After years of working in sales left him "depressed and miserable", a West Belfast man has followed his passion for music which has seen him headlining festivals with his band. Damian McNeilly, originally from the Grovesnor Road, picked up a guitar in lockdown to keep himself entertained and has not looked back since.
Now living in Sheffield, one random walk during the fireworks on Bonfire Night in 2020 changed the course of his life as he felt compelled to write a song. Three days later and 12 original songs on paper, Damian knew that he had to follow his love of music and see where it could take him.
Speaking to Belfast Live, Damian said: "I was music mad from the day I was born and although I tried to play guitar and write decent songs, I just couldn't so I ended up working in sales for years, depressed and miserable until I got into acting by chance as an extra and everything changed. A good friend of mine suggested I buy a new guitar at the end of 2019 and I did.
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"I picked it up and started trying to learn a few covers until lockdown. It was like magic. Anyone that knew me at school will tell you I was obsessed with bands from no age, The Doors, The Beatles anything from the 60s really to begin with."
After the pandemic put a halt on life, Damien said that he will never forget November 5 as the day everything changed.
"I'd been sitting around for 6 months doing absolutely nothing - I live in Sheffield so there were fireworks going off everywhere and I couldn't hear the TV properly so I went for a long walk. The smoke of the fireworks created a thick fog through the woods I walked through.
"About a quarter of a mile away from my house as I walked home, I started hearing a song in my head. I could hear the whole thing words and all and I sprinted home. I picked up the guitar that had been sitting in its case for over a year hardly played and within the hour, I had a full song written.
"I sat at my table for 3 days and wrote 12 songs. My girlfriend at the time thought I was losing the plot. Maybe I was but I knew I was making good music, I could hear it but I couldn't play it properly," he explained.
As soon as restrictions lifted, Damien was out doing small gigs in pubs in clubs and began to make a name for himself in the local music scene. In December 2021, he decided that he would stop gigging and start giving the songs to other artists but after an "absolutely electric" final gig, he knew it wasn't the end.
Damian continued: "The lad that played before me played to about 15 or 20 people. I listened to every word he sang and how he played and I knew I wanted to do something together. About two months later the promotor of that event posted online that he knew one of the best bass players in the city was looking for a temporary project and I brass necked it and got in touch.
"I was a bit shocked that he was up for doing something so I messaged the same guy I'd played with just after Christmas and we arranged the first practice - we knew there and then we had something special. For a band that's been together just over three months, we're absolutely smashing it and this first single is a statement of intent."
Damian Luke and The Sweet Beast was born and their single 'Mighty Muse' is what Damien describes as "postive affirmation mixed with some that old Rock n Roll sound that's been missing in recent years."
"It's about being true to yourself and knowing your own truth rather than listening to others," he said. "It was recorded at Magic Garden studios with Gav Monaghan, the man responsible for the sound of Ocean Colour Scene, and has worked with Robert Plant from Led Zeppelin. To record in that vocal booth was like a dream."
Damien hopes he can take The Sweet Beast home to Belfast very soon and "blow the roof clean off the place."
He added: "If you had told me all this a year ago, I would have laughed."
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