Dominic Ingle talks about music, boxing, and growing up in Sheffield - “It’s funny how music and boxing intertwine”

He may be more popularly known for his exploits in the world of boxing, namely being the trainer of Kell Brook ahead of his fight against Amir Khan this weekend. But despite a family-legacy that will forever link him to the sport, Dominic Ingle has another passion for which he is not as well known… music.

“I’ve always loved music but obviously boxing has always been there. It’s ingrained in the culture in Sheffield. It’s a hard city but one that’s full of so much talent, be that boxing or music”

Quite often we can be defined by the legacy of our family but Dominic’s other talent, he is once more pursuing… albeit on his own terms.

“Music has always been in the family”

My grandma used to always drag us out in the evening and make us all sing together in front of the fire. Mainly Irish songs, she’d even pull out this songbook and teach us all of these songs. My dad used to get involved as well, he could really sing too, you know. And it was probably the confidence from doing that from a young age that stuck with me.”

“When I was younger, we were in the church choir and when I was around 14 I bought a guitar. I remember it was about a hundred quid and you could pay weekly, I got a paper round to pay it off. After about two or three weeks, I was unsure… it were a lot of money back then. I tried to send it back, but I couldn’t so I had to stick with it.”

Despite his initial difficulties, Dominic stuck with it and as he got older he joined a band.

“I was about 18 when I got a band going with some kids that I knocked around with, just used to practice in the gym and would get together on weekend afternoons trying to put some songs together.

“Eventually we got enough material and we went around pubs in Sheffield, Yorkshire, and up and down the country. I did that for around 10-years in various bands, but in the background I was always writing songs or writing stuff down. Thing is you always put it on the back burner when you’re doing other stuff.”

By ‘other stuff’, it is usually related to boxing.. understandably. When we first spoke, Dominic was just about to head overseas to a training camp with Kell Brook ahead of his fight with Amir Khan, which takes place this weekend. Boxing has always taken priority over his music, but he doesn’t want it to just be a pastime, he’d like to do more.

“One or two years back, I managed to put a song together and bumped into a guy who used to work at a music shop where I used to go often. And I said ‘listen to this demo’, he said he liked it and that he knew someone who was a producer.”

“Recording my own song was just something I wanted to do and if it does alright then that it satisfies that urge.”

Back in 2020 the son of the Sheffield boxing legend Brendan Ingle and highly-regarded trainer in his own right released his first song, Fast Car Eddie, donating the proceeds of the single to the Brendan Ingle Foundation — named after his father who passed away at 77 in 2018.

As far as Fast Car Eddie goes it was a solid debut and his follow-up Sophie Brings The Sunshine is even better. His musical influences are immediately clear, both tonally and in the construction of the song. You could say it’s almost anthemic in its delivery, a sing-along-song waiting to be discovered.

“Part of that was written 27-years ago. The first verse was actually a poem that I wrote and then I kind of discovered it years later, so I thought I’ll try and make a song out of that. Put some more verses together, well… there you go. Stitched together from way back in the past.”

His last two songs were created with help from local artist and producer, Zee Krayski and the drummer Steve O’Brian. It was a partnership that worked so well for Dominic that he is working on more material with them as the opportunity arises.

“My dad always used to say that sport and music has the power to bring people together.”

Is there much of a crossover between the boxing and music in your regular day-to-day?

“I like being in the gym because you meet all sorts of folks. Def Leppard’s Rick Allen came down years ago and we talked quite a bit about music. Danny O’Donoghue from The Script came down when he was in Sheffield, and he said ‘I’m in the area, is it alright if I come and do a training session? Then we went along to the gig. From then he invited me down to his studio, it’s called Metropolis and I went down to check out the setup there. I even met a few different artists and when you’re in that studio it’s a bit of an eye-opener”

“Gary Jarman from The Cribs came down too, he’s a big boxing fan. It’s quite interesting, you see these musicians that aren’t particularly violent types but they like to get rid of that aggression by hitting the pads or the bags. It’s funny how music and boxing intertwine”

Dominic makes the connection between the precision required in music, relating it to the methodical practice of perfecting the technique when hitting the pads.

So, what’s next for the mercurial musician and boxing trainer Dominic Ingle?

“I’m working on a new single at the moment, which I’m hoping to release either before or around the time of the fight.”

Having given an early version of the song a listen, if you’re into Oasis, Stereophonics or even The Script I’m sure you’ll like it.

You can take a listen to Dominic’s music on his SoundCloud here: https://soundcloud.com/dominic-ingle