Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Bren Holmes. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Bren, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

I was born and raised In Dublin, Ireland and played in a few short lived bands while living there. It had always been a dream of mine to go to the states and become a full time musician…so in the last 80’s I decided to make a go of it. So I quit my job, said goodbye to all of my family and got ready to leave the only home I had ever known…Off I went to meet some friends here in LA who got there a lil’ before me. I gotta say it was both culture shock and an eye opening experience to say the least! Trying to find people that played the same kind of music I’d been used to back in Europe, became almost impossible…It was a different vibe here for sure. I temporally parted ways with the original band that I came over to play with and joined up with this three piece alternative group called ‘Lover’s Lane’. Here I got to play all the Sunset strip joints of the day, quite an experience in itself! I got a feel of the “Rock n Roll” lifestyle for sure (no drugs and hardly any alcohol!!!). It was during the peak of the hair bands and it was quite a scene to be on Sunset Blvd on any given nite of the week. As all this was happening, my original band had taken up to playing Irish music/trad songs down in a little bar in Santa Monica, CA. They were starting to get themselves a following every Saturday nite and I found myself back playing with them on a regular basis…this is the brief story of how ‘The Young Dubliners’ came to be…We slowly started to grow from this dive bar and before we knew it, we were signing our first record deal with Scotty Bros. Bit by bit we started getting some positive recognition in both the LA and US markets. Triple AAA radio format started playing us and that helped us get us tour around the US and become an established name.Fast forward to nine albums later and touring the world a few times, it was time for me to take another life chance and begin to move on from the band.This was a hard decision to make but I was becoming disgruntled and not making life good for both myself and my band mates..it was time to leave! I decided to make a go of trying to do a solo album, I had a bunch of songs I had written that didn’t really suit my previous band, so why not record them and see how they turn out? So I teamed up with my fellow musician/co-producer Bryan Dobbs and we recorded 10 songs over the span of 8 months. I was almost finished the album when covid broke out, it was then I decided to wait it out when it was all over to release it. The album finally came out in Nov of 2021 and it’s now streaming on all the major services including Apple Music, Spotify, Amazon,YOUTUBE and Pandora. It’s been a slow uphill climb to get my name out there, and I’m finally getting to do some live shows! So begins the next chapter…

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I started to play bass guitar at the age of 16 or so back in Dublin, Ireland. Like I had said earlier, I played around in a few bands while living there and practiced quite a lot (instead of studies) to try and get my chops up…it’s when I landed in the States, I realized that I was a little fish in a huge pond! Los Angeles was brimming over with incredible talent and it would make one feel quite small and unimportant. Keeping this in mind, I think I’m most proud of paving my way with the bands I played with, by never giving up, paying our dues and keeping the dream alive the whole time. Wasn’t easy by no means, but the journey getting there was what made it all worthwhile. We did have an edge to help us get on our way, and that was the mixing of Irish and rock music, this gave us a unique sound of our own which perked up a few ears to say the least.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

I think the most rewarding aspect of being an artist is getting to entertain people live and move them emotionally through a song that you have written…in the past I’ve had people come up to me and say that they were having a bad day, and they listened to one of our songs, and it cheered them up no end…it’s the best feeling!

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

Yeah being a creative is a hard one for sure…it can be feast or famine to say the least! There’s no steady paycheck or holiday pay for one! You play when you’re dying of a cold, the show must go on! Traveling away for long periods of time away from friends and family for sure takes a toll on your psyche! Then if you do get some fame or recognition, you always have that pressure of trying to re-create that moment again and again….

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @brenholmesmusic
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brendan.holmes
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCo6VgfdcIz6i6xkBWL9W3ag
• Other: My music can be found on Apple Music, Spotify, Pandora and Amazon music too!

Image Credits
Photo by Mike Jacobson