"I think that's what the powers that be would want anyway, they want you to be walking around cynical and disheartened. But then I know for a fact that I get lit up and inspired by music at all these gigs and I learn something new all the time. And people come to the gigs, there's a community there, so if anything the fire is bigger now than it ever was."
Musician David Keenan talks about the importance of live music and the challenges associated with overcoming feelings of cynicism and disillusionment as an artist.
The Louth man - who will be performing in Stiúideo Cuan, Spiddal, on Friday June 19 as part of Féasta Ceoil an Spidéil - has been busy recently and released his new single "Protest Song" last week.
He was also featured in the award-winning bilingual documentary Focla ar Chanbhás (Words on Canvas ), which was directed by Paddy Hayes and released last year.
"Well it follows me over 500 days, and we go back to Dundalk. I suppose it finds me at a crossroads, a bit disillusioned, and I'm just trying to find myself again and find a new sound", Keenan says of the documentary.
The musician explains that he sees his art as more of a vocation and it's clear that authenticity is of central importance to him. However, the commercial pressures from the music industry have been challenging for Keenan.
"Maybe five years ago, there was an awakening in me that this isn't just all about the art, kid, there's a business here. And that's just the 'welcome to the real world' that I faced, we talked about in the doc," he says
"When you're a young person, and it's sold to you that you're going to miss this big boat if you don't say yes to everything, you do naturally feel backed into a corner.
"Then it becomes a question, are you in it for just the fame, or are you in it for different reasons. Once you stay true to yourself, you do get rewarded in ways."
Keenan's sense of belonging to his home town is something that comes across in his music and it is very much tied to his commitment to honesty and authenticity.
"I didn't really like music that was trying to cod me. Like a fella from Leitrim singing in a Tennessee accent, I never really got that," he says.
"Dundalk to me was full of industry, full of stories, full of characters, and I think no matter where you're from, you try to romanticise it in order to make the experience a bit more exciting.
"Music is steeped in storytelling, the bardic tradition. I grew up with great characters in my family, and my grandfather, in particular, was a great storyteller. It was a council estate, but everybody was self-taught, there was always books laying around.
"So, there was always encouragment to sing in your own accent, to, never work for less than what you're worth, and early on it was important for me just to just to write what I saw as real."
The Louth man also feels that his commitment to staying to his own music gives him more artistic freedom and allows him to forge a more meaningful connection with audiences.
"There's a certain type of duty there, because when you're not chasing a hit and you're not trying to be a poster boy for this or that, you have great freedom. If I don't want to aid and abet a system that's broken; I can articulate things in my own way that might connect with somebody," he says.
"I think since Covid, we've been cooked with social media, everyone's trying to sell you something, and it's just a pure doom capitalism culture.
"I just think people are crying out for connection. Social media is a tool for connecting, but look at what's happening, it's just fueling the worst kinds of human behavior. Connection, the live gig and a bit of authenticity - I think people are looking for that more and more."
So, how does Keenan still find inspiration as a songwriter when trying to overcome cynicism, disillusionment or anger?
"When you get a little bit older, you realise that you can only really change your own attitude, you have no control over anybody else's," he says.
"I don't respond well when people try to ram their opinions down my throat, so I think as a songwriter, what you do is you just try to hold things up for people to make up their own mind.
"It's no good to me walking around angry. I have to do something with it, so I try to put it in the songs. And then I turn up to a gig and I'm singing with people in the room and that's all dissolves for however long, so I just go back to the music again and again."
The Louth man however is still keen for audiences to experience fun and enjoyment at his gigs.
"A sense of open-mindedness, and a bit of divilment - people call it your own little brand of madness, or whatever that spirit is in us," he says.
"I think that gets turned up at the gigs a lot of musicians have said that they come to the gigs and they go away and write a song.
"That's what it's all about."
