David Christy Jones from West Cork, Ireland, has been making and performing music for the past ten years, although music had been a part of his life long before that.
Growing up in a musical family, David was influenced by all kinds of music genres, from Contemporary Rock to Classical, and grew up to make unique music of his own. He has played drums, bass, guitar, and has done vocals for many diverse acts over the past ten years and is getting ready to release his album. The second single release from David’s forthcoming album is called “Idiocy” and premieres on September 18th, featuring the vocals of BenZo from Skibbereen. Right from the beginning, “Idiocy” is compelling and fierce, meant to make a statement and have you grooving along at the same time.
This song is influenced by old school rock and rap, among other genres, with a heavy focus on guitar as the backbone. Using harmonies and witty lyrics, David sends a message to the world about our actions and harmful beliefs plaguing modern-day.
Bringing parallels to current issues and politics, this song is surely one to make you think. Both David and BenZo bring incredible energy to the song, ending with an insane guitar solo. David Christy Jones’ debut album Welcome To Virology is to be released in the next few months, so stay tuned.
“Idiocy” was such a unique song to listen to and incorporated many themes into the lyrics. Can you delve deeper into your reasons for writing this song? What do you hope listeners take from it?
Thank you very much! I wrote this song because I've been frustrated with the overall response to the Covid19 pandemic. I've been in almost total lock-down since March because I have vulnerable family members. Overall, the responses of governments and certain groups around the world have been shameful. As I see it, we're all in this together and we need to look out for each other. A unified response is important and seeing such a lack of unity has been very frustrating. I hope that listeners can appreciate that it's a light-hearted song with a less light-hearted message. I like to jab fun at things that involve a much more serious issue or issues.
How did you know you wanted a feature on the track, and how did you decide that BenZo was a good fit?
I've always loved rap, particularly the 90's era of rap and hip hop. I've known BenZo for years now and played with him a good number of times in a live setting. The guy has got rhymes and lyrics that blow my mind and bring me right back to my favorite artists of that style and era. Long story short: BenZo is a lyrical and rhythmical guru and I'm proud to call him a friend and collaborator!
You’ve spent a great chunk of time traveling and performing with various artists, what has been your favorite place to perform at?
That's actually a really tough question. My local is the world-famous DeBarra's Folk Club in Clonakilty – the home of the late and great Noel Redding. In many ways that have to be my favorite place to perform – it's like a second home to me. I guess further afield it would have to be The Foundry in Athens in Atlanta, Georgia. Amazing venue, amazing town, and amazing history – what more could you want?!
How would you describe your upcoming album “Welcome To Virology” in one word? What can we expect musically from this album compared to “Idiocy”? One word? Hmmm... “Different” perhaps. It's quite a fluid album, I think, in terms of styles and progression. It's a little difficult to pin it down, but loosely it's a concept album of a sort. I visualized the Coronavirus pandemic as a theme park that nobody wants to go to and then wrote a serious of songs that loosely rotate around that idea. Musically it's got a few bits of a number of different genres. Funk; Prog; Rap; Blues; Ambient – I'm hoping there's something for everyone!
What has been keeping you inspired in 2020?
I've kind of become self-inspired at this stage. I know that I want to write music that I want to hear and in order to make that music, I have to put the work in. So I guess I'm inspiring myself to do more and to do better. It's also been amazing seeing the amount of amazing music coming out with some amazing local musicians. For example, I play drums with Fintan McKahey (who I believe recently featured on BuzzMusic!) and he's been such a great inspiration and help for me to get this album up and running. Big shout out!