Meet Paul Dillon | Musician and self employed

We had the good fortune of connecting with Paul Dillon and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Paul, do you have a favorite quote or affirmation?
‘Who Am I’ It took a long time in my life to realise the answer to 95% of the question. I do still surprise myself but generally I know Who Am I and how I am going to feel and react to things.

It is such a simple question but can be so difficult to answer and the answered will never completed.
A question we all need to ask ourselves and be happy with the answer!!
Make sure you understand that you are not one fixed point you are a movable feast and at different stages and different states all through life.

You do not have to be having a hard time in your life or struggling in life to ask the question, even the happiest of people keep being happy by asking the question ‘Who Am I’ cause everyday is different. Who Am I and what would I like to achieve today, this week, this month. They don’t have to be climbing Mount Everest targets, maybe it is getting out of bed at 8am instead of 9am, reading that book, eating one less square of chocolate, the simplest of goals are the easiest ones to achieve, Once you know you can achieve that, then onto the next goal, little by little. As the saying goes,
‘How do you eat an Elephant? Little bit by little bit! You will get there.

I did not always know that was the way of course, getting frustrated over the simplest of things, throwing the toys out of the pram for not getting my way and getting angry for disagreeing with some one. You have to live life and be in situations to understand how you will manage them in the future and unfortunately a lot of the time you will not be happy with the outcome. The main thing is not to let that outcome happen again. Life is in the learning! The mistake is making that mistake again and again.

Lucky enough I have come to terms with myself, my positives & my negatives enough to live my life in a stable mood! With a lot more smiles and laughs now than I used to. Giving me the confidence to know I am loved, I can give love back, I am good at my job and being able to bring my music which is so personal into the world and be happy with the outcome, one way or the other, good or bad.

So from Who Am I to I Am…….

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
pMad my artist name is a solo project and born out of free time in life thanks to the pandemic. I have been recording riffs, bass lines, lyrics, etc all my life just never had time to complete anything enough to be able to release. Along comes a global pandemic, time freed up and technology the way it is, I was allowed the perfect opportunity to fulfill an urge inside me finally.
So onto the process of piecing my jigsaw and musical pieces together into coherent songs, adding lyrics written through a life, finally nearing something resembling releasable music.
Then more joys of modern technology, from Ireland to Latvia to Germany to Mexico with producers, mixing and mastering, then end product arrive and is something that I love to listen to myself.
The main main of pMad’s music was for me to love and if I did love it, then surely somewhere in the world someone else would a least like it and thankfully some do!!
I am another one of the millions of artists, it is the listener that will set us apart, by liking it or not! Music can be the great divide.
The challenges have been over come in the production of the music side, I now know how to record, produce and release music, the biggest challenge is getting it to the listeners, huge competition out there and now that time is back to a minimum, how to do I continue to do what I do!
I would like the world to know pMad is there, give the music a listen, it is not for everybody and I understand that but some will like it.
But most of all, it is music of Hope and we all need that!

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Portumna, Co. Galway and Ireland, is where I am from and there are not many better places to visit in the world. All three Portumna, Galway and Ireland have so much fun, people and contrasting types of places to see, spoiled for things to do.

Starting off the day with a hearty Irish Breakfast in Blas in Portumna and then off to visit Portumna Castle and check out the history of the Norman’s, De Burca’s and the Landlords of Portumna & East Galway and how they lived. A nice light lunch in Portumna Castle Gardens and Tea Rooms and we head off to see how the other side of life was lived in The Irish Workhouse Centre at the other end of Portumna Town. During famine times if you did not leave the country in famine boats or you were not a landlord, it is more than likely some of your family stayed in a workhouse, stated to be the most dreaded institution in Ireland.
A wonderful but also sad tour ensues, bringing you back down to earth and realise how lucky you are.
Then f or the evening we head to dinner in Modena, big juicy grassfed Irish Beef steaks but still eaving room for some pints of Guinness in Curley’s pub while listening to the best of Irish Ceili Music.
That is an amazing day for day one.

Then off to Galway City, one hour away, with so many places to eat and drink, we meander through the city, enjoying the fun and the people, heading out to walk the promenade in Salthill to refresh and go back at it again. Moving from pub to pub and the fun increasing all the time.

We drive out to tour the amazing Connemara the following day, the contrasting landscapes, the mountains, the moors, the stone, the marble, Kylemore Abbey, Clifden the landing place of Alcock and Browne and next step parish America. Amazing views around every turn. You will never see the likes again as tomorrow it will all look so completely different.

We head down south of Galway to another change of scenery, The Burren, The Atlantic Coast Road, The Aliwee Caves, Lisdoonvarna Spa Wells again eating and drinking our way to happiest with the finest of Irish seafood and whatever your tipple is to wash it down. To clear the head a quick surf or swim in the Atlantic Ocean in Lahinch – oh what a life.

Back again to Portumna to say goodbye for now by touring and discover Lough Derg, visiting Nenagh, Garrykennedy, Killaloe, Mountshannon and Scarriff before we head back to the airport and deliver safe and well to their homes, knowing they have well and truly enjoyed themselves.
Éirinn go Brách in their hearts even if it is not in their blood.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Family, without my family and the happiness and support within, nothing would be possible for me.

Website: http://pmadtheband.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pmadtheband/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/pmadtheband

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pMadtheband/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/pmadtheband

Other: https://pmad.bandcamp.com/ https://soundcloud.com/pmadtheband

Image Credits
Kerry Kissane Photography