Interviewed live at Splashy Fen Festival 2025 by Dawn Melanie
Interview-DARREN KIELY Talks to Fanbase Music Magazine And the Diverse Creative Podcast Live From Splashy Fen
Listen along with the interview with the Dawn Melanie Take Over on the Anything Goes Podcast.
Darren Kiely is an amazing Irish Folk-Pop Singer/ Songwriter from Ireland, and his very first South African appearance was on the Splashy Fen main stage. I got to have an incredible interview with him; he’s really down-to-earth. We got to chat about his roots and how his roots have affected the music he now shares today.
Welcome to Splashy Fen 2025, and we’ve been doing some amazing on-site interviews, and I get to interview Darren Kiely, who is all the way from Ireland. How are you doing?
I’m great, how are you?
I’m really, really good. How are you enjoying the South African weather? I’ve got to start there because it’s cooking today, especially in here.
Yeah, some people are cold, I think it’s roasting. We’ve been asked a few times if we needed sun cream. It looks like I’ve never seen the sun before, so I’ve put plenty of sun cream on, so we’re good.
The funniest thing is, even when I was living in the UK and Ireland, I looked as pale as can be. There’s something just different about the actual intensity of the sunshine, I think.
Yeah, there’s a lot of very pale people.
Is this your first time here in South Africa, I’m not going to assume it is. Exciting adventure?
Yeah. Oh, it’s been amazing. I don’t even know what I thought it was going to be like, but you’re never going to imagine a place how it is. The countryside here is amazing, the mountains in the backdrop, and people are so friendly. You definitely don’t feel like an outsider. I haven’t felt once like I’m maybe one of the few people, I guess, that are from somewhere else. So it’s been really nice.
That’s great. I think we are renowned for our friendliness, especially here in KwaZulu Natal. We tend to pride ourselves on being a fairly friendly bunch, even comparatively to the rest of the country, I think. In KZN, you’ve won here; you’ve found the friendly province.
People are really thankful that you came here. We’re delighted! If people are going to listen, we’re going to go. They’ve been so nice.
Getting straight into the reason you’re here, is obviously to perform at Splashy Fen. You’re performing on the main stage tonight. I know a lot of people who are actually great fans of yours, like my sister-in-law, who’s a huge fan. One of the first things she said to me when I said, “Why? Before I go and listen, tell me why?” and she said to me that she feels like you’re really authentic and down-to-earth, and what you write about is real and approachable. That’s what she felt about your music. So I thought, “Okay, that’s a good reason. For me, as a songwriter, that’s a great reason. I’ll go and listen.”
That’s lovely. You always wonder why people like it, you’d love to hand out a survey like, “Why are you listening?” so it’s nice to get feedback. I mean, I try and write stuff as honestly as possible, that’s the music I like as well. You feel like you can believe the person, but you never know if that’s how it comes across, so it’s nice when people say that.
Do you write a lot of your own life experiences, or do you find inspiration in other places?
I usually write about how I feel or what I think. Definitely, going to different places gets me thinking about life, maybe a little bit differently. So, whether it’s a personal experience or a personal experience in an environment, if that makes sense, I think that’s just how I know how to write. Some people are great at telling stories by just seeing people, but I don’t know if I’m like that as much. It’s more from what I feel, I think.
I think that’s obviously why people connect with it so easily, it’s that it comes from the heart. We all share experiences, regardless of where we come from in the world, or what our cultural backgrounds are; some experiences are just human.
That’s the nice thing, I think, about music. A lot of people write songs, myself included, that are really specific to a situation, and people might not have gone through that specific thing, but they can draw on something in it. Which is nice that you can find a connection like that through, I guess, universal feelings, but maybe not universal specifically.
Experiences?
Yeah, experiences, but it’s a really nice thing when you see people connecting. I know from music I like listening to, when you don’t know the person or that situation they went through, but when you can take something and apply it to yourself, that’s really a nice feeling. You feel less lonely, maybe, about what you experienced, which is nice.
You’re a guitarist as well. How much of your music is written from melody and guitar structure first, and how much of it is lyric-based first?
A lot of the songs I’ve written have been messing around on guitar.
Come up with a cool riff and think, “This sounds great, I’m going to run with this”?
They’re not even cool riffs. I’m really not proficient at guitar, but I think when I try and learn something new, that’s when you hear things that are a little different to what you normally hear when you play guitar, for me. I mess around on other instruments too, and sometimes that’s just inspiring, and then I try and shout different melodies, see what feels nice, and then usually the lyrics come at the very end. I don’t usually start with a concept; I try and let whatever I’m expressing get the rest of the stuff out of there. It’s different every time.
The songwriting process is something I’m very passionate about. I run songwriting workshops, and I feel like I’m very passionate about original music. I play all original music, I’m stubborn like, “Covers? That’s great, somebody else can do them.” I’m just holding fort for those people who want to play originals. How big a factor do you think that is in the music that you choose to play? Do you choose more originals in general, do you only play originals, or do you play covers?
You know, we don’t. I was trying to think of the last time we played a cover live; maybe this time last year was the last time during one of my own shows that we played a cover. We were even talking about it for this festival. Definitely, when you play festivals, people can just stumble into the tent. I’m sure there will be loads of people today who won’t know any of the music, but I’m kind of hopeful that the general vibe usually with the music is good enough to carry itself. I do love when you’re at a set, and the odd, random cover comes on. Sometimes it can be good, but I think today we’ll just play my own music. It has its place, and I do love that there are some artists that do a cover in a certain way where they make it their own, and I think that’s a skill that I don’t think gets talked about properly.
That’s like a rendition rather than a full-on cover. It’s essentially adapted some of the song to suit their particular style, and it makes it more because it’s like a layer of paintings.
I think there’s obviously a skill to making songs, and your own melodies and lyrics, but when you take something that you know so well in a certain way and shape it your own way, and make it maybe better sometimes, I think that’s really impressive. I don’t think it’s talked about enough, maybe?
It’s a skill, it’s absolutely a skill. That’s a nice conversation to bring up actually. I like that one, I’m going to raise it with more people in the future.
It’s something I definitely wish I were better at, but there are some people who just have it.
I hear you, it’s totally a talent.
I’ve listened to your songs. The other thing is the production’s fantastic; it really sounds like phenomenal production. Even though I feel like a lot of it is predominantly you and your guitar, it makes it sound so full, there’s a lot of other things going on in the background. Tell me a little bit about your latest releases and the recording process behind them.
It always starts with me playing the song in the room acoustically, so just guitar, and play it down. Then with the producer we arrange it like, “This is going to be the structure,” and then we build from there. We usually try and get the tempo and the guitars done first, and then probably add in a lot of stuff like pianos, drums, whatever else gets added. Then at the very end of that, it’s very much a strip back thing. I don’t think it’s ever been about adding this, or adding this, its been about take away this. A lot of the songs start off with just guitar at the start, and then we try and build it towards the end, creating a story in the music, make it dynamic. I have a bias towards getting towards a finish
How involved are you in the production process?
I definitely feel like I want to have a hold on where it goes, but I’m open to adding things if the producer thinks it’s a good thing to go this way, I’ll say “yeah let’s do it, let’s try it.” There are not many things I’d shut down but at the end it has to come back, maybe not to the vision I had at the start, but if I don’t love it the way I want to love it, then i know it’s not done yet, and I’ll be involved until it feels like I think it needs to feel.
Do you you feel a song evolves during the recording process? I often find that while ecord8ng a song I find harmonies or new ways to play the song because of the input of others, do you find the same thing?
A million percent. There’s definitely a few songs that I have that I don’t even know if anyone listening is as excited about the pieces I’m hearing as I am, but there are things the musicians will do, that become my favourite part of a song, things that I never could have come up with on my own. That’s the beauty of it, if you’re hoping to find those bits of magic, the things you never would have landed on yourself. You’re hoping with every song you get produced that there are new things that are just magical about it.
So I take it you feel collaboration is valuable then?
Yeah it’s huge, I think there a certain energy you can give to something yourself but when you start getting inspired by other people and they’re in the room with you, especially people that are talented musicians, it’s like it gives you a surge of energy to want to create something new and inspired off that. I think it’s a core part of music. You’re even collaborating when you play live, I mean obviously with the band, but also with the audience, there’s and energy to that, and it’s hard to articulate what it is.
I’m so glad you mentioned that audience collaboration, how much do you feel a song developed from that audience interaction? Audiences are so integral to the creative process and they don’t even know it.
I think, whether it’s unfortunate or not, when you have released stuff already and then you start playing it live and it becomes well known, you may find yourself thinking “Ah I should have emphasized that part a bit more.” For better or for worse, who knows? You have to let it go at some point. For me anyway, there are so many parts to songs, that I never realised would be the part that people would cling to or gravitate towards. It’s a form of collaboration or feedback that you kind of wish you had during the recording process.
How do you, as an artist coming from overseas find the experience of Splashy Fen?
You don’t feel stress of anybody, feels like everythings just been organised so well organized and everyone just knows what they need to do, and I think that feeds onto the people who are at the festival too, that if you, for example go into a restaurant and people welcome you in a nice way you automatically enjoy it a million times more, and it feels like that here.
What brought you to music in the first place?
I think music , listening to music, had always been a part of my life. Inplayed Irish traditional music growing up, so playing was always a part of my life, but those two things were separate, like popular music and music I would have grown up listening to was very separate. Then as I got into my later teenage years, I just needed a form of expresssion really, and that’s how I find writing and that’s how I wanted to make songs. Then watching concerts and artist that I love, I wanted to see if that was possible at any level. I went to festivals, like Electric picnic in Ireland, and they have loads of stages, and there was definitely one in the woods that I remember feeling that I would just love to play there one day. That was the end goal and that excited me, music has always felt magical. The experiences in my life that have always felt magical have been around music. The first time I remember listening to my voice played back, singing a song or writing something (and it really wasn’t any good) but at the time it felt magical. That’s why I’ve kept doing it, it’s just better than anything else I’ve ever found to do.
How do you feel Irish folk music mounded the sound you have?
I think it’s had a big part, I think any music you’ve grown up loving and listening to, that’s where I would have found those first moments of “Oh wow, this is amazing!”, so when you’re looking for that in your own music, you’re likely to land on something that’s close to what was amazing growing up. I’ve always loved the energy that Irish Folk has, and I try to capture that in my music. I love the storytelling, there’s alot of quiet parts, intimate parts, that you don’t get in all types of music, that I’ve tried to capture in some songs. So I think it’s had a big part to play, along with all the other music I listen too.
If you could give a message to upcoming musicians, something that had maybe stood out for you on your journey, that has lead you towards being successful, what would that nugget of wisdom be?
Try things, and get feedback from whatever you try. I don’t think failure is the right word for it, I’ve gone through so many situations where I feel I just had to do that thing to learn from it, to get to the next thing. There are so many different things you have to try out when you are wanting to play original music, and I think it’s not a case of somethings going to happen eventually, it’s not that the right person’s going to hear your music and make it happen, it’s the people who try stuff. You get into that comfort zone, cause it’s not comfortable to try different things but you need to be a little uncomfortable and try learn from it.
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