Edinburgh's original open mic night

Hannah O'Reilly

in her own words

Describe your first OOTB

I had only been in Scotland for about a week or so. I played at the very end of the night and was no doubt a bit rough! I ended up becoming an OOTB junkie for a good 6 months after that.

Which OOTB performers really rock your boat?

William Douglas always amazes me, so much talent, so much wit... plus he's an awesomely interesting guy to talk to too.

What do you think is your best song and why?

Strange Friend... I don't quite know how it came about, but it just works - there's drama and there's delicacy... The mysterious crow in my dream was such a fascinating creature I just had to write about him. Craziness.

What's the best OOTB performance you've seen?

The G with his wah pedal and extra musicians... he's so cool to watch in action.

Your favourite song(s) of all time ?

'Book of the Month' & 'Sex(I'm A)'- by Lovage (Music to make love to your old lady by - Jennifer Charles & Mikey Patton)... 'Strange Fruit' - Nina Simone... and 'Round Here' by Counting Crows.

The consumer question: album, book or film you've enjoyed recently?

I loved Dave MacGruers new CD... awesome listening... wonderful layers and so much energy.

Who do you fancy at OOTB?

The Yamaha keyboard they've got... I borrowed it and it made me happy.

Who would be in your fantasy band?

Neneh Cherry on backing vox, Keith Moon on drums, My boyfriend Ben on guitar, some phat 1930's double bass player... and... Nina Simone on keys...

at OOTB

(December 2003)
Hannah O'Reilly has made many friends at OOTB since her arrival from NZ, her spacey, haunting style exemplified by "Shallow Streets", the picked style moving to great slabs of chord, Hannah singing the aching line "All I want is to walk you home with me". Accompanied on both numbers by Dave on guitar, the second was penned by him too, and used Hannah's perfectly controlled vocal very well, Dave joining her on the BV, "I can't watch you walk away/Without love in my mind". Spectral, tinged with a blue flame perhaps, but quite lovely.

(July 2004)
Compere for the evening, Hannah O'Reilly stood tall at the side of the stage for ceiling damage limitation purposes. Her first song was a duet apparently, although she sang both parts, and beautifully too. "We Burn" was, surprisingly, not about a small river, but, in fact the smouldering passion between two people "both stuck in places we don't want to be." The chunky chord sequence led to a simply haunting chorus line. This was Hannah' s only new song as she explained she'd been sleeping more than writing recently. Next was "Like Audrey" - a paean to the delectable Audrey Hepburn. I've heard this a few times now and it really grows on you, demonstrating Hannah's vocal range, from soothing to rasping, and another evocative chorus. "Strange Friend" - the one about a crow watching her grow old is also a stunning song with marvelous lyrics - "Girl, you're more fucked up than deep." Strong, confident performance which even made her fingers bleed. Rock 'n Roll - phew.