-
FIRST REMEMBERED PUBLIC SOLO PERFORMANCE :
SINGING CLIFF RICHARDS " BATCHELOR BOY "
AT THE PIERROTS, NEWCASTLE CO. DOWN.
-
FIRST PRIZE MONEY EVER WON: SINGING
"WHERE HAVE ALL THE FLOWERS GONE" WITH
BROTHER AND FELLOW INSTIGATOR DESI AT A CARNIVAL IN
SOUTH ARMAGH SOMEWHERE IN THE SIXTIES, WE CAME SECOND,
IF WE HAD BEEN LOCAL WE WOULD HAVE WON! I FORGET HOW
MUCH WE WON BUT IT WAS GOOD FUN.
-
FIRST APPEARANCE ON STAGE WITH A GROUP :
AGAIN AT THE PIERROTS, NEWCASTLE SINGING
"TRAINS AND BOATS AND PLANES" WITH AIDAN
MACCRORY (FUTURE GUITARIST AND BARRISTER WITH
"LICK THE TINS") AND FEATURING BERNAGH GREEN’S
VERY OWN DES MURPHY ON DRUMS.
-
FIRST GUITAR BOUGHT : AS
PRESENT BY MUM AND DAD, LAY UNDER THE BED FOR A LONG
TIME (SOME WOULD SAY IT SHOULD HAVE STAYED THERE),
NEIGHBOUR MICK WALLACE TUNED IT AND TAUGHT ME TO PLAY
CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL’S HIT "BAD MOON
RISING".
-
PLAYED A LOT OF LOCAL CHARITY GIGS (NOBODY WOULD PAY
ME ) WITH LOTS OF DIFFERENT LOCAL MUSICIANS (JOHN JOE
TONER, EAMON MC MULLAN, PAT CARTON, MICHAEL MORGAN.)
-
BROTHER DESI INTRODUCED ME TO BRENDAN (DENSI) MURRAY
IN THE HOPE OF PUTTING A GROUP TOGETHER TO PLAY AT A
CONCERT IN ST.MALACHY’S HIGH SCHOOL, CASTLEWELLAN.
WE TRIED DIFFERENT LEAD SINGERS BEFORE DESI GOT THE
JOB ALONG WITH SEAN MCKIBBEN ON BASS, BOBBY DORAN ON
DRUMS, BRENDAN MURRAY AND MYSELF ON RHYTHM AND LEAD
GUITARS. THE "BROKEN KEYS" WERE
BORN.
WE
PRACTICED WITH GEAR BORROWED FROM TEACHER AND MUSICIAN
MICHAEL MC GRADY FOR A WHILE. ON THE DAY OF THE
CONCERT, IT WAS AN AWESOME SIGHT TO OPEN AT 9-30 A.M.
IN FRONT OF A BEMUSED AND PACKED AUDITORIUM IN THE
SCHOOL. FROM MEMORY AND DES WILL PROBABLY
CORRECT ME ON THIS THE PROGRAME WAS AS FOLLOWS
"WHISKEY IN THE JAR" - THIN LIZZY,
"RUBBER BULLETS" - 10 C.C.,
"BLOCKBUSTER" - SWEET (SIREN DONE
BY SEAN), "COME ON FEEL THE NOISE" - SLADE
AND WITH BOBBY’S PIECE DE RESISTANCE THE STRAWBS
- "PART OF THE UNION". AS IS THE WAY
WITH THINGS THE BAND SPLIT AND SOMEWHERE ALONG THE
LINE WE REFORMED WITH GEORGE COONEY REPLACING BOBBY ON
THE DRUMS TO DO A SERIES OF TUESDAY NIGHT DANCES IN
CASTLEWELLAN DOING COVERS OF T.REX, SLADE, SWEET, GARY
GLITTER AND OTHER CHART BANDS FOR NO MONEY BUT GREAT
FUN.
-
AN ILL FATED GIG IN THE STABLES IN CASTLEWELLAN,
REMARKABLE FOR ITS LENGTH AND OUR FINISHING
NUMBER "A FROGGIE WENT A COURTIN' AND HE
DID RIDE AHAH", HASTENED THE END OF THE BROKEN
KEYS.
-
BRENDAN MURRAY AND MYSELF ALONG WITH LOCAL DRUMMER
DERMOT (DEE) MORGAN REHEARSED FOR A WHILE DOING MORE
ROCKY MATERIAL (WISHBONE ASH, HORSLIPS, BEATLES AND
LED ZEPPELIN). THEN DURING REHEARSALS OUR MANAGER PAT
CARTON, INTRODUCED TWO GIRL SINGERS TO THE BAND, JOSIE
AND PATRICIA NEWELL, "PAT ,JO AND THE PIRATES"
WERE BORN . THE BAND PLAYED CONSTANTLY THROUGHOUT A
VERY BUSY YEAR AND IT LOOKED AS IF FULL TIME CAREERS
IN THE MUSIC BUSINESS BECKONED BUT THE BAND IMPLODED
DUE TO "PERSONAL DIFFERENCES"
-
THE NEXT FEW YEARS I SPENT PLAYING IN A NUMBER OF
COVER BANDS CALLED WITH VARYING DEGREES OF
RECOLLECTION - "JUST US", "THE DAVID
ANTHONY BAND", "DODGE",
"MANHATTANS", "MAVERICKS" (NO NOT
THE DANCE THE NIGHT AWAY CROWD), "TELSTARS",
THE TONY AND LEE BAND (OR AS WE WERE CALLED IN BELFAST
"0H F**K NOT THEM AGAIN),
"SILHOUETTES", "BLUE SAVANNAH",
ETC. DURING THIS TIME I PLAYED WITH SOME FINE
MUSICIANS, GUITARISTS EDDIE HODGETT, GARY COONEY, SEAN
POLAND, GERRY POLAND, GERRY HAGGERTY, JIM UPRICHARD,
JOHN ROWE, KEVIN MURRAY AND JIMMIE "WILL YOU TUNE
THAT BLOODY THING" MILLS.
BASSISTS
VINCE POLAND, DENNIS WARD, JIMMY MCCABE AND JOHNNIE
COONEY, SINGERS DAVID MURPHY, BILLIE MC MURRAY, CAREEN
STARKEY AND DRUMMERS JIM POLAND, JOE MORGAN, GEORDIE
COONEY, PETER HUGHES, DAVID LONGLANDS, PHILIP
ROWE, BERNARD CROSKERY AND BROTHER EUGENE.
-
A CHANCE MEETING WITH TWO OF MY BROTHERS BRENDAN AND
EUGENE SAW MY RETURN TO THE MUSIC I HAVE ALWAYS LOVED
- ROCK!!! FORMED FOR TO PLAY A FEW GIGS DURING
NEWCASTLE’S SUMMER FESTIVAL "THE HUNGER",
AS THEY CAME TO BE KNOWN FEATURING BRENDAN AND JIMMIE
MILLS ON LEAD GUITARS, MYSELF ON BASS, EUGENE ON
KEYBOARDS AND DAVE LONGLANDS ON DRUMS, REHEARSED A SET
OF ROCK STANDARDS BUT ALLOWING ROOM FOR INDIVIDUAL
IMPROVISATION AND COMPLETED THE GIGS TO A DEGREE OF
SUCCESS.
DAVID
LEFT AS HE OTHER COMMITMENTS TO ANOTHER BAND. THE FOUR
OF US CONTINUED REHEARSALS WITH EUGENE SWITCHING ONTO
DRUMS. AS THE REHEARSALS CONTINUED IT WAS OBVIOUS
THERE WAS DISCONTENT ABOUT THE WAY THE BAND WAS GOING
FORWARD, WITH SOME IN FAVOUR OF REMAINING A STRICTLY
COVERS BAND AND OTHERS HOPING TO DEVELOP ORIGINAL
MATERIAL. WITH VERY LITTLE WORK COMING IN AND OTHER
COMMITMENTS THE BAND DRIFTED APART.
JIMMIE
AND BRENDAN STAYED IN TOUCH, I WENT BACK TO PLAY WITH
A COVERS BAND AND IT SEEMED AS IF ALL WAS OVER. A CALL
FROM BROTHER DESI ,WHO WAS LEARNING THE KEYBOARDS AND
HAD BEEN WRITING SOME LYRICS REKINDLED THE FIRE. THE
KINDNESS OF JOE MC MAHON IN THE CASTLEMAC HOTEL,
NEWCASTLE - IN ALLOWING US TO USE HIS FUNCTION ROOM
FOR REHEARSAL WAS INSTRUMENTAL IN "ACHILLES
HEEL" BEING FORMED.
WITH
JIMMIE AND BRENDAN RESUMING THEIR DUAL LEAD
PARTNERSHIP, DESI WRITING AND PLAYING KEYBOARDS,
MYSELF ON BASS AND OUR TRUSTY DRUM MACHINE THE WORLD
WAS OUR LOBSTER. THROUGH A FRIEND OF THE BAND, WE CUT
4 TRACKS IN THE STUDIO BELFAST, LORDS OF THE NIGHT,
LOSING SIDE, MONEY MAKES THE WORLD GO ROUND AND
VERTIGO. HAVING CUT OUR TEETH IN THE STUDIO AND GIVEN
THE AMOUNT OF TIME, WITH HOME AND WORK COMMITMENTS, WE
COULD REALISTICALLY SPEND ON REHEARSAL, WE ARRIVED AT
A CONSENSUS THAT LIVE WORK WOULD NOT BE VERY FEASIBLE
BECAUSE OF THE AREA IN WHICH WE ALL LIVED. JIMMIE LEFT
TO PURSUE A CAREER WITH A COVERS BAND. AS A
THREE PIECE "ACHILLES HEEL" PLAYED THREE
GIGS IN THE CASTLEMAC MAINLY AS A FAVOUR TO LOCAL
BIKERS "THE BILGE RATS" WHO WERE ALWAYS VERY
SUPPORTIVE AND CONSTRUCTIVE IN THEIR OPINION OF THE
BAND. WE ALSO PLAYED ONE SUPPORT GIG IN "THE BAY
INN", DUNDRUM.
WITH
THE ADVANCES IN MODERN TECHNOLOGY AND THE PERSISTENCE
OF BROTHERS DESI AND BRENDAN "THE INSTIGATORS"©
AS WE ARE NOW KNOWN GO FROM STRENGTH TO STRENGTH. THE
TOTAL SUPPORT OF MY WIFE PHIL AND TWO SONS ANTHONY AND
LUKE, THE INDULGENCE AND PATIENCE OF MY EVER SUFFERING
SISTER IN LAW EILEEN, THE TECHNICAL INPUT OF MY TWO
GENIUS NEPHEWS BRENDAN AND PETE IS VERY TOUCHING TO
ALLOW A 40 SOMETHING AGING WOULD BE ROCKER TO INDULGE
HIS DAYDREAMS. THE MUSIC AS ALWAYS IS DEDICATED TO
THOSE WHO HELPED ALONG THE WAY.
