Thanks so much to Stephen for the interview! I wrote about The Belfast band The Donnelly Brothers some time ago on the blog and was very lucky that Stephen got in touch and was up for answering my questions! The band who released a flexi and recorded a Fanning Session back in the late 80s, was a mystery to me. They had put together a compilation CD that was long sold out on Bandcamp but there story was nowhere to be found on the web. I wanted to know more about them, so here it is, a brilliant interview with this great band! Hope you all enjoy it!
Hi Stephen! Thanks a lot for getting in touch! How are you doing? I notice that you are now based in Dublin and not in Belfast anymore? Is that so? Why the change?
Hi Roque! thank you for your interest in the Donnelly Brothers – and the opportunity for this interview, Martin is based in Dublin for career reasons and I am still in Belfast! – both cities are only 100 miles apart, Ireland is relatively small, so it isn’t really that far!
++ Are you still making music? I noticed that Martin still is under the name Martin Mackie and you even released an album titled “The Popgun Plot” on vinyl some years ago. I liked what I heard. Are the other band members continue making music?
Yes Martin is still making music, and I have recently, earlier in 2018 taken back to the guitar and making music with my old time collaborator Paul Turner from my Non Stop Yellow days
++ Let’s get back in time, when you were growing up. What are your first musical memories? What sort of music did you listen then? What was your first instrument?
Music – and having any interest in it started for me in the late 1970’s with the explosion of great Irish and English music acts of that time, I loved the Punk and Ska scenes of the late 70’s and early 80’s and I am still a fan to this day: The first songs that blew me away were;
Gangsters by The Specials
Alternative Ulster by Stiff Little Fingers
But Ultimately – The album The Clash by The Clash a seminal album – then and now!
My first musical instrument was a white copy of a Gibson Semi Acoustic Bass (real 1950’s style!)- it was beautiful but the feedback was horrendous! I bought it of Dee McDowell (singer in Cut the Bag, also on the First Things First album) for £4.00 (about $6.00) and 2 tins of beer!!! those were the days
++ Were you in any bands before being in The Donnelly Brothers? Were you also in Liar as Martin?
Yes I was the bass player and founding member of Liar 1982- 1984, we were a punk band who played covers, we were all very young, I was 15 when we started to practice. The name came from The Sex Pistols song ‘Liar’ and we thought it just looked good how it was written on the back of ‘Never Mind The Bollocks’ album sleeve.
The first song we learnt was Ready Steady Go by Generation X
Liar comprised of:
Myself – Bass
Peter Murchan – Vocals
Patrick O’Neill – Guitar
#1 Stephen Thompson – Drums
#2 Gerard Scott – Drums (Later to join Cut the Bag as a drummer)
#3 Martin Burns – Drums
Liar didn’t break up, we kind of morphed into a different band some members left and some new ones joined, at this time late 70’s style punk rock was emerging into the early 80’s (or second wave as its now lovingly called) as harder edged – heavier – thrashier sound, we were all played faster and louder, The Exploited, GBH and Blitz were leading the way now in the Punk Sounds. At this time we started to write our own songs/material, songs such as ‘There’s a liar on my TV’ (ironically about what we now call fake news!) and the Hilarious pastiche of the then ‘Spandax Rock Bands’ “Blood Guts Anguish Heaven and Hell” at this time Liar changed its name to the Napalm Kids 1984-1985.
The Napalm Kids comprised of:
Myself – Bass
Patrick O’Neill – Guitar
Bap McGreevy – Guitar
Buzz O’Brien – Vocals (Current vocalist and Sax player with Irish Ska Band ‘Boss Sounds Manifesto’)
Barney Carson –
As you can see at this time the nucleolus of what would become the Donnelly Brothers was taking shape
++ How did The Donnelly Brothers start as a band? How did you all know each other?
See above, but we all knew each other from one or more of the following reasons: we met in venues on the local music scene, we were neighbours and we attended the same schools as teenagers. And I’d like to clarify one point…. the Napalm Kids simply changed into The Donnelly Brothers, as Buzz left and Martin joined, at this time we were expanding our musical tastes and this is reflected in the completely different direction our music took – from thrash punk to indie pop!
++ You started as more of a post-punk band and then you’d turn into a different sound. I wonder, are there any recordings from that first period?
There is nothing from Liar, but there is a really rough tape recording of a Napalm Kids practice session from 1985, neither band made any visits to a professional recording studio.
++ There was some lineup changes, eventually you’d have someone with the Donnelly last name like Ali. That must have been a big coincidence, right? But he was just 14 year old! Was that a problem at all?
It was a brilliant coincidence – he was and still is a fantastic musician, as for the age those were different times, no one ever asked what age the band were when playing in bars/clubs/venues, we all played gigs underage! and he was already a live veteran gigging with ‘The Second Mary of Guise’ prior to joining The Donnelly Brothers
++ Why the name The Donnelly Brothers?
The name was taken from a a well known Irish car dealership, the name just looked right!
++What influences would you say you had when you were making music with The Donnelly Brothers?
Our influences were wide ranging and this showed in our songs, in that era our immediate past had been punk rock, but that’s not the whole story, member by member we had different tastes, and those tastes were changing by mid 1985
Myself I was into The new Indie rock/pop scene- Punk, Ska and heavy rock
Patrick O’Neill was into mainly heavy rock, and to a lesser extent punk and ska
Bap McGreevy was into the new Indie Rock/Pop scene – Rockabilly – Phyco Billy – Punk and Heavy Rock
Barney Carson was a Rocker
Martin Burns was into Indie Rock/Pop and new sounds and the old sounds!
Who were the influential bands/sounds, The Cure, The Cult, Bauhaus, Lou Reed, Iggy Pop, Monochrome Set, The Smiths, The Velvet Underground, Orange Juice and the Blow Monkeys to name but a few. In our early gigs we would play a few cover versions such as ‘The Passenger’ by Iggy Pop – ‘A Forest by The Cure Bella Lugosi is dead’ by Bauhaus and ‘Sweet Jane’ by the Velvet Underground.
Other bands were equally influential as the post punk era opened into a flow of new ‘Indie’ sounds
++ How was Belfast back then? Where there any other like minded bands that you liked? What were the places where you usually hang out? What were the venues to catch the good bands?
Belfast was a troubled city at that time, the ‘Troubles’ were at their height but we had all been born into it so we made the best of it, there was a lot of great like minded bands around Belfast at that time, and we all had a friendly rivalry we would all go to watch each others shows and generally hang out with each other, most of these bands made their way onto the First Things First album.
Some of the main places to play in Belfast were:
The Orpheus – The number one bar/club for original material bands; now the new Art University of Ulster
The Abercorn – now a fashion outlet
Laverys Bar – still Laverys Bar and a live band venue, we were the first band to play there!
The Limelight – still a principle Belfast venue (Martin has played here with the Pop Gun Plot )
Queens University Belfast: Students Union – Getting demolished in a few weeks, and a new building being erected
++ How did the creative process work in the band?
Generally it was a collaborative creative process within the band, someone would have a ‘Beat – or a Riff’ that we’d throw into a practice and work into a tune/song, Generally in between full band practices myself and Bap would have a few smaller practice sessions to ‘tighten’ the songs up, I guess its the same process for most bands the world over, Martin would have written all the lyrics, except for ‘Sleep All Day’ which as far I can remember was written by Bap
++ You released a flexi in 1986 that was sold in shops as well as given away for free with the Helden fanzine. Which songs were on this flexi? And how did it work with the fanzine? Was it self-released?
The Flexi was a popular ‘Give Away’ promotional affair of the era by music papers/magazines, it was a one sided 7″ single and had the song ‘Liberty and Honesty’ on it, we recorded the song as part of a demo recording of the time and Helden paid for the flexi pressing, unfortunately I do not – and im pretty sure none of the band members – have a copy of the single.
++ Your only other appearance on record while you were active was on a compilation titled “First Things First” released by One by One Records. How did you end up on this compilation?
Basically it was an attempt to showcase the best Irish bands of the day, and we were invited to take part and submit a song, we originally wanted ‘Liberty and Honesty’ the flexi single song, but the producer favoured the song ‘The Bread Winner’ so we re-recorded it for the album, its a lot ‘smoother’ on the album than we ever intended it to sound, and on our demos I thought it sounded far better, as a song it was a real crowd pleaser, live very danceable poppy and fun – live we also played what we laughingly referred to as the 12″ version where we played the song for around 5-6 minutes, ironically it was the first song the Donnelly Brothers ever wrote, so for that reason on reflection it was a perfect choice for the recording!
++ The song that you contributed is the brilliant “The Breadwinner”. In a few lines, what is the story behind this song?
The stories behind Martins lyrics would be better explained by him, but looking back now we were probably an escapist band – part fantasy – part fun – part tongue in cheek – not serious, those were dark and dangerous times in Belfast we tried to make a night out fun and let people dance and enjoy themselves.
The lyrics were light observations of everyday life and what young people were doing or could relate to at the time, we had songs about The Mystery Machine Scooby Doo and Shaggy!!!! lol
++ And how come there were no releases by The Donnelly Brothers? Was there any interest from labels?
We were unlucky – opportunities did arise but seemed to falter at the last moment, our biggest chance came around 1987 when Mother Records (owned by U2) took a massive interest in the band, (at the time U2 drummer Larry Mullen Jnr was a fan, and attended several of our gigs) and for a while a single deal , with possible further releases seemed imminent during this time we were managed by Fachtna O’Ceallaigh (Boomtown Rats & Sinead O’Connor) and everything seemed to be going in the right direction, however it came down to a straight simple record exec’s vote to run with either a band from Belfast – The Donnelly Brothers – or a band from Dublin – The Hot House Flowers….. and as they say the rest is history….
++ You did record a whole bunch of songs that later you would put together on a CDr compilation. 14 songs total. Where do these songs come from?
We did, and yes we do have a more extensive back catalogue than the 14 song CD suggests, these songs came from the 4 studio recording sessions we made during our career.
++ Sadly the CDr is sold out! How many copies did you make and how fast did it sell? Is there any plans to make more copies?
Martin completed this project himself, self financing and promoting it, I don’t know how many he made but I think that it was fantastic of him to do it and I am proud to have a copy, its a big part of who we all were and for that im delighted he made and released the CD. The artwork on the CD is brilliant and it is indicative of how our live gig posters looked back in the day, Martin had a great knack of producing great eye catching artwork!
Will there be any further releases? lol who knows….
++ Are there any other recordings that weren’t included in that CDr?
As I have said above yes there are recordings that are not on the CD
++ You recorded a Fanning Session on RTE. How was that experience? Did you meet Dave? What songs did you record?
Yes we met Dave, and the experience was great – and unexpectedly well paid! – the songs on that recording are the real essence of the band, it was a live recording and we nailed it!!!
++ One of them, “Mystery Machine”, is said that became well known, and that it was all about Scooby Doo. Was it played a lot on radio? Were you big cartoons fans?
It got a lot of air play – and was a real crowd pleaser – and popular among the band too! it was fun light and just an all round good song, I know im biased lol! I suppose we were raised as kids on cartoons like Scooby Doo, and our fans were too so it was just the pure fun of it we were putting across.
I heard years later, long after The Donnelly Brothers demise that a band in Belfast were covering the song… that is proof enough to me that the song was good!
++ And how important you’d say was Dave Fanning for Irish music?
Dave Fanning – and the Dave Fanning sessions are massively important and influential to Irish music, and also to the bigger next door neighbour marketplace England.
++ What about gigs? I read you supported The Wedding Present, The Charlatans and The Jazz Butcher. What other gigs do you remember? What were your best ones and why?
lol The best ones are the gigs you remember, you try to airbrush away the poor ones, the best gig I ever played was Belfast Art College 1988, 2500-3000 people – and we were on fire from the first to the last song, and the crowd were on fire too! what a combination.
We also played with the biggest Irish acts and peers of the time such as ‘A House’ ‘The Subterranean’s’ and The 4 of Us’, we played quite a few gigs and all over the country, and we got a lot of University gigs which was great.
++ Where was the farthest from home that you played? And was there any bad gigs?
Furthest Gig was Henrys in Cork – and yes bad gigs…. every band has them lol, and maybe don’t admit it!!
++ Did The Donnelly Brothers get much support from the press or the radio?
Yes we did we frequently had our music played on Radio Ulster (BBC) shows such as ‘Across the Line’ and were interviewed by the NME/Melody Maker and Sounds, all English based music press papers, we appeared in the local community newspapers and the Irish national press. With the release of the First Thing’s First album we were told we were getting frequent air play within the U.S. on the college radio network.
++ When and why did you split? What did you all do after? I know some went to Non-Stop Yellow and Bréag…
What made us split…. its never an easy question to answer…. it wasn’t explosive! and it wasn’t “musical differences” I suppose now looking back it was the passage of time – the lack of success (recording deals) – personnel line up changes – and just a general slow grind to a halt.
Ironically in 1989 when we did split (pretty late November I think) we were earmarked to do the ‘Inspiral Carpets UK Tour of early 1990, and further more we were to be in a tour of Irish bands going to Russia in 1990 as part of their softening to western cultures…Perestroika et al
I think the line up changes really ended the band – there was an erosion of enthusiasm…. and it was a quiet demise.
After that I took time out of music for a while – id been playing in bands for nearly 10 years solid by this time. In mid 1990 I visited Russia as a tourist as I was supposed to go as a musician with The Donnelly Brothers I thought I’ll go anyway.
On my return from Russia I teamed up with Barney Carson and Paul Turner and briefly Bap McGreevy to form ‘Non Stop Yellow’ a melodic rock band, writing all our own material, and gigging all over Ireland, we did get a single record deal with ‘Screw Records’ but we never got to release the material, as the band split just prior to the final release date.
I am back with Paul Turner writing material
Martin went onto do ‘The Pop Gun Plot’ along with Ali Donnelly
Bap McGreevy has had many musical encounters including playing the bagpipes, and an on off band called ‘The Mantelpiece Men’
Patrick O’Neill played for another short period and has joined up with Bap on some musical adventures
Nick Saddler is still playing in ‘Breag’
Martin Lenane is playing in a band called ‘ARSE’
++ Are you still in touch with the rest of The Donnelly Brothers? Are they making music still?
We see each other and our activities through Face Book these days – sharing and exchanging comments/laughs/likes….etc
++ What would you say was the biggest highlight of The Donnelly Brothers?
They were great times…. we had great songs, still to this day people will still say that…. the biggest highlight for any musician or band has to be the fact that absolute strangers enjoy what you have produced.
++ Apart from music, what other hobbies do you enjoy having?
Music is number one… always has been… and will be…… number two is soccer
++ Let’s wrap it here. Just one more question, as I’ve never been to Belfast or Dublin, nor anywhere in Northern Ireland or Ireland, what shouldn’t I miss to see, eat or drink when I visit?
Drink Guinness – Drink Belfast Gin – Eat an Ulster Fry – Visit the Giants Causeway – Visit the Carrick-a-reed Rope Bridge – Visit the Glens of Antrim – go to a gig in either Voodoo or the Limelight and check out the wall Murals in and around Belfast!
++ Anything else you’d like to add?
Yes id like to finish by saluting all of The Donnelly Brothers, and say thank you for a wonderful time:
Martin Burns Vocals
Ali Donnelly Drums
Patrick O’Neill Guitars
Barney Carson Drums
Nick Saddler Guitars
Bap (John) McGreevy Guitars
Martin Lenane Guitars
Kevin Dodd’s Guitars
Stephen McGreevy Bass
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