Limerick's Hermitage Green taking music in a new direction ahead of castle gig

IN A CAFÉ on Bedford Row in Limerick city, bass player and vocalist Barry Murphy discusses the magic of playing in a castle, bravado, and Hermitage Green’s next album.

The Limerick quintet was recently on tour in Australia. “It was a pretty whirlwind trip,” says Barry, as he takes a sip from his Americano. “We booked it back in 2020 before the pandemic, it was weird that we’ve had to put it off for three years. It was StPatrick's weekend and a lot of new Irish people were fresh off the boat.”

The musician finds it harrowing to know so many young people have to move abroad because of the cost of living and housing crisis.

“It would blow your mind to play a festival in the middle of Melbourne and there's literally 4,000 parish youngsters there. It’s a bit harrowing to see all these kids who've realised that there's not much of a future for them in Ireland.”

This Sunday, Hermitage Green will play at King John’s Castle during the bank holiday weekend.

“At the castle, we’ve always had something magic in the air. We’ve played over the Riverfest weekend, it’s such a buzz around the city,” he smiles. And according to the vocalist and bass player, the band have a few tricks up their sleeve.

“We’ll play some new music, some older songs we haven't done in a while, and different takes on certain songs. You’ve got to freshen things up every once in a while, even for ourselves.”

Before they go on stage, Barry’s dad always comes in to give them a “little pep talk.” Between high-fives, he’s always there to let them know what’s going on in the crowd.

“My dad always knows whether we need to go out and blow their heads off for three songs, or have a little chat after one song.

It almost feels like we’re out playing a match,” he notes.

At the moment, the band is working on a new album, which will be out next year. But fans won’t have to wait too long, as a few songs will be out this summer.

“We’re all quite busy trying to take the music in a new direction. There’s a lot of electronic music coming in.

“We always try to get a little bit upbeat for certain sections of the gig, and the latest album seems to be going in that direction entirely. It’s way less acoustic and more dance orientated, I would say with electronic synths,” he explains.

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The inspiration behind one of their next songs? A pair of shoes. “A guy I used to know when I was younger had a pair of Nike, he was a bit of an ass***e. With lads at that age, there was a lot of bravado. The song is about how teenage lads behave growing up. I was just looking at my shoes, and next thing, the whole story came out.”

For Hermitage Green, it all started in The Curragower.

Barry recalls: “I think it was a Monday, we sat in the back room and just played there in the corner.”

It didn’t take long before they were asked to play every week. “The windows used to steam up because of the amount of people that were there, just having the craic”.

For the lads, it’s been an “unbelievable” experience. And even though they’ve been at it for a while, they still have those ‘pinch me’ moments.

“I think, especially when you play new music, you feel a bit vulnerable. When you play something for the first time and people sing it back to you, that's always a bit of a ‘pinch me’ moment,” he smiles.

With their last album, Hi Generation, they proved that the ‘wild years’ were left behind, as they became parents. Years ago, the dream looked a bit different.

“The dream for me would be to get straight off-stage into a green room, a bottle of whiskey, and the night would take us wherever it took us.”

Now, Barry has switched from whiskey to wine.

“Your kids might be beside a stage, you get in a car, you go back to your hotel with them, and you have a glass of wine after putting them to bed.”

His children are a big fan of the 'Jenny', a song Hermitage Green released in 2015.

“Someone played it at school, and they asked to listen to it. There’s nothing worse than being at traffic lights in Limerick playing your own music and someone could pull next to you playing your own song. I’d be trying to turn it down,” he laughs.

In the mornings, Barry can often be found wrestling over which song to play in the car. Between X-rated hip-hop and Disney songs, he admits the latter usually wins, but that “there’s only so much Disney” he can handle

Although, there was a time when the bass player used to record himself singing on “a magic carpet ride”.

“We used to do school plays and no boys would sing in them. Back then, I don't think it was a very cool thing for a young boy to do. I used to sit at home and record myself singing a magic carpet ride, but I wouldn’t do it in front of anyone,” he recalls.

Looking back, he says: “I had to hide the fact that I played piano and that I sang, that was weird. Now to think back, I hope my kids don't ever feel that.”

As the conversation comes to an end, this reporter wonders who he’d like to have dinner with, dead or alive?

He says he would have one question to ask Buddha, Jesus and Bob Marley: “What is it all about?” That’s quite a party!