Nealo has never been afraid to make the big leap.
There’ve been two in recent times, one of which brings him to the New York stage on March 12.
The musician once played in a hard-core punk band, but now he’s gaining prominence as a hip-hop artist.
The other transition made that switch of genres easier. The Dubliner was on track for a legal career, but decided to give up the suit and tie, the office and the daily 9-to-5 grind to concentrate on his dog-walking business.
Neal Keating found the law interesting but not interesting enough. He was missing the music, and walking dogs frees up some mental space: he can write when in his car or in the Phoenix Park, where he takes his charges.
“It’s a nice place to be every day,” he said.
He described changing musical course as a “pretty seamless transition.”
If it was a little like Bob Dylan giving up acoustic folk for the electric guitar in 1965, in Nealo’s case those who don’t approve have mostly opted to stay silent; and those who do have been fulsome in their praise.
“I haven’t had that many negative comments,” he said, “I’ve had a few, but considering what I’m doing, I’ve been very lucky. Maybe because I’m not trying to be something that I’m not.”
Nealo believes that he’s regarded as “authentic” in that he is telling his own stories.
One milestone was being noticed by the influential music blog Nialler9, which was very enthusiastic about his initial demo tape.
“I expected just my friends to listen to it,” he recalled. “He picked it up and other music publications starting asking me for interviews.
“It was encouraging when I started off in a new genre to be met straight away met with a nice reception.”
An Irish Times profile in fall of 2020 said, “Within hip-hop, of which he has long been a fan, Nealo veered towards the style that best suited his personality – slender soul, laidback jazz, hushed beats. And the narratives that would form the spine of the songs? As he approached his mid-30s, he knew he’d have more than enough to write about.”
A follow-up review in the Times of the album “All the Leaves Are Falling” commented, “Nealo wins by tapping into the disillusionment he shares with so many peers. This is not posturing but rather hard-lived reality. It can’t be faked. In the presence of Nealo, indignation has rarely sounded so sweet.”
Nealo, the four-star (out of five) review said, “takes us all the way back to childhood, shuffling through his life saga, and where the odyssey has brought him.”
“It’s about growing up and predominantly about loss,” the hip-hop artist told the Echo. “The loss of adolescence, loss of childhood, loss of relationships, loss of a job.
“I had a friend that I was very close to who took his own life,” Nealo said.
The odyssey has had moments of hope and adventure, too. It took him to Vancouver, an experience that has been integrated into the stories told in his music. He’d been working in an insurance office in 2008 when the opportunity for a one-year visa came up.
“I loved it,” he remembered.
It was before the mass influx of younger Irish who’ve made it a popular destination for visa-holders in recent times.
“I hung around Canadians most of the time,” he said, adding that he was focused on the hard-core music scene when not working.
Back home, Neal Keating resumed a music career that had begun in adolescence playing in bands with friends from his own road in Clonsilla in west Dublin. Eventually, he helped form Frustration, a hard-core outfit that toured Europe and the U.S.
It proved hard to pay the rent in Dublin, though, and the band broke up over time, with some members going to London, others to Berlin.
With a degree under his belt and an additional Masters in Law from Maynooth University, he pursued his studies with a view to being a solicitor. “I definitely did enjoy it, but I realized that it wasn’t for me. I didn’t like the road I was going down,” he said. “I was doing it more for other people, what I thought other people wanted me to do, like society, my parents.”
If it’s forced, he argued, it can “lead to unhappiness down the line.”
Now with the dog-walking as his main job, he’s his own boss, keeps fit and has time for his son, who is almost 3. “He’s definitely a big part of my life,” said Nealo.
But the music “sideline” is coming more to the forefront.
He is finishing his 2nd album, which he wrote over the two years of the pandemic.
“I’m very happy with it,” Nealo said. “It’s a massive step up for me. I feel like I wrote the first album when I was just learning hip-hop music. It’s really nice being better at the art and also to apply that to the songs. I feel like I have a collection of songs that’s very special.
“I’m excited to put it out,” he added, reporting that he has a deal with a distribution agency in England.
But first, New York. “I’m delighted that Terence [Mulligan] has given me that opportunity,” Nealo said. “It’s an amazing thrill to get in the door.”
Tickets at craicfest.com.
