 How are you? All good. As I say, it's brilliant and thanks for it. Because I know you're busy. How's things been with you? Because you said just to be off there, we got your new single, Cinema. And that was recorded down with Tommy and then I'm doing Attica. Yeah. And I was just telling you the reaction we had, I said, I sent Jimmy and Jimmy, just blown away with it, and then we sent our Joe, our engineer, just he just couldn't get over it. So the reaction has been amazing. How have you found it? It's been unbelievable because I kind of spent last year writing and recording and not really doing much in public and to come back with a single like that and have the response that it's had. It's just, it's class. It's really, really nice. I don't know what is, well, I do know, I know it's brilliant, but the lyrics take me on a journey and then the whole, I think the whole arrangement, the combination of both the lyrics and the arrangement is just, just on the money, you know. How come you were off for a year with it? Did you get the sort of writer's block or? No, I just, it was kind of burn out just from after releasing the album and doing the tour in. I just needed some time to sit down and write and record and going up to Attica with Tommy was an amazing experience, it always is, but I just, I kind of wanted to re-evaluate where I saw myself as an artist and to come back with a song like Cinema that's very heavy and very story based, it's that kind of honesty that I really look up to an artist and just wanted to put a cross in my music as well. The song itself, does it depict sort of incidents in your life? Yeah, it's everybody I know that lives in Derry has been affected by suicide in some way and I wanted to write that song for years and years, but didn't want it to be in a way that was disrespectful or cringy or, you know, just didn't come across right and I wrote it as a story because I felt like that was the best way to convey how much of a mental health crisis there is here and around Derry, it's just, it's a kind of story that is relatable to everybody that lives in Derry really, you know? There is an increase and it's been, and you're right, and do you know what? In your song, I'm putting it out there because I've read somewhere that you said you don't like talking about mental health struggles, but you can write about them and so on, is that true, aye? I find it so hard to actually, when I'm having a conversation with somebody, it's really hard to kind of express emotion and that's why I love writing because it's, you can rethink and reword and get down to specifics of how you're feeling. It's a song, as you say, it's a song that's heavy, but it's, there's a good, you know, there's a story in it and it's the lyrics carry, you know, that story and it's a powerful message, it really, really is. Come here, we're going to do a piece of music first and the first one you're going to do? It's called Rim to Breathe. Right and it's just on your album? It's, I actually released it before the album, just before lockdown and all that stuff happened so. Did you write that before lockdown? I wrote it and it was never, I never intended to release it and then the start of lockdown began and people were in their houses and the song is kind of about taking time for yourself and it felt like the right time to release it then and it's one of those songs that the reaction just completely overwhelmingly like the response I got from it was class. Brilliant, well we'd love to hear this whenever you're ready, thank you. Now, if it was okay to be tired, bones keep trying to stay afloat, but I'm not so sure that I could find the strength. I need some room to breathe because I'm getting tired of holding my breath and I don't know to feel when I'm sorry deaf and new fears are still keeping me. That was, you released that as a single, I'm writing the call and you also put it out in vinyl as well, am I right in thinking that? I did, yeah. And do you do you release all your stuff in vinyl now, is that your stuff? No, I've released the album on vinyl but I don't know when the next time I will be releasing it on vinyl. It's changing the process, isn't it? Because CDs are changing and streaming is very popular. Your music is available on Spotify, isn't it? No, it is, yeah, all the usual spots, but I think people still like having a CD vinyl at home, you know? And you know, for oldies like myself, you always like that story with even a CD cover. I used to like it when it was LPs but I called them, you know, but I always loved the whole equally as much system of song. I love people who put a lot into the craft of manufacture in the CD and, you know, the lyrics and the stories. You build up a better picture of the person, you know, whereas if you're on say Spotify, you don't know a lot about it and as much as I, it's a double-edged sword with me, so I don't have to make any money out of it, but I like listening to the artists on it, you know, because to say I have enough CDs and LPs in the house to do me, so I don't need any more, which to me was too late. You don't support some of the big ones, you don't support to Robbie Williams? I did, yeah. And Snow Patrol? Did I have someone else? Not the Z-tons, no. Oh, the Amazons? No, there's an Orban. Yeah, what do you call them? Oh, they've come to me here. But how did you find that? You know, like Robbie Williams, and how did you find support? Did you get to meet him? I was too shy to go up to him backstage, but he was there, yeah. It's surreal because, you know, you look up to these massive artists and then they ask to support and play the same stages that they do. It's just like crazy notion, you know, but it was really, really good, yeah. And how did you find, like, his audience were waiting for him and you were coming on with a totally different style of music? They were great, yeah, because it is, it's nerve-wracking going on to somebody else's audience, but you always get people coming up afterwards and that relate to the music and really enjoyed the set, so it's... Lovely. Caudaline. Yeah, that's how you, and you, it was so... But Snow Patrol had a big influence on you, had they? They did, I, Gary, especially. It's, they're just such big supporters of the music scene here and of local artists, and they have shows this year and it's all Irish acts that are supporting them, and it's just, yeah, they're just, they're legends in the scene, you know. And tell me, you, say, in 2017 or 18, you were looking up to get the BBC stage in Glastonbury. Yeah. How did that come about for you? Because it was, I read that and I was going, how did we get from Derry Moniz to get on that now? It was just after I released my first kind of single and I submitted it into BBC Introducing and it was through their team that they sent it on to BBC Introducing that were curating the stage and was just the most crazy thing that had ever happened to me in my life. Really? So it was my first festival, like going to a festival but also playing a festival, and for it to be something of that size was incredible, yeah. And how did you find the audience there? There would be, at that stage, in that particular stage, you were in there with an appreciative audience. Yeah, no, it was great. It was, it was really nice, especially going over to the UK for the first time as well and playing an entirely new audience. So yeah, it was great. It was great. Have you, I always asked the artist, are you an artist that has a load of songs sitting there already half written and written? Yeah, I do a lot of writing with other people as well. Oh, you don't, were you in Derry there a couple of weeks ago? Was there a workshop in Waterside? Yeah, so I was teaching like a lyric workshop in the Waterside theatre. How did you find that? It's different, it's good. I'm a big lyric nerd. I love talking about songs, so it was just an ideal kind of thing that came about for me, yeah. That's a brilliant idea. Was this your show for other people to come on and work with you, or what way was it, you know, how did people come along to it? Is this up in common, maybe lyricists or singers? Yeah, well it was like, it was through the literary festival that was happening in the theatre and they asked me to come and do this workshop, but it was, it was cool because it was all ages, so like there was ones that were maybe 16 all the way up to like maybe their 70s and it was just, it was a really nice group of people, you know. Is this something you're looking into in the future, do you think? Yeah, I love doing them. That's my second one I've done now and it's, I just kind of like hanging out with people that enjoy songwriting as well. That's good, that's good. This Saturday night you're playing in the Ballard Theatre in Ballard Buffet along with John Doherty, and it's a baller, isn't it? It is, yeah. So people want tickets for that, how can they get them on the box office? Yeah, they're online through the theatre page and through John's, through John's socials as well, so. Excellent. All good friends, Charles, James and the Rays, roll music as you're sounding absolutely incredible in the Monday night sessions. Thank you very much. James and Catherine, do you know James? Charles, James and the Rays. Oh, I don't know. It was Catherine, James and Donald and Catherine and we have to say when they were up with us as their Christmas special, we come up for a Christmas show and they told us that Catherine was expecting at the time and I'm actually delighted they said they've given, Catherine's given birth to a beautiful baby girl, Maeve O'Donnell at 8.45 on Saturday. So congratulations to James and Catherine, they're great artists, they really, really are. They record, they're absolutely brilliant, so I'm absolutely delighted for them, I really, really am. So congratulations and they just passed on their best wishes to you as well. So this coming, yeah, as I say, this coming Saturday. What can people expect? Are you with John, are you with John on this or is it two different artists? Are you coming on separately or do you work together? Oh, well, I'm supporting him. All right, okay. And we, well, we've written a song together as well. I supported him down in Dublin and we played the song live, so we might do that on Saturday again, but yeah, John, John's a great artist. Oh, he's amazing. Yeah, so I'm lucky to be supporting him, you know. No, he's looking to have you up there. Standall, you did not this year? I don't know. I don't know. This is not, that's not to me to be announced, but I know. They have, they've announced the lineup. I don't, I've played it for maybe the last seven or eight years, so I think maybe it's time for a break from Standall for me. Do you enjoy it? Love it, love it. That's good. Well, the future, where would you like to see yourself musically or is this your life? A hundred percent, yeah, definitely. I just love writing and I love performing and if I could just continue doing that and on a wider scale, I'd love to maybe explore other countries and just be lucky enough to play music in front of people and have it connect. We'd be lucky enough to have you play more music and relate more music because as I say, your music is, what is it you called yourself? I was taking note of it and made me laugh. You call your own style grumpy electropup. Oh yeah, yeah. That's, I've never heard that expression before. Is your music grumpy? I think, I think where that came from was a French blog about five years ago. Right. And I don't know if the translation came across like that or that's what they meant, but yeah, we kind of stuck with it and it's changed a little now from that, but yeah, yeah, yeah. That's good enough if you think I don't, but it sounds, do you know what it sounds original as a style of music? Yeah. People could latch on and say that's the style I am. Your music was, you've been very lucky in a sense to, because your music's been picked for TV shows and music was on the Red Bull advertisement and so did you have to work at that or was your music just picked up or do you submit music to that? I'm just curious for other people that might be listening in. Yeah, it kind of comes from a lot of different avenues. Sometimes you submit the music in that sometimes people find your music on whatever streaming platform and get in contact so it's just, it's really random how things like that happen. But you see so far in your life, when I'm looking at it, you know, you've had a great journey of music, even though you're young, you know, like you were writing your first music at 14. Yeah, yeah. You know, and I just think it's brilliant. I think it's amazing. Thank you. Is there an other album on the pipeline? Possibly, yeah. I'm back to doing singles again now for a while, but I'd love to release another album in the future. Singles are kind of, I talked to different people and people, some artists would rather put out singles like that randomly rather than, which keeps you relevant and people's mind. You know, some people look at it that way too. So, you know, I get where you're coming from and I just fire out an odd single and then. Yeah, I think an album, especially when you're doing it independently is such a big project. And it takes, it takes a lot to go through the whole process. So I think that's why a lot of people do singles because they're nice and easy and it gets your music out there and you're still. You're not tired. The only one is right. Yeah. Yeah. You've always been independent? Yeah. Yeah. Well, and we did the album fully independently as well. So it's, it's hard. I'm not like, I'm not going to lie and say that it's, it's, we won because it's not. There must have been a reward and element at the end of it. Like, they say it just don't us yourselves. Yeah, definitely. That for me was, we did the album launch up in Derry and Bennegan's and sold it out and it was on stage in front of all my friends and family and people that I know from Derry and it was just that like felt, that felt like a big accomplishment to finally have the album out. So. Well, well done. Congratulations. We're going to take an ad break, but we'd love to come back with an Aura song if you don't mind. Yeah. What, what are you going to do for us next? A new song that I haven't released yet called Autopilot. Aura exclusive. Wow. On the way, roll in studio with us here in the Monday Night Sessions. Don't go away. Unmissable kids wear savings have landed at TK Max. Discover hundreds of deals on all the brands they love from cool clothes to big name trainers and even outdoor toys all under 1999 shopping store for playground approved brands at parent approved prices. Everyone knows there's no deal like a TK Max deal. Well, Grace, how are you today? I'm good. 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There's a place for you at caring community games because together we're all in. Play your part at caringcommunitygames.ie. Don't miss the BAFTA award-winning comedian Michael McIntyre's brand new show, Magnificent, at the SSC Arena Belfast on Friday, the 31st of May, 2024. As always, Highland Radio make it easy for you as we look after all your needs. We will provide luxury transfers overnight stay at the Clinton Hotel Belfast on a B&B basis, your ticket to the show, shopping time in Belfast City Centre. For more information, go to the outlet at HighlandRadio.com or give us a call on 07491-25000. Michael McIntyre in Belfast. Absolutely beautiful. Thank you. You're doing one of my favourite places, the other voices down in Dingle. Oh yeah, yeah. Did you headline out of where you're part of it? No, just part of the festival, but I've played maybe four or five shows. But I've played, like, I've played that festival a couple of times now and it's my, hands down, my favourite festival for them to, yeah. It's got an atmosphere about it, which is just something else isn't it? It's got full of music lovers. It is, yeah. Yeah, there's no, there's no bad vibes down there. It's just that. One of my favourite ones to ever watch, it wasn't that, but to watch online was Amy Winehouse. Oh, yeah, yeah. It was part of a documentary, but it was just pure class, you know. It's got a great, it's got a great vibe about it, it's got a great energy about it and long minutes last. The Irish Women in Harmony was a project that you were involved with during the lockdown. Yeah. And you put a brilliant version of Dreams, which is a fantastic cranberries, crack and chin. How did you find that experience? Because you were all, you were all, you weren't together? No, it was Ruth Ann got in contact and kind of created this group and it's the most important thing because we still have a WhatsApp group today that people just text into and we've been doing things on and off with each other, like we did the Light, Light show. It must be a few weeks ago. No, I have lost track of time, but that was for Shanae O'Connor. Yes. Yeah. So on there, doing kind of another charity single for another charity and it was, it was great. It's just, it's, it's really nice being a part of. Something iconic. Yeah. With, like, there's so many incredible female artists in Ireland and it's just really nice to have them all connected, you know. Absolutely brilliant. Russian Roe. I just want to say thanks for coming up. Thank you. It's been an absolute delight having you here. I want to go out and be your new single here if you don't mind. Yeah. Version. This Saturday night people can catch you in the, in the Ballard Art Centre along with John Daughty. So it's going to be, it's going to be an amazing night and go along and support Irish music and it doesn't come much better than this. This is a Roe, social media, what platforms are you on? Everything. Yeah, it's usually under maybe Roe music. Right. Are you chained up or do you need to? I just need a second. You just take your time and as I say, once again, you can contact the, the box office in the Ballard and Connor and then we'll sort you out with tickets and that's just going to be an amazing night. When the panic sets in is the album and cinema is the brand new single and as soon as we get our chained here we will be blasting it out. I love the guitar. Thank you. Thank you. It's handy. It's me says, it's not too big. What make is it? It's a grudge. Oh, beautiful. And he gots me. Have I put you on the spot? No, you're good. You're good. There's a brand new single from Roe and this is cinema. Thank you very much. Thank you. And it's the same thing. Every shade the city's real. Hope and transform that brilliant live version that does pure class brand new song from Roe.