E-INTERVIEW with Michael Cunningham - Cystic Fibrosis ...

E-INTERVIEW
E-INTERVIEW with Michael Cunningham
A new up & coming singer/songwriter!
Michael Cunningham is a new up and coming
singer/songwriter who hails from Co. Kildare.
Currently he is living and working in Co. Kerry.
Recently, Future Force caught up with him!!
FF: So, tell us a little about yourself.
Michael: Well, I'm in my 32nd year (!), have 2
brothers and a sister and live in Killorglin with my wife
Terry. We got married in South Africa last October,
Terry is from there but I was born in Athy, Co. Kildare
and moved to Kerry when I was 13. I work from home
so it's great that I can stay in Kerry and not have to live
in a big city - been there, done that! I went to College
in Cork and then Dublin and also spent a year in
London a few years back. I love to travel and have
been to Australia and the USA a few times. Obviously
spent some time in South Africa too! I enjoy water-skiing
(in the summer!), walking and of course, music
which I had always toyed with as a disgruntled teenager!
FF: When did you start your involvement in
music?
Mike: I had always toyed with songs and when I was
living in London I was listening to BBC London and a
girl called Alice Martineau was being interviewed. She
had just recorded a CD of her own material with Sony
music and mentioned that she had CF and all the while
was waiting for a lung transplant. I decided then to find
a small studio in London and record a few tracks and
maybe one of my own and was going to do it on my
birthday, March 6th. The day I went into the studio,
Alice died while awaiting her transplant and the same
day, a friend of mine who had been on the transplant
list went in to have it done.
I recorded a few covers and one of my own, 'November
Day'. The recording itself wasn't great but the feedback
2
I got from people was good enough for me to move
home and take some time off to record a few more. The
result of that was a 5 track demo I recorded in Kerry. I
sent one to Christy Moore and Jack L, two people
whose music I greatly enjoy, and they both called me
to say they had enjoyed it which I was pretty chuffed
with as you can imagine!!
FF: Tell us about your gigs to date and which
you enjoyed the most.
Mike: I haven't really gigged much as such. I sang at
my sister's wedding and at my own and here and there
but nothing really other than that! I hope to do some
gigs this summer to promote the new CD I am currently
working on. I am doing a full 10 track CD of my own
songs with no holes barred... no more demos! I played
support to Jack L in the Granary in Cork a year or so
ago which happened to be the same day that Billy
Burke, whom I was in school with, died while waiting for
his transplant. I was asked to sing at a rally for Billy
shortly before he passed, which I was proud to do as it
was an important cause. It was to protest that all the
donor organs from Ireland only go to one hospital in the
UK for transplants and Billy happened to be on the list
at another hospital. I still can't believe that the minister
for health refused to move on it at the time. Why do we
put these people in power if not to act on our behalf?
FF: Where do you get the inspiration for your
songs?
Mike: I don't really know. I had been thinking about
that and a while back I was watching a documentary
with U2 talking about song writing and Bono said that
the songs are already out there somewhere and that
the person writing is like a filter and the songs just are
filtered through them. I liked that idea. I often try to sit
down and write a 'funny song' or a 'story-type' song but
I can't seem to do that. I just fiddle with the guitar until
I find something I like and then write what comes to me
in a kind of stream of consciousness kind of way and
hope for the best! Although I wrote a song called 'The
boy at the window' about CF so it seems sometimes I
can focus!
FF: Which song are you most proud of and
why?
Mike: Definitely 'The boy at the window'. At home
when we were young, we had a CF collection box that
we would have to put 10p in when we were bold or