Bronagh Gallagher has weathered the fickleness of stardom since her smashing début in The Commitments 13 years ago. The extremely choosy actress tells Tony Clayton-Lea about switching gears for her latest choice project: an album of soul originals
It's up to you if you'd rather have, say, Joss Stone. She's an attractive teenager with little personality, lots of advisors and a major record label contract, so we can understand the appeal. Bronagh Gallagher, on the other hand, is her own committee, is in her early thirties, has buckets of character and is signed to her own record label. Joss Stone's label? Virgin. Bronagh Gallagher's label? Salty Dog. Gee whiz - the case is so heavy we'll just rest it right here, shall we?
While the corporate versus independent route is perhaps best left uncharted, there's no doubting that the latter further assists the more individualistic of artists. Derry-born Gallagher is one such person. You know the face - cute, distinctive - from her most famous movies (The Commitments, Pulp Fiction, Star Wars: Episode 1 - The Phantom Menace), and you probably think she has been doing nothing ever since. You might have noticed her name in club listings as DJing here and there, and you might have wondered (like her taxi driver did on the way over to a posh Dublin hotel for her chat with The Ticket) where did it all go wrong.
But Gallagher has gotten it right more often than not. She followed the aforementioned movies with a couple of disastrous attempts in British TV sitcoms, and promptly decided that what she wanted to be was not an actor for hire but someone who worked as and when the quality of the work called to her. An independent sort with no apparent strings attached, it was reasonably easy for Gallagher to hold out for roles and work that didn't depress her. She's a low-key actor and proud of it.
"I'm very choosy," she says, taking a sip from a cup of ridiculously expensive decaf latte. "Earlier on in my work - the career, if you want to call it that - I did some work in sitcoms, and I've never been unhappier creatively or artistically. It's taken me a long time to actually stop and do what I want. Acting is such a volatile career, work-wise, and I knew I'd have to stop worrying about being unemployed for months at a time.
"Yet, when I got work for the sake of money, I was depressed, and from then I reckoned I just wouldn't do it anymore. I made a conscious decision, and the work that appeals to me is the work I feel goes somewhere and that might help people understand certain things.
"I happen to come from the heart of the Bogside; my being is about telling the truth and the fact that there are two sides to every story. I've chosen to do work about the North and other areas and have tried to communicate the truth. I don't mind if people don't know what I've been up to because the good work is there.
"But I am choosy and the older I get the choosier I become. I've said no to a lot of work this year already; part of that has been because I've wanted to concentrate on the record, but I say no to stuff for various reasons - stereotyped characters that I've portrayed before, non-challenging roles and work that I've previously covered."
She mentions her début solo album (Precious Soul) almost in passing, yet it's the kind of natural, slow-burning collection of songs that makes its presence felt by virtue of its innate integrity. Gallagher was, she recalls, raised on a diet of soul and country music. Everyone from Al Green, Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye and Jackie Wilson to Emmylou Harris and early Johnny Cash went in one ear and lodged.
"My love of music was one of the main reasons for wanting to be involved in The Commitments," she says. "I really fought for the part, although my accent put them off. Nothing makes my heart beat better than listening to soul music, though."
Writing songs on the hoof and singing in musical circles eventually brought her to the attention of producer John Reynolds and musician/producer Brian Eno. Then she purchased a drum kit. "I took a notion and bought one. It's not really difficult singing and drumming - you have to rehearse it, but I have a basic style of drumming, so it's not too bad." This solidified her ambitions to actually do more than emulate Aretha in the shower.
"I'm very organised in work, very dedicated, but it wasn't until I started talking to John and Brian that the shape of the record took place. They're my two mates, so it's not as if we're in business meetings when we talk about things; we go to a Greek restaurant in London and we talk and laugh until the tears roll down our faces. We have a Dick Emery-type of chemistry, with me being Auntie Bronagh and they being my two naughty nephews."
The resulting album of 11 tracks (only one of which she didn't write) is bereft of grand notions but abundant with that rootsy, gritty and down-to-earth feeling that comes with experience and a true heart.
"I don't need to validate Precious Soul any more than to say it's a record with a positive message. As a music fan I tend to go back to older music, wherein the lyrical content is very important - not like nowadays, where it seems lost."
Gallagher is something of a gem; no airs or graces, just a good-hearted person who treats soul music with respect and caution. She knows it isn't something to be undertaken lightly; no wonder her album speaks so much common sense.
"I wholly believe in my songs," she says. "The language on the album is that nobody's perfect. If there's a situation you're in and you want out of it, then get out. Move on - don't be afraid of life. Trust that it will look after you."
Precious Soul is released today. Bronagh Gallagher will soon begin an Irish tour
