IT HAS been said that music can be a huge comfort to those who have suffered a personal tragedy.

This is no more evident in the case of one Enniscorthy young man, who has channelled the tragic passing of his father when he was just eleven years old into powerful Hip-Hop lyrics.

Podge Dwyer, who grew up in Moran Park but currently lives in Glenbrien, lost his father Billy ‘Hutchie’ Dwyer in 2002, when he died as part of the horrific spate of suicides in Enniscorthy that year.

Podge, now 22, chose to deal with his pain by composing raw, frank, no-holds-barred music about how the traumatic death affected him.

He explains to The Echo: “A month after Dad died, I can remember getting a tenner off my Granny in John’s Street and walking down to Music Net to buy a CD. I knew nothing about music, especially not Hip-Hop but, there was a CD on the €10 rack that caught my attention, simply because of the cover.

“It was ‘Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)’. I went home and put it on and I didn’t know what to think of it at first (it’s brash to say the least) but, then I got to a track called ‘Can It Be All So Simple’…suddenly it all made sense and I’ve been hooked on Hip-Hop ever since. I became a nerd of the culture and have been ever since.”

Podge says it never crossed his mind to become an MC or make rap music, but one day a friend rapped a verse which he wasn’t impressed with and was met with the response: “You try to do better” – the rest is history.

For full story, see this week’s Echo.

‘Demons II’ is on YouTube and a free mix tape is on the way. Podge will perform in Benedicts nightclub on January 31 in aid of St. Senan’s Austic Unit.