Oisín Leahy Furlong, the frontman of rock band Thumper, was brought up in north county Dublin and now lives in the city.
After a series of singles and EPs, the band's debut album Delusions of Grandeur will be released on March 18.
Home is...
I'm living in North Strand, near Fairview and not so far from the city centre. I've been here for a couple of years. It's kind of nice, for some reason it hasn't been completely gentrified yet. So I feel like I'm walking around in a novel about Dublin.
How I get around the city:
I walk or I cycle, but I was in a cycling accident about eight months ago and totalled my bike, so I've just been using my own two feet.
Dublin definitely lends itself well to it. You can walk from one side to the other and nearly always find something that you didn't know existed before. So that's what I do - listen to records and walk around. It's a nomadic life.
The best place in the city for a date:
Maybe Stoneybatter or somewhere like that - you've got The Light House [cinema] there. If the date is going bad, and you just want to sit in the dark and not talk, that would work. But you can also get a decent pint in there.
My favourite pub in the city:
I consider myself somewhat of a savant, so I would go into the Palace Bar and imagine myself in lineage with Kavanagh and Yeats or whoever, write bad poetry and sink some solo pints.
A pint of Guinness in the Palace, I'd say, is top tier, globally.
My favourite restaurant in Dublin:
I was in a place last week called Soup. There's one just off Smithfield, and another one in Dún Laoghaire. It's a ramen bar with a really, really small menu. I'm vegetarian, and they've got plenty of veggie options and really nice cocktails. It's a good spot.
The ramen was good and they had very delicious deep-fried kimchi, which was the man of the match for me. I had two spicy margaritas and hobbled home, happy as Larry.
My go-to café or coffee shop:
Cloud Café in North Strand is really nice and locally owned, but I'd say, historically, my favourite café in Dublin would be Simon's Place in George's Street Arcade.
They do really big sandwiches with cheese, cucumber and mustard, and they do big cups of coffee that are black, and that's all you need.
You look out into George's Street Arcade, or you can look out into George's Street itself, and it's just a fantastic time. It's beautiful in its simplicity.
Where I get my exercise:
I started running last year, just because I needed to do something with my body. I quite enjoy it, and I enjoy the process of getting better at it. It's nice to push yourself into the unknown – like physical exercise.
I was getting up to about 10k for a couple of months, running down the seafront past Bull Island, but I'll be honest with you, I've fallen off the horse a little bit over the winter, just because it's so grim out there. But I'll be back at it.
My favourite shops:
Musicmaker – Dav who plays bass in Thumper is one of the managers there. That's a serious spot for buying all your bits, and they're also very engaged with the local gigging scene and music scene.
I also buzz into Freebird Records fairly regularly, and Spindizzy Records as well. I just bought the new Big Thief album there the other day.
My favourite place for a haircut:
If you go to Trench barbers in [Smithfield] and ask for Robbie, Robbie will give you the best goddamn haircut you'll ever get in your whole life.
His resumé includes many indie rock starlets, but the everyman comes to Robbie as well. He doesn't care who you are, he's interested no matter what, and he's a musician as well.
He's a man who is passionate about everything he does in every direction, including your head.
My favourite place in Dublin to get away from it all:
The Hellfire Club is a good spot. I don't drive so you can get only get the bus so far, and then you make a pilgrimage up to it. You might see the devil there, or you might enjoy the view of bloody gorgeous Dublin from the top.
If you're talking about getting away from it all, it definitely feels like you're not in the city anymore. And the devilish undertones to the whole operation is a good way to clear your head of mundane thoughts.
My favourite place to let my hair down:
The band's local is a place called Bourke's, which is a side bar to Whelan's. They're actually renovating it at the minute, but in the olden times – before the sickness – we used to be in there every Monday.
They'd have a thing called The Song Cycle, and you'd go in and play tunes and get merry.
I've been back to Whelan's a few times since things have opened up a bit, but I'm looking forward to reclaiming our spot at the bar there.
The last live event I went to:
I was just at The Grand Social, seeing The Altered Hours. They were very, very good and they had this great young band called Gurriers opening for them.
Dublin's best kept secret:
Sort of like Ireland as a whole, it's the surreal nature of the people who live here. Everyone is armed with a deep sense of humour that seems to permeate every micro-interaction that you have – if you're talking to a bus driver, or a dole agent, or a barman or the f*cking president, you could just burst out laughing at any minute.
Maybe that's the reason that there are so many poets and literary figures that come from here. It's like the act of conversation is some sort of game to be played.
I'm as far from an extrovert as you could possibly get, but I enjoy the wry smile that you might get off some random aul one in a shop. You miss that when you go abroad.
