Simi Crowns: ‘I’m having a fling with Park West’

‘I’m one of those people you wouldn’t call a settler. I consider myself physically and artistically an emotional nomad. I’m currently having a fling with Park West – the sort of fling you can’t get away from but, at the same time, know won’t last forever. Being nomadic is a conscious thing.

“I’ve been living independently since I was 16. Even when I like places I don’t like places to own me. I’m quite suited to Park West. I’ve been living here about two years now. I’ve got friends here, go to the gym down the road.

“Before Park West I had a fling with Lucan, where I’ve got friends and family. One of the things about Park West is that it’s quite isolated to an extent, but easily reachable. There’s a perception in people’s minds that it’s unreachable.

“Being a business park means it doesn’t have a neighbourhood or homely feeling. I’d call it an ambitious area. When I wake in the morning I see trains going by; they’re infrequent during the day but there are a lot at peak hours. This counter balance fascinates me. When you want peace you can have it but it’s also nice to see people.

"Park West being an ambitious area suits me too. I'm 25, doing an MA in marketing at the Smurfit School, writing music, doing a lot of stuff. Waking up, seeing people going and coming from work, kind of kicks me in the butt. There's no time to be lazy; there are things I want to achieve and there's the music. Park West helps because it's quiet, easy to reach but an easy place too to close off distractions.

“My ultimate goal is to enjoy what I do, be able to listen to my music without feeling ikky. Picasso said an artist’s work is never completed, not in the mind of the artist anyway.

“A lot of my music comes from my observations of people and my life in different places in Dublin. I started writing music when I was 12 and living in Tallaght, an undeveloped place back then, no skyscrapers.

“Tallaght was the bedrock of me. I went to school in the north inner city, to O’Connell Schools, on the 77 bus. You had to get home before 7pm because the bus wasn’t safe, especially on dark winter nights. There would be fights. I was at a stage when I was trying to get a sense of the world.

“School was totally different to life in Tallaght; the only similarity was with Summerhill where classmates were robbed of their lunch money and one was hit by a crowbar. Going home through town was great, everything buzzing and the little kids playing in Sheriff Street.

“To get to my home I had a 10-minute walk down an unlit road. Once home you didn’t go out, it was crap computer games or TV or kicking a football – there were three of us.

“To kill time and express myself I wrote music. Looking back, given my age, knowledge of the world and limited influences, the music was probably okay.

"Park West influenced my upcoming EP and single, Pressure. It's about pressure in general: doing my Masters, growing up, maturing, losing friends because of change, pressures of the lady… All these pressures I realised in Park West. For another song, Reassured, we shot the video in Park West and all the ambition of Park West is in that video.

“I really do love Dublin. I’ve lived here longer than any other place. It’s my home. Every ending has a beginning.”

Simi Crowns' new EP will be released at the end of July. simicrowns.com and on social media. His