Dan McCabe came from a household occupied by multigenerational music lovers in Kildare. Influenced by acts like Paul Brady, Luke Kelly, and Christy Moore, Dan wanted to be a musician from an early age. “So, that was always the dream,” Dan tells Post-Burnout.

“I was just always singing for as long as I can remember, and then, at last, they gave me a guitar. I started learning how to play guitar and stuff – I taught myself how to play a few basic little chords, like – then, when I had enough chords and enough songs, I went down to the local pub and just asked for a gig, and they gave me a gig.

“I just went from there. They gave me a gig every week, that kind of stuff. It was just a natural progression. And then, eventually, I started gigging around Temple Bar and that kind of thing. So, you know, I was doing, I think, three to four gigs a week at times.

“Then, you know the way it is, you could do three weeks with no gigs. [Laughs] I kind of cut my teeth for a few years before COVID, just slogging it out around pubs. Anywhere that would have me, I’d be the person in the corner who’s belting it away, like.”

During this time, Dan was working in an unfulfilling position. “I was working in a factory, doing stuff, and I had a young daughter. She was only born,” he says. “I was working in a factory, making minimum wage, and it was really tough…it wasn’t tough work, but it was really boring, monotonous work, you know?

“And I always just thought to myself, ‘I should be making music,’ you know? And that’s all I could think: I should be making music. So, I went home one day and told my girlfriend, ‘Look, I’m quitting this job. We’re never going to be happy,’ you know? ‘I’m never going to be happy doing this, so I’m going to go to music.’

“So, that was a time in my life where I was like, ‘This is what I’m going to do. It doesn’t matter if I don’t get paid now or in a year or two years, this is what I’m doing, anyways. I’d rather be doing this and be broke than not do it.’ So, if you’re willing to do that and have a lot of luck along the way. It’s funny for me, people think it just happened overnight when all of them videos started going viral, but there was a hell of a lot of practice that went into it.”

The virality Dan speaks of resulted from his girlfriend recording him covering songs from artists as varied as Dermot Kennedy, Destiny’s Child, and Wheatus, and uploading them to varying social media platforms during the COVID-19 lockdowns.

Dan found his star suddenly rising as the videos attracted millions of viewers. Some of these viewers were RTÉ producers, who promptly featured Dan on The Late Late Show and The Sunday Game. The ball kept rolling from there, and Dan saw himself performing for The President at Áras an Uachtaráin, getting signed to the label Trad Nua, touring nationwide, and releasing music.

“I think it’s been kind of moving at its own pace,” Dan says of his trajectory. “Being thrown in at the deep end, the way I was… – I went from playing my bedroom to sold-out shows at the likes of the Olympia and all – …so, there was a lot of learning involved in what I was doing. It was a big learning curve, like.

“And, at times you struggle with that and, at times, it’s easy, but it was difficult at the start. I suppose, the first couple of years, I was learning how to stand up on the stage and just do a job. So, the last year’s been a graduation from that.

“I got to a place where I wanted to be, and then I was really able to build a show and be comfortable in doing it. So, that’s kind of how the last year’s been for me; it’s just been amazing. The people I’m working with are fantastic to work with, and it’s moving in the right direction.”

Dan released his first full-length album, Back to Life, in October. When we asked him how it felt for someone who has been a music lover for as long as he has to have his first album out, he responded, “It’s a lifetime goal. It’s what you aim to do if you’re recording music, that’s what you want to be doing, is putting out an album.

“We said we’d go to Windmill Lane and get some of the best producers and stuff, you know? So, we went and did it, which is a great feeling. Like, it’s a dream come true. I love the album, I love listening to it. We recorded the songs and I left it with the producers to finish, and they’ve done just such an amazing job. I got it back about six months later and I just fell in love with it.”

Not content with just releasing his first album, Dan released a follow-up single yesterday, called “Pieces (Love or War).” Discussing the song, Dan says, “I love this song. It’s a song that I wrote when I was pretty young; I was about fourteen or fifteen.

“As I started working with professional people, I got it professionally recorded. This is the outcome of these people’s talents, so I’m really excited about it. It’s great to see a song that I wrote so long ago be able to…I love it, is what I’m trying to say. I love the song. I’m just delighted people get to hear it.”

In the new year, Dan will resume touring, which will see his return to Australia and his Canadian debut. Before those shows, Dan will be performing across Ireland, between January and March. “So, there’s two different kinds of shows in the tour that I’m doing, now,” he says of this upcoming tour.

“There’s the show that I’ve been doing for the past three years, which is a full band, there’s piano, percussion, lead guitars, and singing. So, that’s a big sound, it’s a big production thing, and it’s really enjoyable.

“I’ve been working on it really, really hard for the last three-and-a-half years to get it to where it is, so I’m really, really proud of where it is. It’s a really good production. I’m not tooting my own horn; my performance and the people who are working on it are really, really good.

“So, we’re doing that, but I’m also doing some dates with just Kyle [Farrell], the guitarist in the band. Me and him are doing a two-piece gig. It’s a more intimate show, kind of pulling the crowds back to a few hundred capacity and that kind of thing. But they’re really, really nice.

“They’re just acoustic shows. They’re just guitars, and ballads, and that kind of thing. I was going to do it by myself, but then I injured my hand at the end of the year, so I had to stop playing guitar for a bit. But I got Kyle on the gig; he’s been doing a great job. So, I’m really enjoying them gigs and getting to play the ballads that I wouldn’t get to play in the bigger venue, where you’re trying to get people going and stuff. So, it’s the ballads that I like to play.”

Despite his growth in popularity, this ability to remain grounded in his roots and translate his work to smaller settings is something that Dan always considers. “I love it,” he says. “I really do. It takes me back to that time when I was running around to the pubs, gigging, and all that kind of craic.

“I have very fond memories of doing that. Knocking around Temple Bar, I used to play with a guy down there, named Nigel Davey, and he’s an accordion player. It was the first time I ever played with a different musician, and he was electric. It’s good to get back, doing that. […] I love playing anywhere! Even put me in the corner of a pub, man, I’ll be happy to play, like! [Laughs] I love it all!”

Dan McCabe’s latest single, “Pieces (Love or War),” is on all streaming now. You can keep up with Dan’s music, live dates and social media accounts through his website.

Tune into POSTBURNOUT.COM Interviews… tonight at 21:00 (IST) to hear this interview in full. Available on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Amazon Music Podcasts.

Aaron Kavanagh

Aaron Kavanagh is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Post-Burnout. His writing can also be found in the Irish Daily Star, Buzz.ie, Totally Dublin, The GOO, Headstuff, New Noise Magazine, XS Noize, DSCVRD and more.