A Chat with The Butterfly Graveyard (05.06.25)
As delicate and fragile as a butterfly wing, but with the complexity and ruggedness of a rural graveyard, singer-songwriter The Butterfly Graveyard weaves an intricate blend of fragility and sturdiness in his music. We speak with the Irish artist about his single, ‘Falling’, the story behind his band name, advice for musicians, and much more.
OSR: What drew you to music? How did The Butterfly Graveyard come about? Also, is there a story behind your band name, or was it just something that sounded alright?
The Butterfly Graveyard: What drew me to music was …. A clip of Marc Bolan on some retro show performing ‘Jeepster’. He was shaking his angelic hipster head into the camera singing “you’ve got the universe reclining in your hair”, and I said to myself, I gotta plug myself into this music thing.
There actually is a story behind the band name. Back in the day, my wife and I built a house in the countryside. It was a timber frame house, and unknown to us, we had a few stowaways in the form of butterfly cocoons. So, after a few weeks, every morning when I came down the stairs, I would find a butterfly flying around the kitchen. The butterflies would have their fleeting time and inevitably pass on, and since I didn’t have the heart to put them in the dustbin, instead, I would put them in the compost of the pot plant on the porch. This went on for a few months, and I hadn’t been noticing that the pot plants were beginning to fill up with deceased butterflies until one morning my wife, whilst watering the pot plants, discovered the butterflies and shouted up the stairs saying, “What is this? The Butterfly Graveyard or something????” I knew then I would use that phrase as the title of a poem or a song, but instead it turned into the name of this musical adventure.
OSR: You recently released your single ‘Falling’. What can you tell us about the single? Is there a backstory or particular theme?
The Butterfly Graveyard: Yes, there is a back story. It was written on a very cold, wet, grey, windy day, and I was daydreaming about driving an open-top car on the French Riviera stopping and diving into the cool azure water, then floating weightlessly and staring up at the cobalt blue sky above. In particular, the song is written about the fine art of swimming and the relationship the individual has with water, such as the line “down and in, the water she is my skin, she’s teaching me to float, we’ve always been close.” I put a fictional character into the lyric, it was inspired by casually looking at my bookshelf and noticing a book by Carlos Fuentes entitled The Years with Laura Diaz. I changed her name to Sophia D and she appears is in the line, “the years I spent with Sophia D.” At the end of the song, the narrator is skimming stones into the sea saying, “this one’s for you and this one’s for me,” and I’m wondering what ever happened to Sophia D.
OSR: What was the composition, recording and production of ‘Falling’ like? Were there any challenges, and if so, how did you overcome them?
The Butterfly Graveyard: ‘Falling’ nearly didn’t make the cut. I remember when we were recording the song, even though we had all the various elements, it just wouldn’t fit together. We had done a really intimate vocal, hopefully the kind of vocal that places you in the room with the singer, but we still couldn’t gel the song together. It was actually nearly deleted, and we had a pack of Brian Eno’s ‘Oblique Strategy Cards’ ready to go in case of emergency. I remember taking a break from the recording and walking around the garden, ready to abandon the song, and we said we would go back in for another pass, and if it didn’t work, we would hit the delete button. We tweaked the chorus, and then it seemed just to fit perfectly as if an angel had just walked through the room.
OSR: What is the most exciting and least exciting thing about creating music and this track in particular?
The Butterfly Graveyard: The most exciting thing for me is where once there was nothing, now there is a piece of sound that will enter the world and live and breathe whenever the listener hears it.
OSR: What does music mean to you?
The Butterfly Graveyard: Music is breathing, and the secret is to keep breathing.
OSR: What do you hope people take from your music in general?
The Butterfly Graveyard: I’m going to change that around and hopefully the music will take the people to a more gentle, safe place and help them to transcend the madness below.
OSR: If you could change anything about ‘Falling’, what would it be and why?
The Butterfly Graveyard: I wouldn’t change anything about ‘Falling’, but maybe I would write a sequel and find out what happened to Sophia D after all these years.
OSR: If you were introducing a new listener to The Butterfly Graveyard, which of your songs would you recommend and why that particular track?
The Butterfly Graveyard: I’d probably recommend the track ‘I’m lost, when I can’t see the stars in the city’. It’s an urban lullaby about a guy wandering around the city late at night, when all the clubs and pubs are closed, you can’t find a taxi, and it’s a long walk home. People seem to connect to it, I suppose we’ve all been that soldier.
OSR: Do you have any advice for new musicians?
The Butterfly Graveyard: Keep playing the Lotto and remember to always play music for fun, even when things aren’t easy, it will keep you coming back to the reason you started playing in the first place.
OSR: What can we expect from The Butterfly Graveyard in the future? Any tours or upcoming releases?
The Butterfly Graveyard: The Butterfly Graveyard are writing new material and will do some live shows over the next few months. People say the music has a very cinematic quality. I always say we are writing music for movies that haven’t been made yet.
OSR: Do you have a message for our readers?
The Butterfly Graveyard: Keep on rocking in the free world, because there is less and less of it every day.
Many thanks to The Butterfly Graveyard for speaking with us. Find out more about The Butterfly Graveyard on his Spotify.
