Ryan O'Donnell Interview conducted by David Lopez, I thank him all the facilities given to me as well as delivery of the original interview in English
Ryan O'Donnell, exclusive interview for MiusykApril 6, 2013
www.miusyk.com/author/dlopez www.miusyk.com/ryan-odonell-entrevista-exclusiva-miusyk-i.html-First of all thanks for answering this interview. Though most of the people know you for Quadrophenia and this tour with Ian Anderson, we´d like to start remembering how did you decide to become an actor. Was this your dream since you were a child?
As a child I would often change what I “wanted to be when I grew up”. Setting myself a new career about once a year. I had plenty of support from my parents but very little guidance from them. I was, however, fortunate enough to have a private education and I was constantly surrounded by art through my younger years although I was blissfully unaware of it at the time.I loved literature, music, fine art and theatre whilst at school but when I went onto university I decided to study animation. Unfortunately the course I enrolled on was poorly constructed and badly organised and I soon became bored. I quit the course after only a few months. My close friend had enrolled in a Theatre course that year at a local college. He managed to persuade the tutor and college to give me a place in his class due to my previous experience in theatre.Through out these years I joined a local rock band and we wrote a few heavy tracks and even did a small tour around northern England. I enjoyed every moment!
After I finished the 2 year course (1 ½ years for me) I fell deeply in love with music and tried to gain entry to various music colleges on the basis that I could play guitar and sing a little. Unfortunately for me I had no theoretical training in music and failed to get in anywhere.I then auditioned to get into The Royal Welsh College Of Music and Drama but as an Actor. I didn’t try any of the classically accredited such as RADA and Bristol Old Vic as wanted to receive a more raw and rounded theatrical training. It was here that I gained my ‘real’ training as a career for my future.
After leaving the college I worked on various small theatre and television pieces but almost all of them involved me singing or playing guitar and slowly I got pushed into working with a handful of the greatest musicians rock and roll has ever seen
-Before the mentioned The Who musical, any other plays or short films have you been involved with?
I have worked at The Royal Shakespeare Company in the production Romeo and Juliet. I worked with Cat ‘Yusuf’ Stevens on a recording of his early single ‘Matthew and Son’. I worked on a short and silly film called ‘The Beginning’ where I play a modern portrayal of Jesus Christ. I played a neurotic home owner in the play ‘NIMBY’ by Shake and Bake productions. The list goes on.
In this second part tells how Ryan managed to be one of the stars of the musical Quadrophenia, based on The Who's album of the same name, how was the tour rehearsals and all the details.
www.miusyk.com/ryan-odonell-entrevista-exclusiva-miusyk-ii.html-How did you get in touch with the Quadrophenia promoters? Were you a fan of The Who before this?
My best friend played Jimmy in the trial college production of Quadrophenia and I went to watch him. I was blown away by hearing that album played by a professional 12 piece band. I loved the album before that but my love for it was rekindled. I knew that they planned to make a full scale production tour of the show at some stage so I kept my ears close to the ground. 2 years later I heard a rumour that they were casting and told my agent to get me an audition. Apparently the director and musical director knew I was going to be Jimmy from the moment I sang the first chorus of ‘The Real Me’. Pete Townshend, however, was not too keen on my “curly hair” ;-)
-How did you approach to that “Rock opera”, were The Who members involved with the project?
The project was huge scale tour and a lot of money was riding on the success of the production. Although there were 15 other people in the cast, a choreographer and a director, a lot of the pressure rested on my shoulders to carve a physical story for the audience to follow. We didn’t have a script to work with. We had only the words in the songs as an audible language. There was a huge amount of blood, sweat and tears spilled in the rehearsal room and we rehearsed every day of the 8 month tour to try to make the show the epic spectacle it deserved to be. I don’t think we ever really reached our goal. The cast were right. The musicians were right. But setting was very wrong. And this was all realised far too late.
My actual approach to the rehearsal process was always back footed. I like to know why I’m doing something and what it supposed to be conveying before I commit to doing it. It took a lot of convincing from our choreographer to let myself go mad on stage and live up to the anger in the music. But she never lost faith in me and I’m forever grateful to her for that.
It was a very lonely process through the story of Quadrophenia. Although I was surrounded by 15 other actors on stage for nearly the entire show and rehearsal process, Jimmy was on a very personal and internal journey. It was a story of rejection and internal conflict. So I felt myself being slightly removed from the rest of the cast who had formed a bond together. Only in the rehearsal room and on stage though. Outside the work we were all very close friends.
-Do you remember any funny story about those days of singing Quadrophenia night after night?
Any funny stories?.... well…. There were plenty. Both on stage and off. 22 young adults between the age of 17 and 30 on a rock and roll tour? There was of course much mischief being had. Most of which I can’t mention in an interview. I do remember one drunken night in Edinburgh where a chunk of the cast decided to roll all the way down the Royal mile. And on the night before our last show Pete Townshend through the whole cast and crew party at a mod club. 5 of us didn’t go to bed that night and ended up coming straight from our hotel room to the performance. In the break I collapsed back stage and my understudy had to perform the rest of that show and the evening performance. I was unfit to ride a scooter. Also one of the other 5 members that didn’t go to sleep had to sing a high note half way through the show and came off stage with out a clean set of underwear! If you know what I mean?
The actor and singer tells us in this part of the extended interview with Ian Anderson as a contact and how were the trials of the current tour which are interpreted Thick as a brick 1 and 2. Also discusses the show and her favorite parts of it.
www.miusyk.com/ryan-odonell-entrevista-exclusiva-miusyk-iii.html-And after that project came Ian Anderson. How did he contact you? Were you a Jethro Tull fan?
Whilst doing Quadrophenia my step father handed me a copy of Aqualung and suggested I have a listen as he was a big fan. I listened to the first few songs on the album and admittedly found the title track a little jarring. I never really picked it up until much later. I now love the album. Mother goose and Up to me are some of my favourite songs. Thick as a Brick, however, had my attention from the first chord. I love albums that take you on an epic journey.
Ian came to watch Quadrophenia in Bath in support of John O’Hara who did the musical arrangement. When Ian was looking for someone to join the band for thick as a brick, I believe John reminded him of my performance in Quad.
John emailed me to explain that Ian would be getting in touch then Ian emailed me to invite me to go through some of the material at his home. The rest is history.
-Thick as a brick is a quite difficult record to play on stage and also to sing. How did you approach to this piece of music?
After singing Quadophenia in its entirety two times a day; Thick as a Brick is vocally a lot less demanding. That is not to say there is any less detail or skill involved. The only minor struggle for me was one of the time signature changes in TAAB where two separate lines have the same melody but different rhythms. And I would often count one and not the other to begin with!
I merely listened to the album day in and day out. Whenever I had a spare moment I would listen to the album. Nothing else was on my ipod for 3 months! That way I had at least lived the album as a fan and could approach it with a sense of nostalgia.
I tried not to watch any early videos of Ian. I tried only to read reviews and articles on his stage performance as it wasn’t my intention to mimic Ian’s style as a performer. Just to feel it with the same intention. However, the music is of such a fashion that bombastic energy drives you around the stage as if possessed!
-What did Ian advice you when you started to rehearse this song and how did he feel when another sang his music?
It was a brave move of Ian’s to allow someone else into his personal stage space. And I tried to respect that bravery and work as tentatively as possible. It was a balancing act from the offset. I’m naturally quite an attentive actor when performing in a scene on camera or on stage. Some performers work on the basis that pushing out as much as possible makes things exciting and interesting even if it involves trampling on other performers’ work. But I find listening and giving to another performer can prove to be more effective. However, working on Quad. made me realise that performing a persona in a rock show requires you to push out at 100% for nearly the entire show. So it took a short while to get the balance right between Ian’s turn to push the audience and my time to push.
-About the choreography and the show itself, was everything decided by Ian or you, or whoever, were also on board to decide what to do on every piece of the song?
Ian was surprisingly liberal when it came to choreographing the show. During rehearsal he had so much to concentrate on he barely had a moment to comment on what I was doing. Only really for the pre-show was any implication given in regard to what he wanted. Small bits of genuine ‘choreography’ were added in throughout the tour. Months down the line Ian would find himself doing certain movements here and there then suggest that Dave and I join in. Don’t be surprised if there’s a full blown dance routine through one of John’s organ solos come the end of October!
-The shows are quite intense and on the first part you are most of the time or singing or acting, would you consider this experience exhausting? To us there are so many little details to pay attention to and you are like a connector of the different pieces of this mad puzzle.
The first half of the show is like stepping into a whirlwind. Only when I reach the prostate exam do I get chance to stop and think about what has just happened and then its straight back into the whirlwind again. The first half of the show is over in a second (for me anyway). It’s a good way to feel. Come the end of 2 month tour leg I can start to get a bit relaxed and complacent.
These are the moments when I try to insert something new or improve something just to keep my focus and the energy high. The audience at the end of a tour deserve to get as much energy as the audience at the beginning of a tour!
-The second part of the concerts maybe is more relaxing to you though you are still quite important. Can you tell us what´s your favorite song of this part or your favorite moment?
My favourite moment in the second half of the show is when I get to be on stage but not active through out ‘Change of Horses’. Although I’m not playing an instrument, it’s the one moment where I feel like a member of the band. I can witness the support and attention the band members are giving each other. I’m normally so busy running around or addressing the audience to really respect how much they are listening to one another. That moment in Change of Horses is nice.
I do also enjoy the harmony I sing with Ian at the end of the show; “what ifs, maybes and might have been’s” Its one line where our voices really flow together quite beautifully.
And ended the interview with the great Ryan O'Donnell. In this part rescues anecdotes of his concerts in Barcelona, Spanish sent a message to his fans and discusses his future projects.
www.miusyk.com/ryan-odonell-entrevista-exclusiva-miusyk-y-iv.html-Touring with Ian is really tough, too many shows, a great effort and a lovely result. How is your life on the road? Do you have time for sightseeing?
I’m a still a fledgling to the international touring life and am therefore loving every moment. I try to soak in as much as I possibly can outside the working hours. We normally spend less that 18 hours in any given city around the world, most of which are taken up by sound-check, show time and sleep, but the band often get a couple of spare hours before sound check to visit a local coffee shop. I sometimes get a little greedy for culture and go out after the show to see some catch some local sights and meet some fans but I always pay for this greed with sleep depravation. I do try to set myself one interesting thing to see in each city and get some idea whether its worth coming back to visit in the future.
-Last February you were in Spain, where this web is based, and about your show in Barcelona´s Palau de la música Ian has said to A new day mag the following “It is weird. You know the songs so well, we obviously practiced and re-learnt the music for a week before the show, but you get on stage and suddenly you forget nine. There were times tonight when I thought a nutter had jumped on stage and started singing”. What do you remember about this gig in particular and about the rest of the tour in Spain and Southamerica? Do you really have time to feel the different reactions on the crowd or you are so concentrated on singing that is almost impossible?
Yes no matter how many times you go over the material, when you have the lights shining brightly in your face, and your heart starts to race there is no escaping the next 45 minutes of solid music. The first shows after a big gap are always unsure. Twice now, Reykjavik and Barcelona I have forgotten or fumbled lines and it’s one of the most disheartening things that can happen. I spend the next few hours kicking myself and self-deprecating but it always makes me super alert for the second and third show in the tour. Which are normally the ones I enjoy the most. Like Zaragoza and Malaga were great shows for me. I also remember the Palau de la Musica being a very beautiful building and auditorium but the actual stage is not designed for a big rock show. So the running around and movements I normally do have to altered as we play and this takes my mind away from actually delivering a worthy performance, thus forgetting lines!!
The crowd is crucial for me. I can normally only see the first two to four rows of audience due to lighting but if none of them are smiling it can really bring me down and start to flatten what my performance. It shouldn’t be this way but it is. I usually try to focus on one or two members of the audience for intimate deliveries and they normally end up being the people smiling back at me! I remember playing in Cordoba (Spain) last summer and every single member the audience was grinning from ear to ear. This was one of my favourite gigs of all time. I felt the crowd had come on the same journey that we as a band live out every night. It’s those moments where you remember the purpose of live music.
-Do you know if you are going to be involved in the next Ian´s record or not yet? Are you still on board for the tour after this TAAB tour?
I’ve expressed my interest to Ian to keep working with him for the foreseeable future. I think TAAB2 is a strong piece of work and a staunch album and if he makes another album half as good I would certainly like to take part.
-Would you like to sing another full album of Jethro Tull? Which one?
Hmmmm come back to me on that one. I’ve had the honour of singing ‘Locomotive Breath’, ‘Aqualung’ and “My God” as encore pieces after TAAB shows and they are great stand alone songs but I’m not sure Aqualung as an album is something I would like to do. Passion play is perhaps a bit too absurd for your regular audience members but I have the album and do listen to it from time to time. To be honest I would enjoy performing any slice of the Jethro Tull pie. I’ve still yet listen to every album in it’s entirety! Its nice to hear the current band take the sounds from the era and mould it into their own current styles. So their take on any album would be pleasant to sing with.
-Do you have any other project for the near future?
I’m working on some new material of my own at the moment but its taking me a long time. I keep getting inspired by the amazing musicians around me and then revert back to the drawing board. It will happen. Just maybe not tomorrow…. Or the day after but I do know I’m happy to leave acting behind for the foreseeable future. I feel like I’ve found my feet in performing as a singer. I personally find it a much more liberating experience.
-Thanks for answering this interview. Any message for your Spanish talking fans?
(Note: Ryan tells me wich has been used Google translator for these phrases and asks me to correct them. For obvious reasons we have chosen to leave them as is)
Cuando miro a la audiencia en los Estados Unidos o Gran Bretaña Veo a los hombres de edad, con el pelo gris. Cuando miro a la audiencia en España y América del Sur veo caras jóvenes con una pasión por la buena música. Mantener viva la música!
When I look at the audience in the United States or Great Britain I see old men with gray hair. When I look at the audience in Spain and South America see young faces with a passion for good music. Keep the music alive!( the answer is in Spanish)
David López