John Spillane - Background

Background

Spillane grew up in the Cork suburb of Bishopstown, in a large family of boys. He was educated in Colaiste An Spioráid Naoimh, Bishopstown. Raised by his mother she influenced his musical nature who taught him a variety of Cork songs including “The Banks of My Own Lovely Lee” and “The Lonely Woods of Upton”. A shy child who shunned the spotlight, he got his first guitar at the age of fifteen and joined his first band in school. When he first began his main influences derived from artists like the Beatles, Neil Young and Bob Dylan. His beginnings were more rock than anything else until he had a change of heart.

“When I started out with rock bands, I sang in an American accent. Then I heard real Americans sing the blues and it made me feel like a fraud. Ever since then, the most important thing for me is to be true to who I am and where I come from.”

After finishing the leaving cert he took a hiatus in order to briefly work as a clerk in a post office, but his old band lured him back to his real calling, music. He hopped in a van with his band 'Sabre' and toured around Ireland playing rock music. It all fell apart according to Spillane but it was no matter as at that point he had realised that trad was what he really wanted to immerse himself in and began his career as a professional musician at the age of 20.