What a difference a day makes: Gavin James on hearing his song being sung back to him

Singer-songwriter Gavin James tells Helen O’Callaghan how hearing the words of his song sung back to him as a 20-year-old in Temple Bar proved the catalyst for a bigger commitment to his musical career.

Singer Gavin James at the penthouse suite in the Clayton Hotel, Cork. Picture Dan Linehan

I used to play Temple Bar gigs for years, doing a bunch of covers. Then I started playing one of my own songs at each gig.

A moment that always sticks in my head happened when I was 20 – one night, five people sang all the words of my song back to me. Nobody had ever sung my songs back before. It was mad, a very strange feeling that they were singing back something I wrote in my mam and dad’s home. We were in 3 Crown Alley, now The Old Storehouse.