HOW does it feel to be releasing Static, the first single from your forthcoming debut album, today?
I'm very excited to finally get to release it after so long, so fingers crossed everybody likes it and it does what it has to do.
It's a completely new song: although I say 'completely new', it was actually written back in 2018, but I've never played it live –not even at small random gigs where you would normally test stuff out.
I'm actually going to be playing it live for the first time tonight at the show at Navan Fort with Beoga. It's going to be a great night.
:: You've worked with Beoga in the past so are you looking forward to playing with them again this evening?
It's very exciting but also kind of daunting because we play as a band, we haven't done any rehearsals and they have never heard Static before – so we're going to have to learn it at soundcheck and just hope that it works.
There are actually two other songs on my new record which were written with members of Beoga and the album itself was produced by Seán Óg from the band, so we're even more intertwined than I think people know.
:: Judging by the sneak preview clips you posted on social media, Static finds you exploring a more electronic kind of sound than your previous work. Have you made a deliberate decision to 'change things up' for the album?
Exactly, it's kind of a whole redesign – not a restart, but a redesign for this next chapter. The way I always talk about it is, it's not the beginning or the end, it's not even the beginning of the end – it's just the end of the beginning.
I like it when the musicians I like do something different. Once you've done something, you've already done it, so it's kind of interesting to do something else. I guess the album is a chance to do that and go into a different sphere – but ultimately, it's still me.
It's a little different sounding, but still pretty much Ryan McMullan.
:: There's a song on the album that's actually called Redesign – so is that going to be the title track?
At the moment, unofficially, yes. But if it starts to catch wind then I'll maybe just change it last-minute and fool everybody.
:: You've also marked this new chapter with a new velvet suit-based 'look'. Was that all part of doing something different too?
I was like 'OK, well the album is a 'redesign' so it needs a 'look' and it needs a sound'. I don't even remember how the velvet suit came about other than I was thinking 'I wonder how velvet would look in a suit?'.
So I got one made and I actually really like it – but the only issue is that velvet doesn't breathe, so wearing that thing on stage is not exactly great. I might just have to cut the back out of it.
:: How do you find the promotional side of being an artist these days, with there's such an emphasis on social media 'content'?
I got into music to play music, I didn't get into it to become an influencer. So that's kind of a learning curve for me, trying to figure out how to strike a balance with that side of things.
I really look at it as a necessary evil. Sometimes with social media posts it almost feels a bit seedy or something, like you're tainting [the music] by going 'oh please listen to this song'.
:: You were really busy in the run up to the pandemic and were on the cusp of releasing your album. Were there any positives to taking an enforced break from touring and pushing the album back?
Truth be told, I can definitely remember feeling a bit lethargic about touring and wanting to take a bit of time off. So I kind of welcomed that initial three months when everything shut down – but then that quickly became 18 months off.
That was definitely too long, but it was certainly a bit of time that was needed: I got to remember how to actually live in one place rather than being constantly on the road, which was nice change.
It was also a blessing in disguise because the album turned into the album it is now because of it. It changed a lot, a lot of the experiences that kind of happened through the pandemic became involved in it. Doubt crept in a lot, real moments of 'what is happening with my life?'.
So there are songs about being fully depressed and very much aware of it – but there's also a lot of hope and a lot of love and a lot of joy in it too. I didn't want it to become a 'pandemic album'.
Covid also put a bit of perspective on how to do this again: I don't think I'd like to do as many shows as I was doing before, because sometimes I was away for 10 months of the year.
I'm still 100 per cent committed, but now instead of doing that many shows over one year I'll maybe split it over two and take a bit of time to breathe.
:: What was it like to finally get back to playing live in the latter part of 2021?
It was incredible. We called it the 're-discovery' tour because it was almost like re-discovering, one: how to do this, two: how much we love to do this, and three: to re-assure ourselves that this is exactly what we were born to do and not just some sort of 'blip' in our lives.
But this year, it kind of really does feel like we're about to get back to a normality that's much closer to where we were in 2019 [than last year was]. I think it's going to be a great year for shows.
It's kind of mad that our last show in Belfast before the pandemic was Custom House Square. Now it almost feels like we're finally out of Covid, touch wood, so with the upcoming Custom House Square gig in August it's almost they are two bookends, if that makes sense.
:: The next CHSQ show is also doubling as the launch event for the new album, you must be looking forward to that?
Every Belfast show that I've ever done has been amazing, but truth be told I can barely remember the last Custom House Square one because I was so jet-lagged. But this time, it will be the beginning of a tour for a new album, with a new sound and new songs, so I'll not be able to forget it in a hurry.
To be able to play that for Belfast first before going anywhere else is kind of just perfect – I can't wait.
:: Ryan McMullan and Beoga play Reawaken at Navan Fort in Antrim tonight, tickets and info at armagh-navancentre.ticketsolve.com. Tickets for Ryan McMullan at Belfast's Custom House Square on August 27 are on sale now via customhousesquare.com. Static is released today, keep up to date with Ryan at ryanmcmullanmusic.com.
