Five questions for Jude Shiels
April 21, 2008
Jude Shiels has been playing music professionally since he was 14 years of age. He sometimes plays in the touring band of his father Brush Shiels, who is a very important figure in the history of Irish rock. Jude has toured in Ireland, Britain and the USA. In 2001 Jude released an album with his brother Matthew (as the Shiels Brothers Band), called Hey Joe & Other Family Favourites. A tribute to the great blues guitar players of the late 1960’s. Jude has a new self titled album completed which he will release this summer. It brings together his folk, blues and jazz influences such as Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen and Charlie Parker and is focused on his songwriting and acoustic guitar playing.
1. What was your first (poem / piece of writing), and how bad was it?
“I was 9 years old. I wrote an essay which linked the Khlyst’s of early 20th century Russia with the troubles in Northern Ireland to members of the East German shotputter team fighting as mercenaries in the Belgian Congo and finally onto the underground rock music scene in communist Hungary in the early 1970’s, including the little known gospel movement. I submitted it for a school project and it was rejected on grounds of impartiality. It has since been published in Magyar Hírlap newspaper.”
2. Are you currently working on anything, and why’s it taking so long?
“I’ve been slaving away for years trying to put together a non-musical adaptation of Singing In The Rain. Why’s it taking so long? I can’t figure out a good title for it.”
3. What’s the last thing you read that made your hair stand up on end?
“The Castle in the Forest by Norman Mailer. A dark, demonic, depraved and deranged look at Hitler’s childhood. I loved it!”
4. What’s the last piece of literature that made you cry?
“Stop the War by Speakthe Hungarian Rapper. This guy has touched on some serious issues with sensitivity, eloquence and restraint. A big hit in Ireland.”
5. Did you ever get laid because something you wrote?
“Traditionally women have not been so interested in my mind.”
