Culture That Made Me: Dan Hegarty of 2fm on the Sultans, Fanning, and Star Wars
Dan Hegarty, 2fm broadcaster.
Dan Hegarty is a DJ and radio documentary maker. He grew up in Sandymount, Dublin. In 2003, he joined RTÉ 2FM, where he presents The Alternative, Monday-Thursday, 11pm.
The second big gig I ever went to was Zoo TV in Dublin’s RDS in 1993. It was a number of days after U2 played Cork. That blew my mind. I still have the ticket. U2 were sensational. A thing that kept going through my mind watching them was these guys are from where I'm from. It gave me a belief that people from where I’m from can go on and do great things. It changed everything for me – to the point that I remember watching the gig going, “I have to in some way do something to do with music in my career.” It had a profound effect on me.
In my teens, I discovered bands from Ireland like Sultans of Ping. It opened up a whole new world to me that I'm still right in the middle of now. Listening to Casual Sex in the Cineplex, for example, brings me right back to when I first heard it going, “Hang on. Who are these guys? These are amazing.” There is an energy from that album. There's a real identity to it: “This is who I am; this is who we are.” It’s brave. It’s gutsy.
Gavin Friday’s album Shag Tobacco came out in the mid 1990s. It was right when Britpop was kicking off. It was different to everything else going on. There was elements of what I loved about Massive Attack in it. It also had elements of cabaret. He does an amazing version of The Slider by T. Rex on it. There's Angel, a song that was featured in the Romeo + Juliet soundtrack. Little Black Dress is an outstanding song. It's a complete album. No fillers on it.
Seeing Prince live was amazing. His confidence. I saw him on the Diamonds and Pearls Tour in 1992. He had an amazing band – the musicians with him were outstanding. He was an outstanding musician and songwriter too. It always comes back to the songs – he had amazing songs and so many of them. I saw him years later in Malahide Castle – in 2011 – and he was just as good.
A band I've seen a lot from the early days is Fontaines D.C. They're electric. They were brilliant the first time I saw them, at one of their college gigs in the Tivoli. The attitude they had struck me immediately. They had great songs and they had that wonderful, slightly disinterested thing – they were so into what they were doing that the audience was a secondary thing. They were in their own zone. The energy from their songs and their maturity – even in those early gigs, they were like a band that were on their third or fourth album. I had that feeling when you’re at a gig and you know it’s special.
PJ Harvey has released so much amazing stuff and it’s all quite different. She makes it sound quite simple and natural. If you speak to anyone about making music, there's so many complexities in it, but she makes it sound like it just happens effortlessly, and maybe some of it just does. It’s magic she creates.
The Eurosonic Noordeslag festival is every January in a Dutch city called Groningen. There's a wonderful energy and atmosphere to the city. It’s not dissimilar to Galway or Cork. You wander all over the city to see different artists – and very, different kinds of artists – playing over four days. It's a new music festival where bands that have done well in their country of origin go and perform, taking their first steps on their international voyage. The calibre of artists that have played there is something else. I remember seeing Dua Lipa play there early in her career and thinking she's brilliant. Irish-wise, people like Villagers, Soak, Denise Chaila have played there recently. It’s a brilliant festival.
When you do the same profession as someone you can begin to understand how absolutely brilliant they are. I've had the pleasure of being in studio with Dave Fanning loads of times and I'm always slightly in awe of him because I've listened to him so much, but also because he's so good. He makes it all seem so easy and there's nothing easy about it. His enthusiasm, his passion and his sense of humour. He’d knock you down he’s so funny. He's introduced me to so much music over the years, the likes of My Bloody Valentine, Power of Dreams, PJ Harvey. Even when I listen to him now, I always come away having learned something new.
I loved the Half Moon in Cork as a venue. I've seen some really good gigs there over the years. There was just a feeling about it – you walk into a place like it, even sometimes before the music started, and you get a feeling that it's a creative space. I'm always curious as to will it get used again as a music venue.
One of the best books I've ever read is called The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls. It's a memoir. It was published in 2005. It’s the most beautiful story, full of tragedy and hope. When I got to the second-half of the book, I loved it so much I started slowing down so I wouldn't be finished it so soon. The author doesn’t seem bitter about certain things that might have not happened for her and her family in life, a person who is very philosophical and hopeful.
I read Mark Lanegan's memoir Sing Backwards and Weep maybe a year or so before he passed away. How he managed to survive is bewildering. He had a really tough life. You can really understand where the music came from. Sometimes art can come from hardship. It's an extraordinary book. Reading it, you get the depth of where this guy came from and the what he overcame.
A movie I’ve watched more than a dozen times is Star Wars. It was the first movie that made a big impact on me. I still get a buzz from it when I watch it – the opening credits; when the door blasts open and Darth Vader walks through and you hear that famous voice of James Earl Jones, it’s terrifying as a child and enthralling for an adult.
