Rock Cornerstones

  From nation to nation there have been unique and gifted bands, singers, songwriters or musicians who have popped up out of the blue, developed their own brand of music peculiar to their own particular nation, time or genre, and who (regardless of fame, fortune or even mass media attention,) have sent wildfires of inspiration burning fiercly throughout their nations and subsequent generations, igniting with a passion the many succesive talents that follow in their wake. These are bands whose influences have engulfed and motivated the talents and musical career choices of the worlds most reknowned international icons, sound engineers and managers. Without them, many bands and household names may have quite simply not have existed. Our first international cornerstone is...

  Try and think of all the names of all the Irish bands, musicians, singers and songwriters you know..... Thin Lizzy, Snow Patrol, Ash, U2, Sinead O'Connor, The Corrs, Rory Gallagher and Taste, Damien Rice, The Cranberries, Samantha Mumba, Bob Geldoff and the Boomtown Rats, Stiff Little Fingers, Westlife, Lerner, Van Morrison, the Nolan Sisters ( huh?) , Dana (oh dear it's getting worse!) the Undertones( thats a bit better)...

  Once you get started the list becomes endless - But for a nation with a population of only three million, this makes the Irish contribution to modern music absolutely astounding once that population ratio is compared to the rest of the world.Yet apart from Van Morrison, Val Doonican and guitar legend Rory Gallagher ( who joint headlined the 1970 Isle Of Wight Rock Festival as 'Taste' opposite Jimi Hendrix - at that time arguably the worlds best two guitarists) - I bet you can't think of any Irish recording artists who made their mark before that main Irish musical boom of the early to mid nineteen seventies. Our 'Cornerstone' kickstarted that entire boom and the entire independant 'home grown and home inspired' Irish recording industry, becoming the foundation stone of a successful ,thriving and highly creative modern Irish music buisness .They are the hidden template that was followed by every artist , label , manager and promotor worth his salt to have come out of Ireland in the last thirty five years.Yet surprisingly and shockingly, an erroneous copyright sale by one of their own employed label managers (occuring shortly after they stopped touring and recording in 1980) robbed the band of all their distribution rights and royalties, leading to a nineteen year legal process to recover the ownership and resale rights of their own work. The nineteen year wait also left them as an almost 'unknown' to the rest of the world as their own original records and even the pirated cd's almost disappeared completely from shops and stores worldwide.

  But what of their music? And what on earth I could write on this one Irish band which could accurately portray the immense inspirational snowballing effect they have had on not just that decade and the musical landscape of Ireland, but the world? The fact is, I couldn't write enough and... if I revealed the full details behind the birthing of this band, their label and their very own musical genre 'Celtic Rock' (the finest blending of progressive rock entertwined with a complex array of Irish traditional instrumentation, airs and reels to make a rich Irish musical cream liquere...) during what was an almost non existant Irish Music industry and ... if I then tracked the immense, astounding musical domino and inspirational snowbaling effect they caused that has touched and inspired every Irish ( and many non Irish) band and music fan since... or how, when no-one else dared , even after it almost cost them their lives, they played Ulster at the height of the troubles - their gigs becoming one of the only places where youths from both sides could be found in the same room in scenes reminiscent of the 1914 Christmas Day celebrations of the Western Front (minus the football match)... well then I will have to forget all about this tiny article because I will be spending the next five years writing a book.

  But just to drop in a few more clues to their identity let me tell you a just few more 'short' stories....

  1 The bands very first planned live concert made them a household name in Eire and Ulster when it was banned by a Parish Priest who took offense over the use of the words 'Affro-Dizziac' in a poster by the bands electric fiddle and mandolin player to advertise the gig. The term was actualy used as a pun about strobe lights.The drummer, who trained as a journalist, engineered a nationwide media press storm over the incident which led, in turn, to them headlining a sellout concert at (what was then) Dublins only major music venue... and to their debut album completely selling out of it's initial batch of thirty six thousand copies in under two weeks, once released in 1972.

  2 When the bands manager Michael Deeney set about brokering deals for the American releases of the bands albums he drove a particlarly hard bargain thus making him a prime model and example for company dealings to complement our advice in 'Bits for Bands'. He would never compromise the bands creativity on anything, earning deals which once publicized within the industry drove other managers and icons of the time (especialy Mick Jagger ) green with envy.

  3 The original copies of the first album are now collectors items and completely unique -it's sleeve is in the hexagonal shape of a concertina, perforated to give the design a more 3D effect with rare pages of iconic 70's photos and art work inside. The entire project - including the hiring out and transporting to Ireland of the Rolling Stones 24 track mobile studio (the first ever 24 track in Eire) it's sound crew, the renting of a Tipperary farmhouse for two weeks to record it in and the funding for the factories to press and distribute it - was all done, designed and paid for by the band themselves out of their own pockets. Because of the lack of suitable recording facilities in Eire at the time they became their own recording company -often calling on the services of the Stones mobile as well as using the now famous Windmill lane studios in Dublin and other UK studios for mixing and recording. They financed all of their albums themselves and played over two hundred gigs a year every year -yet despite being Irelands main headlining act throughout the seventies they considered no gig to ever be too small and actively sought out the remote rural dancehalls to bring their music within reach of every fans doorstep.

  4 At the start of the seventies Irish rock concerts were so rare that fans would travel for miles just to get a glimpse of a real rock band and our cornerstone was not only the nations best but the most accessable. By the middle of the decade they had set the whole country alight with new bands starting up every week - all inspired to do so almost solely by the example they set - a tradition which has continued to this day.

  5 The bands bass guitarist was being persistently begged by a young fan ( Bono) towards the end of the seventies, for a slot in their recording studio.'Our bassist's' usual response was "Are you sure you want to do this Paul ?, You're a bright lad and punk is pretty much dead". But the begging continued and a date was set to record U2s first professional demo. Unfortunately for drummer Larry Mullen, after just three songs his dad turned up to drag him home saying Larry had to go to bed early as he had school the next day!

  6 U2's (and manager Paul McGuiness) buisness, touring, and recording campaign plan was an exact carbon copy of our cornerstones ( this is the plan which took our band to within a hairs breadth of conquering America themselves just seven years before U2 finaly 'made it' in the States). In fact, the very song which earned U2 a Golden Globe and nearly won them an Oscar entitled 'The Hands That Built America' was, by Bono's own admission, a rip off of their mentors 1978 single (and album) - 'The Man Who Built America' -which they first heard played to them by our bassist in that very first demo session... and even the new U2 website looks surprisingly similar to the original 1978 album cover. Another famous song to almost identicaly mirror one of Irelands Cornerstones is Dire Straits 'Tunnel of Love' from their 'Making Movies' album.The tune and lyrics may have been slightly altered enough to shake the copyright infringement but the fairground love theme and organ intro expose it as an identical copy inpired by the 1971 original 'Hall of Mirrors'.

  7 Remember the Thin Lizzy lyric 'Tell me the stories of bold Cu Chulainn' ?... well this was actualy a tribute to our Cornerstone whose concept albums had actualy made ancient Irish history cool, surprisingly interesting, inspiring and exciting in their intricate 1973 concept album masterpiece telling the intrigues of a war between the clans of Ulster and Connaught in 500bc - Cu Chulainn is the worlds first and original 'Die Hard' hero who single handedly took on the armies of Connaught in an intricately woven 'real' plot which far outstrips any modern or ancient 'blockbuster'. Their love affair with the roots of Irish history, music, and their deep understanding of the migrant mindset which became prevailant throughout the decade ( out of all of my own Irish cousins who have since come of age less than ten have remained in Ireland without trying to emigrate at least once, the rest - too numerous to count - are now spread throughout the globe in Spain, America, Sardinia, Australia, Canada, England and even Russia ... and that's just one generation!) led to a succession of highly acclaimed and themed tours and albums on the subject.

  8 Their works altered and enlivened Irish cultural thinking - when they first started out they were the scourge of traditional musicians (who would critisise a quaker for playing a reel or jig as being innappropriately dressed, little realising themselves that the tunes were originaly written by sixteenth and seventeenth century pipers and fiddlers who far more than likely penned and played them in the nip!) and of the I.C.A (Irish Countrywomens Association- Irelands version of Mary Whitehouse and social censorship - only much more frightening if you got on their bad side) -but by the end of the decade even their harshest critics were singing their praises and dancing along to their special blend of Irish music and hard Rock. And for those born into those migrant families in the States, England, Australia and beyond this band became the one solid, contemporary and tangeable link back to their roots, national identity and heritage. For many being dragged through the educational bush backwards in foreign fields their music (long before the internet and affordable international calls) was their one link to home and sanity in what were often culture-less societies. Their value to Irish people everywhere -even to third and fourth generations of Irish descent the world over - is unsurpassable and far outshines the billions of dollars earned by all of Irelands supergroups and stars scince.

  9 They are the key that unlocked the doors to Irelands talent and they are Eamon Carr, Barry Devlin, Jim Lockheart, Charles O'Connor and Johnny Fean - Five individuals of equaly highly gifted musical ability whose combined complex musical and creative talents and abilities have yet to be matched or rivaled by anyone. Collectively they are known as ' Horslips' but to the Irish and any real musician they are known as musical geniuses and genuine heroes of rock... thankfully, they are heroes who didn't have to die to become one.

  10 Since regaining their rights at the turn of the century and reuniting at a special exhibition in honour of the band put on by fans in Derry, the band has again been able to put their own CD'S back in the shops AND add a few new ones to their collection -which now includes a highly prized 'unplugged' acoustic version of many of their original rock anthems entitled 'Rollback' and a feature length double DVD chronicling their career, the birthing of rock'n'roll in Ireland and 19 rare live tracks recorded at many of their sellout tours from the decade making 'The Return Of The Dancehall Sweathearts' an absolute 'must have' for anyone with even the slightest interest in the history of rock or pop. New plans in the pipeline include a CD upgrade of the original Debut album 'Happy to Meet, Sorry to Part' which will be in the worlds first hexagonol CD case and follow Charles O'Connors original iconic designs and photographs - so if you were one of the many who missed out on a copy of that first album in 1972 then your long wait may soon be over. For more info and sounds

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