Hailing from the sleepy North Down village of Portaferry comes Ryan McMullan. The songwriter first appeared on our radar in early 2014 with an entry into our Kickstart competition. We were impressed with his debut release (Holding Me Down) and have closely followed his journey since.
In the years that followed Ryan has become one of the biggest names in the local music scene. He has gradually worked his way up from playing small intimate bars, to selling out some of the country’s biggest venues. His journey has also seen him go out on tour with global sensation Ed Sheeran before settling back home to record a long awaited debut album.
On a blustery day in East Belfast’s Banana Block, we met with Ryan for an honest and open insight into the last few years of his life.
In a different life we may never have been graced with Ryan McMullan the musician. His studied profession is as a civil engineer but thankfully encouragement from friends and family as well as a few chance meetings with influential figures in the music industry led to the artist we know and love today.
That adjustment from civil engineer by day, pub singer by night has proved challenging at times for Ryan. “The hardest transition is being your own boss. Art is so subjective and it sporadically comes and goes. When you’re a civil engineer you clock in. Have a list of things to do. Someone tells you what to. You do them. You go home. “
Given Ryan’s recent levels of success it could be said that he has made that transition quite successfully. In 2019 the BBC commissioned a documentary called ‘Debut’ which appeared to show an album that was all but finished. As everyone knows Covid hit and the industry shut down. For Ryan that changed what he intended to release as an album.
“A lot was scrapped. During lockdown, in the space of two weeks I wrote an album. In one week I wrote seven songs and started half a song. The next week I started and wrote five songs. I was overwhelmed with emotions and depressed. My mental health was taking a kicking.” It is a brave revelation for Ryan to be open and share his personal struggles. Writing and recording during the pandemic was therapeutic for him and allowed him to “make sense of what was going on.”
As a result of this re-write and re-recording we are going to enjoy a better record. “To neglect the pain and struggle of the pandemic just because you didn’t want to release a pandemic album is kind of unfair on everyone involved particularly the songs. Swapping the old songs out was very easy. Ultimately it’s a better record for it. I think what I was trying to do and what I’ve ended up achieving are two different things. What I’ve achieved is better than what my initial plan was.”
The album was recorded in Portglenone with Seán Óg Graham of Beoga. Beoga had collaborated with Ryan back in 2020 on their Carousel EP and when the chance came to join forces again, Ryan couldn’t turn it down. “During lockdown and you were allowed to leave the house again. Hadn’t worked with anyone in a while and Beoga reached out to say we can have up to 6 people, there’s 5 of us and 1 of you. Do you want to get in a room together? I thought absolutely and then we just started writing. The 1st song we wrote was Real Love, the last single.
“It was just such a joy, it was such fun to write it. It was literally two hours and it was all but there. It was kind of the beginning of it because it was such an effortless thing.” The recording was only pencilled in for 3 months but in the end it turned into 18 months but the time was well spent and Ryan is delighted with the results. “Seán Óg was a great addition and he’s done such a great job. He’s a virtuoso, he plays everything, his attention to detail is phenomenal, his recording is incredible. It was a no-brainer. That guy is a genius and it was a pleasure to have him on board.”
Ryan also took time to praise original producer Eoin O’Callaghan who featured in the initial recordings in Donegal, seen in the documentary. “A lot of his stuff is part of the record and he is down as an executive producer. He is another virtuoso. This country is full of them.”
Every musician works well in different environments and for Ryan it is the opportunity to lock himself away in beautiful surroundings that makes all the difference. “I just like the silence and if you’re looking at a spectacular view with a cup of tea in hand, it’s like I can hear my thoughts. Writing songs can happen at anytime but with the recording process I think a big breath to calm down is good because ultimately you’re picking the right parts.”
The release of the album has been long awaited by his swelling fanbase but I was curious to know whether the new material marked a big shift in direction and sound and what impact that might have on his listeners. “I’m fascinated to see what they think. I think as an artist you grow but also as a person you grow. I think even people that listen to music, their taste grows as well. It could just be that they are ready for the change as well. Ultimately If I was to sit and try and write songs to please people, I wouldn’t please anybody. Ultimately I have to please myself and hope that it resonates.”
“Singles are there to promote an album & I’m glad with the decisions. Redesign felt like the beginning of something else and songs like ‘Never Mattered’ and ‘Monarch’ are the real album songs.” The album is being released in a unique bundle that contains the record on vinyl, CD and old school cassette. For Ryan releasing on vinyl has always been an ambition and is a big believer in having physical releases available to his fans.
“For me I love vinyl and love collectables. The weird thing is I have more mediums on which to play a cassette than I do a CD right now.” “When you have the digital you can instantly change to what you’re doing. It’s nearly a dis-service to the artist. When you have the physical you’re committing to it. Nothing beats putting on a vinyl on and listening to the whole record in one sitting.
2015 marked the release of his breakout release ‘Holding Me Down’ and I asked Ryan to reflect on it after seven years. His response was unsurprising given his previous comments on changing tastes. “It is a bitter sweet thing. I couldn’t sing that song again. I am very happy with what that song and that EP did for me. There was a point
where I wanted to take it off all the platforms. But it is part of the journey and maybe it will act as an inspiration for other artists out there.”
Ryan has been candid so far with his thoughts and I was keen to discover the mental challenges of transitioning from playing smaller venues to walking out in front of thousands of people while supporting Ed Sheeran. “I want to say it was a Friday, I was playing in New York to 40 people in like a house gig and then two days later in Italy playing to 18,000 people. I’d also never used in ears before so it was literally a baptism by fire. What was weird was the first night I fluked it. The first night I nailed it. The first night I came off thinking I can do this. The next night I had an absolute shit show because a fluke is a fluke for a reason.“
It came to Ryan as a surprise that even an artist like Sheeran, so used to play stadiums by now, also suffered from nerves. “Ed was as always just the master of advice and he helped me through so much of that stuff. But even for him to me that he was nervous the first night was kind of like oh yeah cause you’re human, I forgot about that.“ For Ryan though while he relishes the opportunity to have thousands of fans singing back his songs to him, it is the prospect of fame that troubles him. “Ed does it all round the world but he can’t go to the shop to buy toilet roll without ending up in the papers. There’s always a compromise.”
Ryan relishes playing live and entertaining people and it’s a responsibility he feels deeply. “It is the entertainment business. And you have to entertain people. Ultimately what I want to achieve is not only having a good show but everyone having a great night and that’s just a responsibility that I have to own and make sure I don’t sacrifice people’s entertainment for my self-indulgence.”
At this stage in his career McMullan has played countless shows but there is always one that has a special place in his heart. “The Ulster Hall gig in 2018. The venue is so coveted. My dream was always to headline it and I achieved that.” It was a fantastic achievement for him at that point in his career as not only was he headlining it but it had sold out weeks in advance. “It was kind of a climax for me. You always wanted to get here and now you’re here. Everything was great that night. We’d just signed with X-Ray, Foy (Vance) came on and sang with me, the band was in good form, the crowd were great craic, it was Black Eye Friday at Christmas and I played a festive song. It had everything.”
Given his unease around fame, I put it to Ryan that it was strange to see him openly volunteer to feature in a documentary focused on recording an album. He talked about them visiting for the first time before his 2nd headline show in London. “Before a gig I like to kind of chill out and mellow down and it just was horrendous. It got to a point where I can remember standing in the corner of a room with my head in the corner. And my manager coming up and going what are you doing. “I just need a fucking minute”.
“After that we just conceded we weren’t doing this and then we spoke to director Brendan and were like thanks but no thanks. He was really disheartened and I had to say it was very overwhelming being in my face the whole time and he said well can I send you the footage.”
“He sent us the footage and it looked amazing. So we were like shit do we? We spoke to him and were like can we set a boundary with this amount of time, at this time or whatever. Although they didn’t get everything, at least it was more comfortable to be around. Once you familiarise yourself with the people involved, the camera starts to get a bit smaller. It’s just surreal.“
The resulting documentary was an insightful look into Ryan’s life on the road and early look into the recording of his debut album pre-pandemic. For Ryan while it has been a challenging process to be involved in and subsequently watch, it seems to have been a worthwhile experience. “Very surreal to have a documentary made in the first place but it’s pretty cool. I had to watch it and found it hard at times to be ok with it. However it contains loads of incredible memories that could’ve been missed or forgotten had they not been recorded.“
The process and subsequent release of the documentary was also an eye opener for Ryan on his ambitions for the future and his career growth. “It would have been amazing to go stratospheric and be as big as Ed Sheeran around the world but he did it because it was truthful and honest to what he wanted to do. I wasn’t and I had to figure that shit out and when I figured it out, it turned out I didn’t want that thing. “
It was clear though that Ryan wants people to see his journey through an honest lens. “If I’m an upcoming artist for me personally I’d be like, it’s not just I’m releasing a song and it becomes huge. It would’ve been too easy and too Disney to make it look perfect. When actually the whole thing has and still is a struggle.” Having experienced both good and bad times as well as enjoying a healthy level of success, he wants young artists to see the truth and not the whitewashed overnight success stories that labels and their press machines promote.
There has been a bit of fun along the way too and moment to indulge a few other aspirations aside from music. The peak of this was a surprise cameo in the immensely popular Derry Girls. “It was Foy being Foy. He asked if I would play piano for him on this TV thing. I asked him what the song would be and he told me we’d sort it when we got there. I was thinking this is weird. I was thinking it was the Late Late or some TV thing and he had no-one to play piano.”
“I get there and he’s fully dressed in character and it was hilarious. It was funny because I’d been speaking to him before saying I’d love to try my hand at acting and then he ended up getting me into Derry Girls but there was no acting involved. We’ll call it an acting credit for now. Two credits on IMDB, Ryan McMullan ‘Debut’ and ‘Derry Girls’.”
As for future plans, not long after our meeting Ryan had to take the difficult decision to postpone his tour and then the full album which was disappointing news for Ryan and all his fans but the best decision to allow him space and time to restore his mental well being. Despite this in the background Ryan was working on his next project. “I can remember being told you need to steer the ship but I didn’t know what I was doing. Remember I was a civil engineer a minute ago. I think it’s only recently I’ve figured how to steer that ship. It is why it is so exciting for the next thing, the next project. I’m already fascinated. I haven’t put pen to paper really for it but I am so fascinated by it, I’m going to be submerged in it.”
“In many ways very much looking forward to next album, Redesign has been finished for quite a while now and just excited to move on to where my head is currently at. The other worry is writing something is great, losing sight in it because you’ve started the next thing. Great place to be but I’m very impulsive of committing to it and seeing it through.”
The Ryan I met with is a lot more comfortable in his own skin. than the young man I first encountered when he was starting out. The music industry is not for the faint hearted but it is clear Ryan is well on track to navigate all the trials and tribulations that come with it. He leaves us with one last insight that we should all consider.
“The biggest lesson I learnt was success only starts when you’re happy and content in what you’re doing. I hadn’t been for quite a while and I’m still in that journey, trying to search for that contentment in creating art and this album is certainly the first step.”
Redesign by Ryan McMullan was released on 01 November 2024. You can purchase Redesign over on Ryan’s website.
Ryan will be back out on tour next year across the UK and Ireland including shows in Belfast and Derry. Tickets are available via Ticketmaster.
