Cork musician Eoin French (Talos) remembered by brother as 'incredibly inspiring' and unique individual

Speaking to Claire Byrne on RTÉ Radio 1 on Thursday, his brother Brían spoke about his family’s decision to collaborate with the Irish Cancer Society ahead of Daffodil Day on Friday, using French’s song We Didn’t Know We Were Ready as a way to remember Eoin and to raise awareness of the supports available to people with cancer and their families.

In the interview on Today with Claire Byrne, French spoke highly about his brother and his impact on the music world, on those who knew him, and the legacy he has left behind.

French spoke about his brother Eoin’s inspiring work and how he was always improving and perfecting his craft by learning a new instrument or a new software programme.

“I really admired his curiosity and his craft towards his work. It was just always incredibly inspiring that he’d always be learning a new instrument or a new software programme, always pushing and picking to almost turn his imagination into reality. So that was incredibly inspiring,” he said.

Acknowledging the difficulty of grief, French described it as an overwhelming amount of emotions, including sadness, anger, and existential questions.

He spoke highly of Eoin’s friends, who he said became extended family after his death, helping them through the grief.

He also spoke about Eoin’s acceptance of his diagnosis, how he remained positive throughout his illness and how he even helped the people around him to navigate their grief.

“There was such a sense of presence, a kind of wisdom and a kind of understanding and actually a positivity that he took the diagnosis, but also took with him throughout that whole journey, post diagnosis, to the point where he actually taught all of us how to process it,” French said.

“I remember being in his house, and his friends would come over, and the friends would have the intention of helping him deal with it, and within five minutes of being with the friends, he was helping them.

“Then, by the time they'd leave, we'd have a bit of a laugh about how he was actually kind of consoling them or helping them kind of navigate it. So I think all of us definitely learned a ton about life through Eoin’s experience.”

 French went on to speak about the “complete shock” of his brother’s diagnosis and spoke about his interest in sports and fitness, future plans, and his move to Belfast.

“It was a complete shock for all of us, I think, yeah… he was visiting me in London late October, having dinner, perfect health, loads of plans, future albums, moved to Belfast, and then, unfortunately, in early November, with the diagnosis, you know.” 

When asked why his family wanted to collaborate with the Irish Cancer Society with the song We Didn’t Know We Were Ready, which is seen as a celebration of Eoin’s work, he said: “Eoin is a unique individual, but a unique case where there's his life to celebrate, but there's also his art to celebrate, and the folks and the people who worked on the song We Didn’t Know We Were Ready felt that that song could be a celebration of Eoin’s work, but also an opportunity to support a great cause like the Cancer Society, but also support, actually, people who might be going through it as well, you know? So, yeah, it felt like something he would be proud of.” 

The song came to prominence following an emotional performance of the song's on the Tommy Tiernan Show back in January.

The song, written by French, Ye Vagabonds, Ólafur Arnalds, and Niamh Regan, was performed live by Jófrídur Ákadóttir, Kate Ellis, Sandrayati Fay, Steph French, Dermot Kennedy, Louise Leahy, Memorial, The Staves, Ye Vagabonds and Christ Van Der Ven, accompanied by a visual backdrop of the late musician.

Speaking about the emotional impact of the performance, French said: “Myself and my fiancé flew back from spending time in Ireland, arrived straight from the flight and turned on the show, in an empty, dark London apartment. [It was] just an incredibly poignant, incredibly intense, beautiful four or five minutes. And, as you know, the Tommy Tiernan show closes with silence, so we were left just hanging with that emotion and it brought it all back. And there was just an outpour of messages from friends and families about how much that experience affected them as well.” 

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Director of Clinical Affairs at the Irish Cancer Society Amy Nolan said: “It is a lovely way to remember Eoin and to really, you know, consider his legacy here, I think that's really important - and through that artistic vent, which is just beautiful.” 

Nolan asked people to share the song as a way to raise awareness of the services available to people through the Irish Cancer Society.

“Our services are hugely in demand now. There's been a 20% increase in our services across our transport, across our Daffodil centers, which are around nationally, 13 different hospitals to our support line also.

“So there's a huge demand there for our services and counseling also. So, by doing this, we will be able to hopefully raise our target for Daffodil day. Our target is €6 million, but overall, the Irish Cancer Society to run as effectively as we are running, and also to increase our support, we need to raise €30 million annually to achieve that.

“We want to be there for every patient who is diagnosed with cancer but also for their family members because, as Brían has just outlined, and friends, the impact of a cancer diagnosis in a family or their surrounding community is huge, and The Irish Cancer Society is there for those people through our support line and and lots of other ways. So we really want to tell people that there this morning.” 

French spoke about how the experience of losing his brother to a short illness has changed him, how it made him question how he spends his time and reminded him to make more time to do the things he loves in life.

“I will live a different life because of it. All your values completely recalibrate,” he said.