Out Of Kilter

According to vocabulary.com, the noun kilter means "balance," or "a state of working well," but you'll only find it in the phrase "out of kilter," meaning "not working right."

I’d like to describe an example about one unusual dynamic of being in an 8 piece band. I was playing at a big sold out festival with the band Kila in Ballyshannon at the weekend. Usually one of us turns up ‘out of kilter’ which is normal and understandable. We have all been going through major life changes, none more so than the three O Snodaigh brothers who sadly lost their mum this week. Ronan, the singer and bodhran player, seemed particularly off colour on the day. Somehow he ended up without accommodation after the show, and had to bide time between 2am and 6am before the first bus back to Dublin and was even moved on by the Gardai for loitering and was effectively homeless for the night. We have a song we played that night called ‘Seo Mo Leaba’ which asks questions of, and celebrates, being able to have a home and the right to have somewhere to sleep. This was one irony. The other was that this also happened to him when we played the last time at the same festival years ago. On that occasion the Gardai also questioned him and when he responded they laughed. He asked them what was so funny. He didn’t realise that he was sitting under a giant poster of himself (as the chosen star of the festival), and when they suddenly recognised him, they relaxed their manner, knowing he was more of a talented maverick than a hobo. That’s the thin line for us musicians and the respect we may or may not get depending on the luck of the draw.