EMQ’s With Joy Shannon
EMQ’s With Joy Shannon
Hi everyone! Welcome to another EMQs interview, this time with Irish Folk Musician, Joy Shannon. Huge thanks to her for taking part.
Can you tell us a little bit about your musical history?
I am an Irish harp player, singer and cellist. I started to play cello when I was 8 years old, and by the time I was a teenager, I started to look for a different instrument I could write songs on. I tried guitar and piano but I didn’t connect to them. When a harpist came and played a solo with my school orchestra, I knew that was in the instrument that I needed to play. Playing the Irish harp was like meeting my musical soulmate. I love everything about it, from its sound to its history. It always inspires me to write songs.
I started by playing in a couple of bands, including a goth band called the Deathblossoms. Then I started to do solo work on Irish harp and vocals, and played for a few years with a more full band I called the Beauty Marks. Since about 2014, I went back to playing solo and release music now just as my name Joy Shannon.
What Country / Region are you from and what is the Rock scene like there?
I grew up in Los Angeles area, but my family is from Tullamore in Ireland. I grew up frequently going back and forth between the two countries. Ireland always felt like my true home, but California offered me a lot of freedom as a teenager to experiment with my music and identity. Since I’ve been around, Los Angeles has always had goth, punk, and metal scenes. Often, because my music is on the darker side, I have played in goth clubs or with dark folk or folk metal bands. There is a scene for that, though there is more metal and dark folk shows further north, in Northern California and into Oregon and Washington, where I have also played.
What inspired An Chailleach?
“An Chailleach” was inspired by going to the ancient sites of Loughcrew and the Caves of Kesh in Ireland. Those sites are associated with the crone goddess or “An Chailleach”, who rules over winter, storms, sicknesses, death and rebirth. I began writing the album right after we went into lockdown for the pandemic in 2020, and it felt like “An Chailleach” was a reassuring ancient myth to delve into. While she can be a feared figure in Irish mythology, she is also a reminder that even frightening change, as with a storm, can bring about rebirth, regrowth and a new spring.
From there, the songs unfolded and I told more stories inspired by loss, grief and survival. The songs were inspired my own ancestral history and the lore of “An Chailleach” and other Irish goddesses like Airmid, Caer Ibormeith, Grainne and Corra. What I love about Ireland is that the land itself is the body of the goddess, and each goddess is connected to different ancient sites. To tell their stories is to tell the stories of the land and her people. And, I discovered through writing these songs, that to tell the stories of the goddesses and the land they are from, is to tell my own family’s stories. It felt natural to write the lyrics in a combination of English and Irish, as I am learning Irish, and the language has deepened my understanding of Irish culture and beliefs.
My love of ancient Ireland- this mysterious and, once forbidden, pagan past- has been extremely healing for me to openly create songs and art about. To connect to this past has been like a way to heal ancestral wounds, for myself and my family line. For example, on this album, the song “The Crone of Loughcrew” was written about the ancient site of burial mounds at a place called Loughcrew. It is a site dedicated to the crone goddess “An Chailleach”. This ancient site of reverence of the divine feminine, stands above a site of the Magdalene Laundry where my grandmother was imprisoned for having my father out of wedlock. Those institutions were abusive places where women were forced to do hard labor, for insane reasons that are shocking today, like being too pretty or rebellious, or being pregnant out of wedlock. I wrote this song about this because I wanted to express the strange paradox of the ancient site and this terrible institution being so close to each other- one reverent of an ancient goddess, and one abusive to women. It showed to me how far society had gone to forget to honour and protect the beauty and strength of women. While the Magdalene Laundries are now closed, we still have much further to go to protect the rights of women around the world.
Who have been your greatest influences?
When I was a teenager, I discovered the music of Irish performers Gavin Friday and his band the Virgin Prunes. They were the first musicians that opened up my mind to see music can be a provocative, challenging piece of art. They also introduced me to the idea of a wild, pagan Ireland of old, with how they dressed, defied gender norms and seemed to make a performance a cathartic ritual. Gavin Friday’s solo work is really incredible and deeply inspiring to me too. He has always seemed to be himself with so much style and courage and to challenge what it has meant to be Irish. I met him once and he told me, as I shyly asked to take a photo with him, that “shyness gets you nowhere.” It was a quite good mantra for me to apply to my life, as I have stage fright sometimes, but I always push through it, to be able to share my heart and music with others.
I also take great inspiration from Nick Cave, with his incredible lyrics, musicality (and that of his band and Warren Ellis), and fearless performances. All the musicians I admire share this fearlessness: Sinead O’Connor, Leonard Cohen, Lankum, Wardruna, Eivor, Heilung.
Lately I have taken much inspiration from the ritual performances of Heilung. I especially admire how they honor the native tribes of every place they tour, and really create a musical bridge between ancient ideas and the music they are creating now.
What first got you into music?
Ever since I was a small child, I was fascinated by music. I was a small child when U2’s “The Joshua Tree” album came out and I remember hearing that music playing everywhere we went at the time. The raw emotions of it, touched my heart and I remember thinking to myself, that I wanted to do whatever that was. I also remember hearing the incredible singing of Sinead O’Connor and she showed me that music could speak truth, even when people were too afraid to otherwise.
My parents had a folk band together in the 1970s, and when I was small, they still played music. I went to a recording studio with my dad once and it was so inspiring to me, I knew I would record my own music one day. By the time I was a teenager, my parents had long since given up on their music. That made me sad, and in my observation they were happier when they played music. So I think that is where my vow to myself came from, that I would make music and art and never give up on it. The pursuit of it and the creation of it, makes me a better and happier person, no matter how much money I make from it.
If you could collaborate with a current band or musician who would it be?
I would love to collaborate with Gavin Friday or Nick Cave or Lankum.
This album, I was so lucky to able to collaborate with so many musicians I had always wanted to: Osi and the Jupiter, Aerial Ruin, Emily Jane White, Kai Uwe Faust from Heilung, Leila Abdul-Rauf, Jessica Way from Worm Ouroboros, Justin Fox from Fox and the Red Hares, multi-instrumentalist Syd Lewis, singer Amelia Barron and my producers Greg Chandler from Esoteric and Dan Malsch. Each collaboration brought me so much inspiration and really enriched the album.
If you could play any festival in the world, which would you choose and why?
I’d love to play any festivals in ancient sites, like Midgardsblot Viking Festival. I also would love to play Castlefest. There are some festivals in Ireland at some of the ancient sites, I would love to play, like the Bealtaine Festival at the Hill of Uisneach.
What’s the weirdest gift you have ever received from a fan?
I hate to call any gift from a fan weird. I have lovely fans and sometimes they give me crafts they have kindly made with love for me. I really appreciate that very much.
If you had one message for your fans, what would it be?
I have always wanted my music to help others know that they are not alone in their grief or challenging emotions in this world. Music always did that for me, and I hope I can pay it forward to others.
If you could change one thing about the music industry, what would it be?
I think what I would change is already happening more and more: that the industry is open to and supportive of the wonderful gifts of the music of women and the diversity of music from around the world and indigenous cultures. In such a confusing world, music and art is a beautiful reminder that humans are capable of creating beauty, instead of destruction. To support music, you are supporting a fellow human being making the world more beautiful and more peaceful, one song at a time.
Name one of your all-time favourite albums?
I have the name of my favorite album by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, “Let Love In”, tattooed on my wrist. “Let Love In” is one of the most inspiring albums to me, from start to finish.
What’s best? Vinyl, Cassettes, CDs or Downloads?
I personally love vinyl the best, as I love the size of the artwork and I love how, to listen to it, it is an event.
What’s the best gig that you have played to date?
I have played some really special shows, it is hard to choose. Perhaps I would say playing the metal and folk festival in Washington state called “Cascadian Midsummer”. Playing on a stage in the middle of a rainforest, was magical. While I was playing for a lovely crowd of people, I looked up and realized how many trees were there, and it felt like they were my audience too.
If you weren’t a musician, what else would you be doing?
In addition to being a musician, I am also a tattoo artist. I do two jobs I absolutely love and they are both inspired by my love of ancient Irish mythology. I write music inspired by Irish goddess lore and I create illustrations and tattoos, inspired by ancient Celtic and Nordic artwork. Both pursuits really feed my heart and soul, and my longing to connect with and honour my ancestors.
Which five people would you invite to a dinner party?
I’d invite a group of Irish philosophers from history and see what they have to say: Ella Young, Maude Gonne, WB Yeats, Lady Wilde, Oscar Wilde.
What’s next for you?
For this album, I still have one more music video to finish and release for the song “Corr Bán (Tar Árais Dom)” that I recorded with Kai Uwe Faust from Heilung. The music video and extended mixes come out on November 29. Then, we have one more release of two remixes of the songs “Mo Corra” and “The Crone of Loughcrew” by the incredible producer Dan Malsch, who had worked with Gojira, Ghost and lots of amazing metal bands. That comes out December 21.
After all that, I will continue to play shows and find my inspiration to write more. I am always creating more… after this album, I will create another. I am not sure what the theme will be, but I will begin again, and go deeper into the research of the ancient world that inspires me so.
What social media / Website links do you use to get your music out to people?
www.joyshannon.com
Instagram: @joyshannon
Facebook: www.facebook.com/JoyShannonmusic
YouTube: www.YouTube.com/@joyshannon
Bandcamp: http://joyshannon.bandcamp.com
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6JOUKe7MRRYgkWOiOJQLKi?si=e_haXJTLRlmv1YKvyEOM5g
Thank you for your time. Is there anything else that you would like to add?
Thank you so much for your support of my music. It truly means the world to me.
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