Music Matters - with the Swarbrigg Brothers
For this week’s Music Matters Conor Halpin sat down with former Eurovision stars and music promoters, the Swarbrigg brothers, to take a nostalgic route down memory lane. The interview was led by Tommy with the assistance of Jimmy.
Where did you grow up?
Jimmy and I were born in Castlerea, County Roscommon, Jimmy was two and I was hardly one when we left and I have no memory of it. My dad met and married a beautiful lady called Kitty Walsh from Castlerea. Our formative years were in Cootehill. Jimmy was 16 and emigrated to England to get work and then came back to form The Times with me.
Were your parents influential in your career choice?
My dad led the choir in Cootehill and led and taught the local brass band. I remember sitting in the local courthouse and dad on the podium teaching us the rhythms; he was a brilliant sight-reader and he could transpose music just as you would write a letter.
My dad played in dance bands all around the northern part of Ireland, Monaghan, Cavan, Leitrim, Longford; he was in several bands, The Pat Kelly band and some Castlerea bands.
He was never professional – with 11 in the family, you couldn’t depend on it for a living. He was a supervisor and foreman in the local co-operative.
He worked eight to six and used to arrive home for his tea at six o’clock and the sheet music from the latest hits would arrive from Waltons of Dublin. He could be sitting there writing out all the different parts for the other members of the band, and then he would head off and play, and come back after work the next day.
Our grandfather also had a fantastic voice, and he led the choir and led the local brass band for many years.
What was the first song the Swarbrigg Brothers recorded?
The first song we recorded was a song from Jimmy’s lyrics called ‘Minutes to Midnight’, a song about a very young guy in love. We recorded it on an EP that The Drifters brought out when Jimmy was in England and I was in The Drifters.
I wrote almost all the B sides of Joe Dolan’s records and then tracks and EPs and albums.
When Jimmy arrived home from England, we formed The Times and then wrote for ourselves.
When did you start songwriting?
In 1969, Jimmy was in England, and he was into poetry, and he started sending me poems, and I started putting music to them, and we recorded them. Jimmy and I decided we wanted to take a singer-songwriter road. The very first single we released, which Jimmy sang, was called ‘What Made Milwaukee Famous’. After that we wrote and recorded only our own material, and our career ended in 1980.
Did you have an education in music?
My dad taught me how to read music from the age of 11 or 12 and taught me how to play the trumpet. The piano was the ultimate instrument to write because of all the chord compressions, whereas when you’re playing the trumpet, all you’re playing is single notes.
How did The Jordanaires band form?
They made me the sixth member, it was The Merry Five with the merry six in it, and we had to change the name, and they became the Jordanaires. We were managed by a Cootehill man called Sean Brady. We got gigs in Cavan, Longford and went as far as Tralee.
How did your journey with Joe Dolan and The Drifters begin?
They had a local trumpet player, Sean Connelly, but he left the band, so they were searching for a trumpet player. They happened to ask John McCormack, the owner of a ballroom, if he knew any trumpet player and he said ‘there is a young lad who plays relief for bands, Tommy Swarbrigg’.
Through the Garda Síochána in Cootehill, I got the call to ring this number, and it happened to be the number of Seamus Casey, who was manager of Joe Dolan and The Drifters.
They asked me if I would be interested in doing an audition for the band. You could see the ads coming up in the evening press at the time, where all the dances were advertised, and The Drifters were playing in every place.
Where did the audition take place?
They arrived at my home in Griffith Park in Cootehill and in the front room I auditioned for Ben, Joe, and Seamus Casey – the three of them were sitting there, and I played and sang.
They probably weren’t aware, but there was an audience of kids outside the window listening, and it was very funny. To my amazement, I got the job.
They were making progress before I joined them and they were very popular in the midlands, around Westmeath, Meath, and Longford.
I headed to Mullingar once my parents finally agreed – my dad was a little reluctant. I came in 1961 to join Joe Dolan and The Drifters as the trumpet player, I think I was 13 or 14.
When did you share digs with Joey Gilheaney?
When I arrived in Mullingar I was staying in digs with the trombone player Joey Gilheaney, who was a brilliant musician, and, magically, there was a piano in the house.
I started to learn to play the piano, and that was a huge help in getting my songwriting started. That was in Josie Reed’s in Ginnell Terrace.
I was in digs for seven years with Joey and then moved out and bought a house. That was a crucial time for the expansion of our songwriting. The piano is the ultimate instrument for any musician to write songs.
Did Joe Dolan and The Drifters tour internationally?
We had a great try of making it internationally and a great career travelling all over Ireland, Britain, and Europe. We had recording contracts with some big international labels ZNI, MCA and CBS.
We did have opportunities, but we never broke internationally. We had a fantastic career, and we eventually went our separate ways. Joe and Ben always remained friends; I still meet Ben today and sit and have a chat.
It was always going to be Joe Dolan and The Drifters, and we wanted to do our own thing. I gave in the notice and was then approached by other band members. Joe went on to phenomenal and international success, and then we simply went down our own route of writing our own songs.
What was your music relationship like with the Dolans?
Ben and Joe were fantastic gentlemen, and we always got on great. Joe was a bit upset when we were leaving but, they went on to greater things, I’m sure he had no regrets.
When did you enter the national song contest?
Before the Eurovision, we had several hits. A song called ‘Looking Through The Eyes Of A Beautiful Girl’; these were our three top hits. We were making quite a mark and getting a great following in Ireland before the Eurovision.
The first time we entered a song for it was 1975. There were more than 2,000 songs entered that year for the national song contest and 10 picked for the final.
Tell us about The Swarbrigg Brothers’ Eurovision Song Contest journey.
To our amazement, we won it with that song and went on to represent Ireland in Eurovision song contest, but there were juries all over the country. The whole country was involved, and it had an absolutely huge viewership. It was as popular as the Eurovision itself.
We got into the final 10 in that year, We won it in 1977 with ‘It’s Nice To Be In Love Again’ where we brought in two lovely ladies to sing with us, Alma Carroll and Nicola Kerr.
We didn’t win it the second year, but we did ok in the category. That time we went to the Wembley arena in London and came third.
What is the connection with the infamous ‘My Lovely Horse’ song from Father Ted?
During one of the episodes, Dermot [Morgan] decided to do a skit on us at the time as we were promoting him. He copied frame for frame our promotional video for the Eurovision song contest for 1975, ‘That’s What Friends Are For’.
We were filmed swimming in a pool, throwing a ball, riding a horse, parachuting and playing golf. It was a skit, and he did it for a laugh. We were great friends and stayed over at night in hotels after Dermot’s shows. He was the greatest buddy anyone could ever have met.
What acts have you promoted?
We did a lot of Irish acts in the early days – Christy Moore, Mary Black, De Dannan, and brought them in Mullingar for shows. That is how we started. Then we expanded and started bringing in international acts, Smokey (now Smokie), Albert Hammond, Meatloaf. I remember one gig we did was huge.
There weren’t many gigging theatres at that time in Ireland and we would pick the community halls, and one of them was the community hall in Moate. Hot Press was writing about it and seeing that Meatloaf was coming to Moate this Saturday and it just said ‘Rock City’.
With more than 40 years of music under your belt, how has record sales changed through online platforms?
I really think it is difficult for writers to earn from it. The income from a hit song is a fraction of what it used to be.
The record sales are all streaming and one of the biggest songs a couple of years ago was in abbey and I was horrified. It was a big hit all over the world and that the writer of the song only received €23,000 from writing it and getting 20 or 30 million hits.
That is why before the pandemic you have more and more acts touring live because the revenue from the songs has decreased so much. I remember we used to get royalties of £1,25 per album sold.
For the play on PRS, we received at the time, in 1975, £500 each just for the three minutes on the Eurovision.
Who did you promote before the global pandemic hit?
We do Nathan Carter and still do Smokey. There are 18 people on the road with Nathan Carter’s live show and nobody is earning a cent.
You joined other industry professionals on ‘Reach Out’.
It’s such a good idea, and I spoke to a gentleman last week involved in showband shows, he was delighted to hear from me. Our showband show is a huge success and in 2010 we put together a revival called ‘Reeling In the Showband years’.
When did you begin organising showband tours and events?
We have been on the road 30 years and in 2010 we decided to put this show together and it has been a massive hit. It was going 10 years when the pandemic hit, and it sold out all over the country. It is a package tour with loads of different acts in it. We have had Dave Lawlor from Tullamore and Gina from The Champions.
It wasn’t on this year because everything is wiped out, and we did close enough to one show in every county.
Has the pandemic unemployment payment helped musicians?
It was a help the €350 a week, and kept a lot of them going, that is more less gone except for a very small number of people.
So, most of the musicians I know are on the dole and there are those of them looking for other jobs in other industries to try to support their families.
The music industry , in particular, is definitely the worst hit of all business, because there has been no music for people since the start of the pandemic.
Do you think it will be difficult to revive the music scene?
I know the older generation will be reluctant to go into large numbers for a while, so that is why it will touch and go with The Showband Show. I have to say I am gassed at the pathetic rollout of the vaccine in Ireland – absolutely disgraceful.
The over 70s were supposed to be getting it this month, I would suspect we won’t see sight of it till April.
I don’t know what has gone wrong. I think the government has failed miserably to get this country vaccinated.
We have lost some of the showband legends, but you have a personal link with the late Brendan Bowyer.
His very last show was the first night of The Showband Show four years ago. He arrived from the States, where he lived, and we met and rehearsed in The Helix.
On the opening night of the tour, Brendan was headlining it but wasn’t feeling well. Ronan Collins and I took him to hospital, and he never performed again.
We went to see him two days later, and while we were in chatting, he seemed in good form, he was sitting up in the bed. The surgeon treating him came around and said ‘who are you?’ very abruptly. We said we were responsible for having Brendan here, we brought him straight from the tour.
We introduced ourselves and he said ‘well let me tell you, there will be no more touring for this man until we get his bloods right, he can’t leave this hospital’.
We went to see him a few days later and he couldn’t perform and had some blood problem – that was the last show he did.
His daughter Aisling flew in to Ireland to take him back to America. That was the last flight he was allowed to take. He was a great artist.
Contact Conor Halpin: Conorhalpinmedia321@gmail.com