The Learning Curve Of Eugene McGuinness

He continues, “I’ve noticed that if I’m in London it all tends to be very descriptive and I compare the city to some sort of circus that tends to be full of things happening because London is like that. And I can even hear Ireland in certain songs – they’re me trying to be a bit more poetic.� But back to that debut single ‘Monsters Under The Bed.’ Penned in a bout of insomnia in the early hours of the morning Eugene finished it at super speed. “It didn’t take long to write,� admits Eugene. “About half an hour, give or take ten minutes. I wrote it at three in the morning – I couldn’t really sleep, I was bored as well and I really wanted to write a song so I just wrote about being bored.� The result is a peepshow into the mind of a product of modern culture as Eugene sings of Barbie dolls, pregnant teens on late night chat shows and monsters under his bed with square tv-screen induced eyes.

Indeed - Eugene’s as observant as they come in his lyrics. Taking inspiration from wordsmiths such as The Kinks’ Ray Davies and The Streets’ Mike Skinner his perceptive outtake on everyday life is truthful, but sometimes with a twist. “I’m not always honest in songs,� he states. “Sometimes I just lie. People are always like ‘ really? So that isn’t true?’ and I’m like ‘no. I made that bit up – but it’s ok if you like it.’� Exactly. Since when has writing music been like reporting the news.

And with a mini-album in the shops plus summer appearances at Glasto and Latitude Eugene’s not finished yet. He’s barely started. “There’s lots of things I want to do that people haven’t heard yet,� he says. “Like I did this record and I’m really happy with it, but there’s something I need people to hear and it only hits that in a certain way.� Cryptic.

It’s clear the story of this songster doesn’t end here. It’s only just begun. And with a future live show he’s working on that’ll incorporate a massive rhythm section and jamming musician pals he may soon be leaving that stigmatised singer songwriter label that preceded him behind and venture onto something completely different.