His outspoken nature will come as no surprise to those who watch him weekly on The Voice of Ireland, but former ‘Blizzards’ frontman turned solo artist Bressie has take to his website to speak out about the closure of HMV and illegal downloading.

The reality TV judge, (who was narrowly beaten to the title of Ireland’s Hottest Man by Her.ie readers BTW), today posted a mammoth blog on his personal website.

In it, he deemed the news that high street retailer HMV has gone into administration as “very sad but not surprising”.

Though many have claimed that HMV is simply the latest victim of the recession, Bressie is not so sure. The ‘Breaking My Fall’ singer said: “Finding a scapegoat in this mindf*ck may be a tough call but is the recession really to blame on this occasion?”

He followed up by saying that the general public have the “clouded perception that anyone getting their music played on radio and selling out venues is making extensive revenue”. 

Before his solo career Bressie was frontman for successful Irish group The Blizzards

Moving on to the issue of illegal downloading, Bressie said: “I am not going to get into an argument about the morals and my personal opinion on this as I am not entirely sure where I stand on the debate. It’s wrong to do but you can see why people do it.”

“This may sound like a very odd thing to say as a musician and songwriter but I feel there are pros and cons on each side of the debate. I feel a large majority of people who find illegal downloading of creative products is acceptable may be slightly naive and ignorant to what it actually takes to make a record or produce a film etc…The arguments I have heard here have made me laugh and almost cry at times ranging from “well, you love what you do so you should not be paid for it” and “sure you guys are all loaded anyway”. Both are insane arguments.”

The Mullingar man went on to say that his post was not “an argument or self righteous w*nky song writer/musician ranting on about the state of the industry or illegal downloading”.

You can see Bressie’s post in full here.