#32: LIMERICK

Of course, Limerick s biggest success story (after Dennis Allen s execrable eighties tribute, Limerick You re A Lady ) has to be The Cranberries. Dolores & Co. hardly need the good tidings of The Great Record to put a spark in their wheels, but Limerick is justly proud of her phenomenally successful exports. From their early antics as headliners in local Larks In The Park to their near-brushes with superstardom overkill, the city s always waved the Cranberry flag high and proud. These days, Dolores O Riordan seems more interested in the joys of rural Limerick life (having forsaken the tour buses of the Dingle Peninsula) than the excesses of long-distance touring. More recent commercial returns hint at a public tiring of the band s songwriting, but diehard fans see it only as a welcome release. Lower record sales might just equal more intimate gigs.
The eighties were most definitely Limerick s decade. Live bands jostled for position, gigs were more plentiful and Tuesday Blue emerged as the Great White Hope of the Treaty City. Fronted by Dave Cleary, (now musical director for Michael Flatley), with Tom Jones, the infamous Ray Fean (now with Coolfin) and Ralph Lindheim on bass, this was a band who planned to go places. They lasted 7 years in all, from 1983 to 1990. In that time they got signed, released one album, Shibumi, and toured the US and Russia (among other destinations). Ralph Lindheim is sanguine about it all now:
It seems like another lifetime, he says, quietly. We worked hard, and of course getting signed was a real high point, but it just didn t take off in the way we would ve liked. Sure, we played some great gigs, like the Moscow Kosmos for 10 nights! and a circus arena in Kursk! Then we recorded a single with Adam Clayton in Windmill Lane, and we thought we were away!
Lindheim recalls a Limerick vastly different to the city he now lives in.
Back in the eighties a guy called Brendan Murray used to book gigs for the Savoy Complex, which was the main live venue in the city, he recalls. There were gigs there every weekend, with loads of visiting bands who wouldn t otherwise have ever played locally. There were local bands like The Groove and Average Contents. But Brendan died tragically, and when he died, the local live music scene seemed to die with him. Nobody else was prepared to take the risk of promoting music locally. And so we ended up with virtually no live music after that.
These days, tribute mania reigns, according to Shane Foley of The Limerick Leader. There are few original bands, and fewer still venues. But amid the drought, Sutras provide the main glimmer of hope for the future, according to Foley.
Sutras cite influences as diverse as Radiohead, Queen and the late, great Engine Alley. They put their relatively smooth transition from local hopefuls to real time pretenders down not only to having a catalogue of strong songs and a reputation as an exciting live band.
Chris Hargreaves, Sutras manager, pinpoints an additional factor:
Sutras have an understanding of the business end of promoting and selling themselves. With me working with them before they even played live, Sutras set their stall out as a band with a plan and it has reaped impressive returns.
Highlights during their thirteen-month history to date have included competition wins, a demo CD and media pack distribution and airplay of their demo track Stumbling Down on, amongst others, Gerry Ryan s 2FM radio show. They played at several festivals where they have already been booked to perform again this year and they performed at the recent Musicunsigned.com Temple Bar Music Centre Showcase alongside Juliet Turner. As a result of that showcase, Sutras have been invited by Musicunsigned to headline a London showcase later in the year. They are also currently in the process of organising a London and UK tour in September.
Another of Limerick s best-known bunch of chancers are the unapologetically flamboyant Hitchers. Renowned for cycling right up to the stage at their gigs, The Hitchers knew how to sell their message instinctively, and according to Shane Foley, they can still do it with aplomb. Even a brief peek at their lyrics is enough to whet the appetite:
Yeah they said she d tasty legs but I don t rate them/and I should know cos I just barbecued and ate them/I stewed her innards, I stewed her innards/and served to my houseguests for their dinner ( Liver ) or: In twenty years will you still grin at us/when suicide seems nice due to the tinnitus ( Popstars ). Niall Quinn, The Hitchers drummer tells their story well:
The Hitchers started way back in the fog (1989 to be exact) when Hoss (on bass) and I decided it wasn t enough any more to sing along with Smiths, Prince and Sigue Sigue Sputnik records we wanted to play along with them as well. A hard saved #80 got Hoss a second hand Morris Bass that you could write a physics thesis about, while I got a brand spanking new Striker drum set that you could set up in a telephone box and walk around comfortably.
1997 brought the release of the band s debut album It s All Fun And Games Till Someone Loses An Eye, which got rave reviews. Their second single You can only love someone/Strachan was nominated for Heineken/hotpress Single of the Year and also turned up at No 20 in BBC guru John Peel s Festive 50.
Recently, the band have been preparing the video for their upcoming single, the distinctly Hannibal Lecteresque She Broke My Heart So I Ate Her Liver . The Hitchers website address is http://listen.to/thehitchers.
Escapade are another local band who ve been sending ripples across the waters of late, though their current location remains a mystery to us here in the Great Record.
Tree House Diner released a fine CD, First Sign, but The Great Record has since found, eh, no sign. Likewise, rumour has it that The Radars are a force locally, but nobody s heard tell of them in a while.
In the gone but not forgotten department, there s Xeric Studios, a place that was home to almost every guitar and banjo in Munster for a time. As well as being a recording facility, Xeric provided essential affordable rehearsal space in the city at a time when it was almost unheard of to get out of the garage. Pearse Gilmore, Xeric s owner, recently left the banks of the Shannon for the headier confines of Spain.
Dolan s Warehouse hosts live music on a regular basis, but unfortunately it s ploughing almost a lone furrow these days, with few alternatives for any up and coming original band to gig in.
Limerick city has a thriving underground punk scene that s been fuelled largely by a heavy presence on the Internet. Barberskum and Streetcrab are just two punk outfits whose attitudes are as hard-edged as their music.
Frank Ryan (a decidedly un-punk god moniker, it has to be said) is Barberskum s frontman, and he s determined to get the band heard well beyond the confines of the county.
We want people to enjoy the gig, not go home with ears filled with pain, he offers. We ve only been together about a year at this stage but from very early on, we practiced our 6-song set once and played a support gig to another Limerick band, Medic, in a small and sweaty club. We sang off-key, made lots of fuck-ups, but most importantly we had fun...and I think the punters did too. Barberskum s music can be heard on their website: www.geocities.com/barberskum2000
Streetcrab s musical influences range from The Manic Street Preachers and Irish bands such as Kerbdog and the Frames, to Greenday and Metallica. Their own musical style is hard to describe, according to Crabbette, Rod Smith, but would probably fit into the indie/rock genre, sometimes light and melodic, sometimes fast and energetic.
Since 1999, the band have had a gig recorded for television and radio, produced a music video and recorded a five-song demo. They ve just recorded a new 5 track Demo/EP on C.D, which is about to be released. Streetcrab s website is: www.mp3.com/streetcrab
The band is steadily progressing up the MP3 charts and appear on several MP3 radio stations.
Traditional music is another one of Limerick s thriving secrets. Both city and countywide there s a plethora of fine musicians spanning the generations, and keeping a firm grasp on the indigenous West Limerick style.
Tuath are a singing group who ve melded classical and trad arrangements with aplomb. With no less than five O Briain siblings in the line-up, they re ably carrying a torch that s been passed down through three generations in both Limerick and Clare.
Their recent debut, Reels And Rondo includes both traditional instrumental sets, vocal harmonies and a range of songs from ballads to more formal arrangements. Tuath are a band unafraid of pushing the outside of the envelope and it shows particularly in their blend of poetry, percussion and dance rhythms.
Elsewhere, traditional music is so sewn up in the fabric of local life that musician and music are inextricably interwoven. Diarmuid O Brien is a fine exponent of the West Limerick style of fiddle playing and an indispensable resource when it comes to tracing the history of the music on the Limerick/Kerry border.
Martin Mulvihill would have been a huge influence on me and on a lot of other local musicians, he avers. He was from Ballygoughlin near Glin, and he learned all his fiddle playing from his mother, Bridget Flynn. Then he moved to England and later America where he travelled all over, teaching.
Mulvihill s influence has been well recorded by one of his most famous pupils, Eileen Ivers.
Diarmuid O Brien describes the West Limerick style as having strong rhythm with lift . Although he acknowledges that it might claim some kinship with the better-known Sliabh Luachra style, locals claim it to have more lift. This strength of character is particularly impressive given the geographical boundaries: with Sliabh Luachra on one side and Clare on the other, West Limerick would have been forgiven for succumbing to a dilutant effect from its more public neighbours. But such sell-outs are anathema to anyone well versed in the bowing styles of the west of the county.
James O Brien, Diarmuid s father is an avid musical historian and a man with a genuine love for the music.
I think the greatest thing about this music is that there are no barriers there, he offers. Anyone from 8 to 84 years of age can find themselves playing together in a session. It s a very welcoming kind of music.
O Brien has been a pivotal player in the establishment of Ceol Cor Brus, a very fine traditional music centre in Glin. Still awaiting an official opening, James is hopeful that Glin will see the establishment of a Martin Mulvihill memorial weekend before too long.
Donal Murphy is probably Limerick s busiest jobbing musician these days. As one of the three members of Sliabh Notes (along with Matt Cranitch and Tommy O Sullivan), he s taken the music and made it his own, moulding and shaping it between the creases of his beloved accordion.
There need be no worry about the future of the music either. With arts centres promised for Abbeyfeale, Tournafulla and Mountcollins, musicians and punters will have the luxury of a choice of venues. Add to that the burgeoning number of local festivals, (Abbeyfeale s Fleadh by the Feale May bank holiday, Mountcollins Festival in July, as well as a weekend festival in Cappaghmore), and anyone chancing to stop a while in the county will be spoilt for choice of great music.
Mick Hanly is probably Limerick s most successful folk/country artist. The success of his best-known song, Past The Point Of Rescue , has given him the leeway to take a step back from the whole business, and these days Hanly can choose his gigs and his recordings more carefully. Mind you, recent reports of one of his gigs suggest that Hanly is still reassuringly a rock n roll animal, with an appetite that s a long way from sated.
Micheal S Suilleabhain s World Music Centre in the University of Limerick is a stunning example of the melding of entrepreneurial spirit and academic excellence. With a rake of undergraduate and post-graduate courses on offer, as well as a thriving solo career as composer and pianist, S Suilleabhain s modus vivendi evidently doesn t include the notion of letting the grass grow under his feet.
One of his latest projects has involved the establishment of a Masters Degree in Community Music, the course director of which is one Phil Mullen, a Louth man long used to creative cross-referencing. Mullen also teaches at Goldsmith s College in London and in the Liverpool Institute for the Performing Arts (LIPA), founded by Paul McCartney.
Phil Mullen explains the genesis of this degree in Community Music :
The course is aimed at variety of people, he explains, musicians, youth and care workers, teachers. This year our students were mostly musicians: orchestral, jazz, trad, classroom teachers. We even had a student who plays in wedding bands, singer/songwriters.
One of the most notable features of the course is its openness to participants from a range of different backgrounds. With an emphasis on lifelong learning, Mullen doesn t get too hung up on prior academic experience.
Not all our students have previous Arts degrees, he notes. We place a lot of store on prior life experiences. Ultimately it s about working with people in different contexts: youth clubs, schools, hospitals, prisons; helping non-musicians to participate in music in whatever way possible.
A similarly catholic taste pervades the Limerick jazz scene which is thriving, at least in the city. John Daly, one of the founder members of the Limerick Jazz Society, and drummer with the Limerick Jazz Quartet tells it like it is:
Our jazz season runs from September to April every year, he says, and each year we hear a range of international artists as well as Irish players of the calibre of Louis Stewart. I would say that Limerick is now seen as one of the hotspots for jazz nationally.
Recent visitors include: Ronnie Cuber, an American baritone sax player, Brad Mehldau (whom Limerick claims to have introduced to the country) and Spike Robinson. As well as a quartet and jazz club, Limerick boasts a Big Band who converge sporadically, when the mood takes them. Local jazz aficionados are spoilt by the plethora of fine local musicians too. These include: Ray Fitzgerald and Joe Callaghan (guitar), Joe Mulcahy (bass), Nuala Mulcahy (singer) and Brian Meehan (sax).
With sincere thanks to Diarmuid and James O Brien of Glin for their extensive help in the research of this article. Their generosity in sharing local knowledge was limitless, despite the fact that only a tiny portion of their stories could be included in this piece.

Well, we re almost there. Footsore we may be, but we ve still got one county to traipse around and that s Dublin. Why not gather round for the final, rousing shindig?
If you have a tale to tell, contact Siobhan Long NOW at: [email protected] or via the Hot Press HQ: 01 6795 077. And remember, the party s only as good as you decide to make it!