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Talking Bollox Podcast

Episode 269 w/ Damien Dempsey

21 May 2026

Transcription

Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?

5.127 - 18.208 Unknown

Talking Bollocks, a Go Loud original podcast. Sponsored by Right Style Furniture. Right price, right style, right now. Visit rightstyle.ie. Go Loud. Sounds better with us.

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19.42 - 21.905 Calvin

Are you still sitting on a beanbag and you're sitting on them like you're 17?

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22.346 - 28.138 Terrence

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28.158 - 37.517 Calvin

The house package is a class. For just €3,649 you get an electric sofa set, full dining setup and beds with mattresses. That's the serious bang for your buck.

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37.577 - 38.88 Terrence

I got my corner sofa of them.

38.86 - 46.869 Calvin

And I haven't stood up since. They've got locations in Fonthill, Bellegarde and now Omni Park. Open every day and late on a Thursday and Friday in Fonthill and Omni.

46.989 - 50.793 Terrence

One stop shop for getting out the gaff. Don't say we never looked after you. Exactly.

51.194 - 53.436 Calvin

Right price, right style, right now.

53.777 - 62.927 Terrence

Visit www.roystoyle.ie and when you shop in store, tell them Terrence and Calvin sent you and they'll throw a discount on top of that as well. So get down to Roystoyle Furniture today.

Chapter 2: What does Damien Dempsey say about the resurgence of Gaelic culture?

194.342 - 212.949 Toddy Flowey

If you walk up fast, it's a hill, you know, so the hill does the work, you know, so it's like jogging or something. Yeah. And I was with a lad, Seamus Reynolds. He's amazing. He's from Balgadia in Clondalkin. Champion kickboxer and black belt and all. But he's in recovery now. He was a wild man. He had me some wild stories. But he went around the world. He got into yoga and to breathing.

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212.969 - 235.109 Toddy Flowey

And now he's bringing that now to communities like addiction centres in Ballyferma in Clondalkin and Edenmore and just around there. And he's been giving me a few sessions, you know. Yeah. It's incredible. We've done a breathing session there after the walk and... It's like doing 10 yokes or something. Without all the pain and the torture, you know. It's a natural high. A natural high, yeah.

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235.189 - 251.34 Toddy Flowey

Just from braiding like 10, 15 minutes of braiding, you know. I think he'd be a great guest, lads. Yeah, we'll put him on the list, Harry. Well, that's a good plug, yeah. It's amazing. We've done a video, just me and him, it's called Between the Breath and the Songs, I think it is, it's called. It gets me breathing, you know, we do the breathing together, you know.

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252.322 - 264.6 Toddy Flowey

And how is it quite, and then I sing a song. It's just how, he's just trying to get across how this should be for everybody. It's free, you know, everybody can do this every day. And it makes you high, like, you know, a natural high. Everybody should be doing it, you know, the stretching and the breathing.

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264.58 - 281.81 Toddy Flowey

And the mindful rambler, you can get him on the web, you know, and he's doing free sessions on the web and all, you know. But I think he could change a lot of people's lives. And then the power of the song, you know, we were doing that as well. You know, the power of singing, how that makes you high as well, you know. So there's all these things that get you to the holy world, you know.

281.87 - 293.341 Toddy Flowey

We call it the holy world, you know, when you stop your mind racing, you feel the grace spirit within, you know. It's the holy world, I think, you know. We just need to get there more often, go there every day if we can, you know. It's there, you know, it's in us all.

293.701 - 310.467 Calvin

It's for free. I think there are three powerful things, meditation, breathing, and songs. Songs, absolutely, yeah. I think people underestimate how powerful music is. There's a lot of people out there that probably listen to your stuff, Damo, and say, like, it got them through really hard times, some of the music, and they can relate to so much of it.

310.487 - 316.337 Calvin

I don't think people understand how powerful, well, I do think people understand, but I just mean, it is a really powerful tool as well.

316.557 - 317.318 Toddy Flowey

Yeah, absolutely, yeah.

Chapter 3: How did music help Damien Dempsey connect with his father after his passing?

459.757 - 481.142 Toddy Flowey

We were really just in love with our own culture and our, you know, all this Gaelic gold that was left to us by our ancestors. But then it started, so I was coming of age about 10, 11, 12, I died. I was dying of death towards the end of the 80s and 90s. And Rav came in on the boy bands, you know, and I was going, ah, bollocks. Where's the ballads going?

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481.162 - 486.368 Toddy Flowey

And after making Resurgence, it took a long time. It's after making Resurgence, thank God, you know.

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Chapter 4: What unique experience did Damien have performing in a prison in the Philippines?

487.109 - 508.311 Toddy Flowey

So we thought it would be a good time for it. an album of songs that I heard as a child, you know. Where do you think this resurgence came from then, Níomháil? I'm not too sure. A resurgence in the Irish language, you know, it's great. It's a great time. I can sing you the song As Gaeilge as well. I'm trying to learn just a couple of fúil, you know, just a few words.

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509.532 - 527.089 Toddy Flowey

And I just say, even if you're never fluent, just use the few words and cherish the few words you have, you know. Pepper your the barley with the egg, you know. Spice up your the English with the British, I think, you know. Use it as often as you can. So it's a big resurgence. I don't really know where it came from. I've noticed the young people are very confident now, you know.

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527.109 - 544.658 Toddy Flowey

They're not getting their heads slapped off with a box in their mouth. They'll shut up you, you know. Bring back bullying. Children should be seen and not heard. They're going to kick up the hole and pay out the fucking door. But the kids are very confident now, you know. Very confident. It's just good to see, you know.

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544.638 - 559.457 Terrence

yeah of course i think it's starting to lean more into traditional music because we were saying yesterday you know that band kingfisher they'd be kind of very traditional sounding and yeah it's a great song isn't it about the whole it's a cracking song yeah well it's a real resurgence in the

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560.703 - 575.379 Toddy Flowey

British culture, and it's great to see, you know. I was doing a gig, Paddy's Day, you know, in London there, in Camden, the Dublin Castle. It's a rough and ready little place, you know. We just done a few shows in it, just to mix it up, but the crowd were sideways, you know, some of them.

577.001 - 583.048 Toddy Flowey

Paddy's Day and all, and I was telling the story, I was about to sing this song, telling the story about Frannard, and some fella shouted up,

583.349 - 585.973 Damien Dempsey

Wonderwall! Like Wonderwall!

586.073 - 602.777 Toddy Flowey

He says, no, be a cunt. Do you know what that means? And he goes, no, no. A few people shouting up, you know, it means don't be talking. He says, no, it doesn't mean that. It means don't be a cunt. He shut up then. He was done then.

602.797 - 610.909 Calvin

I put him in his place. Do you want to do us one of them songs now, Damo? Yeah. Up to you. Tell me to fuck off, if you want it.

Chapter 5: What role does spirituality play in Damien Dempsey's life and music?

1286.358 - 1301.936 Toddy Flowey

Yeah. The sing-songs was a big part of that, yeah. My favourite part of my childhood was that sing-songs. Yeah, we'd feel safe and warm, you know. And the part of a tribe, when the old people were singing, it was great. And they'd all be in great form, you know. It just puts everyone in a great place, great form.

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1302.617 - 1309.905 Toddy Flowey

We noticed that, I realised that as a kid, and they said, we want to keep that going, so we try to replicate that on stage now in big venues. The big sing-song, you know.

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1309.885 - 1328.164 Terrence

I think the ancient ways as well Damo I think people are starting to kind of cop on that you know people survived for so many thousands of years without all this technology and everything around us yeah I was chatting to someone you know like saunas are a big thing now yeah you know and I was chatting to someone they were saying like the Celts you know when people were sick

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1328.144 - 1348.363 Terrence

They'd build sweat houses So you'd get a load of toff And they'd burn the fire in it And they'd put all the sick people in Yeah Sweat it out of them Sweat it out of them That's right yeah You know what I mean Like they did that thousands of years ago in Ireland Yeah I never heard of that Yeah But this is what I'm saying It's the only story you come and learn that now I'd never knew it either Until a few years ago Yeah So we had sweat lodges in Ireland You know like the Native Americans

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1348.343 - 1374.334 Terrence

yeah and then you know what got me thinking then you know when you like when that happens and it's like your ma automatically knows what to do no matter what the scenario is right and then you're like ah they're old wives tales but i don't think they are i think this is just this is what everyone done back in the day yeah and it's just that we replaced it with something you know what i mean yeah like we don't need to light the fire anymore because you can put the heating on something like that substitutes you know what i mean but yeah

1374.314 - 1388.611 Terrence

I think if you were to go back a few hundred years, everyone knew what to do in every single scenario. You know, everyone knew how to cook, everyone knew how to clean properly, everyone knew all this kind of stuff. Yeah, yeah. And now we're only slowly starting to get back in touch with that. Yeah. Again, like the sweat houses stuff, I only heard about that. I was like, what?

1388.631 - 1393.157 Terrence

I taught the bleeding. The Celts were going around doing a bit of fishing and then hoping for the best. You know?

Chapter 6: Why does Damien Dempsey not seek fame despite his cult following?

1393.357 - 1402.729 Terrence

But like, all these people were able to survive for thousands of years. They obviously were doing something right. Yeah. You know? They were doing their mushrooms and they were doing their sweat lodges.

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1402.749 - 1403.089

Yeah, it was a...

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1403.069 - 1423.076 Terrence

You were definitely on something. You're able to build a new range and what have you. Yeah, I know. And even that stuff what you were saying about the Native Americans. I even think like with the Native Americans and the African Americans, the Irish culture, there's an overlap in there. You know, what was that film? The vampire film? Sinners. Did you see that film, Sinners?

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1423.096 - 1424.959 Toddy Flowey

It was amazing, wasn't it? Yeah, it was savage, yeah.

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1424.939 - 1445.036 Terrence

Chuck O'Connell Yeah So like Rob McSong the bastards Now royalties Now royalties I own that song But even like You know like the Irish invented Halloween And then like The Americans bleeding But now yeah Corporatised it But like Yeah You know all these ancient Cultures They all overlap.

1445.096 - 1463.833 Toddy Flowey

They do. Absolutely. Indigenous cultures, they all overlap, yeah. I was invited up to the Hill of Ward. They have a festival there. The Pukka Festival. It's meant to be where Halloween began, you know. Yeah. And they got me to light a fire, you know. It's a special thing. It's an honour, you know, to be asked to light it. I was up on the hill. It was starting to get dark.

1463.853 - 1485.169 Toddy Flowey

And I put a light to the fire. And I just looked up. And over the hills, a few hills over, there was a fucking, I swear to God, about 200 foot bumper. I'm like, boy, is he mad? And I told him, I said, look at this, and I told him back it was gone. I told him to tell the head, I said, look at this, and I told him back the fucking thing was gone. I swear to me, man's life was mad.

1485.189 - 1500.954 Toddy Flowey

I don't know what the hell fucking that was now. But me brother and me nephew and me from New York were with me, and we walked down the hill down to the festival, but they swore that Some fella came and walked beside him, thanks to barbs of the devil. He said he couldn't sleep probably the nights after.

1501.615 - 1517.215 Toddy Flowey

This fella just came out with a bush or something and just walked out with him, talking to him, you know. He had a mask on but they were shitting themselves for about a week after. They were saying, where's Dempsey? Mam's saying, where's Dempsey? Where's Dempsey? Thank God it was down the head, you know. I don't want them nightmares.

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