INTERVIEW WITH BRENDAN MONAGHAN FROM TheCelebrityCafe.com ARCHIVES
DM) Was music always a part of your life?
BM) I was brought up with lots of music around me and that is why music is a big part of my life. As soon as I could I got a band together and just worked very hard playing around bars etc. Then I started to record my own material and took it on from there. Thankfully people started to get interested in what I was doing.
DM) Do you remember the first band you saw perform?
BM) Yes I do, it was the Clash from England and they were great.
The show was in the "Ulster Hall in Belfast.
DM) How many albums have you so thus far?
BM) The "Cattle Company" have been involved in the release of three albums and we are currently working on the fourth one. The first was an album called "Hero" which received much airplay in many countries and charted in a European chart. Then we were featured on a live album called "Alive in Belfast" which was a big success here in Ireland. Then our most recent release and most successful one "Love to be loved" which has received an award from the "American Independent CMA international" for best new country album 1999. This album is receiving a lot of airplay around the world. We hope to release our new album in the early part of next year.
DM) From your last album, which is your personal favorite?
BM) My favorite piece of my own material is a song called "I'm not the one" featured on the "Cattle Company's" latest album "Love to be loved".
I get moved most times I perform this song live and when I hear it on the radio.
DM) What was your reaction the first time you heard your song on the radio?
BM) I was just blown away when I first heard one of my songs on the radio. I was very proud and wanted to tell the whole world. In fact I think that I just about told the entire world.
DM) Most people picture country music coming out of Texas and middle America. Is there that big of a country music scene around the world?
BM) Yes, country music can be heard all around the world in many different countries. We have performed in many countries including the States and hope to return next year to Texas. Some people have this vision of this style of music only being produced in America. Many people with in music acknowledge that the roots of country music are in Ireland. We the "Cattle Company" perform our own brand of country music. (Country music on the edge) We just be ourselves and are very comfortable in what we are producing musically and we do our very best to write and perform good tunes.
DM) What was the reaction in Texas from a country band coming from Ireland?
BM) The reaction from Texans regarding a country outfit from Ireland has been and hopefully will continue to be a very good one. Like other places we have played and are heard people just seem to take us as we are. The Irish thing I believe actually helps the band although some people expect us to sound a little different. That said our brand new material our new single "Let me in" has probably a more Irish roots feel but this is what just comes out we do not plan anything in the studio. We believe this is the best way, you cannot fool people you have to be honest about your music. A Texan singer called Paul Mateki has recorded one of my songs and we have performed with him several times in Ireland, Europe and next year in Texas. A Texan record label "Misty International" have released some of our material and the feedback from press and radio in Texas has been thankfully very enthusiastic.
DM) Being located in Belfast, is that where the violence we read about is happening?
BM) Thankfully the troubles have almost ended now thanks to the cease-fires but yes this is where most of the trouble took place in the past. We all now hope and pray for peace in our beautiful country.
DM) Did you see much of the violence first hand?
BM) I think that many people in Ireland have been affected in one way or another by the troubles. I have lost friends and it is very difficult to handle at times.
DM) What were some of the hardest things you've seen there?
BM) Beatings and bombings and the sight of people suffering at the loss of their loved ones.
DM) That must have been traumatizing to see. How did you survive?
BM) It is terrible to say this but one gets used to this kind of thing when this is all one knows. I had some experience of physical and verbal abuse, it is not very nice but you have to get on with it. This is where my music helped me through and the fact that many more people were much worse off than myself.