Alumni Spotlight - Dan Walsh
Dan Walsh is a Cork-based musician, producer, composer and multi-instrumentalist. He leads the collaborative composition project Fixity, performs with The Bonk, and Junior Brother, and is one half of the electronic duo Senior Infants.
In 2013, he founded Cork Improvised Music Club, which hosts performances on the first Thursday of every month at Plugd Records on Cornmarket Street. He later established The Council For The Dark Arts Orchestra, an 18-piece improvised ensemble and continues to collaborate with an ever-growing network of musicians across multiple disciplines, both in Ireland and internationally.
On 22 October, Dan returns to UCC Library with Fixity for a special screening of Orson Welles's noir classic The Lady from Shanghai, accompanied by an immersive live improvised score: Register for this event or find out more here.
How did your degree help shape your path?
I think studying music at UCC gave me a chance to learn from a lot of very specialised people, who had chosen a path of being interested in specific parts of the music world whether geographically or conceptually. That was a good thing for me to see as someone choosing my own path, it let me see that my interests or wonders may have some value if I spent time working towards being able to communicate them through my work. It was also a hugely formative thing to meet some of my most valued musical contemporaries and play loads of tunes together.
Since graduating, you've worked with a wide range of musicians on different projects. What have you learned from these collaborations?
I have learned that I will never stop learning, it’s the best part of the work, and that if you treat the music with respect and love it’ll be good to you too.
Where do you draw inspiration from?
There are a lot of core artists that I always come back to and consider a part of what makes me do what I do and they would be David Axelrod, Alice Coltrane, John Coltrane, Karin Krog, PJ Harvey, DJ Shadow, Joe Meek and Lee Hazelwood in their various forms as composers, musicians and producers. I am also extremely lucky to have very inspiring and creative friends around me and to live in a city where amazing music is always happening which really feeds my creativity.
What have been some recent highlights and what's next for you?
Fixity played Culture Night this year in Skibbereen which was a real highlight. I also played a solo set on Garnish Island in early September as part of The Island Drift festival. It’s great to be invited to these nice places. Over the next few months, I’m playing shows with Zkellies (Live Techno) and The Funts (Surf Rock Trio) and lining up some more fun Fixity stuff for next year. There’s lots of nice stuff coming together for Cork Improvised Music Club over the next while too including Duo shows every day during the Cork Jazz Festival.
And finally, for a Desert Island Discs-style moment: what tunes would make up the soundtrack to your college days at UCC?
- Misterioso - Thelonious Monk Live at the Five Spot
- The Chime Of The City Clock - Nick Drake
- Naima - John Coltrane with Eric Dolphy Stockholm 1961
- Kamikaze - PJ Harvey
- It’s Still Rock And Roll To Me - Billy Joel
More to explore
- Tickets for UCC Library's screening of the The Lady from Shanghai on 22 October
- Discover Fixity on Bandcamp
- Interested in studying music? Find out more from the Department of Music at UCC
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