Joe Hennon speaks to editor Paul Morris about combining European Commission work with his other job as guitarist with the neo-Celtic pagan outfit 'Omnia'.

Most Friday nights your average expat heads for happy hour to kick off a weekend of entertainment, shopping, family-time or all of the above. Joe Hennon grabs his make-up and heads out into the night. Well, okay, it’s face paint.

PM What's your job beyond the stage?
 
I'm the only member of Omnia who has another job.  I work for the European Commission, in particular for the Vice-President, Margot Wallström, who is responsible for communication strategy among other things.   http://ec.europa.eu/commission_barroso/wallstrom/index_en.htm

PM You are currently in the studio recording a new cd. Is it difficult to come back out into the light and perform live?
 
Yes it is!  You get into a different mindset when recording.  You're playing new stuff that's not yet in the show and you're mostly sitting around all the time listening to the other band members recording.  When you haven't played live for maybe 6 weeks and not really thought about the old material it can be quite a shock when you find yourself on stage thinking 'bloody hell how did this song go again?!'  Comes back to you quickly though! ;-)
 
PM How and when did you join the band? 
 
I joined in 2005.  Steve and Jenny were friends of mine and they were fans of Shantalla, the band I played with before Omnia.  When I saw Omnia first as a three-piece band I thought they were great but missing something - either a guitar or a bouzouki. 

PM And what did your guitar add to the overall sound?

I first guested with them on 2 tracks on the Crone of War CD and it was obvious that the guitar added a lot of drive and rhythm to their sound.  It also gave the option of Jenny switching to hurdy gurdy instead of playing harp or bodhran all the time, so suddenly there was another lead instrument and a new Omnia sound.   They asked me to join full-time and the result was the Omnia you hear on the Pagan Folk CD.   Live too it adds much more power and variety to the sound and I think audiences can identify more easily with a guitar than with almost any other instrument.

joe hennon of omnia

PM Neo-Celtic Pagan. Would it be fair to say that your music is Celtic in rhythm and pagan in spirit?
 
Hmm.  Some of the rhythm is not necessarily Celtic, there's a Scandinavian feel to some of it, although we do consider ourselves Celts.  It's not just a Scottish/Breton/Irish thing though.  There were Celts all over Europe at one time from the Danube to the Tagus.  The Belgae were a Celtic tribe and Friesland was also Celtic.  The music is definitely Pagan in spirit though.  We write 80% of it ourselves and it's usually related to nature or various gods or concepts like freedom. We also write dance tunes, usually in the style of European folk dances.  When we do play traditional songs the lyrics have to be meaningful to us.
 
PM And, finally, is the face paint there to frighten off Christians?
 
Nah, it's something Omnia has always done (the origins of the band is in theatre) and we decided to keep.  We would feel only partially dressed if we went on stage without it. (what do you mean we go partially dressed on stage anyway?! :-) )  We've no problem with Christians, Muslims or any other religious people provided they don't try to force their views on everyone else in the world.  We just think there are a lot more gods than just one...
 
Interview by Paul Morris

Editor
Expatica Belgium

Read 'A Murder of Ravens'

1 May 2007

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