - it’s not bricks and mortar.

I find keeping fit and healthy eating easier to do when I’m in one spot. Obviously when you are on the road you tend to eat late after shows which isn’t a particularly good thing. I find that performing keeps me fit and I also do yoga. I wouldn’t be the type to be running miles and miles.

Yoga gives me a moment to switch off my brain and put it on standby.

I spent a lot of May and June writing. I do tend to lock myself away and become quite monastic about it. I write lines most days, in a notebook, but when it comes to writing a body of work I do need to be locked away. I go to a place down the country where I can make as much noise as I want to. It’s probably the most pleasurable part of the creative process.

I am always running to meet deadlines. Trying to make a sound check, trying to finish an album.

I’m a night person. Most of my work is done when everybody else is asleep. It’s always been that way. I do enjoy watching the sun coming up. That usually means it’s time to go to bed.

I support Culture Night for all the various reasons it exists. It brings music and art to people who might not otherwise experience them. There are 900 venues involved with free events this year. When we are all getting lost in the virtual world more than ever it is important to use our imagination, the older version of virtual reality — the imagination deserves strengthening and more respect.

So far life has taught me that nobody knows anything.

Jack L is an ambassador for Culture Night. On Friday, September 19, the country’s vast choice of cultural venues and events will be open into the night in communities across Ireland, giving everyone the unique opportunity to experience and explore our rich and vast cultural offering.

I’m a night person. Most of my work is done when everybody else is asleep. It’s always been that way