Culture That Made Me: Keith Duffy on Tony Hadley, Louis Theroux and other touchstones
Keith Duffy is touring with Brian McFadden in a group called Boyzlife.
Keith Duffy, 50, grew up in Donaghmede, Dublin. In 1993, he joined Boyzone, the group who sold millions of records and won several Brit Awards in the 1990s.
From 2002 to 2005, he starred in Coronation Street, later returning to the soap opera in 2010 and 2011. He has also acted in stage plays and musicals.
In 2016, he co-formed Boyzlife, a musical supergroup with Brian McFadden of Westlife. Boyzlife’s first Irish tour includes performances at Cork City Hall (January 18) and Dublin’s Olympia Theatre (January 19).
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Growing up as a marching drummer, looking at Buddy Rich on drums really got me going. It buzzed me. He could do things with drumsticks I could never do, regardless of how many hours I practiced. I still love watching old Buddy Rich videos. He was so effortlessly talented. His timing was impeccable. His 8s, 16s, 32s – there was nothing Buddy Rich couldn't do. He’d get a rhythm out of a cushion.
U2 had a huge part in my upbringing. Larry Mullen Jr. practiced really hard. He’s a fantastic drummer, but he's more “four on the floor” – he's a solid timekeeper. Through marching drumming, he developed his own style of drumming and created iconic drum beats for different songs, like, say, U2’s cover of All Along the Watchtower. It stands out because of Larry’s drumming. Or Bullet the Blue Sky or Sunday Bloody Sunday. Not necessarily complex drum beats, but certainly genius and creative in their own right.
I can appreciate a great singing voice. Spandau Ballet’s Tony Hadley’s voice and range is phenomenal.
Tony, who’s now in his 60s, still has that harmonious voice where he can hit those keys and hold the pitch perfectly. I have great admiration for people like that.
The late, great Christy Dignam was one of the best performers I've ever seen. I was blown away – and intrigued and fascinated at the same time – by his performances. He lived every lyric of every song. I always believed in Christy Dignam’s performance. When he lost himself in the music and in the song, he brought you on a journey with him and you understood what he wrote about in the song. His performances were second to none. He always gave 110% when he sang.
An actor that's been screaming out at me lately is the late Robin Williams. If you look back at the movies Robin did, some of the performances were exceptional. In a movie, for example, I watched recently called Dead Poets Society, his performance in that was amazing.
I love watching Colin Farrell. He was phenomenal in True Detective. I watched The Penguin recently. Colin’s performance in it is extraordinary. It's fantastic. Some of the writing let the cast down in the film, but his performance was flawless – an Oscar-winning performance without a doubt.
When it comes to theatre actors, I had the pleasure of working with Aisling O'Sullivan in a production of John B Keane’s Big Maggie.
I played Teddy Heelin with Garry Hynes, out of Druid in Galway, as our director. It was an education to work with Aisling – to watch her work, to watch her prepare. You don't get to take two in theatre, to shoot it again – you get one chance to grab your audience. She always nails it. Aisling is somebody I hold in very high regard.
There’s a great, great Irish playwright from Wexford called Billy Roche. He wrote a play called A Handful of Stars set in a snooker hall in Wexford in the recession in the 1970s. I was fortunate to be given a role in a West End production of it back in 2015. I played the part of Stapler, a part Liam Cunningham played years ago in an original run. Liam is a good friend of mine. Billy Roche is one of the most under-celebrated Irish playwrights of all time, but his plays will stand the test of time.
Documentaries for me are things I watch to educate myself. Sometimes it's an education I didn't need in the first place. I love to watch Louis Theroux's stuff. He's so brave.
He gets really into the thick of it, like, say, with neo-Nazis in America or extreme religious groups he embeds himself with. It's an education. He also provides an eye opener to see how people that survive on the same planet have such different ways of life and beliefs. He's one of the best documentary makers we've ever seen.
I love wildlife documentaries as well. I love David Attenborough’s documentaries. Anything that guy puts his name to I'm intrigued to watch. I love nature and his documentaries are a great way to learn about nature and they’re never boring.
I first met Blindboy doing a gig at The Three Sisters in Edinburgh. It was St Patrick’s Day. His [old hip hop act] The Rubberbandits were gigging on the same stage as us that night. We ended up having a few beers together. We were hanging out and a few crazy things happened that night. We got to know each other a little bit.
He reached out to me years later. He said to me, “I do this podcast. It's big in the States and Canada. It's all over the world. I know your story. It’d be a very interesting interview.” I said, “I don't generally do interviews in Ireland. I tend to keep business abroad now. I appreciate my anonymity back in Ireland, but I'll do it because you're a very intelligent guy and I’d love to meet you.”
We set the date. I rang him on Monday. We were due to do the podcast on Wednesday. I said, “Have you got a studio booked to do this? We could do it in my house. It’s very private.” He said, “What are you talking about, Keith? We're doing that in front of 1,900 people on a stage. We’ve sold out Vicar Street. Is that a problem for ya?”
I said, “No, not at all. I'm delighted for you – you're selling out Vicar Street off the back of yourself and nobody knows who your guest is going to be. That's amazing because now you know I can't come looking for you for my fee because they weren't paying to see me.”
We did the podcast and I got a phenomenal reaction to it.
I love listening to audio books. I've just finished David Goggins’ second book. I find that man fascinating. David Goggins was a 400-pound American who wanted to be a Navy Seal. The Navy Seals are the elite of the elite. He succeeded, and he became an American Ranger as well. It’s quite the story of discipline and dedication. Now, listen, he's over the top. You don't need to be full-on David Goggins, but a leaf out of his book for everybody would pay its reward.
