'We tried Portlaoise' - Ed Sheeran gave Laois consideration when writing hit song

Ed Sheeran popped up at the Fleadh in Wexford a couple of week's ago much to the delight of fans of the A-Team and Dancing in the Dark singer.

One of the biggest popstars in the world, Sheeran has always been very vocal about his Grá for Ireland and gigging here, revealing Vicar Street is his favourite place to play in Ireland.

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The 2 Johnnies sat down with the Grammy award winner recently to talk about his planned relocation to Ireland, his "couple of pubs" in his house, and how his hit Galway girl could have been named something else entirely.

"I love being here, it's my first Fleadh as well, I never even came to one as a kid," he said. "I constantly want to be doing new things, rather than the same thing over and over, I want to be doing things for the first time as a 34 year-old."

Sheeran's family are originally from Gorey, county Wexford but are spread all over Ireland with some in Cork, Dublin and Galway. 

Keen to get in, Johnny B asks, "On Galway Girl...you were aware there is another song by the same name?"

"Yea," Ed replied, "have you not seen the footage of me writing it? 

"We tried Sligo girl, Derry girl, we tried Portlaoise girl".

The two Johnnies crack up laughing saying "Portlaoise girl would have never taken off."

"At the time I was in a wedding band", Johnny B adds, "and wedding DJ's were having heart attacks, they kept playing the wrong version."

"I start with the Steve Earl version when I play it and then go into my version...you kind of get a double whammy," said Sheeran.

"That song is polarising anyway...people either love it or hate it, there's no one in the middle, but it brings a lot of joy.

"What I love about it aswell," Sheeran continues, "I meet kids now that have got into trad from listening to that song, so it is kind of a gateway into much more wonderful music to discover."

"It was massive here in Ireland...how did it go down in the UK," asks Jonny Smacks.

"Yea...pretty big in the UK," says Sheeran, "It's pretty much everywhere that song kind of worked...it's just a happy upbeat song."

"It's hard to be in a bad mood listening to that," said Johnny B.

"I think there would be some people in a bad mood listening to that," Sheeran laughs.

The conversation steers towards what music Sheeran is listening to now to which he replies that he has quite a healthy mix of new and old but that he is really enjoying the music from Irish folk band album along with the hugely popular Moncrieff.

He also adds that he was, at the time, travelling around with up and coming Irish musician Aaron Rowe who's a Dublin native.

Shheran tells the two Jonnies that he loves gigging around the whole of Ireland, rather thank just sticking to Dublin, and his love for music has grown whilst watching new and emerging talent in pubs over the last few years.

"I lost touch with the excitement of it, and just from gigging in pubs again I sort of found new artists coming through, like Aaron Rowe who is with me today, Because they're having their moment, and its exciting and fun to watch.

Ed went on to say that reveal that he and his family are on the cusp of moving to the United States, although he jokingly says he might be the only person moving to America.

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"Are you properly leaving?" asks Johnny B

"Yea," said Sheeran, "I'm going on tour there for a while so yea, and I have a family so I can't really dip in and out so we're going and settling." 

Bringing the conversation on to something completely different that seems more up the two Johnnies alley, Johnny Smacks says, "we heard you have a pub in your house in the UK."

"I've actually got a couple now and I built one in the studio as well...just in case", said Sheeran.

"Do you keep it tapped up, ready to rock?", asks Johnny B.

"It's always tapped up and ready to rock", replied Sheeran, "you never know when someone is going to come round".

"That is class," said Johnny Smacks with a huge grin n his face, " I love that. Even on a Tuesday, there's a chance that you might break out on a session with Ed Sheeran.

"It happens and it can really get away as well," laughs Sheeran.

"I think its nice. People always look at stuff like that and my lifestyle and think it's a bit weird, but I think, to go out and really let loose with camera phones around, you cant really do that anymore, so having a place where you can have a few pints and a dance and sing, and get a bit silly, and you don't have to worry about it being on TikTok the next morning."

"Did you also build a church" asked Johnny B.

"Yea, I built a chapel in my garden," Sheeran replied, "Again, same thing, I had a few people in my life pass away, some of whom were cremated. so there's no place to visit them. so it was half of that and half of wanting to go and remember people and again, not being filmed in a private, emotional moment.

"My security guard also got married there. it's a really nice space and we do Christmas carols there at Christmas and Easter. it's a nice family place."

"Are you a qualified celebrant?", asks Johnny Smacks.

"I did get the thing on the internet that I had to sign up for", Sheeran laughs, "It's not like properly ordained, but I'm allowed to host a ceremony. To have a legal ceremony in my chapel, I have to make it public for at least a year, and I don't want to do that.

Speaking about past performances from Sheeran, Johnny Smacks said Ed's performance in the 3arena back in 2013 was the first gig he attended with his now wife.

Ed said he remembers it well, but that he had lost his voice for a time, adding that he always lost his voice when he came to Ireland because he got too excited 

"I would go out until 7 in the morning, smoking cigarettes," Sheeran laughed.

Do you find it hard to keep yourself right when your gigging?", asked Johnny B

"Now not so much", said Sheeran, "I've got two young kids. I'm pretty healthy now, I'm not really drinking at the moment or smoking, I'm pretty much in a routine . I cant do that anymore."

"Surely now you can be like, I'm not doing the dishes, I'm Ed Sheeran," said Johnny B, asking the important questions.

"That doesn't really fly," replies Sheeran, "I don' t think you wanna be in a marriage like that...if you are a well known popstar I think you need someone to ground you or you'll just turn into a maniac.

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"I think that's key from where I grew up, if you lived in LA, your ego is allowed there. I got famous when I was a teenager, that just compounds for like 15 years, and then you start doing weird stuff, it's just allowed, and then that gets weirder and weirder.

Ed is also a patron of the London Irish Arts Centre along with being the founder of a foundation that supports music education in the UK.

"I set up the foundation because back in 2017, my old music and art teacher came to my house and asked if I could start giving them money for the school because the government had cut funding for music, art and drama, down to £700 between the three of them, and comparatively, maths was getting £20,000, nothing was being given to the arts," Sheeran explained.

"So I started doing that and I saw a really big uptick in kids from my old school going on to university and playing music, becoming session musicians, abnd getting more creative like becoming composers for stuff.

"I started doing that for all the schools in my county, paying for music lessons and instruments, and then we brought it nationwide.

"Ireland's soft power n the world is culture. You go around the world and it's Irish singers, Irish movies, Irish art. Those are the things that people talk about and are proud of.

"In Britain, it's the same but the Government are actively defunding it. You have a lot of amazing things within Ireland that fund the arts or movies or music videos. The UK are actively defunding it to the point where music isn't even a subject in school anymore, so it's a lot harder to get it up and running again. They are essentially eradicating the arts within UK schools. it baffles me."

For one of their last questions for ED, the two lads asked,

"What advice would you have for someone starting out?"

"Don't be afraid to fail or be embarrassed", Sheeran replied.

"All of my friends laughed at me starting out because dreams like that can be silly, they are not part of the conveyor belt of life, but you have to fail to learn how to succeed, and if you write a bad song you can write another, bad gigs become good things.

"I have learned so much from failure and nothing from success. whenever people say I'm lucky, I say luck is when preparation meets opportunity."