Carlow remembers Glen Hansard

THE Irish music world is in mourning following the death of Glen Hansard, the Oscar-winning singer-songwriter and Frames frontman, who died in the early hours of Wednesday morning last week following a motorcycle crash in Dublin. He was 56.

Glen, who won an Academy Award in 2008 for Falling Slowly from the film Once, died following a single-vehicle collision at the Strawberry Beds in Lucan, west Dublin.

But behind the international headlines lies another story, one told in the voices of the Carlow musicians and artists who knew him, played with him and welcomed him into their communities over the years. For them, Glen Hansard was not simply a superstar. He was a friend, a mentor and, above all, had a heart of gold, a generosity of spirit and a soul on fire with creativity.

Carlow folk duo, brothers Diarmuid and Brían Mac Gloinn, otherwise known as Ye Vagabonds, not only recalled fondly their time touring with Glen but said he was the reason behind the band finding fame.

Speaking to The Nationalist at their Bank Holiday gigs in West Cork where they played songs in honour of their “childhood hero,” Diarmuid spoke about how much Glen meant to them since he spontaneously invited them to join him on stage at Electric Picnic a decade ago.

“We had just barely formed and we’d put out our first video only weeks before. And so we meet Glen, who’s this guy we’ve just grown up revering. And the first thing he says to us when we meet him backstage is, ‘lads, I’m a huge fan’."

Remembering the surprise invite to tour with Glen around Europe and how he brought them into the fold, Diarmuid said: “That was Glen all over. It was all about including everyone. He had access to this world we only dreamed of and far from gatekeeping, he was always trying to sneak people in the back door.” 

The Ye Vagabonds musician said Glen treated everyone like they were “family or old friends”. “That was how it was straight away when he brought us on that tour. We were just sitting up all night hearing these stories. He was spinning yarns all and singing songs and it was very magical.” 

Musician Jerry Fish, who lives near Mount Leinster, was also among the first to pay tribute, sharing a heartfelt message on social media that traced a friendship going back decades. ‘Lucky to have had this angel at my shoulder for many years,’ he wrote. 

“Glen and Mic Christopher used to come to early An Emotional Fish gigs back in the day when my inner Iggy Pop raised anarchy at every venue we played. The boys loved our energy. We became close friends in the early days of The Frames and closer again when he encouraged everyone to become independent artists.’ Jerry recalled Glen’s restless idealism, the man who ‘would call me up with crazy ideas about taking over buildings and ending homelessness’ and a heart ‘full of empathy and love for humankind’. 

He remembered sourcing a Triumph motorcycle for Glen during the making of the film Once, the beginning of Glen’s lifelong love of classic bikes.

“So many of us had such a great friend in Glen,” he wrote. “You are loved dear Glen and we will miss you on the other end of the line. We will watch over your family as if they were ours, as you would for us.” 

For Carlow musician, songwriter and producer Joe Cleere, the memories are of a man who never let fame change him. Joe worked alongside Glen in 2014 on the High Hopes project at the Axis Art Centre and Theatre in Glen’s native Ballymun, then as a freelance sound engineer.

The much-loved musician, he explained, funded the project through the proceeds of his own gigs, ploughing the money back into mentoring five local artists, all of it after his Oscar win.

“He’d just be sitting there having a chat and a laugh with everybody and no ego or anything like that. Very down-to-earth fella,” Joe said.

“Because he was from Ballymun, when we did a gig there, it was amazing because he’d be playing songs and he’d be telling stories. ‘I remember this time when…’ And there’d be people in the audience who’d be shouting back at him, ‘yeah, I remember that, Glen.’ Because this was, basically, all his neighbours And he was really well known on the Ballymun community.” “You meet all sorts in this game,” he added. “But he was definitely one of the down-to-earth, nice ones. Genuinely funny as well. You’d have a good laugh with him And he’d bring local artists on stage with him as well to do a song with him. Yeah, just a genuine fella.” 

Glen’s generosity of spirit reached deep into Carlow itself. A Myshall native and spokesperson for the community arts group Cushla remembered the close bond between Glen and the late artist Philippa Bayliss, a founding member of the group.

“Philippa Bayliss was like another mother to Glen Hansard,” she said. “He was wild and carefree. He was best friends with one of her sons, Temple Garner, who went on to be an award-winning chef. Philippa encouraged Glen to follow what he was good at and that was music and creativity. And he did that. He got into a music course and never looked back, but he also never forgot Philippa’s generosity to him.” 

That gratitude brought Glen Hansard back to the village more than once, playing intimate concerts to help Cushla bring festive cheer to Myshall at Christmas.

“He came down to Myshall a number of times. He was very much into community and fostering a sense of the arts,” she recalled. Searching for a way to thank him, the group settled on something distinctly local, a bottle of whiskey from the Royal Oak Distillery in Bagenalstown.

“He was thrilled with that because he loved that it was made in the county,” she said. “He encouraged Philippa. He would have been very supportive of Philippa’s work at her art gallery in Inistioge and other people who were trying to start off. He was an encourager. He was a humanitarian.” 

Carlow musician and artist Gala Hutton, who came up through the Irish music scene at the same time as Glen, remembered a friendship sparked by a mutual friend, an American DJ from Santa Monica who loved both their bands and pulled them together, visiting The Frames home in Ranelagh.

One memory stands out: backstage at Féile 1991, when Gala and Glen found themselves at lunch with Black Francis, frontman of the Pixies, and the band’s producer Gil Norton.

“The Frames were looking for a producer at the time and Gil was there,” Gala recalled. “And, of course, Glen being the charmer he is, he got Gil to produce.” The result was Another Love Song, the band’s debut studio album, released in 1991.

For Gala, it was Glen Hansard, the live performer, who left the deepest impression. 

“Glen was always amazing live. His music was more about live than recording, if you get what I mean. It’s a difficult thing to capture on a record because he was brilliant at controlling the room and he’d have an audience up dancing. He had a great stagecraft. He was always just a big smiley head, up for anything.” 

If there is a thread running through every one of these Carlow tributes, it is generosity — the sense of a man who used his gift to lift others rather than himself. He funded projects, mentored newcomers, played village halls for the love of it and treasured a bottle of whiskey simply because it supported a local business.

Perhaps Jerry Fish put it best in the closing lines of his tribute: “You reap what you sow and you have sown a beautiful thing, full of love, full of hope.”