No One Escpaes The Grim Reaper

It’s been an action packed fortnight here at HP central, but one that ended in terrible sadness. How could we have known setting out on the task of putting this latest of Hot Press together – an Election Special as it happens – that by the close of play we would be mourning the demise of one of the founding fathers of Irish rock music, Gary Moore.

Over the years, we have rattled off the names of the pioneers, the lynchpins who blazed a trail and made it possible for Irish rockers to believe that they might battle their way onto the frontline internationally. Rory Gallagher, Van Morrison and Thin Lizzy – or as often as not we’d namecheck Philip Lynott – sprang most readily to mind. The Boomtown Rats followed, along with The Undertones, Stiff Little Fingers and, inevitably, U2. Looking down that list, it’s clear that Gary Moore didn’t always get the credit he deserved, for in truth he was a great player, a virtuoso musician who made a huge impression on everyone who witnessed him in action, even from his earliest appearances on a Dublin stage in 1968 or ‘69. And he was operating in the big league ever since then.
Still, when we looked in the archives, we found that there were interviews that did the man justice. During the ‘80s Paul O’Mahony spoke to Gary for Hot Press and it was a fine, frank and illuminating encounter. And in the ‘90s, Liam Fay went further in a lengthy 4,500 word piece that offered a remarkable insight into what Gary Moore thought about music, about Lizzy, about Ireland, and about the blues – among other topics. We had not ignored or downplayed him. That was gratifying to know.
Hot Press was first with the news that Gary had died. In many ways it was a heavy burden to carry: there is an awful sense that illuminates the moment, of just how irretrievable things are when someone has died. It is as if, in pressing the button to go live with the story on hotpress.com you are confirming that what you do not want to believe really is true: he is gone. But there was no holding back, no running away from the shocking finality of it. Gary Moore is no longer with us.
A community of musicians, of fans and of friends – people who knew ‘Garo’ over the years – went into deep shock on Sunday, as the word spread. That’s the way they will feel for some time to come: in grief to different degrees depending on how well they knew the man and his music. The soaring melodic guitar lines of ‘Parisienne Walkways’, and other great Gary Moore records, will ring out on radio stations over the coming weeks and months, of course, and his spirit will linger in their diamantine resonance and aftermath. But the dream is over for Gary. No more those keening notes will grace a concert space except by way of homage. Ah well. No one escapes the grim reaper. Our time will come too, my friends...
The fact that we were in the process of excavating elements of the past in different ways recently added to the feeling of dislocation. In preparation for the forthcoming Philip Lynott Exhibition in Dublin, we had been looking, the day before he died, at vintage images of Gary, alongside Philip Lynott in the original line-up of Skid Row. And then in Thin Lizzy. Gary had a Zelig-like role in the Lizzy scheme of things appearing again and again in different incarnations while never really being fully part of the band. Well, we’ll be showing all of these and more in Stephen’s Green Shopping Centre in the coming weeks. The show will, we believe, offer an extraordinary window into the past – into an amazing world of early Irish rock that we should hold onto dearly. The big wheel keeps on turning and the warriors bite the dust.
We had been looking back too in the context of the 800th issue of Hot Press, published a fortnight ago – and also in the build-up to the documentary, superbly shot by John O’Donnell and Newgrange Pictures for RTÉ television, which was aired last week in the Art Lives series. The reaction to all of this delving into the past was enormously positive and supportive, with hundreds of messages pouring in to everyone here at the office. A big thanks to all of those good people who took the time and trouble. It is really appreciated.
And so to our Election Special. It could prove to be a watershed moment in Irish political history. Fianna Fáil are on the ropes and even the appointment of a new party leader in Micheál Martin is unlikely to stem the tide against them. How bad will the retribution be for their gross mismanagement of the Irish economy over the past fifteen years or more? It remains to be seen. But that they are in disarray is certain. We have interviews in this issue with representatives of every other political party, and of key independents. But Fianna Fáil failed to get it together to nominate someone to speak to Hot Press. It is a sad indictment of a party that once stood proudly at the apex of Irish political life. No more...
The message going to the polls is this: make sure to get out and vote. Exercise your democratic rights. Seats can be won and lost by the narrowest margins. Your vote might make all the difference. Now turn to page 63, see what Michael D. Higgins has to say and enjoy the full 16 pages of interviews.
Oh, and enjoy election night. It could be a long one...

Election Special: Turn to page 63. See also
Frontlines, page 84.