the traveler's resource guide to festivals & films
a FestivalTravelNetwork.com site
part of Insider Media llc.
Interviews
Master Animator Bill Plympton Keeps The Tradition of 2D Art Alive Through Provocative Animated Features Such as “Slide”
- Details
- Parent Category: Film and the Arts
- Category: Interviews
- Published on Friday, 08 November 2024 14:28
- Written by Brad Balfour
Who: Bill Plympton
What: Big Apple Comic Con
When: November 23rd, 2024
Where: New Yorker Hotel
Address: 481 8th Ave.
In all the years I’ve known Bill Plympton, I still don’t quite comprehend how many drawings he’s made in his life. And he does them so they can work wonderfully well in sequence. There’s a certain crazy genius about him and the work he does.
From stories which include Hitler and a half-naked Trump, Plympton has never shied away from controversial stories and characters. And yet the Bill I know rarely has a harsh word for anyone and is never lacking in joy. He’ll be appearing at this year’s Big Apple Comic Con at the New Yorker Hotel, November 23rd, and has recently released “Slide,” his latest animated feature that’s also a something of a musical.
Born April 30, 1946 in Portland, Oregon, the 78 year-old was raised on a farm in nearby Oregon City with five siblings providing the roots of an odd life. Then, from ’64 to ’68, he studied Graphic Design at Portland State University, where he was a film society member. In ’68, he transferred to New York City’s School of Visual Arts, where he majored in cartooning and graduated in 1969.
When we first met, he was a cartoonist with a political strip. “Plympton,” running in the “SoHo Weekly News” which began in 1975. Eventually it was syndicated in over 20 newspapers. Plympton’s illustrations and cartoons have been published in “The New York Times” and the weekly newspaper. “The Village Voice,” as well as in the magazines “Vogue,” “Rolling Stone,” “Vanity Fair,” ”Penthouse,” and “National Lampoon.”
In 1988, his animated short “Your Face” was Oscar-nominated for Best Animated Short Film. He did other animated shorts, too, including “25 Ways to Quit Smoking” [1989] and “Enemies” [1991,] the latter of which was part of the “Animania” series on MTV, where many of his shorts were shown.
In ’91, Plympton won the Prix Spécial du Jury at the Cannes Film Festival for “Push Comes to Shove” which was featured on MTV’s animated series, "Liquid Television." The next year, his self-financed first full-length animated feature, “The Tune,” debuted at Sundance Film Festival. His work also appeared on the 1992/’93 Fox comedy series, "The Edge." In '93, he also made his first live action film, "J. Lyle" and later in 2016, the mockumentary, "Hitler’s Folly."
Distant relative, actress Martha Plimpton, served as associate producer on his animated feature, “Hair High” [2004], doing much of the casting which included her father Keith Carradine and uncle David. “Guard Dog” [2004] was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film.
Plympton’s 2008 80-minute feature, “Idiots and Angels”– entirely without dialogue — premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival -- and was presented by legendary animator Terry Gilliam. In 2011, director Alexia Anastasio released a doc on Plympton –– “Adventures in Plymptoons!” — direct-to-DVD and through video-on-demand. Then, Plympton collaborated with film critic, Perry Chen, on “Ingrid Pitt: Beyond the Forest,” a 2011 short animated film about the noted actress and Holocaust survivor.
All that served to get Plympton the opportunity to animate the opening couch gag for the Simpsons episodes “Beware My Cheating Bart” in 2012, “Black Eyed, Please” in 2013, “Married to the Blob” in 2014, “Lisa the Veterinarian” in 2016, “22 for 30” in 2017, “3 Scenes Plus a Tag from a Marriage” in 2018, “Manger Things” in 2021 and “One Angry Lisa” in 2022. He also did as well as the menus and packaging for the Season 19 DVD. Thanks to his old friend and fellow Portland, Oregon, native Matt Groening, he reached his largest audiences ever.
Other productions included contributing animation and graphics to a computer game collection, “Take Your Best Shot,” in 1995. He also published a comic book in 2003, “The Sleazy Cartoons of Bill Plympton.” In 2005, Plympton animated a music video for Kanye West’s “Heard ‘Em Say.” The following year, he created the music video for “Weird Al” Yankovic’s “Don’t Download This Song.” Plympton contributed animation to the 2006 History Channel series, “10 Days That Unexpectedly Changed America,” to illustrate the Shays’ Rebellion. Together with other independent New York City animators, he has released two DVDs of animated shorts, both titled “Avoid Eye Contact.” He also directed the segment “On Eating and Drinking” in the 2014 animated film ,“The Prophet,” adapted from Kahlil Gibran’s book.
In 2018, Plympton created a series of videos for The New York Times called “Trump Bites.” One of the series, “Trump and Putin: A Love Story,” depicts Trump and Putin kissing half-naked. Controversial as ever, some critics said the video implied that gay relationships were inherently comic and immoral.
Bill then turned to Kickstarter to speed up production on “Slide,” his new animated feature in the works. Bill drew his inspiration for “Slide” from his life, growing up in Oregon, playing the slide guitar. He loves country music, especially the music of Hank Williams and Patsy Cline. It took more than two years to complete “Slide,” but a successful Kickstarter campaign was going to bring Bill’s newest film out in 2021.
Then the pandemic hit.
Q: It seems your Wikipedia page has not been updated, because it talked about a movie coming out in 2022.
Bill Plympton: Well, because of Covid, I had to drop the movie and make money. Usually, I do a lot of lectures and film festivals at movie theaters. But because of Covid, I ran out of money. [So I did] music videos and things like that. Then I picked it up again in about 2022.
I’ll tell you a little bit about the new film called “Slide” — which is now out. It’s about a slide guitar player — it’s a cowboy film, a Western — who comes into this corrupt lumberjack town and cleans up all the corruption in town with his music. He doesn’t use guns or whips or knives or anything like that. He uses his music to create a better town. It’s as if Mel Brooks was an animator. This is what he would do. It’s not for kids. There’s prostitutes in there, a lot of bloody violence. It’s really something very different, very unique, and that’s why I’m really excited about the film. It’s also a musical.\
It has six new songs from Maureen McElheron. I’ve been working with her since I first moved to New York. You probably met her in my early days. We had a band. We played a bunch of clubs, and I played slide guitar — she sang the songs. She did the song for “Your Face.” She did the music for “The Tune” [1992] and the music for “I Married a Strange Person!” [1997]. She did a lot of my music for a lot of my films.
Q: Somewhere online, you were selling some of your cels and art and stuff. Hopefully, you didn’t have to sell a lot of it. I’d rather you see it be donated or get paid by one archive, because there must be a million people who want to study what you’ve been doing.
Bill Plympton: Yeah, that’s a very good point. The selling of the originals actually is a really good deal, and that is very popular — more popular than I expected. If you’ve been to my studio, I have a whole wall of boxes of art that I’m willing to sell, like $200 each, $300 each. So it’s a good way to raise funds and keep my studio somewhat orderly [laughs] without all these boxes of artwork.
Q: It’s a good thing that at events like these Comic Cons, you can be signing and doing pictures — you are quite in demand.
Bill Plympton: I like the Big Apple [Comic Con] because there’s a lot of fans of mine who live in New York. Truthfully, the biggest sellers are “Your Face” [1987] artwork and “The Simpsons” — people love “The Simpsons.” There’s a lot of fans in New York City for “Simpsons” art and I have a lot of original “Simpsons” artwork.
But the interesting thing is that the animation that’s on “The Simpsons” is all digital. In other words, they created it on their laptop or computer. I’m the last guy who actually makes drawings on paper, so I’m the only guy who has “Simpsons” artwork that is legit — real artwork that is in the film. That gives it a very high resale potential; it makes the artwork very valuable.
Q: What’s the secret to how you are able to make so much art — your hand can be drawing while you’re sleeping!?
Bill Plympton: Yeah, that’s not a bad idea. That would be good. Sometimes I even draw left-handed — I’m basically right-handed — but if my hand gets tired, I’ll draw left-handed and it actually helps speed up the process.
Q: It sounds like whatever your assistants do, you still do the majority of the real creation there.
Bill Plympton: Let me tell you exactly what I do, because there’s some confusion. A lot of people think I have inbetweeners and people who do the artwork. I do the story, of course. I do the storyboards, all the character design, all the background design and the layout. I do all the animation — 100% of everything there is mine. I did all the drawings, and I colored the drawings, too. I do all the coloring.
There’s two reasons [why] I do that. One is, it’s cheaper that way. I don’t pay a lot of money to hire other artists. The other reason — it’s more fun. I love drawing all day long. That’s my passion in life: drawing all day long. So it works out pretty well for me. As an independent, I don’t have a lot of money and I have to finance everything myself. As an independent, I have to keep the budget low.
Q: It must be tough to resist the urge to train a computer to be you.
Bill Plympton: I’m really bad with computers [laughs.] In fact, I don’t even know how to answer my emails, so I have someone to do it. I’m so busy drawing, I’ve never really learned how to use a computer. So it’s a bad situation; I’m not proud of that. But it’s just the reality of my artistic life.
Q: You are married and have had a son. How old is he?
Bill Plympton: He’s 12 years old, and he loves drawing. He wants to be a game designer. He wants to design games and is actually doing one right now.
Q: So that could become your next source of income. He could game-ify a lot of your stories and works.
Bill Plympton: That’s a great idea. I’ll tell him you said that.
Q: Yeah. By the time he’s 14, you could be sitting back and smoking your cigar while games are generating income [laughs.]
Bill Plympton: Right, that’s true.
Q: It’s mystifying how you come up with some of these wacky ideas. And then, forget about coming up with them, following the path of your narratives is a whole other thing.
Bill Plympton: Well, just so you know, I live in New York City, and New York City is basically a cartoon city. There’s so many ideas on every block, and I carry around a sketch pad with me to write down the ideas and the weird things I see. So that’s where a lot of ideas come from.
Q: You’ve done so many films. It’s hard to say which one people think was the weirdest and which one people think is the best for kids. Which one do you think could be adapted to live action?
Bill Plympton: Okay, let me start. My favorite film is probably “Your Face” because that really put me on the map. That really opened me up to the whole animation industry. My favorite feature film is “Cheatin'” [2013], which I did about 10 years ago. It’s a really beautiful film, I love it. The weirdest film is “I Married a Strange Person!”, which actually was the biggest hit. It was my biggest success. Can I tell you a story about it?
Q: Absolutely.
Bill Plympton: Okay, well, “I Married a Strange Person!” came out in [1998] and got invited to the Sundance Film Festival. Which is really special, because generally they don’t like animated films. So we showed it, the audience went crazy for it, standing ovations, they loved it. I thought, “I’m going to make some money on this film.” But no distributors bought it, and I thought, “Oh, this is terrible.” You’ve been to Sundance, right? You know the buses that go around the city?
Q: Yeah.
Bill Plympton: Anyway, I was on the bus and I saw the head of Lion’s Gate Films; I knew him from somewhere. I walked up to him and I said, “Hey! How’re you doing? I’m Bill Plympton, remember me? I did a film, ‘I Married a Strange Person!.’ Have you had a chance to see it yet?” He said “No, I’ve been busy. There’s been so many films to see. I don’t have time to see “I Married a Strange Person.” So I was pretty depressed.
Then this snowboard dude jumps on the bus, with snow dripping down his face, beard, and just wet from head to toe. He says “Hey, you’re Bill Plympton! Duuude, I loved ‘I Married a Strange Person!’ That’s the best film I’ve seen all year!” He then jumps off the bus and goes down the hill. That’s the last time I saw that guy, but the guy from Lion’s Gate said, “Okay, I guess I’d better watch your film.” He loved it, bought it, and it made a lot of money. It was one of my most successful films. All thanks to that snowboard dude. I don’t know what his name was, but he saved my ass.
Q: Of all the films you made, are there any you’d like to see made in live-action?
Bill Plympton: Not really. I really love animation. Animation, to me, is the best format for telling stories. However, I am working on a book now, a “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” kind of book, that I think would make a great live-action feature, or animated film. It’s called “Sky High” — I don’t know when it’s going to be coming out, but it’ll be coming out probably in the fall sometime.
Q: Would you want to have one of your ideas made into a digitally-created animated film, just to see how it looks?
Bill Plympton: Oh, yeah. No, I like Pixar films. I like Disney films. I have no problem with computer animation. In fact, I think computer animation really saved the animation industry. Because of Pixar and Dreamworks, animated films now are huge, huge box office. In fact, something like “Avatar,” which is really a computer film, they [made] like two billion dollars or something. I think they’re the most successful art form in a long time. So I’m perfectly happy to see computer animation used for films.
Q: Did you ever think you would be considered that far ahead of your time?
Bill Plympton: Well, I wasn’t ahead of my time, I was behind. I’m a dinosaur in the business. I think people will start appreciating hand-drawn animation a little bit more. Someone like [Hayao] Miyazaki [co-founder of Studio Ghibli], his films are incredibly popular. And, of course, “The Simpsons” is very popular. They’re all hand-drawn. So I think there’s still a market for those kinds of films. But certainly, the computer itself is so, so massively popular.
Q: Have you seen the films of Irish born Tomm Moore? [“The Secret of Kells” (2009), “Song of the Sea” (2014) and Wolfwalkers (2020), were all nominated for Oscars] They’re a mix of hand-drawn and digital.
Bill Plympton: Yes, that’s Cartoon Saloon [co-founded with Nora Twomey and Paul Young]. I visited his studio, actually; he’s a really nice guy. I really celebrate his [work], it’s very different. He was like me: he started out as an illustrator, doing illustrations for magazines. Then he got into animation, and it became really popular, very successful, and I’m really happy for his success.
Q: Your Hitler film, “Hitler’s Folly [2016] must have been your most controversial.
Bill Plympton: It was, yeah. Actually, my most controversial film was “Trump Bites” [2018-2019]. I did a series of short films for “The New York Times” about Trump and the things he said. I would take his dialogue — which is crazy, as you know — and then I would do animation to accent the surrealism of what he was saying. I got so much hate mail — oh my God, tons of it. [Conservative pundit] Sean Hannity showed the film on Fox and man, I was inundated with this hate mail, death threats, and stuff like that. It was pretty ugly. It’s still really ugly stuff.
That was my most controversial film, I’d say. I only did one season of it, but it was the highest-rated show on the “New York Times” online programming. In a way, that’s good; but in a way, it’s because I was so controversial.
But anyway, the Hitler film I thought was a great idea. Again, Mel Brooks made a film about Hitler, [1967’s “The Producers;” “Mel Brooks: To Be or Not to Be”, music video (1983)] and so did Charlie Chaplin [“The Great Dictator” (1940.)] Disney made a Hitler film [“Jojo Rabbit”, dir. Taika Waititi (2019.)] What I was doing is not that controversial. There have been a lot of Hitler comedies before, so I didn’t get too much feedback.
Q: Whether it’s a sad thing, or a good thing, “Hitler” is such a crazy concept that it can be made into so many movies and books. Nobody, still to this day, believes he could have really been a real thing. Except that he was.
Bill Plympton: Yes, you’re right. If his art career had taken off, if he had gotten into animation, he never would have been a dictator. He would have been a dictator-animator, but I don’t think he would have been a political dictator.
Q: Norman Spinrad wrote a book, “The Iron Dream,” which envisions Hitler as a science fiction writer. You should look that up. You’d appreciate that.
Bill Plympton: Yeah, I think I would.
Q: So what is your opinion on “Rick and Morty”? What do you think about that, all the controversy?
Bill Plympton: That’s really well-written. I don’t think the artwork is so good, but I love the writing and the imagination. Another one I like a lot is “SpongeBob.” I think “SpongeBob” is definitely a takeoff on Bugs Bunny and Warner Brothers cartoons. The humor, the visual craziness. And it’s all visual humor, whereas most [cartoons] are word humor. I like visual humor the best.
I did think one answer to your question of what films of mine would be great for kids? For the Cartoon Network, I did a Christmas special, “12 Tiny Christmas Tales” [2001.] It’s a half-hour, and the reviews were off the wall. They were like, “Oh, this is brilliant! This is the best thing ever! The best Christmas special ever!” Then the Cartoon Network put it in their vaults and they never showed it again.
Q: I was going to say, “Why aren’t you a perennial like Charles Schultz?
Bill Plympton: Exactly. It really was a unique Christmas special. We’ve been trying to get them to show it again, but it’s hard. But at least it shows in other countries. In Argentina, it’s a big success. They show it every Christmas, and people say, “You did ‘12 Tiny Christmas Tales’! All right, dude!”
Q: Do you ever think about doing your own Christmas [project] and distributing it on your own?
Bill Plympton: Maureen McElheron wants me to do that. She has a story that she thought would be a great Christmas special. But it’s hard to sell something like that, unless I had connections with Netflix or Hulu or Apple, or something like that. I don’t have those connections.
Q: You don’t have a vast array of agents and managers. [Laughs.] And you can be controversial.
Bill Plympton: No, I’m independent. And I do adult animation. They think there’s no market for that. So, it’s a very difficult business to be in.
Q: So, what do you think about what happened to wildly successful cartoonist Scott Adams who made some questionable comments about African Americans which caused his “Dilbert” strip to be dropped by his syndicate?
Bill Plympton: And he’s one of the cartoonists I liked the most. I love his cartoons. They’re not only funny; they’re of a dry, deadpan kind of humor, and I like that. But why would he say that? I guess he felt he was so popular that he can say anything and not get blowback on it. But yeah, that’s a stupid thing to do. One thing that disappointed me was the troubles that John Lasseter had with Disney. You probably read about it, right?
Q: Yeah.
Bill Plympton: Without him, animation would be a much deader business. Pixar is the great studio of the last two or three decades, and they single handedly raised animation to the art form that it is now. That’s all due to John Lasseter [who was chief creative officer of Pixar Animation Studios, Walt Disney Animation Studios, and Disneytoon Studios, as well as Principal Creative Advisor for Walt Disney Imagineering]. He is the genius of geniuses, and I think he deserves a better fate than that. He joined this other studio, Skydance [Animation] and did a film called “Luck.” It wasn’t very good. I don’t know what happened; it was really a bad film. But I will always be indebted to him for making animation such a powerful, powerful art form.
For more info go to: https://plymptoons.com/
To see Bill at Big Apple Comic Con go to:bogspplecc.com
With George Heslin as Executive Director, The NY Irish Center Celebrates 20 years as a Culture Hub for its Community
- Details
- Parent Category: Film and the Arts
- Category: Interviews
- Published on Thursday, 19 September 2024 14:06
- Written by Brad Balfour
George C. Heslin, photo by Brad Balfour.
Based in Long Island City, The NY Irish Center (NYIC) launches an ambitious season of new programming initiatives starting in September. Joining the Center for the first time will be Ireland’s national broadcaster TG4, introducing the first Irish language film festival in the U.S. May 2025 (exact dates to come).
Also un-spooling at the Center will be a Saturday Series of international cartoons curated by Ireland’s celebrated animation studio Cartoon Saloon (starting Feb 2025). A season-long literary deep- dive, “The National Endowment for the Arts ‘Big Read,’” runs from Oct 1, 2024 to June 30, 2925, with 18 events in partnership with Flushing Town Hall, Hunters Point Library, India Home and Irish American Writers and Artists.
Also among the highlights, NYIC premieres “Crossroads Concerts,” a new music series that blends and juxtaposes Irish folk traditions with music from many other cultures. It kicks off on Thursday, September 19th, at 7 pm. Curated by ethno-musicologist and educator Colin Harte, the eight-concert series runs monthly from September to June 2025 (skipping November and January). Harte brings together a stunning line-up of virtuoso folk musicians, many of whom are renowned in nearby Queens neighborhoods.
NYIC executive director George C. Heslin explains, “In addition to the US and world premieres of plays and films we regularly present, we want the 20th season to be full of new discoveries. We are also happy to open our doors even wider than before to share Irish culture with more and more of our incredible neighbors. Headlining our resident trad music series on its first night of the season are the husband and wife duo of Siobhán and Willie Kelly (two stars of the Irish folk firmament in America).”
For two nights — September 25 and 26 — NYIC presents the NY premiere of Jay Sefton’s explosive new one-man play, “Unreconciled,” brought straight from Belfast by the director Geraldine Hughes.
NYIC’S community-wide 20th Anniversary Celebration, on Saturday September 28 — from 2 pm to 5 pm — brings together all of NYIC’s constituent groups for a season sampler staged by Heslin, who has been the Center’s executive director since 2020.
Added Heslin, a longtime veteran on the Irish American arts landscape, “Our 20th Anniversary Celebration is an open-house style party. It’s something we love to do at the Center… you can show up and when you do, you can be sure there will be something on stage, and merriment will prevail in all corners of the Center. ”
This is a free event with entertainment, but register in advance at: www.newyorkirishcenter.org
The following Q&A was conducted online in advance of the above events.
Q: How long have you been into the arts, especially arts drawing on your Irish heritage?
George C. Heslin: I’ve been involved with the arts all my life. Since 2002 in NYC I have produced numerous events and productions both as a freelance artist and as Executive Director at New York Irish Center.
Q: What were the first arts experiences you had as a kid?
George C. Heslin: I had the honor of attending a Jesuit school in Limerick, Crescent College. The school had a marvelous arts program which afforded students the opportunity to act, produce and direct many plays.
Q: What are the biggest challenges in running an arts center in general and one focused on the Irish community in particular?
George C. Heslin: New York Irish Center, is a community enrichment center with numerous programs that serve the community from youth to seniors under the pillars of Community- Culture- Care. Our cultural programs focus on music, theater, movies and literary events.
Responding to the needs of a changing diaspora is another aspect of our work here at the center. Guiding and advising our new J1 arrivals is very important to us. While we offer them strategic support, it sometimes can be a challenge for new arrivals to secure employment and housing and we very much try to help with this.
Q: How do you decide what to book and how do you find the talent?
George C. Heslin: Each season we aim to present artists from a cross section of disciplines. We have a list of artists who we have worked with in the past but we also receive numerous enquiries from artists in Ireland looking to New York. We try to accommodate as many as possible
NY Irish Center’s Director of Arts & Culture Stephen Long has his finger on the pulse of what excites audiences. NYIC is an incubator and gateway for emerging and prominent Irish talent. In planning programming Stephen works six months in advance in securing talent.
Q: What about some of your most satisfying experiences in the arts and running a hub like this one?
George C. Heslin: The most satisfying aspect of running NYIC is saying yes to as many people as possible, offering people space to grow art, or offering networking opportunities to new arrivals, supporting our senior community with a daily welcome.
Q: The street you are on is like a little irish haven — how did that evolve?
George C. Heslin: LIC has deep historic ties to Ireland from local architecture built in the 18/19 century to our cultural footprint in Sunnyside, Woodside, Maspeth and beyond.
Q: Talk a bit about the upcoming season — what should we look out for?
George C. Heslin: This year we have 100 cultural events to share with the community including our Annual Holiday Concert; New York Croons For Christmas with Colm Reilly & Friends, America’s first Irish Language Film Festival in association with Irish Broadcaster TG4, Queens Irish Heritage Festival and our new partnership with Oscar nominated Cartoon Saloon in Ireland.
Q: Ultimately, what do you hope people will take away from a visit to the Center?
George C. Heslin: My hope is that people have been enlightened by an aspect of Ireland from our renowned hospitality to our cultural offerings and our deep community support.
[The New York Irish Center is at 1040 Jackson Avenue in Long Island City, seven minutes, and one stop, on the 7 Train from Grand Central Station. For more info and queries call 718- 482-0909 or e-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ]
Aussie Rocker Josh Rennie-Hynes Transitions to a Musical Life in Nashville
- Details
- Parent Category: Film and the Arts
- Category: Interviews
- Published on Thursday, 19 September 2024 13:38
- Written by Brad Balfour
Australia is one peculiar place, a land full of animals not found anywhere else like the koala and kangaroo. It has an odd history as well. Following the loss of its American colonies in 1783, the British government sent a fleet of ships to establish a new penal colony in New South Wales. Set up at Sydney Cove, Port Jackson, on January 26th, 1788, the date later became Australia’s national day.
Most early settlers were convicts — many of them Irish — transported for petty crimes and assigned as laborers or servants to the “free settlers.” Once emancipated, the convicts tended to integrate into colonial society. What convict rebellions and uprisings there were got suppressed under martial law. That lasted for two years following the 1808 Rum Rebellion, Australia’s only successful coup d’état. Over the next two decades, social and economic reforms saw New South Wales transition from a penal colony into a civil society.
Nearly 200 years later, the island nation also spawned its own brand of pop music collectively called “Oz” or “Aussie” rock. With a rich history rooted in various rock genres from the United States and Britain, Australian rock also contributed to their development of some of them. What’s more, it had its own unique Australian sound with pub rock and indigenous music.
For contemporary Aussie rocker Josh Rennie-Hynes, the past few years have been a whirlwind. After being awarded the prestigious Australian Arts Council’s Nashville Songwriters Residency –– a grant given to just one Australian artist each year –– the Queensland-born musician relocated to the US in May 2018. This move marked a new chapter for Rennie-Hynes. He left behind a thriving solo career in Australia, as well as his role in The Ahern Brothers, a folk duo whose harmony-rich debut album earned a four-star review from “Rolling Stone” and a dedicated fan base across Australia and New Zealand.
Seeking a change in both musical direction and environment, Rennie-Hynes settled in the creative, close-knit community of East Nashville. Immersed in the city’s vibrant music scene, he released a series of singles and four full-length albums since his move, 2019’s “Patterns,” 2022’s “Day Rage” and in 2023 — “Light/Shade” and “Fragile Like a Bomb.” These added to an already impressive catalog which included “Self-titled” in 2012, “February” in 2014, and “Furthermore” in 2016.
In 2020, he signed a publishing deal with Urband and Lazar, a company with artists such as The Kooks, Lil Wayne, and Citizen Cope. His music has been featured on multiple TV shows and he was the most-placed artist on the latest season of the global hit Netflix series, “Virgin River.”
Rennie-Hynes’ music, marked by its authenticity and eclecticism, is familiar yet distinctively his own. One of Australia’s standout musical exports, he’s built a reputation for his unforgettable live performances, touring extensively across Australia, New Zealand, and the US. He performs regularly in Nashville and has toured throughout the States. 
This interview was conducted online with the Australian-born, Nashville-based artist who continues to evolve in his musical journey.
Q: When/how did you settle on the style of music you write in and like to perform?
Josh Rennie-Hynes: My music has changed and evolved quite a lot. I’m six albums deep now with more on the way. I started out more in the folk/Americana world and since then have evolved in my sound, growing and exploring along the way. Moving to America six and a half years ago really opened me up to trying new things and pushing myself artistically without fear in an entirely new place. But I think I’ve always tried to write honestly from my heart, no matter what the production or genre is. My newest album ‘Fragile like a bomb’ is a more indie rock outing. To me, it’s all just music. I like to explore and follow what inspires me.
Q: What comes first — lyrics or the music? And, how do you structure your songs?
It can be either. I take songs however they come. Sometimes I’ll have a lyric that’s floating around in my head that I build a song around. Sometimes it’s a melody or guitar line that I build out from. Sometimes a song or hook comes to me in a dream and I’ll wake up and record the idea. I’ve always got songs and ideas floating around in my head.
Q: Given your Australian experience, how did it shape you and your music?
Josh Rennie-Hynes: I grew up in the country on a small farm so that definitely shaped my outlook and perspective on life and music. I have a strong sense and appreciation for nature and I think most Aussies have a spirit of the bush imbued in us. The smell of the eucalyptus, the chorus of birds in the morning… There are certain things that have just stuck with me and made their way into my music. I went back last Christmas for the first time in five and a half years. COVID and the visa situation kept me stuck in the U.S. I really felt like it reawakened something in me.
Growing up, it was a very musical household. Dad was always playing and singing, mum playing records. Family gatherings we’d often sit around with a guitar and sing songs late into the night together. Looking back, it was special and definitely impacted my music. I’ve always felt drawn to melody and harmonies too.
Q: Do you have certain rock icons in mind, especially Australian artists?
Josh Rennie-Hynes: One of the first concerts I ever remember seeing as a kid was Midnight Oil. I remember watching [lead singer] Peter Garrett on stage, flailing around dancing, and just being mesmerized.That had a huge impact on me at a young age. I feel like I went through stages with a lot of the great rock icons and became a student of them at different times — Neil Young, Tom Petty, Bruce Springsteen and such. I grew up playing in more punk-esque bands, too, in my teenage years. Guys like Paul Westerberg [formerly of the Replacements] definitely had an impact on me. Paul Kelly is a legendary Australian songwriter and artist, so I’d put him in there, too.
Q: You also have Irish roots like many Australians do. Please detail your family’s connection to Ireland.
Josh Rennie-Hynes: My great, great grandparents Peter and Margaret Hynes migrated from Galway, Ireland to New Zealand in 1875, searching for a better life. They sailed on a ship called the ‘James Nichol Fleming’ and they left London on May 4th, 1875, and arrived in Otago, New Zealand exactly three months later, on August 4th, 1875. My father, Roderick Wallace Hynes, was a Kiwi. He moved to Australia when he was 20 years old and met my mum while working on her family’s banana farm in sub-tropical Queensland. She became pregnant, they got married and the rest is history.
Q: Making the transition from Australia to the States, what did it take to make the adjustment?
Josh Rennie-Hynes: I think I was pretty ready for it when I moved, so I didn’t find it too hard. I had always felt the pull to just come and live in the US and feel it out. I was fascinated by the chaos of it here, as strange as that might sound, and the market for music and opportunity is huge. Nashville is a good place and it felt like home pretty quickly to me. Being completely landlocked was definitely hard at first, coming from Australia where it’s all wide open spaces and ocean. That took me a few years to adjust to, but I have my water spots here now so I’m more at peace. There are a lot of subtle cultural differences, too. But there’s also a lot of similarities.
Q: What is the inspiration here — and why Nashville not Los Angeles or NYC?
Josh Rennie-Hynes: I specifically moved to Nashville because, in 2018 when I was moving to the US, right before I left, I was fortunate to receive the “Nashville Songwriters residency” which is awarded to one Australian songwriter a year from the Australian Arts Council.
(More on the grant here: https://creative.gov.au/investment-and-development/international-engagement/residencies/nashville-songwriters-residency/)
This led me to Nashville. I didn’t have a plan as to whether I would stay in Nashville long term or not. But here we are six and a half years later. I like Nashville a lot. I’ve always lived in East Nashville and it’s a big creative community. There’s so much more here than just country music.
Q: Ever think you’ll return to Australia to live?
Josh Rennie-Hynes: Yes, I think so at some point. I am about to get married to my American partner and we want to have a family in the coming years. I think we’d like for some of their childhood to be in Australia as it’s a great place to raise kids. But I’ve got lots happening here too, so we’ll see how it all pans out.
Q: What do you think of as your life’s benchmarks so far?
Josh Rennie-Hynes: I think my albums are my life’s benchmarks. I’m really proud of all of them. I can look back on them and say that I gave each and every other album my all at that point in time. And they all document a different chapter in my life. Growth and exploration. The creative path isn’t always easy but it’s a beautiful ride and you learn a lot about yourself.
Director Rich Peppiatt Brings Irish Hip Hop to the World Through his Award-Winning Film “Kneecap”
- Details
- Parent Category: Film and the Arts
- Category: Interviews
- Published on Wednesday, 07 August 2024 15:02
- Written by Brad Balfour
Photo: Brad Balfour
When I was given tickets to its Tribeca Festival premiere, I was excited to see “Kneecap,” even if only to hear Gaelic rap. Thanks to the manic performance of this Belfast-based trio and the frantic direction by Rich Peppiatt, I declare that — as Charlie XCX would say — it’s “brat.”
“Kneecap” is this sex, drugs, and hip-hop biopic about a real life trio from Northern Ireland which does its business in Gaelic, the aboriginal Irish language. In 2019, fate brought together disillusioned music teacher, JJ, with self-confessed “low life scum,” Naoise and Liam Og. The result? Performers “Kneecap” and the sound of Irish music was changed forever.
But amongst all the mad stuff in the film that Irish-Brit Peppiatt made out their origin story, it’s really about the protection of indigenous language and culture. That combination of serious issues with the group’s wild antics made it a sensation at Sundance where it won the NEXT audience award. Now released through Sony Pictures Classics, it’s been selected as the Irish entry for Best International Feature Film Oscar at the 97th Academy Awards.
Before all this, Peppiatt worked as a journalist for numerous national newspapers. In 2011, his resignation letter to “Daily Star” proprietor Richard Desmond –– in which he accused the paper of Islamophobia and unethical journalism –– went viral when it was leaked to “The Guardian” newspaper. He became a prominent critic of tabloid behavior, giving evidence at the Leveson Inquiry into Press Ethics.
Peppiatt turned his experiences as a journalist and the fallout from his resignation into a stand-up comedy show titled “One Rogue Reporter.” It premiered at the 2012 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Described as “hilariously turning the tables on the tabloid power players, it tested the public’s right to know to its eye-opening extremity.”
After Edinburgh, the show toured across the UK, finishing up with a run at London’s Soho Theatre. Peppiatt transformed it into a documentary, “One Rogue Reporter” — starring Hugh Grant, Steve Coogan and John Bishop — which premiered at Sheffield DocFest in 2014.
Now, with “Kneecap” tossing the British-Irish writer/director together with the group into a worldwide media salad, this arts editor was engaged to probe both director and band about their lives and the film’s impact. Here’s my conversation with Peppiatt. Next week, look for my encounter with the trio.
Q: A number of people have made movies about the Troubles. To show the post-Troubles world is fascinating. As you said in the production notes, you’ve heard about Kneecap and then it hit you. Is that what the movie is about?
Rich Peppiatt: I just went to one of their gigs. It was as simple as that, really. I was blown away by their stage presence, their sort of charisma, and the fact that they didn’t care about wearing their politics on their sleeves. Myself, I felt that music, in a big way, has become much more manufactured, PR’d to death and packaged up. They were so the opposite of that — that’s what I thought was so interesting. Above and beyond that, there were 800 young people in this crowd who were singing back every word. They were rapping in Irish.
To me, it was a bit of a revelation. There was this sort of community in the north of Ireland of young people who were engaged with the language. Certainly, at a political level, there was a real stasis around the Irish Language Act which was a hot topic, but it didn’t seem to be going anywhere. So the juxtaposition of what was happening on the political level and this grassroots movement that was building, I just thought was the foundation of something interesting.
Q: There’s a big debate in Ireland about reunification in 2030 where there’s hope to reunify, and it’s moving forward. Acceptance of the Irish language and allowing it to become, not a secondary thing, but an important aspect of learning the culture, is a cool thing. At the same time, this film probes the clubs and music scene in Belfast. How did you manage to include it all — and Michael Fassbender — without overwhelming us about it.
Rich Peppiatt: I think Kneecap is very political in a small “p” way. Their political stance is just who they are. One thing that really interested me was their speaking the Irish language, in the way they do. Living their lives through the Irish language, whilst being born in and living under what is legal or illegal in the United Kingdom. That is fundamentally a very political act –– to reject not only recognition of the state, but also to reject their language. It’s such a fundamentally political thing to do that I found it very inspiring and very powerful. A lot of the politics in the film are built off of that.
Q: In Dublin, there’s a crop of bars that have grown up north of the Liffey [river] that very much reflects the kind of crowd that the youth are about. Once again, the youth are identifying with their own music and scene. You’re definitely older but you must have identified a scene that you were part of at one time.
Rich Peppiatt: I used to be a journalist. That was my first career, and I ended up resigning very publicly from my career in journalism and leaking my resignation letter to the Guardian. I ended up doing a stand-up comedy show based around that and making a documentary that was me going after tabloid newspaper editors.
Q: “One Rogue Reporter.”
Rich Peppiatt: Yes, and that was a controversial film which upset people as well. I am just naturally drawn to controversy, but not for controversy’s sake. I just think that sometimes an interesting way to get underneath a topic and spark a conversation around certain issues is to do something controversial. I think that me and the band really bonded over that with a kind of a fairly carefree attitude as to what people think of us.
Q: You’re making a documentary about them, but they’re acting themselves besides other actors….
Rich Peppiatt: I certainly wouldn’t call it a documentary.
Q: A faux documentary?
Rich Peppiatt: Well, I don’t know if I’d call it that. You’re quite welcome to call it that because this is a film that different people will call different things. Some will say it’s a musical. I would call it a black comedy.
Q: There’s that too.
Rich Peppiatt: There’s some documentary nods to it but, really, it’s a narrative feature film. The fact that it’s based on true events and also stars the people as themselves makes it quite a unique proposition as a project. That was probably something which maybe got us funded. It felt very different from anything out there that’s been done before.
Q: Another thing about it is that it’s very meta to have your actors playing themselves. So, to some degree, they’re finding their truth in themselves in other ways. They’re adding a level of artifice.
Rich Peppiatt: There’s a great degree of bravery that’s involved in the art of acting yourself on screen. If I say to them, “I want you to be sixth century knights,” and the audience turns around and goes, “that guy’s an asshole,” the character isn’t you. It doesn’t really affect your own feelings about yourself. But when you put your own real self up on the screen, you’re asking an audience to judge you, your family, and the decisions you make. That’s a vulnerable thing to do.
Certainly, a lot of the film is true and it took the boys to places sometimes that were quite difficult for them, particularly around Nisha’s storyline, family issues and things like that. It brought up a lot of things. Perhaps they were things they weren’t always expecting it to bring up. It was difficult at times. But they persevered. They were determined to see it through and not shy away from that.But you’re right, it is a very meta film. Beyond just them playing themselves, there’s a lot of very overt nods to other films like “Trainspotting.” We have a whole thing in there, JJ disappearing down a bin. It’s just a very meta nod to the worst toilet in Scotland. There’s a scene with JJ in a mirror trying on his balaclava and dancing around and that’s “La Haine.”
Q: You mention that Danny Boyle is a very meta kind of director in some of his movies. You don’t even think about it until you think about it.
Rich Peppiatt: Some directors don’t like the idea that anyone would think that they’ve copied anyone else or taken inspiration from anyone else. But the truth is, there’s nothing new under the sun. Personally, as a filmmaker, I have no problem doffing my cap to those who’ve come before and going, “Hey, I love that thing. Here’s my version of it.”
Q: Did you find that your English background gave you a different perspective on this? And then have you been out of the community?
Rich Peppiatt: I don’t think an Irish man or woman could have made this film. I think that there’s so much baggage that comes with it, it would have been seen as sectarian. I think the fact that I am British makes me Teflon from any accusation that, “The film you’ve seen is anti-British.” You can’t turn around and say it’s an anti-British film when it’s written and directed by a British person, right? It’s like whatever “The Daily Mail” or someone’s Britishness should be isn’t necessarily what I think Britishness should be. I think that Britishness is about recognizing your colonial past and the impact that the imperialism of my homeland has caused on places like the island of Ireland.
Q: Have you learned a little Gaelic?
Rich Peppiatt: Absolutely, I did two years of Irish classes. I threw myself into it. I was doing like five classes a week. I still wouldn’t say I’m fluent, but I get by. I’m the only one in my Irish family who speaks any Irish, so I like to throw that in their faces when they’re taking the Mick out of me for being English.
Q: There’s many opportunities for this movie to take the piss out of you.
Rich Peppiatt: There you go.
Q: What are the things you think of as the most profound things you learned from the experience?
Rich Peppiatt: In the learning of the language, there was a real understanding of what it means to the band, as a thing. Irish is an oral language, unlike English, which is a written language. So it’s passed down through music, stories and poetry. It was a realization that kneecaps were part of this very proud canon that stretches back, that predates English, of Irish storytellers. They are a modern version of that, but they very much are within that mold. I think that their cultural impact has been massive on the island of Ireland. It will outlast their music, and it will outlast this film. The impact they’ll have will be in preserving the language of their forefathers. And I think that’s a really special thing that they can lay claim to, even though they would never sit there and say it themselves.
Q: Was there a difference between audiences seeing it in the North, and audiences seeing it in the South?
Rich Peppiatt: To be honest, the film hasn’t really screened that much. Since we won the Audience Award at Sundance in January, most of our screenings have been in America. We’ve done a few European festivals and have had an Irish premiere. A very select few people in Ireland have really seen it so far, and that’s exciting. But it’s not until this month that the Irish proper premieres, when their release week sort of stuff happens.
We’re very excited to have the film out in America. It’s not something we expected –– going out to 1,000 or 1,500 screens. It’s a big release. Sony Pictures Classic have released some of my favorite films. My youngest daughter’s name is Amelie. My other daughter gets annoyed when I say that, because she says, why am I not named after one of your favorite films? And I say, “I didn’t think you wanted to be called “Trainspotting,” love. Ha ha!” [chuckling]
Q: At Sundance, you must have met people that are some of your icons and idols and all that. Did you get to meet anyone?
Rich Peppiatt: Not really. To me it was all a bit of a blur. The film was received very well, and you have these things, then, Hollywood descends on you a bit. It was an interesting experience of having these meetings and talk about other films you want to do, being offered films that maybe you want to do.So it all passed and then you’d pop in to see the band occasionally. They’d be in a bar, drinking themselves to death. I was trying to balance having a bit of fun with doing some business, striking while the iron’s hot. You didn’t really know whether that week would be the week, or whether it would spiral from there. Luckily it has spiraled, and we’re in a very good position now. On a personal level, it’s opened a lot of doors that I never thought it would. And, it’s exciting.
Q: Quite an evolution from “The Guardian” I would say.
Rich Peppiatt: I did work at “The Guardian” at one point, but the paper I was on was “The Daily Star,” so it was an even bigger evolution. I worked on those papers. That was my first career. It was. I can’t say that I professed that I was a great journalist. But certainly, once you’re a journalist, journalism is storytelling. Once you have a feel for storytelling, it never leaves you.
I never live with regret. I think that the things that you do before set you up for the things you do after, sometimes in weird ways. I think of the sorts of projects, of films that interest me and do it. They’re always based in real life. I’m not a great person with a blank page. It’s always something based on a real thing.
Q: Do you think it’d be things based on your own life? Or do you think it’ll always be things you discover?
Rich Peppiatt: No, not particularly my own life; I don’t think it’s that interesting. But I’ve lived a few lives. Certainly, spending five years with “Kneecap” has aged me somewhat.
For part of my life, I was a hard partier when I was a bit younger. But when I moved to Belfast, I’d just had my second child. It was the idea of moving out of London with my wife to live in Belfast for a bit of a quieter life, away from the madness of London. But within two weeks of arriving, I met Kneecap. My wife was like, “Of all the people you could make friends with, it would be those three? The hardest partying lads in the North!”
Q: Here you are. You’re moved to Belfast to have a quiet life, and then you’re making a music film, which isn’t exactly quiet. Of all the stars you could meet, or would meet, or would like to use for the next film, who was on your mind? James McAvoy or Ewan McGregor? But there you go, Danny Boyle –– have you ever met him, or do you want to meet him?
Rich Peppiatt: The funny thing was, our composer –– a guy called Mikey J. Asante –– he was working with Danny Boyle in Manchester, on “The Matrix” musical.
Q: “The Matrix” musical?
Rich Peppiatt: One day, Mikey was sitting in a room, watching a part of our film, working out some music. Danny walked in, and he was like, “What are you watching?” Danny sat down and watched a couple scenes of the film, and then walked out. Then Mikey called me and was like, “You wouldn’t believe it. Danny Boyle’s just watched some of your film and he loves it!” I was like, “That’s great, that’s amazing.”Then the other person who… I woke up one morning and [“Trainspotting” author] Irvine Welsh had somehow gotten to a screening, like a freebie screening. And he had tweeted that he thought the film was absolutely fucking brilliant. That was a big kick. So now me and Irvine are actually talking about a project together.
Q: You could do his style, definitely.
Rich Peppiatt: Look, it’s been a very transformative year, personally, for me. And then people say, “Are you enjoying it?” Yeah, I guess I am, but it’s also very anxiety-inducing. There’s so much going on all the time. And –– but no, look –– it’s filmmaking. Whenever you get a chance to be doing something that you’d do for free, but get paid for it, you’re not in a bad place.
Q: Speaking of that, how did you cast Michael Fassbender and bring him in? How did you entice him? He’s the biggest star that you could get. How did that happen? That’s the obvious question here.
Rich Peppiatt: Well, there’s only really a handful of what you’d call top-tier Irish actors who speak Irish.
Q: Oh, I didn’t think of that hook.
Rich Peppiatt: That was the thing. We went, “Well, who is there?” Michael Fassbender is a hero in Belfast for the way he depicted Bobby Sands in Steve McQueen’s Hunger. Okay. So for us, he was the first choice straight away. It was like, “Look, it’d be amazing to have Michael Fassbender.” And the script got into his hands. I think maybe, one of the funders, friend of a friend, sort of thing. Within a week, I got a text message saying, “Hi, it’s Michael. Do you want to chat?” To be honest, I thought it was one of those spam messages, or something. I thought, “Who’s Michael? Michael who?” I didn’t have a number saved for him. Then suddenly I realized, “Oh, maybe that’s Michael Fassbender.” Then 15 minutes later, we’re on the phone together. And 15 minutes after that, I came off the call. He had agreed to do it.
Q: You directed Michael Fassbender [playing Arlo Ó Cairealláin father of trio member Naoise “Móglaí Bap” Ó Cairealláin]. Was that a little intimidating or did you slip right into it? Did the boys bust his chops, or whatever?
Rich Peppiatt: Michael Fassbender –– look at the directors he’s worked with. From Tarantino, to Steve McQueen, it’s a who’s who — he’s really worked with everyone. Obviously, the weird thing about being a director is, unless you’ve come up within the system, so to speak, you’ve worked your way up through production — which I haven’t — you never really know how any other director directs anything. There’s only one director on set. You don’t spend much time with other directors. There’s always a part of you that questions whether the approach you take is similar, or whatever, to other directors’ approaches. Part of that’s because you can direct a film in a thousand different ways.
There is no one right way to do it. But it certainly puts into focus in your head a little bit, with the idea that this guy’s worked with the best of the best. Is he going to be thinking, “What the hell is this guy fricking at?” Do you know what I mean? He would always hang out with us after shooting, and have some beers. And I’m sure at some point, drunkenly, I probably asked him, “Am I doing this right, Michael?”He was very complimentary, which was nice. He was probably just being polite. But when you look on a monitor and you see Michael Fassbender there doing a scene that you wrote, on your set, it certainly is a moment when you go, “I’m living the dream here!” You can also tell why he’s a movie star. You see him on that monitor –– the control he has, the poise he has on camera, just the look of him. He’s just got it.
Q: He has that eye and when he’s looking at the camera, or looking away, he’s got it down.
Rich Peppiatt: Exactly. so, you go, “Okay, I can see why this guy is big time.” But also, he’s a lovely man. He brought a lot to the role and to the set. One thing the band was taught when we’re doing acting classes is that acting is all about reacting. It’s about listening and it’s about being in that moment with your co-stars. Good actors give you good things to react to, while bad actors give you nothing to react to. It’s hard to have a good scene and give a good performance across from a terrible actor.
Q: The band rose to the occasion.
Rich Peppiatt: They rose to the occasion. Absolutely. As good as I felt they were in rehearsals and in the studio, we were learning our acting chops …. They took it up 30 to 40% when we were on set actually doing the thing. Maybe that’s the performers in them as well. They used to being backstage and then, bang! The music drops and out they go; they turn it on. Certainly, when the camera rolled, they turned it on.
Q: Now, here you are, you’re on the stage, then you’re getting this movie scene — blah, blah, blah. Are you expecting to jump right into the next thing? Or do you need to chill out? How are you handling it?
Rich Peppiatt: It’s been a long time now, since January, where it feels like sort of revving the engine with a handbrake on. Do you know what I mean? You’re promoting the film, going to film festivals, and then it’s all great. But I finished the film quite a long time ago now. And you’re ready to get on with the next thing. I’ve got a film lined up. It’s with an American studio, and that’ll be shooting next year, hopefully. So, we’ll see.
