On a early Wednesday afternoon in a bustling London park I was set to meet up with a long-term mentor of mine, Bernard O’Neil. Bernard, or Bernie as he asks to be called, at first glance appears quite an ordinary man but as I later found out he hasn’t lived the typical ordinary life.
To put this conversation into context I started with the basics asking him about him about where he was from and what he plays ‘ I’m from Dublin , I play piano, organ, cello, bass guitar, double bass and I sing. I love any form of music played to a high standard in an authentic way’ . I was intrigued to uncover where he got his love of music from and if he could isolate a poignant moment that made him take this specific path, ‘All my family both on my mother and fathers sides are musicians. My mum taught me piano as a child and she was an opera singer in her youth, my dad played trumpet, my sister plays violin. So I was surrounded by music and had exposure to concerts and music from a young age. Seeing Keith Jarrett perform in 1981 blew me away, seeing Gary Karr later that year convinced me to take up double bass’.
When we discussed his top 5 favorite albums he disclosed that ‘S teely Dan Gaucho probably takes the top slot, it’s got amazing songs, superb arrangements and musicians, it was released when I was 19 years old, it made me think about the direction my music was going to take’ . Little did he know that his love for Steely Dan would come full circle and many years of hard work would lead him to ‘Having breakfast in St Pete Beach with Walter Becker and Donald Fagan’ and many other ‘great moments’ in the decade that followed.
Bernie is self proclaimed ‘old fashioned’ and admitted he doesn’t have much love for these technological ways of writing nowadays, ‘I stick to pencil and paper, I arrange parts on real manuscript paper, it’s just
the way I learned, it’s quickest for me’. I found this very intriguing seeing as I’ve never written a song on anything other than a laptop!
Having only just returned from a long stay in Damascus recording a new album I asked him how he felt about recording in different parts of the world to which I received a surprising response ‘travel is rarely a pleasure for me these days. I have spent too many hours at airports and too little time playing’. He then went on to describe his ‘healthy disregard for major labels!’ claiming that they are all run by ‘bean counters’ who rarely make artistic sense’, something that he holds amongst his least favourite discoveries about his time spent in the industry. This led to a debate about streaming services and how they act as a ‘crap source of income’ to which I agreed he had a point!
In the years I have known him he had never been a name dropper, which is sometimes a rare occurrence amongst musicians. I was shocked to discover that he had recorded over ‘2000 tracks, I’ve worked with are Donovan, Jeff Buckley, Rufus Wainwright, Peter Gabriel, Natacha Atlas, Sinead O Connor, Bebel Gilberto, Declan O Rourke, the list goes on’. I knew he had got around the block but his consistent humility and willingness to offer sound advice didn’t match with a person who had worked with so many music legends.
It was so interesting to learn more about a man who has seen the industry adapt over the last 40 years which made for a very absorbing conversation. Having now retired in the South of France Bernie still enjoys taking on small projects and helping former students whenever he can. However, it is clear that he has certainly made a legacy for himself and can now bask in the glory.
Alexandra Bush Music Journalism 