Mood(y) music with David Hopkins

Brenda Ernst

Irish singer/songwriter David Hopkins recently relocated to Vegas.

By April Corbin (contact)

Tuesday, March 9, 2010 | 12:29 p.m.

David Hopkins isn't happy.

Not with tonight's performance at the House of Blues courtyard. Not with his newest CD, There are Debts. Not with anything, really.

"I could write 'Imagine' and hate it," Hopkins says of the celebrated John Lennon song. "I'd think, 'Too emotional.'"

Hopkins is harsh on himself, sure, but he is not entirely wrong about his Thursday night performance. The crowd isn't exactly engaged, and the subtleties of the melodies are lost amid crowd and casino chatter. When he asks the audience if they know of his fellow Irishman Damien Rice, who is featured on the title track of Hopkins' CD, nobody responds, and the songwriter appears resigned to play. "Could you just stop and listen for one song?" Hopkins interrupts his own song to ask the audience a while later. "We'd all be happier. Or I would be."

The performance is noticeably broody, but it almost works for the recent transplant, whose music is full of emotion. Maybe his upcoming Neon Reverb performance, Friday at Thunderbird Lounge with Twin Tigers and Mother McKenzie, will better suit the songwriter, who plays both piano and acoustic guitar.

Hopkins has lived in and out of Vegas for years, but made a more permanent relocation here three months ago. "It was the only place I could afford a house," he jokes, "It's either here or, like, Afghanistan."

Hopkins finds himself in Vegas via Ireland. He's between management, though his lawyer is Vegas-tied Killer's manager Robert Reynolds, which also influenced the move. He recently did an industry showcase in New York City — which included Hopkins jumping off stage onto a heckler who had called him names — but says he's terrible at following up with people. For now he's just going with the flow.

"I used to worry a lot about my career, but now I don't really (care)," Hopkins says. "If I have to clean the floors to play music on the side, that's fine."

— Originally published on LasVegasWeekly.com