Kila’s Rónán O’Snodaigh: 'It's important for me to be humbled'

Rónán Ó Snodaigh: "I have failed so often. I haven’t always achieved my goals or managed to hold myself to the highest standard."

I grew up in Sandymount, across from the beach and the tower. I have an early memory of being in the cot in me nappy and if rocked back and forth, I’d get this creaking sound going. I was a busy wide-eyed child, full of fun. I had a lot of brothers to play with.

I’m not sure we are born to be who we are. We’re still in flux.

I have failed so often. I haven’t always achieved my goals or managed to hold myself to the highest standard. I’ve lost the run of myself, raised my voice to people I love, and hit things when I’m really put upon.

I haven’t bought a house — that’s a big challenge — maybe too big for me to achieve. Sometimes I achieve little goals. I write a song that I can’t play. It might take me a month or so to be able to play it.

I need puzzles; they keep me on the straight and narrow.

I’ve been playing in Kila for years. The level of musicianship I’ve been surrounded by has always been ahead of me. That’s been hugely rewarding.

I’ve heard lots of kids sing songs I wrote like ‘Bí Ann’ and ‘Leanfaidh Mé.’ That’s been quite a thing. I feel proud to hear that but I don’t necessarily know where to wear that pride. I want to run away and hide in the pub.

My greatest quality is I can align myself with any musician. There’s a place in your body that has your kick tracks — some people have it in the shoulder, some in their foot, some in their arse. When you sit beside someone, you see where their motor is for a song and if you can get into it, you can really support their art.

My wife Sarah is my co-boater. There are other people I go to for different things, everyone has a map of people they can go to.

The life lesson I would like to pass on is to pay attention to other people. I’ve said that to my kids a lot. We’re only here in the world to receive each other and to be received. To me, it seems to be the most fulfilling thing to do, to make a connection with someone else and watch that unfold.

Rónán Ó Snodaigh: "I’d love to be remembered as true, honest, full of integrity, strong, and courageous."

Twice in my life, I was told by a really good friend called Ken Bolger; ‘right Rónán, I think it’s time to shut up now.’ I was caught in a bind going on and on and on and when he told me to ‘shut up’, I realised I’d lost the run of myself. That advice was well-timed.

I’d love to be remembered as true, honest, full of integrity, strong, and courageous.

If I could change anything, I’d stop being so impatient. I can be quite shouty. I [have] wasted so much time trying to explain or patch things up because of that pressure cooker.

Climate change has delivered a good big parcel of fear into all of us. I deliberately spend more time with plants. I try to learn how to grow and store food. It’s rattled all of us. It could be a long winter. I’m trying to live more consciously. I’ve always been living quite frugally in my
consumptions. I haven’t stopped eating meat or done anything radical —it’s more of a shift in my mind.

I’m surprised that I still have so much energy at this age. I didn’t think I’d be so eager to do things at 53.

What surprises me is the capacity for the earth to recover. For pain not to exist. I’ve been in trouble sometimes and suddenly I’m OK again. I was afraid of everything as a kid. That drove me to grow up a bit tougher. I put a lot of time into my decisions so that I could be tough, and have some sort of Dublin accent.

Rónán Ó Snodaigh: snapped at Electric Picnic 2008. Photo: Dara Munnis.

The things that scared me, I went straight to them. Mick Downes took me out in a currach and he handed me my ass. He took me out in a little boat to the Blaskets and we went into some of the pluaiseanna, the holes in the cliff. That was me facing my worst fear. Just skin between me and oblivion. Above and below me and all around me, thinking ‘There’s nothing I can do. Hold on to these two sticks. It’ll be over soon.’ The swells go up and down; it’s like a merry-go-round.

Maybe it’s a boy thing but it’s important for me to be humbled. I did a men’s retreat two weeks ago with Mick Ryan and Diarmuid Lyng. There was one guy, a Wexfordian and I wanted to wrestle him. It was just amazing. My full body to attention against this skilled operator. I was on the ground in a twist and I couldn’t get out of it. It brings you down to the peg you’re supposed to be in.

I was extremely into soccer. That could have been on the agenda. I’m a lot more of a softie than I’ve ever wanted to admit until now. I always wanted to be tough.

Everyone could see through me except me but I threw a good shape for a while with that sporty me. Sports careers don’t last so long, and I can still write.

• Rónán Ó Snodaigh is a founding member and lead vocalist in Kíla. Kíla play Monroe’s Live, Galway, on June 17 as part of Galway Folk Festival and Rónán will perform at Sounds of Solstice at The Law Society of Ireland, Blackhall Place, Dublin, on June 22.