Interview: MEGAN O'NEILL & THE COMMON THREADS, Nashville Meets London

Irish ‘Celt-icana’ singer Megan O’Neill sat down with me after her set with her newly formed band The Common Threads to chat about telling stories through music, being featured on ABC’s Nashville TV show, and forming The Common Threads. Read on below!

Ciara’s Country (CC): I’m here with Megan O’Neill after her set with her band The Common Threads at Nashville Meets London in Canary Wharf. So first of all Megan, thank you so much for joining me today.

Megan O’Neill (MO): Sure, no problem.

CC: So I wanted to ask first, how’s your year going so far?

MO: Amazing! I kind of can’t believe it’s already August, it’s a bit scary, but the year has flown by and we’ve had so many great things happening, so very happen with 2016!

CC: What would some of your highlights from this year be?

MO: We’ve been recording a new record which is definitely a highlight, I formed this full band which we didn’t have last year, so that’s again another highlight, we played some really great shows – C2C for one, Time Out’s Rising Stars of Country Music, today was amazing, so you know, lots of great things happening.

CC: Country music is such a wide-ranging genre – how would you describe the sound of Megan & The Common Threads?

MO: I don’t think our own personal sound needs a description. I think we definitely fall into the country music bracket, but we could also fall into folk or Americana or an indie bracket. You just don’t know how people want to box you off these days, into which genre that you’re in, and I think we dip in and out of a lot of genres with our music. You know, country is what I write, it’s at my heart, but the band brings something different to it, which is what you’d expect with five other musicians. It’s a beautiful thing. So yeah, if people want to bracket us, I think we definitely fall into the country bracket, but I think we dip into a lot of other brackets too.

CC: I think the crowd out there are pretty proud that you fall into the country music bracket! So a lot of those influences come through in your songwriting and storytelling – are there other elements from your background that influence how you write music?

MO: Well I grew up in a very musical family – I grew up in an Irish family where everyone plays music, and my mam sings, my brother sings, and my younger sister sings, and I think having them as an influence from such a young age definitely played a role in my want to be a songwriter, and the most important thing for me always when listening to music has been the story that’s being told. That’s something that’s resonated with me throughout my whole life, so when I wanted to be a songwriter, the most important thing for me was stories, and I think the best stories come from your own life experiences, so I’ve written a lot about my own life experience, about things that I’ve been through, about things that my family have been through, or relationships that I’ve had, and I like to draw on personal situations so that I can make them into music.

CC: Was there one song that was particularly interesting for you to write?

MO: Yes, a lot of them have been. One that we played today, it’s called Stories to Tell and it’s going to be on the next record – that was quite an interesting song for me to write because I went back somewhere I used to live and realised that everything had changed since I’d been there. The lyrics are ‘And that was then, and I’m left with used to be’s, times good and bad and in between, and even though this city don’t remember me so well, I’ll always have my stories to tell.’ So it was like nobody in that city knew who I was anymore, even though I lived there for quite a while. So that was quite a therapeutic way to write as I’d visited a city and it wasn’t the same city that I used to know.

CC: I suppose a lot of artists say that songwriting is kind of a catharsis for them – do you feel the same way?

MO: Yeah definitely. I write a lot of poetry, so I tend to write, even if I’m on the tube in the morning I’m writing poetry, so I tend to get things off my chest and a lot of those end up turning into my songs.

CC: Very interesting! Am I right in thinking one of your songs was featured on an episode of Nashville?

MO: Yeah! Our song Don’t You was on Season 3 of Nashville.

CC: Do you think that was a useful way of introducing yourself to the American market then?

MO: Yeah, it was. I’ve spent a lot of time in the States and I lived in Nashville for a while so I think I already have some great people and some great fans out there, but that was definitely a huge platform, so it was great to have a song on the show.

CC: And in terms of playing in Nashville and London, how do the two compare?

MO: They’re very different. I mean I love playing music in Nashville, but it’s much more of either a) you’re on Broadway and it’s a bar and everyone’s dancing and everyone’s drunk, or b) you’re playing the likes of The Bluebird and it’s a songwriting session and it’s literally dead quiet. I think you have more variety in London probably within one crowd. You just never really know how your crowd is going to react in London. It could be a Tuesday night and everyone could be going crazy and dancing on tables, or it could be a Friday night and everyone could be exhausted and not saying anything.

CC: I think you had more of the former today.

MO: I did, everyone was great out today, I was so happy.

CC: In terms of the genre as a whole, is there one artist out there who you think deserves more recognition?

MO: Yes. Brandy Carlisle, straight away. She’s an American – probably Americana/folk would be her genre, but she’s absolutely phenomenal, and I think she’s not recognised enough, especially in Europe.

CC: I hope with events like this we’ll get more crossover with more US artists coming over here, and more European artists heading to the States.

MO: Hopefully!

CC: Finally, my last question for you is what’s the one question you wish you were asked in interviews but never are?

MO: Oh gosh. Probably I’d like to be asked more about my band – they’re my heart and soul, they’re my best friends, and most people tend to focus on the lead singer, which I completely understand, and I also write most of the music, but I write with members of my band too. I think it’s really important that they get recognised too and that they get to sign things and the hugs, because they’re my core, and they’re such amazing people. So I think if people recognised them more, that would make me really happy.

CC: So how did you become a band then?

MO: That only happened about six months ago. We were doing acoustic shows for about two years before and then thought that we needed a bigger sound, so we expanded.

CC: Seems to be working out for you then.

MO: I love it.

CC: Thank you so much for taking the time to talk to me today Megan, and best of luck for the rest of the year!

MO: Thank you very much!  

Thanks to Megan for catching up with me, and be sure to check out her music if you haven’t already – you’ll be glad you did! You can keep up to date with all future interviews at @CiarasCountry, and drop Megan a follow at @meganoneill – don’t forget to tell her who sent you!