Veteran Galway band and Tuam shams The Saw Doctors play Fairview Park, Dublin on Saturday 29 June. We asked Leo Moran of the band the BIG questions . . .
Following their four sold-out shows at 3Olympia before Christmas and an appearance at Electric Picnic last September, this Dublin show is part of a trio of Summer outdoor shows for the band.
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They're also lined up to play Central Park in New York on 17 July and Manchester Castlefield Bowl in the UIK on 6 July.
After a five-year break from touring, The Saw Doctors staged their comeback last year with sold-out shows in London at Hammersmith Apollo, New York's Hammerstein Ballroom and two homecoming shows in Tuam, where they played to 10,000 people in St. Jarlath’s Arena.
Tell us three things about yourself . . .
I’m fifty-nine years old. I live in the same house I was born in. I’m conscious of being in the second half of the game.
How would you describe your music?
Simple, melodic songs with a West of Ireland accent.
Who are your musical inspirations?
So many songs I’ve ever heard on the radio, the tele or on vinyl, at gigs and sessions. But the real inspiration is from seeing people doing it locally - my grandmother, Mai O’Brien, wrote poetry, plays and sketches. Then Blaze X came along, a punky, melodic explosion of sound and energy - Davy Carton, Padraig Stevens and Paul Cunniffe were doing, in front of my eyes and ears, the equivalent of what I already loved from abroad. I was in a band with my own peers at the time and Cuser and Mousie McHugh were also doing it. It can be done here too! Now that’s inspiration.
What was the first gig you ever went to?
I’d been at The Tuam Herald Pop Poll Concert a couple of times before I was a teenager. You’d have the country acts like Philomena Begley and showband acts like The Memories. My mother brought my brother, John and me to them. My first rock concert was momentous - The Boomtown Rats in Leisureland, Salthill on New Year’s Eve 1977. Cuser and Mousie’s father, Jimmy McHugh, bravely brought us to see the notorious troublemakers along with Squiggley, the older brother of the family. We were all 12, 13, 14. That was it. Seed sown.
What was the first record you ever bought?
I can’t be sure. It’s between Abba’s Greatest Hits, The Bay City Rollers’ Rollin’ or The First Cut Is The Deepest by Rod Stewart, with I Don’t Want To Talk About It on the B-side.
What’s your favourite song right now?
That Summer Feeling by Jonathan Richman.
Favourite lyric of all time?
"If I could clear my head and get in the right frame of mind - the next one, no matter how bad it would be".
If you could only listen to one song for the rest of your life, what would it be?
God no. The silent one by John Cage, 4’33.
Where can people find your music/more information?
The usual, for better or worse - Spotify and other platforms, Facebook, cover bands, the radio the odd time, oul’ tapes, Irish bar playlists, at GAA matches.
Alan Corr
