tomteriffic Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 If you don't hear from me after March 18th, here's why. The more sharp-witted among you may notice that that's the day after St. Patrick's Day. I'm by no stretch an Irish/Celtic/whatever musician. I've backed up a few folks on their St. Paddy's Day marathons, but beyond that, I typically leave St. Patrick's Day gigs to the professionals. Many of whom, in this area, are friends and family. However, we were contacted, via some of our friends and fans, by a place that wanted a band on the 17th. They'd had Irish bands in the past, some of the big local weights on the blanket before, but those guys were beyond the budget now. The name of the place? The Irish Club . (eeek!) Now, my bassist and I have been playing together for about 25 years, off and on. We have our fair share of "gig from hell" stories. A couple of the worst involved being utterly and completely wrong for the room, despite assurances that we were exactly what the management wanted. The all-time worst involved the line: "Y'all can't be much of a band if you don't do no George Jones". To which I replied "Yeah, but we showed up, on time even, and we're sober". That went over a ton... We went over and cased the joint last night and got repeated assurances that we'd do fine. Nonetheless, this scene keeps running through my head: Or This: We're going to throw a couple of Irish things together in a pitiful attempt at keeping the wolves at bay but I'm not very hopeful. And then there's the matter of promoting this as a St. Paddy's Day alternative when a lot of our musical friends and family are doing proper Irish gigs around town. I'd like to retain these folks as friends and all. Assuming we get out alive. There are a couple of other inauspicious factors as well.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hamerhead Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 Wear green.And duck. A lot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael_B Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael_B Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HAMERMAN Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbNlMtqrYS0 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmatthes Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 I bartended at an Irish bar in a beach resort town many years ago. We had year-round, weekly bookings for the traditional East Coast circuit (Vermont to Florida, mostly) acts, with a concentration of NY and Philly-based performers. Many were "legit", as in came to this country directly from Dublin to make their way as Irish/Folk musicians in the '60s-'80s, and all were excellent entertainers. The most popular band - the one that would pack the place past the smoke eater units - was a rock cover band that learned 4-5 traditional Irish songs and maybe 2-3 U2 numbers. The only reason they did that was to shut up the handful of cranky old regulars who shouted out "Play some damned Irish music!" at the beginning of the set. The owner liked them, because while the Irish bands brought in good crowds, they tended to be older, non-drinkers who would nurse an Irish Coffee or a Guinness or two tops and then leave by 10pm. The cover band brought in more people, a wider mix of ages, tons of women, and the crowds all stayed and drank (A LOT) all night long. The Irish bands also charged a lot more, since they were well established and went through a large booking agency. Get the word out early to your non-performing friends and if you can stack the deck with some fun-loving people, the bar/club owner will love you for it. Hell, bill it as an "Amateur Night" alternative! The most important thing to do is to have a blast up there and drop an Irish (or Irish sounding) song in the mix every now and then. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tres Aardvarks Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 Harhar!! Can't tell you how many of my Irish American friends consider these guys to be Irish There's always this list! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willie G. Moseley Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 If you have any stage props be sure they're the right dimensions (RE: Stonehenge in This is Spinal Tap). Small wonder David St. Hubbins is now portraying a character with, er, electromagnetic hypersensitivity in Better Call Saul.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geoff_hartwell Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 I play Irish music quite a lot (playing with the McLean Ave Band at West Point tonight, in fact) and there are a few standards that are simple and will keep the 'Irish' quotient up. I would avoid Irish Rover unless you already know it, its got a TON of lyrics, and it moves fast - you dont want to be reading those off an iPad... On the other hand, these are your bread and butter: - The Wild Rover - slow, simple, and has a clapping chorus - "And it's No, Nay, Never - clap,clap,clap,clap - No, Nay, Never, No More...etc" - Dirty Old Town - Galway Girl (By Steve Earle) - Caledonia (By Dougie MacLean) - Fields of Athenry - Van Morrison (Brown Eyed Girl, Moondance, Into The Mystic) ALSO... - 500 Miles (The Proclaimers) - U2 - Go with "All I want it is you" and "One" unless you've got someone with the pipes for "With or Without You" etc And Irish crowds LOVE american roots like - Wagon Wheel - every irish gig ever, goes over huge. - Country Roads (John Denver) - Folsom Prison Remember, Irish music is Country Music from another country. With these dozen or so, you're way ahead of the game. Slainte, GH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
velorush Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 We finish up our Florida vacation each year with a trip to McGuire's (Destin - we've been eating seafood all week and McGuire's menu includes all manner of non-seafood items, but I digress). Last year they seated us in an area next to a performing Irish guitarist / singer. Most of the songs seemed to be rather simple, musically. I think I'd go with CMatthes' post, learn five or six quick Irish songs and the rest will take care of itself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomteriffic Posted February 26, 2015 Author Share Posted February 26, 2015 "Irish Rover" is on the "learn it" list since we halfway know it already. And it's hard to go wrong with Whiskey in the Jar.Oh, Wild Rover is on there too, Most Esteemed Redhead likes it.Oooh! Van Morrison! Bingo! Even if a couple of them are on the "You never have to play this EVER again, no matter how nicely they ask or how much they pay you" list. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tbonesullivan Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 Come on Eileen and anything U2. That's all Irish, right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomteriffic Posted February 26, 2015 Author Share Posted February 26, 2015 "Wagon Wheel" is on our "You never have to play this EVER again, no matter how nicely they ask or how much they pay you" list. We've never actually started it, but we've played it to death with most of our musical friends. However, when your life is on the line.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tbonesullivan Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 also... NO DANNY BOY. It's the free bird of Irish places. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LefThanDed Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 Family favorite (a toe tapping little ditty from the lads in The Mudmen)Drink And Fighthttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2d5a9qVgEgU Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmatthes Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 "Danny Boy" and "The Unicorn Song" are NOT Irish songs, no matter what the A-hole drunk in the crowd insists. "Danny Boy" was a Tin Pan Alley composition, and although "The Unicorn Song" was popularized by the Irish Rovers 40+ years ago, they don't qualify, and will piss off the purists if you insist on playing them. I think that would be akin to insisting that Kid Rock is a Country & Western artist. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toadroller Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 The Commitments were Irish... covering American Soul. Still: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deadringer Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 Gotta do some Thin Lizzy, boys are back in town. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomteriffic Posted February 26, 2015 Author Share Posted February 26, 2015 Chris, that might make it interesting. As closely as I can tell, many of the members are no more Irish than I am a turnip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nathan of Brainfertilizer Fame Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 That's really cool!Congrats! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deadringer Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 You could always do a version of Zombie by The Cranberries. The whole song is Em, C, G, F#. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crunchee Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 Here's KROQ's list of Irish bands, though they left out Thin Lizzy and kept The Cranberries when it shoulda been the other way around, IMO: http://kroq.cbslocal.com/2012/03/16/top-10-irish-rock-bands-and-their-greatest-hits/ Nearly every live version of this song that I've seen on YooToob has a huge swarm of women coming up on stage from the audience, so be warned: What could possibly go wrong? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MCChris Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 You could always do a version of Zombie by The Cranberries. The whole song is Em, C, G, F#. Please don't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmatthes Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 "Hose of Blues"... I love it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willie G. Moseley Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 I'd think that material by Shane McGowan would be out on accounta you've probably still got all your teeth...at least, the ones where it counts...(Edited to add: I'd never heard, of even heard of "Kiss me, I'm ****-faced", but not only did I laugh at the title, I looked up the lyrics, and ended up ROTFLMAF. Brilliant!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.