Billy was a great source of encouragement and help to me in my early days in the music scene and is a great frient to this day.
The Dynamics 1975
(L to R) Gerry Costello & John Kelly
The Harmonies 1973
P.J. Flaherty, Rose Conneely, John Richardson and Grace Divilly
(Grace Divilly used to teach me in HRC many years ago. She is now Grace Morris)
The Wild Breed 1972
Left is John Noone, Eamonn Cummins centre at back, Frank O'Connor centre in front and on the right is Mike McMahon who has a music shop in Galway City now called "Modern Music". Mike would have supplied us with instruments and amplification during his time in Raftery's Music Shop and nowadays from his own shop.
This was the band that the musicians went to see. They were probably the best live local band ever in Galway even to this day.
Autumn Shades 1984
(L to R) Tony Naughton, Gerry Costello, Patsy Fallon.
Cascade 1989
(L to R) Gerry Costello, Larry Byrne, J.J. Byrne
The Late Don Allen (1987)
Don was from Canada and was instrumental in my introduction to American Country Music when he was transmitting on the Dutch based radio station, Radio North Sea International in the early 1970's. Prior to this he worked on the BBC, Radio Caroline, Radio Luxemburg to name but a few.
Don was later to re-emerge in the mid 1980's on the Mullingar based station, Radio West. during his time in Mullingar and in Radio 3 in Tullamore where he worked until his death in 1996, I Had many radio interviews with him and he played and highly promoted the recordings I had made at these times. as did all involved in Radio West at that time particularly station owners Sean and Nora Coyne, station manager, Michael Tiernan and another young D.J. in these days who used to do a country & ballad show nightly. His name is Adrien Eames from Sligo and at that time was a great man to promote recordings such as ours.
Later he was to go on to become the first to present a programme on local radio when MWR FM, the first of the new stations to open, came on the airwaves in 1989. Adrien now is a sports presenter on RTE Radio 1.
Going back to Don Allen ............ on one Saturday evening (May 13th. 1995) he was preparing to leave his home in Tyrrelspass to do his evening radio show in Radio 3 when he suffered a massive heart attack and suddenly died. He had heart problems for a while and was due to have a bypass operation in Dublin on the following Monday. probably he should not have been working on the night before going into hospital for major surgert but that was Don ..... he would have felt he was letting someone down. His wife had their first baby about a month later.
His passing was a great loss to the whole music industry and to all of us who got to know him so well during the 80's and 90's when he settled to live in Ireland. On the Tuesday of his funeral thousands of people attended. the small church in Tyrellspass was much too small. The whole green in the village in front of the Church was full. it was estimated that some 20,000 were there. every band and singer in the country attended and formed a special choir for the occasion. traffic to and from Dublin was held up for hours.
The Doves (Athenry) 1975
(L to R) Brenadn Doran, Marjorie Delaney, Frank Kennedy and at the back is Joe Barrett.
Marjorie later joined Brendan Boyer and the Big 8 Showband and now resides in the U.S.A. Joe is personnell manager with C R Bard. Galway. Frank has a great web site - athenryart.com. Frank also plays with The Crusaders from Ballinasloe. I've had the pleasure of giging with Frank many times in the last few years when I played with Stateline. He came in many nights when one of the other lads were off and with his talent he always just fitted in as if he was always part of the outfit.
Roisín Fallon Band 1987
(L to R) Chuck Owens (Granard) on Steel Guitar, Gerry Walsh R.I.P. (Cavan) on Bass Guitar, Senen Davis (Birr) on Lead Guitar, Roisín Fallon (Ballyshannon) Lead Vocals, Patsy Fallon (Portumna) on Drums and myself, Gerry Costello (Skehana) on Keyboards.
(Gerry Walsh was manager of John Hogan Band)
Roisin is mother of the now now popular Irish Country Singer, Mike Denver
Myself and Country Star Mick Flavin
1990
The Roisín Fallon Band 1986
(L to R) Myself on Keyboards, Senen Davis on Lead Guitar, Patsy Fallon on Drums, Roisín Fallon on Lead Vocals and Barry Comboy on Bass.
(Barry in those days also played with Royal Flush)
Brendan O'Carroll & Myself
on the town in Mountbellew in 1996. A real charachter to be out with who will aleays have the last word. He will always give you the truth as he sees it and you can take it or leave it. You'll always find him in great homour and like many of his type loves the laid back life style and great old chat unique to the country and local pubs.
Me & Fr. Brian Darcy at a gig we played in the Park House Hotel in Edgewardstown, Longford in 1987. We had a great night that went on to early morning and ended up with Frank Kilbride (Owner of the Hotel and former member of Dermot Henry & The Virginians) giving me his own room and bed in the hotel that night so I would not have to drive back to Galway. In these days the Park House Hotel was the meeting place for all bands when returning from or going to gigs and it still is to this day.
On that night also I had a long chat and a drink with another old friend, Tony Treacy from Strokestown, who was then lead guitarist with the Cathy Durkin Band. It was the last time we ever met. Even though he never knew he was ill at that time and nobody ever suspected it, Tony died three weeks later during a tour of England with Cathy Durken from rapid cancer in the spine. he was only ill for a few days.
He was a great musician and a fantistic country singer.
The Conquerors 1986
Back Row L to R:
Senen Davis & Frankie Coulihan
Front Row L to R;
Tony Maher, Brendan Hogan, "Doc" Horan, Willie Carty
The nicest bunch of lads in the business who would never see you stuck for an instrument or piece of equipment (Even if it left themselves short).
They are still going strong after 30 years on the road and still perform 6 to 7 nights each week. They have to be the busiest band on the circuit and each is an absolute superb musician. Most irish recordings made over the past ten to fifteen years would feature some of the lads particularly Tony, Frankie & "Doc" doing the backing music and the production.
Myself & Fr. Brian Darcy 1987
An old photograph of the Premier Aces. They were then managed by Paul Claffey who is the CEO of MWR FM nowadays.
The guy framed in blue is Aiden Treacy from Ballintubber, Co. Roscommon who nowadays plays alongside me in "Easi Street". Framed in yellow are his two brothers Silvie and Al. Al is drummer with the Mick Flavin Band and also works as drummer with Eamonn McCann and with Keith and Lorraine McDonnald and the Showband Show. Prior to all that he spent many years with the Maurice Mulcahy Band. The guy framed in white no longer has the long hair and is Johnny Staunton from Castlerea and for the last ten or more years is the rythm guitarist with the Daniel O'Donnell Band.
The guy framed in red is Dean Lane who lived next door to me in Riverside, in Galway in the 1970's He then played with the Magic Band and always came to our gigs in Ryans Hotel on his nights off. Ryans was a great stay over hotel in those days for musicians playing in the Galway area. Dickie Rocks Band always stayed there when in Galway and would always call in to say hello before going to Seapoint where they would be on stage at midnight. With them in those days was a drummer with a long beard and long ragged hair. He was always on for a prank and was always the life and soul of the occasion. He was an exceptional drummer and singer in his own rite but later left in the early eighties to take up a post with RTE as a DJ on their new station 2FM. He later went to TV and is a popular presenter today. He was none other than Ronan Collins. It is hard to imagine when looking at him today that in the late 1970's he was a hippie type with the long curley hair and beard.
Others who used to stay over and call in to our gigs were Maurice O'Doherty (Newsreader), Pat Ely (Smokie Mountain Ramblers), Gay McIntyre & Earl Gill (some session when they came in with their two trumpets).
An old Photograph of The Brendan Shine Band. The guy in the red frame is none other than Kevin Rohan from Tiaquin Now with Rodneys Glory. The other guy with the dark glasses and in the blue frame is Ray Kelly from Athlone. Ray is a Chiropodist who has his practise in Athlone and also plays guitar and sings with "The New Avengers". Ray used to attend a clinic every month as a Chiropodist in Skehana Community Centre when it used to be organised by Skehana Social Services.
The Swallows Showband (1972)
The lead singer in this band is Margaret Murphy from Glenamaddy. She is now Margaret Gorham and up until August 1999 I played keyboards with "Stateline" . The line up in Stateline was Margaret Gorham, Lead vocals and Bass Guitar, her husband, Sean, on Drums and Vocals, myself on Keyboards and Vocals. We had two Lead Guitarists during our time on the road. The first was Geoff Gibbons from Clonberne and for the last two years we had a really great Lead Guitarist called Gert Nungesser who comes from Frankfort in Germany but now lives in Kilmaine, Co Mayo. Gert is probably the best musician I've ever played with or will ever play with again.
The guy in the above picture in the red frame is trumpet player, Johnny Carroll.
In the above photograph the guy on the left (in thr red frame) is Patsy Fallon who played with Autumn Shades during my time with them. He had more hair in that time than he had when I got to know him. The guy on the right is Senen Davis who also played with The Conquorers for many years and also played with the Roisín Fallon Band for many years after that. You can see us all together in some of the other photographs on this page.
By Gerry Costello
Over the years I've had occasion to provide backing music for such artists as Derick Davis who is part of the RTE team, Tony Allen of Foster & Allen, Daniel O'Donnell back in 1984 before he became famous, Delores Keane, Mary O'Connor, Larry Cunningham, Frankie Howard, Tom & Paschall from Limerick, Gay McIntyre, Margo, Derick Davis and many more.
Here you'll find some of the memories I have and some of the people I met and people I've been involved with through the years on the road. They were mostly great times and I alway feel I was lucky to have been part of the scene when it was at its best.
Like the dance hall era, I feel it may be coming to a close in the next few years. There is a need out there for new ideas and much investment and probably a whole new scene.
To Be Continued .........
This Frame is dedicated to the Musician Friends of mine who are no longer with us.
"We pray that they are all in the Loving Care
of the Good Lord and still entertaining in the clear
blue yonder"
Tony Treacy (Guitarist), Strokestown.
Tony Newman, (Drummer w/Joe Dolan)
Frankie Hannon, (Drummer) Tuam
Brian Harkin, (Lead Singer w/ The Plainsmen)
Tommie Ryan, (Lead Singer w/The Bandits)
Ollie Moloney, (Trumpet Player) Tuam
Johnny Flynn, (Band Leader) Tuam
Gerry Cronin, (Leader w/ The Ohio Showband) Tuam
Don Allen (Radio Presenter) Canada
Francie Higgins, (Saxaphone) Tuam & Galway
Owen Shine, Athlone
Liam Ivory, Tuam,
Mike Keane, Craughwell, (Jamboree, The Country Folk, The Conquorers in 1970's)
Gerry Walsh, (Larry Cunningham & The Mighty Avons)
Brian Finley (The Mighty Avons)
Gerry Reynolds (The hi-Lows Showband)
John Tighe (The Hi-Lows Showband)
Brendan Hutchinson (Lightning Experss)
Joe Conway, (Gary Street) Lead Singer with
The Fairways Showband (died July 5th 2003)
May They All Rest In Peace
Remember them all in your Prayers
Some of The Best Musicians and friends in the Music Business & Entertainment World who have helped me, encouraged me, befriended me over the years and/or played with me in groups and bands and taught me much.
John Ryan, Westport
Michael Cunningham, Ballagadereen
Don McGee, Drumlish, Longford
Chuck Owens, Granard
Gert Nungesser, Frankfurt, Germany
Tony Maher, Galway
Eugene Kelly, Galway
Frank Kennedy, Athenry
Frank Downey, Portumna,
Billy Potter, Tuam
the late Mike Keane, Craughwell
the late Carla Smyth, Cavan
the late Francie Higgins, Tuam
Ronan Collins, Dublin
Eamonn Campbell, Dublin
Brendan O'Carroll, Dublin
Tommy Flemming, Sligo
Mike McMahon, Galway
Gerry Walsh, Cavan
Mary O'Connor, Granard
Frankie Coulihan, Galway
Tom Kelly, Ballina
Gerald Donoghue, Headford
Mike & Sandie Kelly, Sligo
Ollie Kennedy, Mullingar
the late Joe Conway (Gary Street), Mullingar
Louie Burgoinne, Athlone
Adrien Eames, Sligo, (RTE Presenter)
Frank Kilbride, Longford,
John Staunton, Castlerea,
Pat Ely, Tipperary,
Jeff Gibbons, Clonberne
Dermot Hoilan, Tuam
Sean & Margaret Gorham, Turloughmore,
Dick Keating, Ballinteer, Dublin
Philip Begley, (Sound Engineer) Dublin
AND
of course, My current group, John Curley (Roscommon) & Chris Kellegher (Ballinasloe)
Myself & Tommie Flemming
After a session in Cong
October 2000
John Hogan Band --- EASTER 1987
Gerry Costello, (KEYBOARDS), Sach Wright, LEAD GUITAR), Paddy Gallagher, (DRUMS),
John Hogan, (LEAD SINGER), The Late Gerry Walsh, (BASS GUITAR), Mick McManus, (FIDDLE)
