The full interview of Podge Gill from Longford's Brave Giant discussing life beyond the fame

Longford's band Brave Giant was a massive success in the 2010s with singles such as 'Lordy Lordy' but decided in 2020 to discontinue at the peak of their success. Three years on since their final gig in the Marquee in Drumlish in 2022, Podge Gill, the former lead singer of the band, sat to chat about stepping away and helping build up the business, Clubspot, in Co. Cavan.

Would you like to tell me how you got into music?

So, from a very early age, I always loved music. My uncle was a massive influence on me. He’s a trad Irish musician. Kevin Crawford is his name and plays with the traditional Irish band Lunasa, and he plays the flute. But he was always to the forefront–always exciting to see what he was doing, always touring the world, which instilled a love for myself. From the age of 8-15, I wouldn’t have dabbled into music much, but what I wanted to do in transition year in Moyne, I wanted to learn the guitar. In school, I was in a band. We were just learning our trade at that stage. Got the buzz of it by singing in front of people. I was very quiet up until I sang in front of people. The buzz of performing live and reacting to it, it got really addictive when myself and Mark originally set up a band. Ross and Emmett joined shortly after. It was really good doing it with your best friends. Music has always been there. I can’t always sit in silence without something sitting in the background. 

Any places in Longford that made an impact on your creative journey? 

Moyne was definitely a place that encouraged the music side of things. There were always choirs and groups, such as for grad masses. It helped instill the courage to get up and do that. If you can stand up and do a talent show at 16-17 in front of peers, to be given the platform is huge. It’s been encouraged since I left there. There were teachers who encouraged things to be done. Down to Ms. Doyle, Ms. McNerney. For them to go and give kids a platform is huge. I’m from Ballinamuck, music is at the forefront there. The ‘98 Bar is a good singing pub. And you had to learn a party piece. You had to go into the early hours. I remember when I was 18-19 and cracked the guitar and was thrown into it. 

To go into broader Longford, was John Brown’s in Market Square. They used to do these little sessions for different bands that played. It’s where we did our first original set of music. It probably went on for half an hour but we played to a broader Longford audience. It seemed like a good reaction to your music, it was great. It gives you more confidence to write more stuff afterwards. About six-seven months, we did our first Backstage Theatre gig, it drives you more and more. 

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Did you always want to become a singer/be in a band, and was it difficult to achieve?

I never would’ve thought that I would. It kind of, I suppose, once you develop a love for something or a good reaction or good at something, that you should keep doing that. The joy that I got out of doing it was the reason why I was doing it. Did I think I’d be doing it for so long? No. As a hobby? Yes. When you’re with a group of lads with a collective fondness, it’s amazing to see what has been created together with Ross, Mark and Emmett. You look forward to doing those things. I looked forward to being the lead singer. I would take great pride in being front and centre with the group, we had an interesting dynamic in that Mark and myself would often share the songs. You’re nothing without the lads beside you and I was lucky to have 3 of the best. If I’d go back solo–I don’t know if I would. Working with the lads was the main part. You were on this journey together. 

What was it like garnering a lot of fame? 

Do you know what– we took all of it in our stride. You’d get amazing pinch me moments throughout it, but one thing we were never allowed to get ahead of ourselves. We had very humble backgrounds. We are from farming backgrounds, and this I think is where the humility came from. We never disassociated ourselves from anybody. We never cut ties with any of our friends. It was amazing to think that we were in that position. One thing we were always asked in Dublin or by people from outside Longford , what’s it like being from Longford? It’s the very same as anywhere else, a little harder to break, but we just wanted to see how far we could go. The bit of  fame we had never changed us, I hope . In the early days of Brave Giant, we were still working day jobs. I was working in the Vodafone shop in Longford–people would sometimes want a picture–but I was working. I never really wanted to change as to who I was. We always tried to remain grounded and keep each other grounded. You lead to a fall if any of us changed.

You played your final gig in the Marquee in Drumlish. What made you decide that after two years since announcing the band’s end, to do a final performance?

It was mainly because we never got to do one with Covid. It was one thing that we’d always do. We had a full year of gigs in Ireland. We were meant to have two trips in America if Covid hadn’t happened. It kind of kicked us out of momentum. We thought it would only last a couple of months. We had to get back to working. Everybody got comfortable again having the stability of Monday-Friday jobs. We always wanted to do one last gig. I was glad that it was there. The Marquee in Drumlish is, indirectly, an influence on why you wanted to become a musician as kids. You kind of wanted to see brilliant bands. I remember a really big gig in 2016, but we’d just released our own music that year. We’d packed the place out. We’ve Longford covered now and see where else we can go. I’m glad that it was on our own turf. The area has been very good to us, and it was nice to give back to it. Once we presented ourselves to do that gig, we could move on. It was a nice bit of closure.

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Do you think that, as an artist, you retained your musical integrity by ending Brave Giant at its peak, rather than go down a mainstream trajectory? 

We had really exhausted ourselves through the decade, and we all had different musical interests. We spent a year touring the album and writing the album. And we were just at a block. We weren’t sure what direction we wanted to go next. We were very foggy in our heads creatively. In hindsight, maybe if we put things on hold for a little while, but, personally, living out of a briefcase every weekend, we all needed the break from it ourselves. We’d be trying so hard to get where we got to. We were all just a little exhausted creatively and physically. A band like we were arriving at 8 o’clock for a gig at 11 o’clock at night–it’s a long day. It kind of caught up on us a bit. The easy part was the creative aspect. Covid gave everyone perspective with a couple of years off. I was nearly happy enough to be in a stable position. 

Stepping back from the celebrity success, your music seems to be having a long-term success, according to stats I saw on your Facebook (late 2024). What is that like to still be relevant even though Brave Giant no longer performs or produces new music? 

This is the thing that absolutely baffles me. When we were trying our hardest, not that we didn’t get the reception that we wanted, we were delighted, but to go by our Spotify list where most people listen–that was any more than 28,000. Now it’s above 130,000. I can’t explain it. I think it has to do with our time. That kind of Irish music is kind of in right now. You can see it with Ross in Amble. Obviously, their success and his involvement in Brave Giant shows that the music is more relevant and popular now than it was when we were together. I’ve no scientific explanation for that. It’s a good feeling. Amble, Kingfisher and those kinds of bands, our music was similar to theirs. It feeds down the funnel. That number increases year on year after we’ve split up. Whether it’s a sign to go back to it. Who knows? It’s incredible to see. I was talking to Emmett, if that’s the legacy you leave behind that people enjoy your music or people ask to come back, it’s the fact that I did that with three best friends. That’s the real pride and joy I get from it. It’s such a buzz to me that our listenership has grown. It’s amazing to see that. That’s why we put up that post. It makes absolutely no sense to me because we’re not touring, but people are finding our music. It’s incredible, really. There’s a song in 2022 that we never released ‘Hymn for the Working Man’ so it became one of our most popular ones. Had we released that earlier, maybe things would’ve been different.

Tough question to ask, do you miss it?

There are certain things I miss. I miss the recording, creative side of it. The actual time with the lads. You were just in your own bubble living your dream when you were in it. The craic aspect and the tour–seeing new places and travelling the world; and then you did a gig in the evening. The live aspect and performing live, you miss most of those things. I would say that I do miss it. But, the other things where you get to an age, unless you’re getting to a level, I never wanted to plateau. If we’d plateaued doing the same circuits, I’m glad we left it where we did. I think, you either carry on or become a band that nobody wants to listen to, so what we created will, hopefully, age well. Hopefully, the lads and the craic that we have is what I miss most. I enjoy what I do now. (My friend John Hyland setup the company, we were in Moyne school together, and I had initially joined for a few months to help him try and get the company off the ground). Helping in getting a company off the ground and watching it grow from the ground up gives me the same pleasure as being in a band–it’s the very same here. The common denominator here is that I like to be busy with something that is developing, to use my creative aspects to help people. In a long-winded way I do say that I’d miss it. 

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Any final advice to give young Longford musicians who want to pursue it professionally?

I would say that, and going back to the fact that we had a stick to beat us with that we were from Longford–I don’t know why that is–where you’re from shouldn’t dictate your progression. If you really want to do something particularly in music, don’t let anyone get in the way of anyone doing that. We seemed to have the backing of every person in Longford. I remember being at the Longford Festival  in 2018, I’ve never been taken aback when on stage, I could literally see people going up as far as I could see to the end of Ballymahon Street. I didn’t know as many people could fit on the street, close to 5,000-6,000 people. To give advice is to go and do it. If you’re passionate enough, you can make a career. Write a song, if it doesn't get the reaction you had hoped, keep trying. It’s trial and error. Any of the songs we wrote, we road-tested them while doing pub gigs to see what people were doing in the crowd to see if they enjoyed it. Get as many demos as you can, critique, listen and improve. It’s all part of the parcel of it. Writing a simple song is the hardest thing you can do. Don’t overcomplicate it. For Longford musicians, go for it and see what happens. I’d never have dreamt that we did as many things that we did, like 3Arena and Croke Park, selling out the Olympia Theatre, and festivals throughout the country, and around the world. It seemed impossible, it happened to us. It takes hard work, but it should never be a blocker. Never let anyone stop you doing what you love to do.