Keys can’t lock Jack into a genre

JACK O’Rourke is an overnight sensation 10 years in the making, writes Ed Power

Thu, 24 Mar, 2016 - 00:00

In 2015 his song ‘Silence’ was adopted as the official anthem of Amnesty’s marriage equality campaign. He has since performed on The Late Late Show and sold out Dublin’s Whelan’s venue. It is quite a distance from his days playing piano in restaurants, bars and hotel lobbies. He is aware of how far he has travelled.

“I’m 31 but I don’t see my age as a defining factor,” says the Ovens, Co Cork native. “It wasn’t as if I was frustrated in my twenties. I was really busy with other things. The stereotypical view is that you start off in your twenties. But that’s if you want to be a top 40 artist. A lot of people burn out really quickly in their twenties.”

O’Rourke is not getting carried away by success. He still has a day job, teaching music and English in an Irish language school on the northside of Cork city, and is happy balancing both careers. “People have asked would I give up teaching.

I’ve had a lot of success in Ireland and I like being on the road. On the other hand, teaching is fantastic. It takes you out of your own head. It is somewhat similar to being a parent in so far as you are responsible for people. It is very grounding and consistent whereas the music industry can be exciting, but quite draining.”

O’Rourke’s piano-based folk has drawn comparisons to artists such as Sufjan Stevens. However, he sees genre as merely a jumping-off point and is wary of being constricted by other’s ideas of who he is.

He will certainly be going where few “folkies” would dare venture at the end of the month when he explores the Great American Songbook at a ‘Rat Pack’ evening curated by big band leader Paul Dunlea at Cork Opera House.

“It’s weird how people feel a need to label musicians,” says O’Rourke. “It’s true you require an epicentre, a point of departure. For me that would be rock and folk. But there’s so much craft in the great songs of the ’30s and ’40s. The music of Cole Porter and so on — you don’t get much better than that. There is something nostalgic and beautiful and romantic about that period of music.”

O’Rourke has been around long enough to appreciate an attentive audience. While studying at UCC and beginning his teaching career, he sidelined as a piano-man. He would croon songbook staples in hotels and clubs around Cork. It was a grounding experience — one that taught him the importance of humility.

“All my life I’m been sitting in piano bars, restaurants, hotel lobbies, singing Gershwin, Cole Porter, Billie Holiday. Eventually you realise that you are there to provide an atmosphere. The music shouldn’t be overpowering. You come to understand that you don’t have to be centre-stage all the time.”

His priority now is the release of his debut album, Dreamcatcher. The record is nearly finished, and the title track will appear as a single over the next several weeks. The LP itself is scheduled for an autumn launch.

“I don’t want to limit myself. I don’t want people saying ‘oh, he’s folk, he’s pop’. I like being independent too. I don’t want to compromise my music to appeal to a record company. Neil Young would release a grunge album and then maybe do a country record. Whatever you are singing, you will bring your own experiences anyway.”