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Leo Moran
'If This Is Rock And Roll, I Want My Old Job Back' was our first album and having already recorded 'It Won't Be Tonight', 'Sing A Powerful Song' and 'I Useta Lover' at Loco Studios in Caerleon near Newport in Wales, Phil Tennant, our producer brought us back over to do the rest of the album there.
It was a privilege to be able to work at a residential studio, to be on-site 24/7 and concentrate on the songs completely. That said, Loco and the band cottage down the lane towards the river Usk were definitely haunted, and known to be. I didn't like being in either building on my own and I wasn't the only one.
At the end of the long days in the studio, we'd retire to the cottage and drink like we'd earned it. Phil introduced the flaming Drambuie crack where you'd light the liquid and drink it while it flamed, which was a thing for a short while.
One night we devised a betting game based on the next song up on the CD player's shuffle. It caused a good row in the end as cheating was suspected on the last 50/50 track!
The betting on the shuffle was a follow-on from Turps' card betting game where he'd lay out cards on the pool table and you could bet on which line was going to win based on the amount of cards of different suits already visible and out of play. That was a good one and Turps was master at it.
Tim Lewis was the engineer who worked the desk with Phil. Tim is a fine musician himself and let us away with nothing, particularly in the tuning department.
Tim had been a psychiatric nurse before he came to work at Loco and had some stories to prove it. He went on to become Thighpaulsandra, playing with Julian Cope, Coil and Spiritualized amongst many others. A man called Alan was the studio groundsman and gardener. For all the world he was like Uncle Bryn from 'Gavin And Stacey'.
A woman called Anne came every evening with the finest of dinners and fed us to bursting point. There were two or three teenage girls who used to come with Anne, bring some of the messages and hang out in the kitchen area, though there was only minimal communication between them and us. Two of them were called Donna but I'd doubted they knew any of our names.
About three years later, in March 1993 we got off the plane at Austin Airport to take part in the South By Southwest festival. We were walking the bright corridor towards the terminal and I heard someone call 'Leo, Leo' from behind me. I stopped and a young woman introduced herself to me, she was Donna from Loco and was over playing at the festival with Elastica.
We had a little chat while we were walking and I cheekily suggested that maybe we could do a song together — Elastica being much bigger news than The Saw Doctors at SXSW. In fact, I think they were the biggest draw of the week. Her bandmate, Justine arrived on the scene as we were waiting for our luggage. I suggested we could do Teenage Kicks' as I'd read somewhere that they had played it along the way.
Justine said they'd join up with us if we played 'Another Girl, Another Planet' I knew this wouldn't be a runner with our team and she probably guessed as much too so we agreed to drop the idea and went our separate ways.
A young apprentice sound engineer also worked at Loco, called Nick Atkins. He drove a Mini to work down the narrow lanes and none of us ever wanted to get in the car with him the way he threw the car around the blind, sharp corners.
Somewhere in the mid-90's The Saw Doctors were playing in Atlanta, GA and Nick showed up. I see from Facebook he's living in Brighton now and Tea-Boy at Morchang Studios'. He was fine teaboy in 1990 but I somehow doubt he's still doing the same job.
The odd evening, the anglers who had earlier walked down the dirt path to the river, would return carrying a lump of a salmon.
The motorway was across the valley and produced a constant hum of traffic when you stepped outside, day and night. Often enough, supersonic fighter planes passed down the valley and it was quite a sight if you managed to catch a glimpse of them before you heard the bang.
Paddy O'Neill was our driver at the time so he took the gear over in the van and stayed in the cottage for the duration of the recording. Paddy went on to recite 'Paddy's Poem' at the end of the session on top of the modified backing-track of 'I Hope You 11 Meet Again'.
This poem became a show-stopping, dramatic insert at gigs, Paddy performing with poise and gusto the poem which we would adjust each gig day for the town we were playing in.
Paddy had a great holiday in the cottage, an odd run to the shop and maybe a trip to the pub, if we finished a bit earlier than usual in the studio, was all he had to do. I think the pub was called The White Hart Inn.
The night before Paddy left for the ferry to bring the gear home, we put a few cartridges of red ink and a load of Fairy Liquid in the windscreen washer. Lads hanging around in each others' company for too long.
The night before we headed home ourselves, we had a few drinks with dinner and recorded 'Merry Christmas Tuam'.
'If This Is Rock And Roll I Want My Old Job Back' was released in May 1991, accompanied by the huge 60' x 40' posters of our fathers dressed as rock stars. It went to number one and meant that we now had a large following of people who knew a good few of our songs.
Pearse Doherty
"If This Is Rock & Roll, I Want My Old Job Back" could have been the longest ever album title in the world, it definitely was in Tuam.
The album title really captured the humour, the devilment of the lads and an attitude to a music industry that was so alien to a band of songwriters who wrote about small town life in the West of Ireland.
It was us against the world and it was always going to be on the Shams terms (you see what I did there — Turps always said I wished I was from Tuam).
For me it was being in right place at the right time — Galway late 80's early 90's — a much different place than the city of the tribes today.
When I first heard the 'N17' in The Quays bar I heard a song for my tribe, a tribe with no future in their homeland, a tribe that had been scattered all over the world. And now someone cared, and wrote a song about it, a damn good song.
So when I met Derek Murray with Leo Moran, both sheltering from the Galway rain in Neachtains doorway, and he suggested I have a listen to the cassette The Saw Doctors had demoed, little did I know it would be a life changing encounter that shaped the next 15 years of my life.
ITIRARIWMOJB was my teenage dreams all coming true. A real band, a recording studio, a producer, a record label, a manager and a possible headline tour of Ireland & UK and some bloke called Tommy McGann (RIP) looking to fly us to Boston — this is the big time lads.
I had zero recording experience but that didn't matter — plough on regardless. It was all about the songs with three writers in the band and with contributions from Padraig Stevens and Paul Cunniffe we had the makings of a classic debut.
My outstanding moment in the recording was playing the flute solo in 'I Hope You Meet Again' — it was such an honour for me to have contributed something to such a special song.
Thank you Shamtown Records for making this happen and keeping some great memories alive.
Up Tuam (packets)
Davy Carton
In the Autumn / Winter of 1990, with 1 Useta Lover' riding high in the Irish Charts, five troubadours from the West of Ireland arrived in Loco Studios in the Welsh Valleys to meet up with producer Philip Tennant and engineer Tim Lewis to record our first album.
It was an eye opening and unique experience to be recording an actual album like big bands do!
'I Useta Lover' which opens the album is one of three tracks with links to my former band Blaze X. The chorus was from an old Blaze X song, written by the late, great Paul Cunniffe and myself. As was the following track 'Only One Girl' which had many contributors, including Paul.
'What A Day' was also a constant feature of Blaze X set lists. When we were writing 'What A Day', we were heavily influenced by The Undertones. The intro to What A Day' was inspired by the 'snare drum, bass drum, snare drum, bass drum' at the start of 'Teenage Kicks'. The What A Day' intro is the other way round, 'bass drum, snare drum'.
In one prolific evening of song writing at my house in Claregalway, Leo and I put together the bones of Why Do I Always Want You', 'Red Cortina' and 'It Won't Be Tonight' after purchasing a Yamaha Amp with the most magnificent Tremolo, which features dramatically in 'Red Cortina' and 'It Won't Be Tonight'.
'Irish Post' was originally a short poem I wrote following my dismal, failed attempt to emigrate to London in the late 1970's. I returned home within a fortnight, broke and homesick. The title of the song is taken from the newspaper of the same name, devoured by Irish immigrants.
'Sing A Powerful Song' is one of three tracks we recorded as demos in the summer of 1990 along with 'It Won't Be Tonight' and 'I Useta Lover'. It was between these three songs as to which would be our 2nd single after 'N17'.
For lads growing up in the small town of Tuam, we were often enthralled by the influx of 'exotic' school girls from faraway places like Mayo, Roscommon and Clare, boarding at the Presentation Convent School. It was the end of an era when the school stopped taking boarders and 'Presentation Boarder' is a tribute to those times.
I remember Leo had a poem about someone who had emigrated, was heartbroken and missed home. Anyone who emigrated from the West of Ireland at that time went via Shannon Airport which meant a journey up the Galway Road, better known as the N17.
Putting Leo's poem into song, it became obvious that "I wish I was on that N17" would make a great chorus and the riff came to life when I found an old fiddle lying around at Leo's house and played the basic riff that became synonymous with 'N17'. The rest is history and I haven't picked up a fiddle since!
'I Hope You Meet Again' was always going to round off the album and it is probably the song that evokes the most emotion in us whenever it is performed.
John Donnelly
It was my first time in a major studio, Windmill Lane Dublin in 1989 and the producer Mike Scott of The Waterboys made us all feel very relaxed.
From memory The Saw Doctors played 'N17' over 10 times in the studio, then Mike picked a version where the main rhythm track (Bass & Drums) was well locked in and the building of the song started with guitars, keyboards, accordion, whistle, Davy's vocals etc.
Many hours / days later, after lots of waiting around, late nights, early mornings in the Windjammer Pub, the 'N17' track was done.
On the last day Mike gave me a £5 note to get a taxi to Heuston Train Station to get the train back to Roscommon Town.
I remember just before The Saw Doctors went to Loco Studios the first time, I got a huge bank loan to buy a Pearl BLX drum kit which I had my eyes on for a few years.
I arrived in Loco and began the huge task of setting up this beautiful shiny red drum kit, loads of drums and cymbals. I was so happy.
Before we started to record, the producer Phil Tennant walked in and said he needed to change a few things! He dismantled the kit pretty much and left me with one bass drum, snare drum and a few cymbals, everything else was put back in its case, I nearly cried.
We then recorded 'I Useta Lover' — the rest they say, is History! I learnt a lot about musical space that day …
In between recording the rhythm tracks in Loco studios, I had to find a way of keeping my head busy as there was so much waiting around time.
Nick & Tim, the sound engineers at Loco, both had cars and at the time I did not know how to drive. Nick owned a Mini and allowed me to drive it up and down the driveway as far as the main road where I turned around and drove back down to the studio. I did this for hours and I loved it.
On one occasion Tim told me I could try his car. It was a very powerful Alfa Romeo, black sporty looking thing. Leo decided to come with me. I took off up the driveway no problem, but when I got to the main road to turn, I hit the accelerator by mistake and spun round on myself and nearly hit the gate pillars.
I thought at that moment I was going to crash. I made it back down the drive in one piece and told Tim his car was lovely. In my head, I thought never again!
As for Leo, well lets just say he didn't come with me again for a drive for the rest of our time in Loco. I think he realised on that day that if adrenaline was a colour, It would be Brown!
John Turps' Burke
I first met Mike Scott circa 1987 when he called to the house in Galway I was sharing with my mate Joe Connolly after returning from 4 years in London. Leo Moran had become friendly with Mike and called round.
I didn't tell Mike I was in Glastonbury the previous year 86, when The Waterboys headlined Friday night. I was in awe. At that time 'Red Army Blues' had to have been the greatest, from a humanistic perspective, folk song that was ever written. Mike was very cool as in the real cool, down to earth, grounded and his energy had a spirituality about it, authentic, genuine. Mike picked up my mandolin and started strumming and we chatted some and smoked a reefer
Little did I think that 2 years later we would be in Windmill Lane 2 studios in Dublin recording the 'N17.' Mind blowing places like Windmill seemed out of reach to a 17 year old punk in the west of Ireland who had his own band IR16 playing Clash and Ramones and Stones covers.
I had played guitar with All Cats Are Gray who were managed by Leo. Dave Carton had played in Blaze X with Paul Cunniffe who co penned 'I Useta Lover' and 'Only One Girl'. And on bass Pearse Doherty, if ever someone fitted the bill, it was Pearse, you could sense the free spirit of Inishowen from him, and to prove it, he composed and played the magical whistle tune at the end of the song we were recording.
Recording N17 in Windmill over those two days was magical. I can see why Mike wanted to produce the track, and no better man. He knew every single element that was meant to be on the track, and how it needed to be played, every note, every syllable, every beat by the amazing showman and drummer extraordinaire John Donnelly.
John Dunne played that beautiful accordion run line that leads into Pearse's whistle tune at the end of 'N17'. Leo's bold resonating Springsteen like guitar and Davy's sweet 12 string acoustic and organic voice, topped off with a melodic mandolin part by yours truly. The combination or cocktail mixture was pure and simple, perfect, and Mike Scott captured it all! Thanks Mike, you're still the King of Rock and Roll man! ;-) xo
Prior to working and living in Loco Studios, I had been recording with Ken Ralph at his Sun Street Studio in Tuam, working on a solo album (which I shelved bar £25 and Don't Let Me Down) and also cutting demos with Leo and Dave, who had been playing with Fergal Me Grath and Mary O Connor, whom I later joined in a line up that evolved into The Saw Doctors.
Two years later after an Irish winter tour in 88 with The Waterboys and a spring tour in 89 in the UK, Padraig Stevens leaves and The Saw Doctors lineup of Dave, Leo, Pearse Doherty, John Donnelly and yours truly is cemented and here we are, after a number of Irish shows, driving down the tree lined laneway into Loco Studios in the Usk valley in South Wales with our driver and 60s guru Paddy O'Neill.
Loco Studios is an old coach house converted into an amazing recording facility and a nearby cottage with bedrooms and a sitting room with a large living area. It was a growing and learning experience every time we went. Emotionally and professionally we reached inside ourselves, and when the spot light was on each individual, we shone, we had to, why else were we there?
Luckily our producer Phil Tennant had come over to Galway prior to the recording sessions to do some pre-production work. Ollie Jennings had arranged Corinthians Rugby Club for the sessions and all the rehearsal, attention to detail and due diligence paid off when we listened to the three songs after the first recording in Loco. We were impressed with our hard work, the tracks sounded in a different league than earlier demos in our evolution.
I was really happy with my hammond organ playing on 'I Uesta Lover', mandolin and guitar work on others. John's drum playing was full of youthful energy and sounded like that of a top session player. Pearse's bass was solid as a rock, and I loved his lilting whistle playing. The anchorman, Leo's guitar was always spot on, rounded with bold beautiful hook lines, and Dave's vocal and acoustic playing style complimented the songs perfectly.
Looking after us, Anne fed us every day, she was a star, serving up lunch and dinner. Paddy O'Neill looked after everything else. It was a magical place, where you left the outside world behind, and looked to making great music, and we did just that, with results far beyond our wildest dreams.
As they say in Loco, what happens in Loco stays in Loco, and bless us, we were, Loco! ;-) I learned so much in Loco regarding real music creation and production, Thank you Phil Tennant, Tim Lewis, Paddy O Neill R.I.P. Niall Barrett, Ollie O Connor, Dave Carton, Leo Moran, Pearse Doherty, John Donnelly, and Tony Lambert R.I.P. for a colourful and amazing chapter in time. You only live once, and we did, hopefully someday, well all meet again. Peace and Love.
As 'I Useta Lover' was such a huge success, bearing in mind our album was not yet released, The Saw Doctors were asked to appear on the bill for the Dublin City Millenium Celebration gig in the Phoenix Park. It was a huge compliment to be asked but we were also booked to perform at a festival in Belfast at lunchtime the same day. We had played Belfast with The Waterboys, so we had a presence in the city. We agreed to do both gigs, we were up for it, big time, we embraced the challenge, mad in a way, but it worked.
The night before the big day, we stayed at Blooms Hotel in Dublin. Blooms did great breakfasts, so after feeding ourselves, we got taxis to Dublin Airport Private Jet area. It was surreal, boarding two, six seater Cessnas bound for Belfast, dept 1lam.
Arriving in Belfast, we got an escort to the festival area and played a blinder for one hour, came off stage, got into cars and rushed to the city airport, back into the planes. The pilot let me take the controls for ten mins mid flight as I sat up front.
We arrived in Dublin airport, the Gardai are waiting by the runway, we pile into limo type jammers and get a police escort to Phoenix park. Mike Scott awaits us backstage with my two good buddies Mags and Colm and Josie and Brendan, my folks. Ken Binley, Niall Barrett and Ollie O'Connor have everything set up just right for us to play.
I went back stage during The Emotional Fish set to look out front of the stage at a crowd of 108,000 people. I threw up in the prefab dressing room soon after, contemplating the enormity of the event, 108,000 fukkin punters Turps. Mike Scott gives me a bucket, smiling, he knew the score, and was affirming to me in a way that all was gonna be great, just stage nerves! We played an amazing set with Paddy O'Neill, Mike Scott and Brendan Burke making guest stage appearances.
Twelve months later, due to the single's success and our live ability as a band, The Saw Doctors co headlined Feile in 91, the Fleadh at Finsbury Park, London and Gaelic Park, Chicago. We headlined the same festivals the following year in '92 and played the Glastonbury main stage. A Granada TV documentary on The Saw Doctors was shown on RTE and Channel 4.
The musical success of the band and the first album reached places we never imagined. Being asked by the BBC' to record a session in their London studios was surreal. I remember Dave saying to me jokingly, have they any idea who we are? as in we're nuts!
The Saw Doctors were unique, different, open to the new, any challenges. We all had something to give and prove in a way, individually, and as a band, and we did exactly what we set out to do, to take the music from the stage to the audience, to embrace them, each and all. Our motto was, be all that you can be, and we did.
I Useta Lover's catchiness and honesty about our humanness, struck a chord with people, and set small towns, cities afar and festival stages around the world, alight with music, fun and adventure, like no other band.
Tony Lambert
The Saw Doctors went to Loco Studios in Wales with producer, Phil Tennant, to record 'It Won't Be Tonight', 'Sing A Powerful Song' and 'I Useta Lover', one of which would be released as their follow-up single to 'N17'.
Phil felt the tracks, in particular 'I Useta Lover', needed an extra element, maybe an accordion. We got in touch with Gethin Scourfield and Geraint Jarman whom we'd met through their coming to Galway a few months previously to shoot a video for 'N17' for S4C. They highly recommended a local Welsh musician to us who could play both accordion and keyboards. Tony Lambert.
Tony arrived and gave the tracks even more than we had imagined or hoped for. The song released was 'I Useta Lover', which became a success and Tony joined the band and moved with his dog, Squirm, to Ireland.
Tony was a virtuoso musician on many instruments. He could play with great feel and hit so many right notes, as few or as many as were appropriate and he also had the expertise to squeeze every classic electric and mechanical trick out of the Hammond organ and its accompanying twirling Leslie speaker. His presence added warm, deep and dynamic textures to the songs of The Saw Doctors.
In 1993 Tony won the Irish Lotto and not long after moved to Thailand, never again having to wait for a late-arriving minibus to shake him on bad roads to some end of the country or other.
Sadly, Tony passed away in April 2018 in Thailand and we regret that we can't have his memories of recording the album included here but his magnificent musical contribution speaks loudly and proudly for him. No words needed. May he rest in peace.
Leo Moran
The Photo Shoot
The idea for the album title If This Is Rock and Roll, I Want My Old Job Back' and the type of image to accompany it arrived to us at Loco Studios in Wales but nobody can say exactly when or how. It was most likely late at night. But however it arrived, it was certainly a winner.
When the plans started for putting the album package together, our fathers were summoned to a photo shoot by photographer Frank Miller, to be directed by our old artistic director friend from Macnas, Tom Conroy.
We arranged shots on the tarmac and the boarding steps in Galway airport, in front of the old Great Southern Hotel on Eyre Square where they were mobbed by young females and on the stage at The Warwick Hotel.
Now, as anyone knows who's stood for more than a few photos at a time, it's not the easiest job in the world. The most shots these men would have had to stand for in their lives would have been on their wedding day.
By the third location, it was getting tedious and they were getting tired but as far as I remember, we took a little break, had something to eat, the drinkers had a pint and the album cover was captured on the Warwick stage for ever more.
After it's release it was usual for people to say that when they first saw the album cover, they were surprised that such old men played such lively music.
Leo Moran
Mike Scott
It wasn't The Saw Doctors first time in a studio, but it might have been their first time in a top Dublin studio.
If they were awed they didn't show it. They worked hard, especially new drummer John Donnelly who looked 12 but played with the authority of a man twice that age.
They cracked jokes, bantered and messed around all the time; Tuam colloquialisms and County Galway vernacular, references to "packets", "shams" and all sorts of other strange things.
Fortunately I'd spent enough time in those parts to understand around half of what was going on, which was more or less enough. Our engineer, Philip Tennant probably comprehended around 10% but he learned fast.
Waterboys saxman Anto came in to blow some horns and I realised a personal dream: singing backing vocals on the "stone walls and the grasses green" parts.
Philip Tennant
I had been hired by Mike Scott to record shows by The Waterboys at the start of the Fisherman's Blues world tour.
So I turned up on a chilly early morning to Glasgow Barrowland with the BBC SSL mobile studio, lots of microphones, a bunch of blank 2-inch tapes and literally miles of cables.
12 hours later the house lights dimmed, I heard a roar from the crowd and The Saw Doctors blasted through the monitors.
It was a marvel. They were only the support band, and I was only meant to be getting the levels right and getting a line check, but I hit record and five young men from the West of Ireland changed my life.
The moment I heard the opening guitars of 'It Won't Be Tonight', I was committed. It was everything that music meant to me. It was Springsteen, Tom Petty, the Buzzcocks, Costello and even Orbison and The Motors — all rolled into one.
The Saw Doctors gave out such an energy and such joy — and the songs — WOW — the songs! I wasn't alone — as that first song ended the crowd new exactly what I knew. We had found a new team to support and some new friends to follow!
It was a breathless first encounter and one that eventually took us all — all over the world — but for me it started that cold March night in Scotland in 1989.
"A pen and paper beckon, I still have your address, written in my diary, top of the list"
The album — song by song
I Useta Lover — The chorus was a song, 'I Used To Love Her', originally written by Paul Cunniffe and Davy Carton for their melodious punk band, Blaze X, was about eight years old and hadn't been played for six of them when The Saw Doctors added it to the newly-written verses in 1987. We changed the spelling to 'I Useta Lover' to distinguish it from the initial version, which we put on the b-side of the single.
Only One Girl — Another Paul Cunniffe/Saw Doctors collaboration in which our producer, Phil Tennant threw in a contribution as well. Paul went on to re-write and record his own version but unfortunately it never got released.
Why Do I Always Want You? — Buddy Holly was on our minds when we made this one up — you can sing 'Always' with the trademark Buddy inflection if you like! The night we came up with this in Davy's house, we also came up with a riff and music for another song which we didn't commit to tape before we went to bed. Neither of us could remember what it was in the morning. Both of us were convinced it was as good though. That's songwriting sometimes!
It Won't Be Tonight — Davy had bought a Yamaha amp from John Brennan in Tuam just because it was handy. But it happened to have Tremolo' which Davy immediately took to. We loved it for its references to timeless country music as well as the classic sixties pop like Roy Orbison. Davy whistled the riff and I played it and we fancied we ended up with something in the style of REM's 'Don't Go Back To Rockville' which we loved at the time.
Irish Post — Davy came to us with this one fully formed and finished, the tale of a reluctant Irish emigrant to England. Born in London, he knew that story well.
Sing A Powerful Song — Sometimes when there's something to be said, a song is as good a vehicle as any. We were delighted to get the chance to give Pearse a go at the whistle on this one — it gave another flavour to the sound of the band and Pearse is a much better whistle-player than he'd admit — that's his tune at the end of N17 as well. And Pearse playing the whistle part at gigs meant I got a chance to play my original role of bassist for a few minutes.
Freedom Fighters — A belter of a song that Turps brought to The Saw Doctors, it was always a live favourite and it's no surprise that this version from the Glasgow Barrowland Ballroom recorded on our support tour with The Waterboys in 1989 took its place on the album.
That's What She Said Last Night — I think we had Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band in mind when we recorded this one. We wanted it to be loud and raucous with those rowdy backing vocals and what about Tony Lambert's Hammond organ stuff! A touch of 'Cadillac Ranch' maybe?
Red Cortina — I'd given the lyrics to Davy and he put them to the music — I might have had a hand in the guitar riff but it's most likely he whistled it and I played it. Again, the tremolo effect on the amp just seemed perfect for the style we were aiming for. Red Cortina was one of our all-time favourites with the audiences and it was our most adaptable song, working really well acapella and also as a stage act where every band member changed instruments in the mid-song.
Presentation Boarder — Convent boarders, nuns, the school opera, St. Patrick's weekend break, novena, gaelic football; this one managed to include, without thinking much about it at the time, so much of the culture of our youth. On our way over to Wales we bought a Gibson SG guitar to expand the sounds for the album. I used it on this song but I should have used my old tried and tested Telecaster really for the proper sound of the riff. I was swayed by novelty.
Don't Let Me Down — An absolutely beautiful song by Turps again — A good few people have said that it's their favourite on the album.
£25 — Turps was the main creator of this one, another song we loved to play live and a very distinctive sounding creation in The Saw Doctors' repertoire. Written at a time before we went out to eat, or drank wine.
What A Day — What A Day' was a strong song in the Blaze X set-list in 1980 and it slipped effortlessly in to The Saw Doctors' gigs — always a pleasure to play and a definite favourite for many in the audience. This was the oldest creation on 'If This Is Rock And Roll …'
N17 — While all the rest of the album, other than 'Freedom Fighters' was recorded in Loco Studios in Wales and produced by Phil Tennant, 'N17' was recorded at Windmill 2 in Dublin with Mike Scott as producer and backing-vocalist. We had fifteen band versions of the song recorded before we had to listen to them all back, judge them and pick the best to work on and finish off. Mike drove us hard but I think we got the desired result. After being up all night in the studio, we went to an early-house called The Windjammer where we had a feed of creamy porter and went back to Fergal McGrath, our friend and exdrummer's house, crashed out on the floor for a few hours and drove back home in Davy's car, exhausted.
I Hope You Meet Again — This one was hanging around with the potential of being the final track on the album and appropriately it was the last one recorded, a calm wind-down to both the recording process and the LP and a song that went on to work in the same fashion at the end of gigs for years afterwards.
Leo Moran
Special Thanks To
Mike Scott, Irene Keogh, Padraig Stevens, Paul Cunniffe, Ken Ralph, Frances Burke, 'Red' McGrath, Joe Wall, Mike Diskin and all at Galway Arts Festival, Paraic Breathnach and all at Macnas, Paddy O'Neill, Ken Binley, Derek and Deirdre Murray, Henry Greally, Sean and Liz McDonagh, Trish Forde, Padraic Boran, Denis Desmond, Blaze X, The Waterboys, The Stunning, Too Much For The Whiteman, Bernard and Angela Jennings, Sean and Una Gannon, Mary O'Connor, Criw Byw in Wales, Liam Ivory, Mike Ivory, Niall Shortall, Long-haired-Ollie, Trevor, Norman and Ollie Price, John Connelly, Dicky Canavan, Peter Ray, John Moran, Fintan Forde, Paul Heneghan, Billy Robinson, John Ashton, Spud, Mick Geever, Tony Killeen, Padraic Ferry, Tony Broderick, Gerard Coffey, Shay Healy, Tex and Patsy of Springmount, Ray, Zig, Zag, Dustin and all at the Den, Anna and Sonja, Terri Russell, Nona Sanders, Tom Taheny, Carole and Edel, Joe Lynch, The Ballinrobe Three, Ger O'Rourke, Padraic Nolan, Deirdre Wilson, The Moggan Family, Jo-Maxi, Doc and all at the Warwick, Sea point Ballroom, Desmond Fennell, Burke's of Clonbur, Oliver, Suriya and Justin at Solid, MCD and Daryl, Anto Thistlethwaite, Vinny Kilduff, John Dunne, Richard Crumlish, Little John, Mouse, Sharon Shannon, Jimmy Higgins, Paula Wilsetn and her class, Browne's Pub, Eamon Geraghty, Tuam Herald, All the Civic Receptionists, Togher's Sawmills, Noel Egan, Caroline Niland, Aidan Lee, Dave Watson get stuffed, Jimmy Hickey, John Dunford, Rob and Adam, Kevin and Murt, Steve Iredale, Harry Isles, Eds, Damian Hughes, Mark in Glasgow, Matt Richardson, Tomas MacEoin, Nick Smith, Tom Stapleton and Family.
