The Irish Rovers were my introduction to Irish folk music, and to this day remain among
my very favorites. My very sincere thanks to George Millar for agreeing to be the first
participant in “20 Questions”.
Q. How long did you and Jimmy perform as a duo before you were joined by Joe and Will?
A. Jimmy and I were together about six months, before Joe arrived. As we met him at the airport I told him he was part of a band, as I knew he had a good voice and could play accordion and harmonicA. Since he was staying at our house, he had no choice in the matter. The three of us played folk clubs, legions, schools, banquets, (actually whoever wanted us, and could come up with the $50.) for about a year, before we travelled out to Alberta to see Will.
Q. Did you (the duo) go by “The Irish Rovers”, or did that come later?
A. The Irish Rover was the one song that Jim and I knew together. When I first met him at a Variety concert, he was singing "Lonnie Donnegan" skiffle songs, and I was playing guitar and singing Irish children songs with my sister SandrA. Someone fell ill and they asked Jim and I to fill in for five minutes. We sang the Irish Rover, and got a nice reception. When we started to get invitations to sing again, it was my Mother who suggested the name.
Q. Who were your early influences?
A. The Clancy Bros. and Tommy Makem were the first influence on us. They rekindled the music of Ireland in us, and from there we started to research our own material. Coming from the North of Ireland, there's a distinct Scottish lilt to the songs, so we also researched Scottish songs and that's when we discovered Robin Hall and Jimmy Macgregor. We liked their style and harmonies, and it helped the young Rovers a lot. David Hammond from Belfast also had a few records out and he was a great collector of Northern songs, some of which we used.
Q. What was the Irish Rovers’ first gig in the US, and how did it come about?
A. New Year's Eve 1965, at the Purple Onion in San Francisco. We had driven down from Calgary Alberta the previous November, for an open audition night. They hired us for the first two weeks of January, and we ended up playing there for 22 weeks. Horrible money, but it was an important folk club of the day, and more important, we learned our craft there. The Purple Onion was supported mainly by Bus Tours full of tourists from everywhere. They got to see Lenny Bruce at one club, Carol Doda the queen of the strippers at another, the Smothers Bros. across the street at the Hungry I, and then us for the end of their tour. There was a lot of drunken shouting and fighting going on by that time of the night, and that was us! The audience was even worse. We actually still have people who come up to us and say they saw us at the Purple Onion.
Q. Did you ever relocate to the US, or were you always based in Canada?
A. During those early years, California had a dozen good folk clubs, so we spent about two years there. Will, Jim and I all lived there for about three years after our Unicorn success. We moved up to Canada in the early 70's for the T.V. show, which lasted about twelve years.
Q. What ever happened to the green Irish Rovers’ station wagon with the shamrock on the hood?
A. One night somewhere in Arizona, we blew a tire and scraped along a guard rail for what seemed like a mile or more (probably 60 feet). We limped back to California and sadly traded it in for a Van. It was time for a change anyway, as we were collecting more instruments and “entourage” as we went.
Q. Early on (or later on, for that matter), were there comparisons to the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem?
A. Since the Clancys had recorded such a wide range of Irish material, it was hard to find songs they didn't do. So when we did them, we made sure they were different in arrangement. The fact that we could play traditional jigs and reels also set us apart, but of course there were always comparisons, especially before the Unicorn.
Q. Your first two albums, The First of the Irish Rovers and The Unicorn, are among your best, in my opinion. But in the context of the other songs you were performing at the time—at least on those two albums—“The Unicorn” song does seem a bit out of place; how did your recording it come about?
A. Decca records wanted a product of Irish drinking songs to go against Columbia (Clancys) for St. Patrick's Day, so they heard of us while playing at the Pasadena “Ice House”. They signed us for the one album recorded live there (and I suspect somewhat of a collectors' item) and it sold enough for a follow up album. Bud Dant the producer, asked if we had anything a bit different for the last track of the new album, and we told him about this wee song that we always sing at the clubs, that seems to go over very well. Well, he liked the song but wanted to add a more modern guitar sound to it, so he brought in Glenn Campbell to play the lead. It was Glen's last session because Gentle on My Mind was released a month later…and isn't trivia grand?
Q. How did “The Unicorn” become a hit? Was it released as a single, or is it one of those “a DJ somewhere started playing it” stories?
A. Yes, it was one of those DJ things. John Lannigan an Albuquerque late night DJ, started playing it after midnight one night, and received several calls about it. He continued playing it, and the calls kept coming. We were playing for two months in Vail Colorado at the time and knew nothing about it because Vail in those days didn't allow T.V.'s or radios in town, so more people would visit the establishments. It entered the top forty at spot 39 before we knew of it. Needless to say we love John Lannigan tres much, and still do his radio show when we're in Cleveland.
Q. How did having a “#1 hit” affect the band?
A. It took us from the Folk rooms onto the concert stages of the world. It opened up all the major television shows in America to us, but most important I was able to buy my beloved D-45 six and twelve string Martin guitars, which I still use today. I remember one strange venue in particular. It was an airplane hanger in Boston, and the opening act was Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention. We were next and you can imagine the shock of the audience, when they got a look at us. We actually got ten thousand 18 year olds singing the Black Velvet Band. The Mommas and the Pappas were the headliners. What was the question? Let me just scroll back up and see. Ah, then this answer doesn't make an ounce of sense.
Q. If I have your discography correct, you recorded 4 more albums (in fairly quick succession) for Decca: All Hung Up, Tales to Warm Your Mind, The Life of the Rover and On the Shores of Americay. What is your opinion of these (the Decca) albums?
A. As the Unicorn started to sell, Decca quickly signed us to a five album deal. To say we were "green" about business deals, is quite an under-statement. As it turned out, we ended up with little or no artistic control. If there was ever a world-wide competition for worst album cover since the invention of the long play record, then I would be first in line to nominate (and I'm positive it would take top spot) “All Hung Up”. What the hell were they thinking? (Calm down George, it was thirty years ago) I'm alright now, the twitching has stopped. These albums were done quickly when we had a few days to spare. In those days we were probably travelling about ten months of the year. The most enjoyable of these Decca albums was “Tales”. Good or bad it was mostly the band's input, including the artwork. We spent two or three weeks in the studio putting it together and feeling quite decadent in the “Beatle-like” time and money we spent doing it. “The Life of the Rover”, was a decent album with a less than decent cover, and “Shores” was basically made up of tracks not used on the other ones, to fulfill the contract. Like most young bands, we were experimenting with different instruments and material. Some good songs have come out of these early albums, and some we still do today.
Q. What prompted the switch from Decca to Attic—I assume Attic is/was your own label
A. Decca wanted another five-year deal with the same conditions. We politely told them to get stuffed. Attic Records was owned by a friend of ours who helped promote the Unicorn when he worked for M.C.A.(Decca) We had invested some money in his company to help him get started, and he offered us a good deal to sign with his label, which we accepted. Incidentally, Decca or whatever they are called now (perhaps Universal Music) own outright the first five albums of ours. So every March, they reissue ten tracks with a different cover. So buyer beware! Check the CD information, lest you think it might be our new stuff.
Q. Between the Decca years and the Rovers era you made some great albums: Live, Emigrate, Emigrate, Tall Ships & Salty Dogs, etc. These albums are very hard to find—was there any US distribution?
A. We had much more time to choose material and work on the songs during this period. We had decided by now, to please ourselves and hopefully our fans rather than the "suits" who ran the record business. We were never pressed by Attic Records to produce. They had several deals to distribute their products throughout the world, but I agree they were hard to find. Attic Records has since been sold to a company called Uni-Disc. They will start re-issuing all our Attic Record tracks this year.
Q. What prompted dropping the “Irish” in the band’s name? And then just as abruptly (or so it seemed to me) putting it back?
A. Once again, a record company decision without our input or approval. "Wasn't That A Party" became a hit on the Country and Rock charts mainly because they thought we were a new band out of Nashville. There was also a minor hit with a remake of "Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer", under the same guise. Our style of music was very hard to categorize for radio, so their plan worked in getting us air-play, but it angered a lot of our more staunch Irish fans from New York and Boston etc. You can take the boy out of Ireland, but you can't take …The “Irish” was put back in immediately if not sooner!
Q. I saw you in concert towards the end of this period (the Rovers years) and I remember asking the promoter if you were still doing Irish stuff—and you were. Earlier in this period did you ever stop doing Irish music at your concerts?
A. We did three albums and a Christmas album under the Rovers name although our little mandolin and unicorn logo do appear beside the name. Very few of these songs were ever performed live, as they just didn't fit into our stage shows, which were mainly Irish and Scottish songs. Today our shows are probably more traditional than ever though we can't escape a show without singing the Unicorn and the Party, and we're happy to do them.
Q. Who were among your favorites guests on your TV series?
A. We had some roaring times with the Clancy Bros. and Tommy Makem (after the shows of course). When we filmed in Scotland, we finally were able to meet Robin Hall and Jimmy Macgregor. It was great having them on the show. Lonnie Donnegan did the show several times and he was great and very funny. We got some good jokes from him. Carmel Quinn stole our hearts away, Johnny Cash was a delight and Bobby Darren (his last T.V. performance) was an extremely nice man. All of the guests were unique in their own ways, and I can truthfully say that there wasn't a "prima donna" among them. Wait …. I do remember the time that a bottle of Scotch was put in our dressing room instead of Bushmills, and Jimmy refused to…Ah, it's not worth repeating.
Q. Do you have a favorite album or albums?
A. I can still remember the excitement of our first album recorded live at the "Icehouse". About three hundred friends and relatives of Jimmy's, all from Belfast, were living in Los Angeles at the time and they were part of the audience. They arrived together in some busses and as the doors opened, the beer bottles fell out. We didn't have to encourage them too much to sing along that night. "Tales To Warm Your Mind", as I've mentioned earlier was great fun, but so far of all the albums I'm quite partial to one of our more recent releases, "Come Fill Up Your Glasses". Now having said that there’s a piece of me in all of them so I of course like them all.
Q. The main lineup of the band went virtually unchanged for 30 years, then Will retired, and then, sadly, Jimmy passed away very suddenly. How did this affect the band, its dynamics, etc? Did you at any point consider disbanding?
A. With Will's retirement, it brought a new feeling into the band. Rather than trying to replace one of the original faces with someone like him, we decided to go back to a more traditional sound. We added a great player in Wallace Hood, and a good singer in John Reynolds. We enjoyed our new direction, and more importantly the audiences did as well. When Jimmy died, we did think about ending the Irish Rovers, but we still had a year of contracts to finish. So after a couple of months and numerous calls from lawyers and theatre managers, we went back on the road. We have a legion of die-hard fans across North America, and God bless every one of them! Our philosophy remains, "as long as they keep coming to hear us, we'll keep doing it.”
Q. John and Wallace are both from the North of Ireland, as are all of the most prominent members (past and present). Was this a conscious decision or did it just happen by coincidence?
A. We've known Wallace and John (Wilcil's 2nd. cousin) for over 20 years. Wallace had a band called Pat's People and operated out of Michigan, and we would meet up on our trips through that areA. Wallace plays mandolin, Irish bouzouki, banjo and tin whistle, so he was an obvious choice when we needed someone. John, who also hails from Belfast, had been helping us out for years. His band Emerald Express used to play at our Vancouver Pub during the Expo held there, and he had filled in several times for Jimmy over the years. On our St. Patrick's Tours every year, we expand to seven band members with the addition of Sean O'Driscoll from Cork. He plays banjo, mandolin and squeeze-box. We have trouble understanding his Cork accent, and he has trouble understanding our accents but we gel together in the music. To round things out, and to show no prejudice, our drummer and bodhràn player is from the capital of Ireland, Liverpool.
Q. Who are some of your favorite Irish (and Scottish) performers (past and present)?
A. In Scottish music my favourites are and always will be Robin Hall & Jimmy Macgregor. I also like the Corries and of course Silly Wizard. In Irish music, I think the early Clancy Brother records are hard to beat for boisterous singing. In the more traditional vein I enjoy the styles of Len Graham, Triona Ni Dhomhnaill, Dolores Keane and Frank Harte. I think De Danann play some of the best Irish music around. Frankie Gavin must be the best fiddler going. Tommy Sands writes some great songs, and we've recorded a few of them. These are some of my favourites, but there are too many more to mention.