\n
Glen Hansard loves being Irish.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s well aware that in today\u2019s current political climate, it\u2019s a taboo thing to say because we live in an overtly nationalist world.<\/p>\n
More from Spin:<\/p>\n
But he can\u2019t help himself.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll of our rivers are named after goddesses,\u201d he says in his thick Dublin accent. There\u2019s passion in his voice as he tells me about the beauty of Ireland over a video call. \u201cWe think differently. Not to say we think differently from the rest of Europe, but I think we may have a slightly different route. We are a storytelling nation. We come from a country of mysticism and paganism. I love being Irish in that I love the depth of the language as well. The language is very poetic. I don\u2019t speak it very well. But, I\u2019m very attached and in love with the depth of my language and my place.\u201d<\/p>\n\nHansard is wearing a black mock turtleneck sweater, his once red curly hair and beard now a soft white. As of this interview, the Irish musician is in New York City for a couple of shows: last night at City Winery and tonight at the Bowery Ballroom.<\/p>\n
I first discovered the Irish musician in 1991 when I was in ninth grade. I had just seen The Commitments<\/em>, in which he plays guitarist Outspan Foster, and loved it. A friend of mine introduced me to the Frames, Hansard\u2019s rock band. I still remember hearing \u201cThe Dancer\u201d off the band\u2019s debut album, Another Love Song<\/em>, for the first time, and how enamored I was by it.<\/p>\nSince then, Hansard has become a worldwide sensation as the frontman for the Frames, his solo work, and one-half of the folk duo the Swell Season with Czech singer and pianist Mark\u00e9ta Irglov\u00e1.<\/p>\n
To celebrate his more than 30-year career, he\u2019s releasing a two-part live retrospective album, Don+t<\/em> Settle \u2013 Transmissions East and West. <\/em>Transmissions East (Vol. 1) <\/em>is out April 24, and Transmissions West (Vol. 2) <\/em>will release later this year.<\/p>\nThe album was inspired by a concert Hansard performed at Zuiderparktheater in The Hague in the summer of 2024. Hansard recalls that five or six songs into his set, a torrential downpour began. When he noticed people leaving to get out of the rain, he invited the entire audience onstage.<\/p>\n\n\n(Credit: KalpeshLathigra)<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\u201cWe had like a thousand people sitting around us while we played,\u201d says Hansard. \u201cPeople really enjoyed it because suddenly, they\u2019re sitting next to the musicians that they\u2019re watching. They\u2019re right next to them. And they\u2019re in there, and they\u2019re listening to the musicians talk to each other. Suddenly, they\u2019re in the machinery of what a concert is.\u201d<\/p>\n
Don+t<\/em> Settle <\/em>was recorded in front of a small, intimate audience over two nights in April 2025 at Berlin\u2019s historic Funkhaus, a former East German radio facility. It features live and updated reinterpretations of some of Hansard\u2019s most loved songs from the Frames, his solo work, and the Swell Season, with no vocal overdubs, second takes, autotune, or editing.<\/p>\n\u201cWe decided to do it on my 55th birthday,\u201d says Hansard. \u201cI\u2019m really happy for the songs because some of them, I felt like I never quite got right on record, and on the live record, they just seem to come alive in a different way.\u201d<\/p>\n
The album is named after the second track on his fourth solo album, This Wild Willing.<\/em><\/p>\n\u201cI\u2019m at an age where you either put your foot on the gas, or you take your foot off the gas,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd I very much need to put my foot on the gas. I want to work, I want to be in the world. I want to be making music. And so, the title made sense.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hansard discovered his love of music through jail time and Bob Dylan, though not exactly how you might think.<\/p>\n\n\n(Credit: KalpeshLathigra)<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
As a kid in Dublin, Hansard was getting into trouble; stealing cars, experimenting with drugs and alcohol, typical of kids in his neighborhood, he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere I grew up, there was no excitement. So we were looking for it the whole time. I was definitely slipping, and my mom was a bit worried about me. She had every right to be.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hansard admired his girlfriend\u2019s older brother, who gave him a cassette of Bob Dylan\u2019s Greatest Hits<\/em>. \u201cI thought he was kind of cool,\u201d he says. \u201cHe was mad, but he was also a very cool dude\u201d.<\/p>\nAt the same time, Hansard\u2019s uncle was in jail and had left his guitar at Hansard\u2019s house.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe convergence of the instrument being left at our house and discovering Bob Dylan was, I would say, one of those moments where everything aligned,\u201d Hansard says. \u201cAnd I disappeared into music. I had that moment where I stepped out of one skin and into another, and I completely metamorphosed into a different person.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hansard found himself in Dublin City, hanging out with writers like Seamus Heaney, directors like Jim Sheridan, and listening to Paul Meehan reciting poetry in a basement. Though he had dropped out of school, he was getting a different kind of education.<\/p>\n
\u201cSuddenly, I was in a very different world,\u201d he says. \u201cI had an inferiority complex, with the fact that I was from a working-class neighborhood, didn\u2019t have a proper education, left school young, all of that. But man, did I catch up because I was excited about information. I was excited about literature and about songwriting. And Dylan was my north star.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\nGlen Hansard performs with Eddie Vedder and Earthlings on Feb. 25, 2022. (Credit: Jeff Kravitz \/ FilmMagic).<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
At 13, Hansard started busking on the streets of Dublin, first in the laneways\u2014the narrow thoroughfares behind buildings that connect the city\u2019s major roads\u2014so he could learn to project his singing as he listened to his voice echo off the walls. As he grew in confidence, he moved to Dublin\u2019s main street, Grafton.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you take out your instrument on the street, you\u2019re declaring yourself; that\u2019s the hardest part of busking,\u201d says Hansard. \u201cUnzipping the case, taking out the instrument, putting the case on the ground, putting the instrument on. After that, it\u2019s a doddle. But when you do that, you\u2019re saying, \u2018I\u2019m doing something. I\u2019m declaring myself a musician. I\u2019m declaring myself a person who is worthy of your attention.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
As a busker, Hansard says he learned two lessons: The coin is never a measurement of how good you are; it\u2019s either charity or appreciation. And if you\u2019re always in a good mood, you\u2019ll always make more money.<\/p>\n
Hansard didn\u2019t expect to get rich off busking. Nor was that the reason he did it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wasn\u2019t fishing for coins. I realized early on I was fishing for something else,\u201d he says. \u201cWhat was important was something energetic that I can\u2019t quite put my finger on. I guess approval. I mean, maybe that\u2019s it. You know, some kind of acknowledgement that you exist, that you\u2019re there. And so it changed everything about performance for me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\nThe Swell Season. (Credit: David Turecky)<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Hansard recalls an Irish term, Aisling, (pronounced ashling), that means \u201cvision.\u201d He tells me that the Irish are very close to the Indigenous idea of the vision quest, or the walkabout.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe guitar is like a strange kind of a key,\u201d he says. \u201cYou step out into your day, and you take out your instrument, and your day could go in any direction.\u201d<\/p>\n
When Hansard was 18, he signed with Island Records, and in 1990, he formed the Frames, which would eventually release seven albums, the last of which, Longitude<\/em>, was released in 2015. While they were working on their first record, he joined the cast of The Commitments<\/em>, quite by accident, he says.<\/p>\n\u201cI didn\u2019t actually go for the role. I never auditioned for it.\u201d<\/p>\n
He tells me he and his actor friend had been up all night smoking weed, and had walked together to his friend\u2019s audition the next morning. Hansard, guitar in hand, sat in the waiting room, waiting for his buddy to come out of the audition.<\/p>\n
When a member of the film\u2019s casting came out, they zeroed in on his red hair and guitar, which he says was exactly what they were looking for. They asked him to read a few lines; he agreed, and he got the role of Outspan Foster.<\/p>\n
Over the years, Hansard has been quoted as saying that he regretted his experience in The Commitments<\/em>. So, I asked him about it to set the record straight.<\/p>\n\u201cJust to clear this up, I\u2019m incredibly proud. I was a massive Roddy Doyle fan before The Commitments<\/em>,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd to be cast in his story was incredible. I loved every moment of it.\u201d<\/p>\nBut he says he was worried the film would interfere with his music career, which he preferred to concentrate on. But when he did interviews to promote the Frames\u2019 first album, all the media wanted to talk about was The Commitments<\/em>, which came out around the same time.<\/p>\n\u201cThe Commitments<\/em> was always the first question of everything at the time,\u201d he says. \u201cOf course it was. But for me, I was like, \u2018There\u2019s more to me than this.\u2019 So that was where that discomfort came from. I was kinda like, \u201cFuck The Commitments<\/em>! I\u2019m a musician!\u2019 I should have seen it as a blessing, but when you\u2019re young and full of your own scheme\u2026Ironically, the two biggest moments of my career came through film. So, who am I to argue with that?\u201d<\/p>\nHansard, of course, is referring to his 2007 film, Once<\/em>, which won the 2008 Academy Award for Best Original Song. It also birthed his joint music project with Irglov\u00e1, the Swell Season. The duo released three albums: The Swell Season<\/em> in 2006, Strict Joy <\/em>in 2009, and 2025\u2019s Forward<\/em>.<\/p>\nIf you\u2019ve ever seen him perform live, you know Hansard has a very passionate, some would even say intense, style onstage. More than 30 years later, he still has the heart of a busker.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery night I walk on stage, I walk on stage as a busker,\u201d he says. \u201cI don\u2019t walk on stage as a professional musician because I know that if I go on as a professional musician, I\u2019m gonna need the drummer to code 1, 2, 3, 4. and we\u2019re all gonna start. I always want to trip up the band. My instinct is to trip up the music, get away from the form, break the form. Let\u2019s busk, let\u2019s busk. Because when we busk, we call the band into the present. And then everyone\u2019s called into the present. And that\u2019s the great lesson of busking, is that you\u2019re always in the present. You\u2019re letting the song come through you rather than you trying to wrestle the song down into your idea of what it should be.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hansard tells me that every night before a show, he sends his tour manager the set list, and his manager only prints one copy because he knows that two minutes before hitting the stage, Hansard is going to change his mind. Then his manager prints out the final copies, and the band goes on stage. And Hansard doesn\u2019t follow that set list either.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe room, the feeling, you, the spirit of the place, the day that\u2019s in it, where the moon is sitting, everything, whatever it is, is dictating the gig. And I love that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Six weeks ago, Hansard\u2019s back went out, and since then, he\u2019s been in a lot of pain. He says it was a real wake-up call for him, a sign that he needs to exercise more and get his core strength back. Getting older isn\u2019t easy. But that doesn\u2019t mean you have to give in to it. \u201cIf you find yourself saying, \u2018I\u2019m getting old,\u2019 you\u2019re in trouble,\u201d he says. \u201cYou\u2019ve got to get serious or else you start giving into all your aches and pains, and before you know it, you\u2019re canceling shows, and you\u2019re just disappearing.\u201d<\/p>\n
He makes a comment about how he imagines Bob Dylan eventually dying on stage one night, doing what he loves doing.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat will be his happiest way out. I don\u2019t want to sound glib, but this is something I want to do,\u201d Hansard says. \u201cI want my voice to hold out. I want my body to hold out. I want to write 10 good songs. I still don\u2019t feel like I\u2019ve done that. I\u2019m in this for the long haul. So I\u2019m a believer in the energy and the spirit of the music. And when it\u2019s flowing through you, and you\u2019re in that exalted high, sweet place of playing music, it\u2019s fucking invincible.\u201d<\/p>\n
To see our running list of the top 100 greatest rock stars of all time, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.yahoo.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Glen Hansard loves being Irish. He\u2019s well aware that in today\u2019s current political climate, it\u2019s a taboo thing to say because we live in an overtly nationalist world. More from Spin: But he can\u2019t help himself. \u201cAll of our rivers are named after goddesses,\u201d he says in his thick Dublin accent. There\u2019s passion in his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2381321,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[461128,463774],"class_list":["post-2381320","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-glen-hansard","tag-the-commitments"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Glen-Hansard-Is-\u2018Fucking-Invincible.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2381320","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2381320"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2381320\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2381322,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2381320\/revisions\/2381322"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2381321"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2381320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2381320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2381320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}