Mundy: You have to be honest about how you feel

It’s been 20 years since Mundy released his first album. A lot has changed since then, including requests from fans at gigs. “I don’t know how the rulebook changed that you had to give selfies,” muses the singer. “They’re the bane of my life. I don’t want my sweaty head on Facebook. It’s a weird obsession people have.”

In addition to a shift away from the humble autograph, the years have seen the release of five more albums, countless gigs in Ireland and abroad, one Galway Girl, as well as a marriage and two children.

“You get busy at times,” he admits. “It’s a bit stressful, but you know it’s the best thing ever. During the week I’m doing all the drop-offs, pick-ups and cooking, more or less. I’m lucky in a lot of ways.”

Mundy – real name Edmund Enright – was raised “in, around, above” a pub owned by his parents in Birr, Co Offaly. He got into music at the age of 14 by picking up a guitar that was lying around at home.

“There was always traffic in our house – the phone was always ringing, doors always banging – just noise. Maybe I got into music to put some melody into the noise,” he says. “When you’re a teenager you’re looking for what you’re good at. Not everyone finds that, but I found it with music.”

He moved to Dublin at the age of 17 to study sound engineering, but preferred busking to books.

“It didn’t really work out. I was finding another scene in town and found I was learning more by going to concerts than talking about them. I met Paddy Casey and Glen Hansard and all these different people,” he says.

Suddenly I was going into legal firms with pages and pages of small print put out in front of me

His efforts didn’t go unnoticed. After being approached by two men from an English record company in a bar at the age of 19, he was signed to a major record company. Jellylegs was released under Epic Records, with one song – To You I Bestow – used for the Romeo + Juliet soundtrack.

Despite the success, it was a strange time for the young musician.

“I was flying over and back to London the whole time and I was a kid. Suddenly I was going into legal firms with pages and pages of small print put out in front of me. I’d no idea what was written on them. It was very mind-boggling for a person of that age,” he says.

Unhappy with the direction the record company was taking his music, Mundy was dropped when working on his second album. Four years had passed since the first release, and he was under pressure to get a new deal – with his lawyer advising him to drop the Mundy moniker.

“He was saying: ‘Listen, if you want to try and get another record deal you should probably consider changing your name, because all the other labels will remember you were with the other label and they decided to let you go, so you might have to rebrand yourself,’” he says.

Instead, he opted to found his own label, Camcor Records, which he has released all of his subsequent albums through. Since that experience, Mundy says he realises the importance of staying true to yourself. Indeed, he describes his latest self-titled record as his best work to date.

“There is a certain amount of give or take. If you’re not happy with it, you can’t sell it. Now I think you have to be honest about how you feel. I think people appreciate it too,” he says.

I went through the worst performance anxiety in around 2004

He has also learned the importance of looking after your own health after struggling with periods of anxiety from the early days of his career.

“I started getting the panic around then, but I think I went through the worst performance anxiety in around 2004. That was on my third album. I was after going through a bit of a break-up and all the songs were reminders of what used to be, and I started playing to bigger crowds.

“Sometimes I’d end up doing gigs and there wouldn’t be a backstage area or somewhere to relax. I learned to drive and that was the beginning: I could sit in the car and listen to my own music and stop for a coffee. If you’re on the bus with a bunch of people, you have to do everything like an army.

“As I get older, I understand that a lot more. You just have to look after yourself a bit better and create an environment that isn’t claustrophobic before you play,” he adds.

Having two young daughters – Eden and Belle – has also changed his perspective and the way he works.

“It was a massive change to the system. Music can be very self-centred. You think a lot about yourself,” he explains. “All of a sudden you get on with the work and you don’t analyse it as much, you appreciate your job a lot more and every penny that you make from it.

“When you’re footloose and fancy free it’s a different story altogether. To be honest it’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me. You don’t know if you’re going to meet somebody, if you can have kids or get a nice house to live in, all that kind of stuff – we’ve been very fortunate.”

Plus, he has grand plans for the girls in years to come. “They’ll be selling t-shirts at gigs in no time,” he laughs.

Mundy’s latest album, Mundy, is out now.

Mundy performs at the OurLand festival at Bord Na Móna’s Lough Boora Discovery Park on Saturday 20 August. The event runs from 1.30pm to 7.30pm. There will be four stages – Positive Energy, Air, Earth and Fire – from which to experience music by Mundy, Ruaile Buaile and Phil Smyth, and activities including Xtreme zip lining, ArtZone, a silent disco and the Bird, Bee and Butterfly Ball. Tickets are on sale now and are available from Clickable testwww.loughboora.com. Prices start from €12 per adult and €5 per child (under ones go free) with various package options available: €20 for two adults and one child, €14 for one adult and one child and €30 for two adults and three children.