Guitars Continued

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I wrote in a previous piece about my first guitar. In those days we didn't get our Christmas presents until Christmas morning and I can remember my child like anticipation of this present to end all presents. My Dad had purchased my Egmund Electric guitar from a company called Walkers in Dublin and it appeared like magic on Christmas morning 1963. In my naivety, I didn't realise that in order to reap the full benefit of an electric guitar I would have to have an amplifier so to the delight of my family I was not able to make a big noise straight away. However I accidentally discovered that if I pushed the guitar against my bed frame the sound transmitted to the bedroom's wooden floor and the whole floor acted as one massive soundboard.

In the days following Christmas I practiced day and night until I could play my first song, " Misery" by Lennon and McCartney. It was an aptly named song because I'm sure that was what I inflicted on my friends and family.  Just before New Year's Eve 1963 I was at an afternoon hop in the Rock Hall, Ballyshannon. I think Liam Travers was playing and some of my friends suggested to Liam that I get up and sing. I can still remember the terror and thrill of singing, " Where have all the flowers gone" that Sunday afternoon in the Rock Hall. People actually clapped!

One day coming from school I fell into step with John Hannigan who I had known all through my childhood and was startled to discover that he actually played guitar too.  He was the proud owner of a Connoisseur electric guitar which I had seen hanging in Cecil King's Music Box in Ballyshannon. We hit it off instantly and soon were meeting in each other's houses to play.  John figured a way to plug our guitars into his mother's big old radio set, which became our very first guitar amplifier.

Johnny Ferguson who lived on Market Street had a set of drums and we immediately formed a beat group with Johnny as the main man. Michael Dalton who played piano joined us in Johnny's house for our first rehearsal. What a racket we made. Michael was playing a cordovox (one of the first electronic accordions) lying on its side. Briege Curran (Now Kelly) very kindly loaned her instrument to Michael. Briege played professionally with the Assaroe Ceili Band and the Cordovox was a very expensive piece of equipment. People were so kind in those days.

 After a few rehearsals Johnny's shortcomings as a drummer became obvious and like Pete Best, the Beatles' first drummer, he was unceremoniously given the boot. Johnny went on to subsequently own the Music Box and has since emigrated. Jimmy Rafferty whose uncle Tom Gallagher was a seasoned drummer, replaced Johnny and thus we had the nucleus of our first beat group, which we called "The Soundstorms". I remember Jimmy borrowing £110 from the Credit Union to buy his first set of drums and Donal Hannigan, John's brother, painting the "Soundstorms" logo on the bass drum. Donal went on to be the proprietor of his own painting business. Jimmy Rafferty still plays drums to this day.

Soon, the late Danny Kerrigan joined us as lead vocalist and we played for a year or so at any venue that would let us take the stage. Jimmy Rafferty's family were sacristans in the local St Patrick's Church. I remember on one occasion we borrowed the church public address system to play in the Abbey Ballroom. Of course we overloaded it and blew the speakers. Father Young sounded very distorted for weeks after that and I don't think anyone ever knew why. I hope this piece doesn't result in me getting a bill for the repair of one Church PA system.

There were several other groups in the area at the time.  "The Erratics" played Rhythm and Blues and featured David Murphy on rhythm guitar, Micheál Travers on lead guitar, the late Eamonn Travers on bass and Jimmy Melly on drums. Niall McBride was an occasional member. It was through the Erratics that I first heard the music of people like Muddy Waters, Lightnin' Hopkins and Sonny Boy Williamson. They were much older than us and tended to look down their noses at our feeble efforts. Another band called "Federal Aviation" was based in Bundoran and featured Lawrence Loughlin on vocals, Martin Loughlin on guitar, Jimmy Gallagher (now "Thin on top") on bass. I can't recall who the drummer was. Jimmy Gallagher was later to join our group and regularly thumbed a lift the five miles from Bundoran and Ballyshannon with his Bass tucked under his arm and his Bass amp by his side. There's dedication for you.

There was great rivalry between all the groups in the area and we were all taught a lesson in humility in St Patrick's Hall in Bundoran when all three groups came together in a three band session in the spring of 1965. A certain ginger headed singer guitarist was to wipe the stage with us all that night. I can still remember his first song. It was Elvis Presley's "One night with you" sung like I'd never heard it sung before. He played a cream coloured Fender Mustang guitar and, as they used to say then, he could make it talk. That baby faced, bespectacled singer was none other than the great Paul Brady. That night Paul stunned us all into submission when he sang and played every classic rock and blues song known to man and left us all sickened with thoughts of " Back to the drawing board".

We spent many happy hours picking and strumming over the years 1963 until 1966 and, I'm sure, drove the people of the area bonkers as we learned our craft. So many people helped us along in those early years. People like Sean Gallagher, Liam Travers, Tom Gallagher, Donal Hannigan and many more contributed so much to our progress and I am forever grateful for their indulgence. Hopefully I'll get to continue this story in future columns.