When Johnny met Rory

Horslips are one of the main headline acts appearing at this year’s annual Rory Gallagher Tribute Festival, which takes place in Ballyshannon, Co Donegal over the June Bank Holiday Weekend. Others include The Mick Taylor Band (ex-Rolling Stones), Dr. Feelgood and the Pat McManus Band and a host of other acts. Horslips’ emergence in the early ‘70s coincided with the rise of Rory Gallagher’s solo career.

“I actually played on the same bill with Rory as far back as 1967 at the Double-O-Six club in Cork,” Fean recalls. “I only have a very hazy memory of it but a friend of mine, Mark Cunningham, who is writing a book about Horslips, reminded me of it recently. I was in a band called Sweet Street at the time, with Joe O’Donnell on fiddle. We were supporting Taste who were just starting out themselves.”
Despite their paths criss-crossing in the 1970s it would be ten years before Fean encountered the great man again, as he recalls.
“Yeah, it was strange in a way that we didn’t meet again for so long, as we were both touring in Europe and America on the same circuit. But we were in Germany around ‘76 or ’77 when Horslips and Rory were both touring at the same time and there were a number of gigs and festivals where we ended up on the same bill. One in particular, I remember very well – it rounded off both our tours and it was in Berlin at the Stadthalle, which is the main auditorium. It was mostly a heavy rock and metal festival which Rory headlined. That was such a great night, absolutely fantastic for us all. The gigs were great and we were all backstage together hanging out before and after our shows. Later on, the two of us, just me and Rory, went out on the town together.”
Rory Gallagher and Johnny Fean painting Berlin red in the mid-‘70s! That must have been a memorable night. “Yeah, it was actually, now that I think about it (laughs). Although there was nothing too wild about it – just having a few beers and a laugh. We basically did a tour of the clubs and pubs of Berlin throughout the night. The funny thing was, disco was becoming really big at the time and everywhere we went was blasting out disco music. Rory wasn’t too happy about that and neither was I but we eventually found one or two places that had blues music playing so we settled there.
“We had a great time and he was a lovely guy, quite shy actually, and I think he probably would have been quite hard to get to know. The blues was the main thing on the agenda when we chatted. My style really comes from the blues even though it went into a number of different directions over the years. Of course Rory was steeped in the blues and was happy to talk all night about his favourite players and all about guitars – he played the famous Fender Strat and I played a Les Paul Junior which I still play so we talked about that. I can’t remember how often we met after that, but that was the one that I can remember clearly.”
So, will Horslips be doing a Rory Gallagher cover or two when they appear at the tribute in Ballyshannon? “I was thinking about it lately. If I was playing on my own I could probably do a Rory song or two no problem but I don’t know about the rest of the guys, so we’ll probably stick to our usual setlist. But you’d never know. It’ll be a great weekend and we’re looking forward to it.”
Meanwhile, the successful Horslips reunion shows no signs of slowing down. Last year, they made their first UK appearances since they broke up in 1980.
“Yeah, we did the Cropredy Festival with Fairport Convention and it was absolutely fantastic,” Fean enthuses. “We were treated like kings, and the reception from the crowd was brilliant, especially since it had been so long since we played in the UK. And we also did the Fleadh in Finsbury Park, in London along with Van Morrison, Thin Lizzy, Paul Brady. You meet people who remember stuff you’ve completely forgotten. We’re doing a few things this year – the big one after the Rory Gallagher Festival is the Westport Music Festival which has a great line-up. Ray Davies is a big influence and a huge hero of mine, so hopefully I’ll get to say ‘hello’ to him.”
Forty years after it was released, Horslips’ seminal debut album, Happy To Meet (Sorry To Part) has just been reissued, with bonus live tracks and with the CD cover designed in the legendary concertina shape. “I think the remaster sounds a lot better than the old version,” he says. “You hear things that you didn’t quite pick up at the time. Funnily enough the bonus tracks were recorded in Berlin in an old cinema where the acoustics were amazing. It’s the last of the reissues, so it completes the story.”
Finally, December will see the publication of a book about Horslips, written by Mark Cunningham, who did the Shamrock Chronicles articles. “It’s unreal the amount of stuff he’s unearthed,” Johnny says, “and I’d quite a good collection of photos going back to the late ‘60s. The launch is going to be in December which is the actual anniversary of Happy To Meet…, which was released just before Christmas in 1972 so it’ll be a nice tie-in.”