Paul Nolan: Don't call me Blunt

If you live in the UAE and haven't heard of (or heard) Paul Nolan, hang around for a few months and you will.

The 22-year-old singer/songwriter from Huddersfield in the UK has been a hit with audiences over the last year on the Dubai Lime circuit as well as getting local radio airtime and playing a six-month contract at the El Paso in Dubai Marina.

I recently talked to Paul and his team – Sean O'Shea (guitarist/vocals and manager) and Jim Riley (financial backer and boss) – while recording his second EP at the creative Kingdom Studios in Dubai.

What brought you to Dubai?

Paul Nolan (PN): Sean.
Sean O'Shea (SO): When I turned 21,
I moved out here because there was nothing happening in England and I'd been here a couple of years before Paul moved out.

Why did you return to the UK after your success in Dubai last year?

PN: I went home beginning of October with the intention to do music, but when you're back home you get stuck into the same old stuff again…

What's that?

PN: Spending money that I don't have! I came back here again and luckily walked straight into a job in real estate, but the music has kicked off again and I've actually started doing an EP.

So this EP, are you paying for it?

Jim Riley (JR) [extends his hand]: Jim Riley – I'm backing him to make the album.
PN: I'm lucky because I've met a lot of good people and I'm getting help in all different areas. And I need it as well, because I need a good stimulation to do stuff.
SO: He's a typical musician: talented but idle.

Why are you only doing six-track EP?

PN: Well, we've spoken to a few people in the business and they say there's no point at this stage concentrating on an album. I should get five or six tracks produced properly as a showcase.
I would want to spend a lot of time doing an album.
JR: Josh Williams is doing us a real favour because we'd be paying a lot more for anyone else.
SO: The people he's worked with as well: Fergie from Black Eyed Peas, Bruce Springsteen, and on Shrek
the movie…

What's your favourite album cover concept?

PN: I hate album covers with photos of the artist. It winds me up. James Blunt for instance. I like artwork or landscape photos. I like snow. I'm a bit of a winter child – rain and snow.
SO: That's why he lives in Dubai! He's a burning ball of depression really.

Have you always played instruments?

PN: Yeah. I was in bands at school and I always used to sing. I sang All Saints covers at parties when I was about 11. We're an Irish family so we always have big parties with musicians.

My Dad is a really good harmonica and guitar player, and he was in an Irish band.

What does your Dad do?

PN: He's a jack-of-all-trades. For a living he works for a company that designs furniture, but on the side he does everything else: plumbing, electrician, joisting floorboards. I'll walk into the house at the weekend and I'll hear this mumbling and his head will pop up and I'll ask, "What are you doing?" and he says, "I'm just re-joisting floorboards.

They needed doing." He's never happy unless he's moaning about doing something in the house.

When did you start playing the guitar?

PN: I think I was around 14 when I properly got into it. I started to have lessons, got a band at school. Then we started gigging: we got an Oasis tribute band called 'O'Sheas-sis' after Sean (O'Shea), and we were massive in Huddersfield.

SO: We were the restaurant A-Team: we used to rescue restaurants that were going under.
PN: I started gigging on my own as
well around Yorkshire. It wasn't until
I came over here last year that I started doing my own stuff live with Dubai Lime and I got a good response to it,
so I thought I might as well crack on with it.

Do you get asked to play a lot at parties?

PN: Yes. It's cool but it does wind me up a bit as well. Every time there's a guitar there, Jim forces me to play it – like my Dad. At parties, everybody else thinks, "We're not bringing the guitars", but my Dad comes with a sack full of harmonicas, all different keys, just in case. We recorded a Verve track together and he plays harmonica and sings on that as well.

Who is your biggest role model?

PN: Damien Rice. After listening to him it was the first time that I really started writing most of my songs – and my Dad, of course. If I could be like my Dad, I'd love it – apart from the jacket, the fingerless gloves and the cords.

When your career takes off, will you still be based in Dubai?

PN: I'll always have a base here.
SO: The market's not big enough here to stay all the time.
PN: I don't like staying in one place for too long either. But I do like it in Dubai.

If you could have been born in another period when would it be?

PN: Probably the '70s just for David Bowie and Jimmy Hendrix. I want to wear big flares and have big hairdos.

Is there anything you'd give up your music career for?

JR: Money?
PN: Pizza Hut! Nah… nothing.

What would you have done if you hadn't been a musician?

PN: Photography. I like going to weird places and taking photos. Something that's still creative.

What's been your most embarrassing moment?

PN: I've had a lot of embarrassing moments. The last gig I did a Peanut Butter Jam I forgot the words, so I started playing another song, but the MC came up said, "Thanks to Paul Nolan!" Walking off stage when you've been cut off – it's not good.

Which female artist would you most like to duet with?

PN: Wallis Bird. She's an Irish singer/songwriter and it's the first album I've heard from a solo female artist that is brilliant. She'll make it.

Who would you least like to be stuck in a lift with?

PN: James Blunt. He's someone who really annoys me. Everywhere I go people say to me, "You're really good. You sound like James Blunt". It's people who don't have a clue about music who say that, though.
SO: They just see a guy with shaggy hair and a guitar singing a song.

If you had a special power what would it be?

PN: Teleportation, definitely, after seeing Jumper.

Which charity is the most worthy in your eyes?

SO: What about him [Paul]? He's a charity.
JR: We call him the littlest hobo. He's stayed in every house in Dubai!
PN: Our family's had cancer problems so it would have to be cancer.

Where do you feel most at home?

PN: Ireland. All my family are from the west coast of Ireland near Galway. My Dad's got a house in the middle of nowhere and I love being there, except that whenever he takes me there I end up doing work on the house: fitting a new kitchen or re-joisting some floorboards!

Have you got a title for the EP yet?

PN: Yeah. Since March last year I've lived out of a suitcase, so I'm going to call it Suitcase Sessions.

When will it be out?

PN: We got a batch ready to give to the music industry people in Ireland this July. Once it's done we'll also do a launch night as well out here. I also have a MySpace page at myspace.com/paulnolanmusic where you can download my first EP there for free and there are a couple of extra tracks there as well.
SO: He's got a fanclub of Facebook and there are people from Norway, America, Australia, Scotland – everywhere. There are videos on YouTube as well. It just gets passed on from person to person.
PN: I plan to retire by Christmas!

Seriously, 18 months from now where do you want to be?
PN: I want to be touring and having the opportunity to get a full album together.

Gordon Torbet is a Dubai-based freelance writer