What is your idea of perfect happiness?
A delicious dinner and a few drinks with my partner and friends, before a gig in Róisín Dubh. Maybe next year.
Which historical figure do you most identify with?
Nina Simone.
Which living person do you most admire?
Will Oldham.
Which is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
Impatience and the inability to leave a pack of chocolate biscuits unfinished.
What is your greatest extravagance?
Buying equipment and fancy microphones for work.
What is your favourite journey?
Driving through Connemara to get to The Misunderstood Heron food truck at Killary Fjord (and no queue when we arrive ).
On what occasion do you lie?
I know it is the typical answer, but to spare someone’s feelings.
Which living person do you most despise?
Whoever invented mayonnaise.
What or who is the greatest love of your life?
Órla (and music…and football…and spuds… )
When and where were you happiest?
Cathedral Cove beach on New Zealand’s North Island in 2004.
Which talent would you most like to have?
To be able to read, write and play music.
What is your current state of mind?
Tired. Enthusiastic. Hopeful.
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
All of the creative projects I have been involved in over the years.
If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what do you think it would be?
A robin.
What is your most treasured possession?
My collection of sixties and seventies records like Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Bob Dylan and Van Morrison that belonged to my parents.
What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?
Homelessness and depression.
What is your favourite occupation?
My 10-year-old self would say footballer for Liverpool and I still have to agree.
What is the quality you most like in a man?
Honesty and compassion.
What is the quality you most like in a woman?
Honesty and compassion.
Who are your favourite writers?
Kevin Barry, Anne Enright, Haruki Murikami, Colum McCann, Kate Tempest, Gil Scott-Heron.
What is your motto?
"Life moves pretty fast, if you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it" - Ferris Bueller.
Alan Meaney is an award winning independent radio and podcast producer from County Galway. Check out his work at https://alanmeaney.ie.
