Ricky Warwick, ex leader of glorious punk rock outfit Almighty, shows up seconds after my sms. Smiling, easygoing and down to earth and was all I expected and more, the re-born Irish country-folk songwriter leads me backstage for a friendly chat. We talk about Johnny Cash, the Ramones, Irish farms and sunny LA, football and reality TV, there’s even time for an Irish joke... and... oh yeah, obviously... music!

Altsounds: Hi Ricky!So, what’s this love affair between punk bands’ singers and acoustic folk/country music?

Ricky: Yeah, there’s quite a few doing it... I think there’s a connection between folk music and the story telling in punk songs, being direct, the telling of tales and the angst, there’s a lot about angst in folk music as well, and country music, real country music. I think that’s the connection, I think that Johnny Cash was one of the first real kind of rebel rockstars that there was, to me he’s as much of a rebel as Sid Vicious was.

Altsounds: Your lyrics are more than often about Northern Ireland; do you still live there?

Ricky: No, I don’t, I live in Los Angeles.

Altsounds: Do you miss it?

Ricky: Yeah, sometimes I do, but I get to go back quite a lot so it’s not too bad.

Altsounds: There’s a big difference between Northern Ireland and LA...

Ricky: A huge difference, but I feel home in both places. I grew up in Northern Ireland, and I lived in Los Angeles for five years now and I like it.

Altsounds: Most of your songs autobiographic, right?

Ricky: They’re all based on true experiences; I don’t really like to write about anything I haven’t experienced, or at least someone I know has experienced. If someone tells me a story I like to put myself in that character. The song ‘Born fighting’ on the new album is based on a young Irish immigrant who goes to America and ends up fighting the English in the War of Independence; obviously I never did that ‘cause it was two hundred years ago, but what was in my head was what he must have been thinking living his country to go to America, obviously is different but I try to get into the character, it’s a subject I know all about so I try and write as close to the truth as I can.

Altsounds: Are all the anecdotes you come up with on stage also true?

Ricky: Yes, I’ve been doing this for over twenty years now and I’m lucky that I travelled the world and I have many many fantastic experiences and unfunny stories, Therapy?s fans hopefully will find some fun in it too.

Altsounds: Did you ever think of a career as a stand up comedian if this should go wrong?

Ricky: I like playing guitar and singing too much! But there are shows where I end up talking more than I play the guitar because people sometimes want to hear the stories, some other times they just want you to shut up and play. I’m happy to do both.

Altsounds: You had your first guitar at 14 and it changed your life. Who would you be today without music?

Ricky: I’d be a farmer. I’m a farmer son, so I’d be a farmer. That’s what I did when I left school.

Altsounds: “Belfast Confetti” is one of my favourite albums this year...

Ricky: Thank you!

Altsounds: You’re welcome! How would you describe it to someone who’s not familiar with your work?

Ricky: I’d say it’s a very honest acoustic folk rock punk album, and if you like good straight ahead rock’n’roll and a vein of John Cougar, Springsteen, Steve Earle or stuff like that hopefully you will find some of those influences in there as well, but mainly they’re honest songs about a childhood spent in Northern Ireland.

Altsounds: Last time I saw you live it was at the Underworld with Eddie Spaghetti and was such a warm intimate gig! Tonight you’re playing for a bigger audience at the Garage. What kind of venue/show do you enjoy the most?

Ricky: I’m happy doing either, I really am. I enjoy both for different reasons. They’re a different kind of approach, if it’s a bigger venue you obviously project yourself more and you don’t have that kind of one to one that you have with a smaller crowd, but that’s ok, I’m happy anyway.

Altsounds: You recently played in the Middle East, how was that?

Ricky: Yeah, I just got back from Israel. It was unbelievable, amazing, I’ve never been out there before, I was treated really really well, and I’ve got to play five shows and meet some amazing musicians and people, had a really really good time, was really good.

Altsounds: Did they know your music?

Ricky: No they didn’t, I was actually playing with an Israeli singer songwriter called Izhar Ashdot, which is huge in Israel, has been since the Eighties, and he’s a big fan of Irish music; he has a band of Israeli musicians who play Irish music as if they had been in Northern Ireland their whole life. He heard some of my stuff and really liked it and offered me a chance to go over and play with him and his band; we played a couple of his songs, and we played a couple of mine together, and we did a couple of Irish classics, we did Whiskey in the Jar and that kind of stuff, and it was fantastic, it was brilliant, really good fun!

Altsounds: You played and collaborated with many big names throughout your career. Which one left you more starstruck?

Ricky: Errr... Wow. I think when we started with the Almighty, going back that far ‘cause we were kids, I think when you get older you don’t get so starstruck as you used to... When we supported the Ramones, I think it was our second major tour, we were such big fans we were scared to talk to them for a week, ‘cause we were so starstruck, we just couldn’t believe it was happening, the buzz of sharing the same stage with a legend like the Ramones every night was just amazing, I remember being ill starstruck for like a week before we got over it!

Altsounds: Quite understandable, we’re talking about The Ramones!
You had a go at English football fans the night of the Eddie Spaghetti gig... (Ricky laughs), fancy a prognostic on their World Cup hopes? No worries, I’m not English... I’m Italian and not a Capello fan!

Ricky: I think they’re going to do really well, and I hope they do ‘cause my country didn’t qualify. I’m from Northern Ireland but I hope they do ok, I think he’s a good manager and he got them playing really well. You know, Northern Ireland is such a small country with limited resources and for us when we turned over a big time like England it was fun. I was being ironic, just trying to wind people up a little bit and I think some people took offense, but I was having a joke! I think they’ll do really good, I really do, I think they’ll be ok.

Altsounds: What are your plans after this tour, any new records in the pipeline?

Ricky: I’ll take some time off ‘cause I will have done over 150 shows by the time the year is finished, so I’m going to take a break for a couple of weeks and then I think the plan is to start a new record and plan some touring in America next year ‘cause I haven’t tour there for about a year and a half I think, so that will probably be the first thing I’ll have to do.

Altsounds: What’s the current situation with the Almighty?

Ricky: To be honest I don’t really know, we discuss the possibility of doing some shows at some point, when and if, but I’m just so busy! Everybody is busy doing their own thing, and it’s just finding the time to do it, and do it for the right reasons, do it ‘cause we want to do it, not just doing it for the sake of doing it, you know?

Altsounds: No, it never works when it’s done like that.
As far as I know, you have the habit to reply personally to messages and you’re known as a very down to earth kind of guy. How important is your relationship with your fan base?

Ricky: Very! If people don’t come to the shows and buy the records I don’t have a job, it’s as simple as that. I like to hear their feedback, what they think, their ideas and opinions, as much as I can. It’s hard to reply to everybody and I’m sure I miss some ‘cause it’s impossible, but I like to try and answer as much as I can, talk to as many people as I can, I make myself accessible more, I’m happy to hang out after the gigs and talk to people,

Altsounds: Social networking, the best thing after sliced bread or a necessary evil?

Ricky: Don’t know, it’s just the way of the world unfortunately, or fortunately, depends how you look at it. I think it’s great that you can find people that you’ve lost touch with and bring them back into your life, or maybe may not be so good as well, it depends. It’s a tool that is here, you either use it or you don’t, but it’s going to grow more and fast as time goes on, so if you’re a musician right now you’ve got to use the internet and I think you’re full of shit if you don’t, ‘cause it’s a great way to get your music out there and making people aware of your stuff.

Altsounds: Reality shows, discovering new talents or creating talentless z-list celebrities?

Ricky: Hate them! Hate them!! Hate them, never watched them, I think entertainment is entertainment, if someone is good at doing something, being a clown and making people laugh, whatever, he’s worked hard at it, but just watching people doing everyday shit and calling it entertainment, you know, I don’t get it, I still don’t get it! I think it’s sad we live in a society where people are idolised and become stars for basically doing fuck all, you know?

Altsounds: So, it’s two of us in this world who never watched an episode of X Factor?

Ricky: I hardly ever watched it in my life, and I’m sure there are people who work hard to go on there, but I think you’re kind of sealing your own fate if you go on one of those shows.

Altsounds: You have a good sense of humour... Any good joke you would like to share with us?

Ricky: A joke, a joke... Errr... Did you ever hear the story about the Irish boomerang?

Altsounds: No...
Ricky: It never comes back; it just sings songs about how much it wants to.

Altsounds: (Laughs)This interview is reaching a very large number of people all over the world, and this is your space to reach them all: say whatever you like, be it about “Belfast Confetti” or climate change...

Ricky: Please check out the record, “Belfast Confetti”, if you still haven’t got it, and thanks for the support, be nice to each other, and have a bit of peace, love and understanding.

“Belfast Confetti” is out now, find it at your nearest record store and while you’re there, why not to check out the Almighty back catalogue? You will be surprised at how differently angst can be expressed in the multicoloured world of rock’n’roll...