Culture That Made Me: James Vincent McMorrow on Ozzfest, Johnny Cash, and Second Captains
James Vincent McMorrow plays Cork City Hall on November 29.
James Vincent McMorrow, 41, grew up in Malahide, Co. Dublin. In 2010, he released his debut, award-winning album, .
In 2016, his cover of Chris Isaak’s song 'Wicked Game' was used in the trailer for the sixth season of .
He released his seventh album, earlier this year.
- He will perform at Cork City Hall, 7.30pm, Friday, 29 November. See: www.jamesvmcmorrow.com
As a teenager, I can't think of a band or artist that I was as obsessed with as I was with Deftones. I listened to a lot of heavy records but they felt sophisticated, way beyond what a lot of other metal bands were doing.
There's a reason they continued to thrive over the last 20 years — their mix of being super dark, a huge amount of slowcore as well as a shoegaze influence. I was a drummer, too, and Abe Cunningham is on the Mount Rushmore of drummers, an absolute groove machine.
I’ll never forget Ozzfest in 2002 at Punchestown. Tool and System of a Down played. Ozzy Osbourne was supposed to play but got sick; I didn't mind so much — I never really got into his music. The rest of the lineup was stacked, though. It was such a good experience. I swear the amount of people in music in Ireland, people who work with me, we all seemed to be at that show. Culturally, it was a moment for metal in Ireland for sure.
When it comes to great songwriting, if I was to go based on who I’ve listened to the most, whose music I’m most in awe of, I’d say Elliot Smith. Either him or Fiona Apple. They're songwriters who when I listen to them I don't think about the craft of songwriting, I’m sucked into their worlds. There’s a lot of music I love but my brain gets pulled into more of an analytical world, like I’m trying to figure out how they're doing what they're doing. With Elliot and Fiona, they're so transcendent as songwriters that I’m just able to enjoy their songs as a fan every time.
Matt Berninger from The National stands out as a great performer on stage. In my adult life I don't think a band has had more impact than The National. Seeing them performing at Dublin’s Olympia in 2010 was the most memorable gig of all time for me. He has a way of committing to an audience that's almost not human. The way I perform is so different — there’s an amount of dynamic to it with the fuller songs, but that man is careening around the stage, going into the audience. He has an ability to bring the crowd into the show every single night. I don’t know how he does it.
I don’t think there’s a better interpreter of songs than Johnny Cash. Obviously a stunning songwriter in his own right, but those Rick Rubin albums, the way he occupied and flipped the perspective on all these iconic songs written by other people was pretty flawless.
Those albums changed the game in the music industry. You suddenly had all these older musicians rushing to make similar albums because they saw how powerful it could be.
I’m a big fan of Linda Ronstadt. She was brilliant at choosing the right songs. In LA, in the 1970s, her world was people like Jackson Browne and JD Souther. She knew what songs, either of theirs, or going back into the American songbook, to choose to record and perform.
The Discworld series of books by Terry Pratchett was the most impactful reading experience of my childhood. I read a lot, spent a lot of time by myself. Terry Pratchett was world-building. His idea that it's this flat world on the back of four elephants that are on the back of a turtle!? I have a tattoo of a turtle flying through space because of how much I love these books. The characters were weird, funny and subversive. It's hard to pick a favourite book out of the 41 in the series because it's all so interconnected, but I’d go with or .
by Michael Chabon is my favourite book of all time. I went through a period of buying it for everybody. My song 'Cavalier' is named after it. I struggle with books where I feel like I need to drag myself through the story. I want to be pulled along effortlessly by the writer. That book is the perfect example of a book you want to read in a single sitting.
I’m not a big theatre person, but when I was a kid my mum brought us to London to watch musicals. There’s one called by Willy Russell that I became a little obsessed with. It's my mum’s favourite. There's a song at the end of it called 'Tell Me It's Not True'. That song will crush your heart — it's so good.
The run Colin Farrell has been on the last 10 or so years needs to be talked about more. Ireland has so many world-beating actors and actresses that maybe he doesn't get the flowers he deserves. Take a look at his output... ; ; ; ; and that TV show at the moment. The range of that man. Also he seems like a genuinely wonderful person.
I'd point people in the direction of because it gets slept on a little. I guess it's more popular now that Rob McElhenney is so well known for the Wrexham stuff, but that show has made me laugh more than any other television show. It’s often on a loop in our house. Top to bottom an incredible TV show.
A favourite musical documentary is . It’s about the making of Wilco’s album . I recommend anyone to watch that — whether you're into Wilco or not. It captured something remarkable. Spoiler alert coming, but you couldn't write the plot of that movie — a band makes an album in an incredibly stressful way; label rejects the album and gives it back to the band and drops them; band sells that same album to a different subsidiary of the same label; album goes on to become massively successful and critically acclaimed. Wild.
I listen to tons of sports podcasts. I reached the saturation point on podcasts hosted by famous people where they chat shite for two hours. All I find myself wanting to listen to now are podcasts about sports stats, even if it's sports I don't really watch that much! is probably the one I listen to the most. It’s the perfect balance between funny people and interesting topics.
