Killarney Showband: A Class Act Still Playing Together after 32 Years

By CATHOLINE BUTLER

VANCOUVER - Where have all the Irish showbands gone? In the Fifties and Sixties these bands were one of the greatest phenomenons to come out of Ireland. They created magic in ballrooms when they lit up the stage with glittering outfits and fantastic sound.

KILLARNEY are now working toward a place for the longest running showband in the world in The Guinness Book of Records.

Impresario Louis Walsh who used to works as a booking agent for Irish showbands in Ireland has said, “the Irish music scene was shaped by the Irish showbands of yesteryear, who established a reputation for hard work, amiability, talent and dedication. Because, in those days you had to be really good to survive.

“Those bands had to go out every night, sing live, play all the hits and work around Ireland. Some of Ireland’s most famous rock gods – like Rory Gallagher and even Van Morrison got their start playing fox trots, waltzes and jiving tunes.

“But it wasn’t only hard work and talent that made them successful – the acts also needed one other important quality: they had to be charming. You had to like them. There would be no point in taking on someone that’s an amazing singer if he’s not a nice person, or if he’s not going to work hard. They worked hard and charmed their way to the top, that’s the best thing about the Irish acts.”

Walsh took great pride in the exemplary behaviour of the Irish Showbands, “you just never heard of the Irish acts misbehaving. Ronan Keating is a great ambassador and so are the Coors. Look at Bono, he’s saving the world at the moment. It’s brilliant.”

Here in Vancouver one of the great Irish showbands has been together for an unbelievable 32 years. The Killarney Showband has been the house band at the Blarney Stone for 20 years and there is still a line-up most nights to get in to hear them play.

Band leader John Cronin recently spoke to The Celtic Connection about Irish showbands and the Killarney Showband which is headed for the Guinness Book of Records. He speaks with pride when he explains how the children of parents who met one another at the Blarney Stone are now turning out to hear the band play.

He said, “I would say that the wheel has turned and the kids who are 19 to 25 years old are getting tired of the discos because they find them too plastic. They find it more comforting to hear live music being played with a good atmosphere.”

Speaking about the showband scene in Ireland, Cronin said, “there can be no doubt that showbands could gauge the crowd. They knew what to play for people because appearance was important on stage and they looked like a million dollars in their suits. There was usually a change of suits for every set and they were very professional.

“It was just a completely different situation. You wouldn’t find showbands in a pub or club, you’d have to go to a dance hall. Some of those dance halls held anywhere from 2,000 to 3,000 people. There was no alcohol served, at least not in the days that we played the dance halls, but that’s not to say that people weren’t well oiled before they got there.

“There was always a relief band or opening act band from the local area and they would play from 9 PM to 11 PM and then the stars, the main band would come on and they would play for two hours straight – no breaks – just play dance after dance after dance.

“It was just an incredible situation...I loved it and would like to see it back again. I’m sure a lot of people would love to see it back again, including the dance halls because they fizzled when the showbands fizzled.

“Showbands set the tone, they were a class act, no question about that. I can remember in the town that I’m from, Mallow, there was a ballroom called the Majestic and now when I go back home and pass by it’s anything but majestic.

“It was one of the first big ballrooms and it was fantastic because you would have bands like the The Dixies or the Royal Showband with people coming from miles away, literally driving for hours, with cars lining the roads and the parking lot was full.

“Sunday night was the big night, which of course would not be the case over here, because when we tell people that our biggest night of the week was Sunday...Sunday? What about Monday morning? People over there didn’t give a damn about Monday morning, it was only the same as any other morning, you had to go to work.

DO YOU REMEMBER the heyday of Irish showbands? If so, maybe you recognize the people in the above photograph.

“I started out playing music with my father’s group and when we’d be done our little pub gig, I would go to the nearest dance hall that was in the area so that I could just sit and watch whatever showband was playing that night. I’d sit there all night, I was just in awe of what I was watching, and I can remember thinking to myself... I’m going to do that, yeah, I’m going to do that.

“Our first showband was called The Swinging Jarvies and there we were, the horse, the jaunting car, the suits and the bowler hats. When we came to Canada we dropped the Swinging and just called ourselves The Jarvies.

“But eventually we had to change that name because people kept coming up to us at the end of the night saying, ‘so, which one of you is the Jarvie’, they thought it was a surname. So, we said, ‘oh God we can’t keep on explaining, let’s just call ourselves Killarney, everyone can identify with that.”

Killarney have crisscrossed Canada on tour, more times than they can remember. “When we came to Canada,” John said, “we knew nobody but we had each other and that sort of created a family bond as the years went on. And, I believe that is why we were able to stay together as a group for the past 32 years.”

Killarney are John Cronin, Marie Cronin, Mike Cronin, John Lynch, Steve Ford, Terry Boyce and Eamon Morris. Incredibly, after 20 years Killarney still rocks the Blarney Stone in Gastown every Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Just a little tip... if you want to hear this great showband perform....get there early!

[N.B. Special thanks to Ray O’Hanlon, Senior Editor and Eileen Murphy, Arts Editor of the Irish Echo newspaper in New York for permission to use the quote by Louis Walsh on Irish showbands.]

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