Getting to Know… Bobby Mc | Interview 🎤

On the 162^nd interview in our Getting to Know… series, we get the inside scoop on modern Irish swing and jazz artist, Bobby Mc.

“I try to engage people with both [my vocal one and performing style] during my shows.” Sounds extremely awesome to us, 🎙 Bobby Mc!  He goes own to add, “I make the audience go crazy by taking them on a journey with the band and building the atmosphere so we can all sing and dance together.” Even more awesome! There’s no better way to ‘get to know’ this Irishmen than one of our Q&A interviews – our 162^nd to be precise.  Bobby not only talks about his own craft, but also provides the scoop on his band, influences, and of course, what’s in the works.  So, enough background already – let’s dig right into this thing! Without further ado, we present Getting to Know… Bobby Mc: Interview no. 162!

Starting things off right, for those who may not be familiar with you, what would you say makes you distinct or unique? How do you rock the audience’s socks off? 

🎤 I’m a modern Irish swing and jazz artist. What makes me different is my vocal tone and my performing style. I try to engage people with both during my shows. I love the idea of a silent venue with minimal backing and just a vocal, but I also love the band in full swing with the brass section making lots of noise and everyone up on their feet. I make the audience go crazy by taking them on a journey with the band and building the atmosphere so we can all sing and dance together. I include songs in my set that people know, songs that they don’t and songs that only I play in my own way.

Okay, let’s explore some juicy backstories. How did your band form and what were some of the goals or the visions you had as a band early on? 

🎤 The band formed in 2017. I had been gigging on my own since 2013 and decided to put the band together. Our standard band was a 6-piece, Keys/Guitar/Double Bass/Drums/Sax/Vocal. I fronted the band with 4 other permanent members, and we would have different piano players join us for gigs and events. Some of the goals of the band were to get gigging regularly, to play at festivals and to do some corporate work. We have achieved all of those goals fortunately, playing gigs regularly, appearing at festivals such as ‘The Taste of Dublin’ and The Guinness Cork Jazz Festival and working with some of the best corporate agencies in Ireland to perform at big events around the country.

Let’s talk more about goals.  Have your goals or your perspectives changed since first starting out? What do your aspirations or goals look like now? 

🎤 Yeah, they definitely have changed. Gigging regularly with the band in Ireland is the norm now. I want to start playing abroad to different audiences around the world. I want ultimately to record an album in the future and continue to work on original material.

Everybody is influenced by somebody else. Who would you consider some of your biggest musical influences and how are they influential?

🎤 Gregory Porter, Carole King and Jamie Cullum would be big influences of mine. Gregory Porter and Jamie Cullum have influenced me by showing me that my style/genre of music can be mainstream. They’ve both proven that there is an audience for modern vocal jazz, both original work and interpretations. They don’t play the small venues with 20 people; they play venues such as the Royal Albert Hall and The White House. Carole King for me is one of the greatest songwriters of our generation. She wrote pop songs with lyrics that made you feel something at a time when most songs were bubble gum pop. She’s influenced me by showing me that regardless of the arrangement, the meaning of the lyrics can break through.

Ah, the fun stuff.  What’s your craziest tour story or the wackiest thing that’s happened during a performance?  Feel free to be creative.

🎤 On my first tour to Germany, we went straight to the first venue from the plane. I was approached by my producer on arrival and handed a set of lyrics. I looked at him blankly and said what is this?? Long story short, having rehearsed the gig for the last week, I had to learn a brand-new song for the show that night. All I’ll say is, it was a long 3 and a half minutes on stage. There’s been many strange things that have happened over the years. In my first two performances of ‘Bobby Mc’s Speakeasy’, my first stage show, I ended up dancing with a member of the audience completely by chance. The first one, I jumped down during the instrumental of “Sway” and spotted a lady in the front row who looked like she could move, and we danced where the band pit would normally be. In the second show, during “Jumpin’ Jive”, I noticed a guy in the front row doing his own personal dance in the chair in front of me so I invited him up mid song and we did it together.

Up until this point in your career, what would you describe as your favorite song you’ve recorded or performed live? What makes that song special?

🎤 🎵 “Water Under Bridges” would be my favourite. I recorded it back in 2019 in Camden Recording Studios Dublin. It’s a Gregory Porter song and one that I fell in love with instantly. It was a dream come true to record a song by my idol. Melodically, the song is stunning but there are so many rhythmic feels and changes that make it so unique. It only has one of my all-time favourite lyrics, “If I could go back, I’d take our worse days, even our worse days are better than loneliness’.

Is there anything else awesome, cool, or left of center the world should know about you? Secret talents or surprising tidbits? 

🎤 When I was 18, I was on The Voice of Ireland in 2013 and got through to the Battle stages. My parents are both professional musicians and I have been going to their gigs since I could walk and then I started gigging with them as their half time act from 16. I also have a first class honours degree in Actuarial Mathematics.

Closing things out, what are you currently working on, promoting that you can share with us or want us to know about? We love secrets, but there’s no pressure. 

🎤 We have finished recording our next single but are working behind the scenes to get the production end finished. It should be out in April/May 2021.

Follow Bobby Mc: FB

[📷: Bobby Mc Brent Faulkner, The Musical Hype]