In the late ‘50’s and early ‘60’s, there was a major revolution in music - one that ignited a huge interest from young people of the day in the new sound. Many new groups, both here and in England, emerged playing Skiffle, partially with homemade instruments - a double base made from a tea chest, a broom handle and a length of string!
Then came Bill Haley, Buddy Holly, Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis and the birth of Rock and Roll, followed by The Beatles, The Who, The Rolling Stones and many others bands playing Rock and Roll with a bit of American Blues mixed in. The sound was popular, particularly with teenagers and young adults, and more importantly it was great to dance to.
Ireland was experiencing somewhat of a new awakening and there was an air of confidence in the country. The new music spurned the Showband era, and these bands became really successful and traveled all over the country, playing to huge audiences of anything from 1,000 to 4,000+ in the big ballrooms. New dance halls were springing up throughout Ireland to cater for the popularity and demand. Behind the showbands were smaller groups who filled a niche in the market where Friday, Saturday or Sunday night dances were held in Tennis Clubs, Rugby Clubs, Parish halls and similar venues - many small beat groups formed to meet the demand.
One such group was The Cyclones, who really started during the late 1950’s and played at local parties and some school events in Dublin. They had different names - The Vikings, The 5 K Combo and the Cadets - before settling on the Cyclones. There were a number of guys who came and went before the final numbers were settled. I was one of them.
Dublin was spreading out from the city to the countryside with housing estates being built to fulfil the needs of the time. The members of the Cyclones all came from such new suburbia: Liam Brady, (lead guitar), Al Brady, (rhythm guitar) and Paul Deering (that would be me - drums) were all from Churchtown. Don Byrne, (bass guitar) and Brian Whelan, (vocals and guitar) were from Templeogue and Ray Rothery, (tenor sax) was from Ballyfermot.
As the group developed, we knew we had a great sound and we were popular, and filled the halls and clubs we played in. More importantly, we were re-booked time and again in the same venues. We all had jobs except for Al, who was still in school during the early part of the Cyclones, so we could only play at weekends. The band rehearsed whenever and wherever we could, normally in a member’s house.
We got to the stage that we were getting invitations from some big dance halls in Dublin to play on the same billing as the star attraction, which was normally a well-known group from England. Over the years we played with the Searchers, Brian Poole and the Tremolos, Dave Clarke Five and the Bachelors. However, in order to be able to appear on one of these show we needed to be members of the Irish Federation of Musicians – affectionately known as 'The Fed'. We were a bit apprehensive on the Saturday of our appointment to appear for our acceptance examination in the offices of the Fed, on Parnell Square, because the only one of us that could read music was our sax player, Ray. We decided, therefore, that we would rehearse a number that might appeal to the older generation, of which the two men from the Fed definitely were; Jack Flahive, had his own orchestra, and the other chap was the Secretary General of the Union. We picked on an instrumental version of “Once In A While” and it was brilliant, they loved it and it did the trick and we all got our union cards.
There were times that we got offers to become professional, and hard as it was sometimes, we decided against it, and decided to remain as we were. The fee we got from the booking was about enough to cover our expense of hire of a Bedford Mini Bus and driver to get to and from the venue, and the hire cost of the equipment.
Was it a memorable and fulfilling time for us all, one we will always remember. In 1966 Paul quit playing drums and the very talented and extraordinary Chris Hynes joined the band. After a period the band broke up, but the guys continued to play on and off, sometimes together, sometimes with other groups and sometimes alone. Like everything else, nothing stays the same and the music business was fast-changing and discos were competing for the same booking that used to be a live group. Now deejays were the in thing!
The Cyclones have had a few reunions and they have been a wonderful success, what's more we were able to raise funds for some charities while doing it. Our last reunion was a few years ago, celebrating 50 years since the formation of The Cyclones – they even made a documentary about us! Is there a possibility of doing it all again for our 60th anniversary? Well I don’t see why not - the Man above obviously likes our music and has kept us all alive thus far. The beat goes on!
Night Of The Cyclones screens on RTÉ 1 this Friday, September 16th at 7.30PM.
Written by Paul Deering
