We’re bringing the party live to your home on Friday 8 May, with an uplifting, rousing gig from John Kelly and his band!
We caught up with John ahead of his performance to talk about his latest song, his Irish roots, and what Woodie Guthrie, Shane MacGowan, and Robert Wyatt all have in common.
Your latest song, PS. Feel Free is released on 17 March, created with Ted Barnes for Extraordinary Bodies’ latest film, Take up Space. Can you tell us in your own words, a little about the song and its message?
Great first question!
So we were commissioned, myself and Ted, to come together to write the song for a new film that was celebrating 12 years of Extraordinary Bodies. So we sat and had lots of cups of tea – that is the fuel that keeps it all going, a good cup of tea – and we sat down and we explored the idea of ‘take up space’ and what that meant to us.
Currently space is taken by people who shout a lot and have the biggest voices. We’re really interested in the quieter voices, the voices that haven’t traditionally been given a space to be heard, so that’s where the song kind of started.
And obviously with the circus being outside, we thought about the physical, the idea of creating an environment where people feel like they belong and are included. And then we started talking about the hustle and bustle of life and the pace and space, which is really important to me.
There’s a quote by Hans Christian Andersen about how we don’t notice the beauty in the ordinary, it’s around us all the time, and we don’t look very carefully at all these beautiful things around us and we don’t appreciate it, and we thought that was a really, really interesting thing.
So we just talked about our own lives and what mattered to us, and love, and all sorts of things that are in our ordinary lives and what they mean to us, and then how that all gets lost in the craziness. It was really good fun and we just had lots of lots of tea and lots and lots of conversations to create this film.
But I guess the song really is about trying to find our way through all that hustle and bustle and trying to create a space where we all belong and we all feel valued. The whole thing about taking up space is about the idea that space is for us all – it’s not just for the people with the loudest voices.
And sometimes we need to get together and reclaim the space so that we can all create the world we want to live in, which is inclusive with a sense of belonging.
You grew up listening to Irish music and you’ve said your favourite gigs have been in small Irish pubs with “a packet of Taytos and a pint of the black stuff!” How has your Irish heritage inspired your music?
I don’t know what you mean!! Another great question!
I was born in London to Irish parents, and Irish music was everywhere in the house, played all the time, so I grew up with it in my ears and it sort of seeped in under my skin. It’s in my blood, and it’s in my heart, and it’s in my soul, and it’s in my humour. It’s in the pride I have for the music that I do. It’s about celebrating and sharing.
I learned how to tell stories through the music and how important that can be. I love listening to stories from Irish songs, and English songs. So yeah, it gave me a real strength in my character and a pride, and I’m really proud to be an Irish Londoner. And we’ve got a rich heritage in our music.
So yeah, it’s kind of everywhere in my gig, and you can’t beat a pint of Guinness and a packet of Taytos, and anyone that’s experienced that will know what I mean! But yeah, it really has made my songs stronger and powerful, and really taught me a way to craft my songs to tell stories that are important.
You have a very strong social media presence, not only using it to keep your fans up to date with what you’re up to, but also campaigning for disability and human rights, in particular, independent living for Disabled People. In your view, what’s the single biggest legislative barrier that still needs to change?
Don’t get me started, you had to ask it didn’t you?! Well, I had to go away and think about this one and come back all calm and collected, because it didn’t half get me wound up!
As you know, I do sing about disability, I’m a proud Disabled Person, but it’s not all I sing about. I sing about love, I sing about the environment, I sing about us having a good time together. But as you asked, I’ll tell you what we need to do to get sorted out.
We need to get the Government to involve Disabled People in the decision-making, properly and much better than they’ve done so far. The two things I would do, which would need major work, but would make a massive difference to our lives:
One – really legislate to support people to live independent lives. We don’t want a care act, I don’t want to be just looked after and cared for, I want independent living as a right. And independent living is about being active and doing things together, not just this piecemeal care act thing – get rid of that, and give us proper independent living. It’s already on the books in our rights and Britain’s signed it but don’t respect it, so they’ve got to sort that out.
The next thing. Access to Work is a scheme that supports disabled people in employment. It has worked in the past, but they’ve started playing around with it, changing it, making it more bureaucratic, and would you believe, with all the rhetoric they go on about, they’re even cutting Disabled Peoples’ Access to Work, so stop it, alright?
Get Access to Work back to the way it was, working for Disabled People who are working really hard and making beautiful, beautiful pieces of art, particularly in the arts world, particularly in the music world. They’re cutting Access to Work right now, so that needs to stop, we need proper legislation to support Disabled People in employment.
So Access to Work and independent living are the two bits of legislation that really need proper looking at – and let disabled people get involved in writing those pieces of legislation because with the Independent Living Fund and with Access to Work, when they’ve worked, we’ve been the ones who have helped to create it, so listen to our voices, not just listen, but act on our voices.
Right – I’ve done it. Breathe. Can I have a cup of tea now and get on with the next question? Thank you.
You performed in the absolutely wonderful Reasons to be Cheerful musical, which featured the songs of Ian Dury. How did this opportunity come about, and if you could star in the musical of any other artist’s life, who would you choose?
Thank you very much! That is a fantastic question and one I’ve had to think about – in fact, I was dreaming about it last night, trying to think of who I’d want to do!
The musical came about purely by accident for me. I’ve always been a musician and never really involved in theatre that much.
I was doing some work in a performing arts centre that I was helping to develop, and Jenny Sealey (Director of Reasons to be Cheerful) came up to me while we were running the course together and she said, look we’re developing a new musical and we’re looking for someone who knows a bit of punk and can sing a few Ian Dury songs, do you fancy coming and giving it a go?
So that’s where it started, I never thought I’d be in the show, and the journey was never expected, and it was just an unbelievable, life-changing experience for me, and obviously I got to sing some amazing Ian Dury numbers – I might even do one of the night of Live to your Living Room… if you ask for it, ha!
So what other artist would I like to do the musical of? I think the way I’ve chosen this one is because of the way they sing, their voice, their authenticity, just the songs that I love, choosing really good songs that I really love, and also the time that these artists kind of lived, I think it would be really interesting to go back to and learn what life was like in those times.
So I’ve chickened out of choosing one but I’ve got a selection. I’d really love to do Woody Guthrie, just because how he wrote songs about the important stuff and how he played them really simply, and how he created choruses that everyone could join in with and be part of, the idea that a folk song is something that we can all sing together – I love that.
Luke Kelly, just because he’s got the most beautiful, heartfelt voice, and he tells the best stories through his vocals, and I think he had a really interesting life, and I think it would be quite good fun to play him.
There’s a guy called Ian Stanton, who some of you who have been along with the Disability movement will know of. Ian Stanton wrote some brilliant tracks, dig him out, you have to go and do a bit of digging around but there are some tracks out there of Ian Stanton and I just think he had a beautiful singing voice, he wrote some really great songs, and he sang in his own vernacular, which I really, really loved.
Robert Wyatt, he was so brave with experimenting with different songs and different styles and genres, he really went out there. But he also lived in an interesting time where Disability was kind of hidden. He tells a story about when he was on Top of the Pops to do Shipbuilding, which is a song I’d love to do, it’s a beautiful song, and they’d asked him of he’d get out of his wheelchair and sit on a couch because the audience weren’t quite ready to see a wheelchair user live on Top of the Pops. I hope those times change. So yeah, I’d like to do that.
I think moving right up to now, Kirsty MacColl – she’s got so many beautiful songs and again, her voice was just beautiful, the way she told stories with her songs which was amazing, and she’s got an amazing catalogue of songs and I think that would be a brilliant show and I’d love to sing some of those songs. In fact, me and Helen have been known to do There’s a Guy Works Down the Chip Shop Swears He’s Elvis, which is really fun to do.
My final person who I’m going to chuck into the mix is Shane MacGowan. Mainly because of his songwriting, he’s got a catalogue of songs that are just beautiful to sing, they go to my heart, I resonate with them, they all mean different things to me, and again, he’s just a character who lived an interesting life, but there was plenty of craic, and plenty of comedy and laughs in his life, and I think that joyous nature along with the talent and the genius, of all those people that I’ve mentioned, make all of them really fun characters to play in a musical.
So if you’re watching and you want to make a show and produce it and ask me to be the lead vocalist in any of them, or any other one that I haven’t thought of, do give me a call. Thank you very much!
The final question, what else is on the cards for you in 2026?
Well on the 8th of May at 8pm, I’m going to be on Live to your Living Room – that’s my first card, my ace card!
So there’s a load going on in 2026, I’m really excited. I’ve got some travels planned which I’ll be announcing later on. We’ve got plenty of gigs, we’re always gigging all over the country, so just keep a look on the website www.johnkellymusician.co.uk.
If you sign up to my mailing list, which you’ll find on the website, you’ll be able to get the latest gig information. We’re playing in Windsor, we’ll be going up North later in the year, yeah hopefully lots of travels, and I’ve got a few international trips up my sleeve.
I’ve been fortunate enough to get a grant from the Arts Council called Developing Your Creative Practice, and that’s really helped me to develop behind the scenes. I’ve been developing my communications over the next year and I want to try and improve that, giving my supporters and my followers more content so you can keep up to date a little bit better and a little bit easier. So yeah, I’ve got a new newsletter that’s going to be coming out quite regularly, so sign up for it.
So lots of gigs, a new single out on the 17th of March. But, importantly, 8th of May, Live to your Living Room, get your tickets, come and join me in the evening, have a laugh, have some fun, get cosy – not too cosy, cause I want you to dance and sing and join in with me!
There’s a lot coming up in 2026, it’s going to be a lot of fun, and I’m going to be playing with a lot of friends and I hope to see you somewhere across the country, or online, wherever you find me – say hello and let me know what songs you’d like me to do, cause I’m really up to hearing from you.
So that’s a little bit of what’s coming up. Keep in touch with me on my socials, I’m everywhere, nearly. I’d like to be everywhere, ha!
You can buy tickets for John’s gig on Friday 8 May on the Live to your Living Room website – we can’t wait to see you there!