INTERVIEW: Bressie on bringing his live podcast show to Castlebar, and more

Singer, presenter and mental-health advocate Niall ‘Bressie’ Breslin has just announced that he is bringing his ‘Where is My Mind?’ podcast to Castlebar’s TF Royal Theatre this October for a live show. Great news for his many podcast fans in Mayo, and particularly for anyone who might have missed his live podcast show in Westport last November.
Since it started in 2019, ‘Where is My Mind?’ has won numerous awards, including Best Interview Podcast at the 2023 Irish Podcast Awards. The podcast centres around mindfulness, a mental-health tool that the ex-Blizzards frontman strongly advocates. Speaking to The Mayo News last week, he opened up about this and more.
“I had enough of pretending that everything was all right all the time, and in my own case, I went through a particularly difficult period. About 13 years ago, I decided to address what I had gone through.
“I just had enough. That was it really. I wanted to see what I could do. At the time I was on [RTÉ One’s] The Voice, and I had a bit of a platform to talk about it,” Niall explained.
Bressie does not just have a passion has for the topic of mental health, he has knowledge too. He has numerous academic qualifications, including an MSc in mindfulness-based intervention, and he is currently undertaking a PhD at Trinity College, Dublin.
“I had all this information, and I find some of it a bit inaccessible for people. The mind is a… it’s a scary place, but there’s so much we can understand, and I wanted to bring that knowledge, and translate the stuff that I was learning into something that was digestible for anybody, no matter what they did in life, and that’s where the podcast started, and it kind of just grew out from there,” said Niall.

Wider than wellness
‘Where Is My Mind?’ has been hugely successful and garnered much admiration, but the host doesn’t think about that when creating new episodes.
“I think, honestly, with this type of stuff, the more raw you keep it, the more human you keep it, the more it connects to people. I don’t have a clue what people are dealing with, and I don’t pretend to have this all figured out. I certainly don’t, because in my own life, I’m dealing with this every day.
“The other thing that’s really important to point out is, I think wellness has been largely quite positive, but also, it seems it has said that it’s completely up to us to be well and stress-free, it never really talks about how chaotic and crazy the world has become, and maybe if we’re all feeling a little overwhelmed by it, that’s probably a healthy response to the chaos we’re surrounded by,” he added, referring to the the ‘wellness’ movement that has grown and spread throughout society.
Mental health isn’t the only topic covered in the podcast; Breslin is never afraid to chime in on what some may see as controversial topics. In a recent episode called ‘Impermanence’, he talks about the ongoing troubles in the Middle East.
“I don’t feel a responsibility to speak out because I have a platform, I feel a responsibility because I’m a human being. Children are being murdered, that’s what I feel responsible for,” he said, going on to explain how living in Israel as a child made him acutely aware of what’s at play.
“My dad was in the army. I lived there when I was 13. He was in the United Nations. From the age of 13, I had a quite [deep] understanding of the Middle East and how complicated it is.
“There’s nothing complicated about the murder of children. There’s no excuse, there’s no explanation, and I understand some people don’t want to talk about it. I think it has broken everybody’s heart, and it is the first war where we had front row seats to see every aspect of it. What really has been upsetting is, you know, you’ve podcasters in America that are theorising and intellectualising the death of children, and it’s not good enough.”
His views on the subject have impacted his podcast, but he’s quick to say that he couldn’t care less.
“I am very proud of Ireland, you know. Irish people have been very vocal. I can only represent myself – and you know, it does have consequences. I’ve lost podcast sponsors, but it’s absolutely insignificant considering what’s going on – it’s such an insignificant consequence to me, I don’t even think about it.”

Expect the unexpected
The run of shows this October is far from Bressie’s first time on the road. Still, although he’s used to touring, it hasn’t always been easy.
“I went through a period where I was struggling with performing at all. I lost interest, and I lost the love for it, and performing has always been the thing I’ve enjoyed the most of my career. This has kind of reignited it for me again,” he said.
Speaking about his experience with live podcasting, the Westmeath man said: “It’s a very different experience for people. People probably have a thing in their head of what the show is going to be like, and every single person that comes to the shows tells us the same thing: it’s not what I thought it was going to be.
“They expect it to be heavy and intense, it’s not. It’s music, it’s humorous, it’s a funny look at the state of my mind. It’s very accessible and the one thing that most people say when they leave the show is they feel lighter, they feel like they’ve taken a deep breath, and that’s what I’m trying to achieve.”
With live podcasting becoming ‘competitive’, Breslin said, ‘you have to put on a show’.
“I tell my life story through different pieces of music that I would have composed or played. I don’t take myself massively seriously at times, but then there are deeply emotional moments.”
Looking ahead to the upcoming podcast tour, he said audiences can expect ‘everything they don’t think they’re going to expect’.
“It’s an enjoyable show. I’ve had 14 year olds at the show, I’ve had 90 year olds, and they all got the same thing from us, they felt like they were in a sitting room with me – and I’m pretty proud of that, because that’s what I tried to create.”
He’s also delighted to be bringing the podcast to Castlebar this time around. “I think that the TF is a great venue for it – I played the TF a good few times, so yeah, I’m looking forward to it!”

Tickets (€32.65 each) for ‘Where is My Mind?’ live at the TF Royal Theatre, Castlebar, are on sale now from Ticketmaster.