_'Vocally he sounds like Robert Plant on occasion and the floating quality of The Mad Magicians Daughter recalls the pastoral shades of Led Zeppelin’s acoustic moments.' - John O'Regan - Irish Music Magazine

Dave Flynn - Singer/Songwriter

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__Whilst Dave Flynn has gained international renown as a composer of instrumental music, his musical roots lie in the Dublin singer-songwriter scene of the mid 1990's. Dave taught himself music from an early age, composing his first song ‘The Guitar Man’ at the age of 10. His first musical obsession was heavy metal and as a teenager he developed virtuoso guitar skills by teaching himself Metallica and Iron Maiden riffs and solos. By the time he was 18 he had opened his horizons and began taking in influences from almost all musical styles citing Andy Summers from The Police as a seminal influence. He started taking song-writing seriously and wrote his first songs of real quality.         
    
Dave has been a performing songwriter  ever since 1995 when he made his live debut aged 18 at the legendary International Bar Songwriters Nights run by Dave Murphy in Dublin. Over the next few years Dave shared a stage there and elsewhere with some of Ireland’s greatest singer-songwriters including Christy Moore, Paul Brady, Luka Bloom, Declan O’Rourke, Damien Rice and Damien Dempsey.

As he was developing his song-writing skills, Dave played lead guitar in the Dublin band ‘Maize’ with whom he played many gigs, including support slots to top Irish acts like The Frames and Mundy. Alas, Maize broke up in the late 90’s, so Dave concentrated on his solo career. Recent high profile events in which Dave has featured as a singer-songwriter include the Trad Connections tour of Ireland (2008), The Secret Festival, Sweden (2010), Africa Day, Dublin (2010) and support slots on Vyvienne Long's 2011 October Irish Tour during which he joined Vyvienne as a guest for several songs.

Dave is not your usual ‘I want to slit my wrists’ songwriter, so his songs provide a refreshing change from the norm. Indeed some of his songs are marked by a biting satirical humour. A prime example of which is ‘Ducks’, an ironic look at how the life of the ducks on the Grand Canal in Dublin is a lot like the life of many humans who walk by them every day! Originally released on his 2006 debut album 'Draíocht', 'Ducks' became a favourite on Clare FM.

Dave is no novelty act however and the songs he has written with the Poet/Lyricist Pádraic Ó Beírn demonstrate an elegaic majesty comparable to great songwriting partnerships of the past like Bacharach and David and Lieber and Stoller.

The year 2000 was vital in Dave’s development as a songwriter because in the summer of that year he met Pádraic at a songwriter’s convention organised by IMRO. They decided to write together and something clicked. Within a few minutes Dave had composed music to Pádraic’s beautiful poem ‘Woodlands’, and this song remains one of the finest songs in Dave’s repertoire.
D.F.F.'s 'Pouric Songs'

Dave has been patiently developing an album devoted to his songs for a number of years and in 2012 he finally assembled an all-star band to record the album at Peter Gabriel's legendary Real World Studios. The album is called 'Pouric Songs' and it was released in 2014 under the band name D.F.F. D.F.F. features Dave on vocals and guitars alongside Vyvienne Long (cello/vocals) famed for her work with Damien Rice, Congolese guitar wizard Niwel Tsumbu (guitar/vocals), versatile US Double bassist Dan Bodwell and percussionists Cion O'Callaghan and Aidan Dunphy who between them have worked with some of Ireland's leading songwriters including Mundy, Paddy Casey, Roesy and Declan Ó Rourke. The album also features contributions by guitarist Ciarán Swift on 4 tracks. Ciarán has worked with numerous musicians including Fionn Regan and Roesy.

Dave's songwriting career has been on temporary hold for the past decade due to the success of his work as a classical and traditional musician, however expect a flurry of activity from Dave and D.F.F. in 2014.