Category: Video

Since his debut back in 1999, each album released by Ben Reel has gone from strength to strength earning him many plaudits from the music media around the world.

Ben’s unique style has evolved by drawing from a wealth of different types of music, from rock, soul, blues, alt folk/Americana, country and reggae. By fusing these different genres behind his songs he has created a sound that has become his own.

Over the years Ben has made numerous radio and television appearances along with playing support to artists such as Jools Holland, Alabama 3 and The Cranberries. He has collaborated musically with such names as Hal Ketchum, the legendary Blockheads and the award winning saxophonist Gilad Atzmon.

As a songwriter and performer he has co-written and worked with some of Nashville’s finest, David Olney, John Hadley, Sergio Webb & Irene Kelley. Over the last seven years Ben Reel has toured extensively across Europe and the USA resulting in the development of a loyal and growing fan base.

The Ben Reel Band features Ben Reel on guitar and vocals Michael Black on drums, Ronnie O’Flynn on bass, Mick McCarney on guitar and Julieanne Reel on backing vocals & percussion.

Amongst the bands most notable performances include appearances at festivals such as Huntenpop in the Netherlands, Kilkenny Rhythm & Roots, Cork Jazz Festival and Ireland’s premiere music festival Electric Picnic in 2014.

In 2013 Ben toured the UK and the U.S. with Tommy Womack (Nashville) and last year the Ben Reel Band toured the UK as double bill with the legendary Eric Andersen.

The video for Ben Reel’s single One Of These Days is a tribute to some of Ireland’s iconic figures celebrated throughout the streets and parks of Dublin City.

Ben Reel talks about the video for ‘One Of These Days’:

“I had an idea to film in Dublin at dawn when the streets are empty and the first sounds of ‘The Fair City’ are heard in the early morning.

There were no story boards, just myself and film maker Dara McCluskey working on our creative instincts using Dublin as our backdrop.

One thing I did know was that I wanted to begin filming at the Phil Lynott (1949 – 1986) statue in Harry St.

We then moved on to different sites & monuments like the John Coll bronze of the poet and novelist Patrick Kavanagh (1904 – 1967). Patrick can be found seated on a park bench on Wilton Terrace overlooking the Grand Canal.”

Further along the canal near the corner of St. Stephan’s Green and Hume Street you will find a tall imposing statue with surrounding granite columns commemorating the father of Irish republicanism Wolfe Tone (1763 – 1798)

There is a bust of James Joyce (1882 – 1941) on St Stephens Green. It’s just across the road from Newman House the building that was once home to University College Dublin his former university

The work of the sculptor Henry Moore (1898 – 1986) can be found on St Stephens Green in the shape of a bronze memorial to William Butler Yeats.

The inscription reads ‘W B Yeats 1865 to 1939 a tribute in bronze by Henry Moore erected by admirers of the poet, October 1967’.

We also filmed in and around the wooden bandstand on St Stephens Green hence the inclusion of Lord Ardilaun (1840 — 1915). He was the great grandson of Arthur Guinness founder of the famous stout.

I shake my head at Dublin City Council as I believe they should change his name on the statue to his Irish birth name. Lord Ardilaun’s real name was Arthur Guinness a philanthropist who did a lot of great things for Dublin like bequeath St Stephens Green to the people. He also built an extension of the city’s Coombe Women’s Hospital amongst numerous other charitable acts.

Oscar Wilde can be found reclining in true Oscar style on a granite stone in Merrion Square; he once lived at No 1. The central office of the GPO on O’Connell Street houses the Cuchulain statue a memorial to those who lost their lives in the Easter Rising 1916.

A life-size bronze sculpture in the shape of Rory Gallagher’s Stratocaster can now be seen at what has become known as Rory Gallagher Corner in Dublin’s Temple Bar.

Bringing the video to a conclusion we visit the statue of James Connolly (1868 – 1916) situated under the bridge at Beresford Place in front of the Custom House and facing Liberty Hall”.

Artist’s website: www.benreel.com