Hotpress on Tour: Gugai And The Gang

Over the last few years, Galway’s Roisin Dubh has built a solid reputation as the west of Ireland’s premier live venue. Situated on Dominick Street, in the heart of the city’s Latin quarter, the Roisin – which was extensively rebuilt and refurbished in 2006 – used to be known primarily as an Irish folk and trad joint.

However, more recently it’s been playing host to a diverse range of local, national and international acts –with everyone from Duke Special, Damien Dempsey and Republic Of Loose to The Fall, Ocean Colour Scene and the Violent Femmes treading its boards.
Most of the credit for this can be claimed by the venue’s co-owner and entertainments manager, Gugai.
A native of Limerick, Gugai first moved to Galway 12 years ago to study arts at UCG (now NUI Galway).
“But the music thing kind of took over towards the end,” he laughs, “so I have an almost arts degree!”
Having started a successful dance and live music club in the GPO venue, Gugai further neglected his academic studies by dabbling in music promotion and bringing his favourite bands to the city.
“I’d been running shows in Galway for years before getting involved here. I was getting more and more frustrated, having to rent out venues and PAs every time I wanted to run a gig. Doc in the Warwick was very helpful to me, and I also used to run shows with Kevin Healy, who had the GPO at that time.
“I was getting kind of desperate and thinking of taking out the lease on Liquid in Salthill. I needed a place to run myself, rather than putting on one gig every two months. So I went to Kevin for advice, and we sat down for a drink and he told me that it was a terrible idea. He was probably right.
“He suggested that we look into the Roisin, and that’s how it happened. We wound up buying the place. So there’s myself and Kevin, Simon Heaslip, who was Kevin’s former partner in the GPO, and then Greg Healy, who was the GPO’s bar manager as well.”
A huge music fan, Gugai is clearly passionate about his job: “We’ve done some great shows. But from a personal level, I’ve kind of ticked off a lot of my heroes – not in the annoying them sense, mind – we’ve had Dinosaur Jr., we’ve got Sebadoh coming up, we’ve had Bob Mould here, The Fall, Richard Hawley. Violent Femmes played here before we had the renovations. There were only 180 people, so it was the smallest gig they’d ever played.”
The now 280-capacity Roisin also regularly puts on shows by local bands, with Gugai mentioning The Kanyu Tree, Mirakil Whip, Disconnect 4 and So Cow as being among his personal favourites.
Modesty aside, Gugai’s well aware of what’s been achieved at the Roisin: “It used to be that bands played Dublin, Belfast, Cork and Limerick – and if there was a fifth show, Galway tended to get it. But recently there have been gigs that are just Dublin and Galway.”
And with that, he blows on his fingers and laughs...

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