Band of brothers still going after 50 years

“WE started out as a beat group, which is what all the groups were called in those days, and we were the Wizards,” Brian O’Reilly said in a call from his home-away-from-home in Spain.

The Fermoy musician returns to Ireland this weekend to play the Corner House and Blackbird, Ballycotton, with his band, Loudest Whisper, which has been on the road for over half a century.

“In the early 1960s, it was all showbands in the country, but, no, no, we wanted to be like the Beatles and the Stones, so we started learning all those songs, the Beatles, the Stones, a bit of Bob Dylan, the Byrds, or whatever, and it evolved from there. And then in the late ’60s, 1968, we changed the name to Loudest Whisper.”

“When we started out, the line-up was John Aherne — John A, he was playing bass — there was a guy called Jimmy Cotter, he played the drums, and I played guitar, and Michael Clancy — he only ed away last year — he was a very nice guitar player.

“We had no instruments, to speak of, we had acoustic guitars, and Jimmy banging biscuit tins, and we played in the tennis club. I we played for our friends George Rice, and Mary, I think it was Mary’s 21st, they got engaged anyway, and we played in the Grand Hotel for them. 

"We played one or two gigs, but we had no gear, and you were shouting at the top of your voice to be heard, and no electric guitars.” Eventually, things started to pick up for the band, and they secured some equipment, and they got a regular gig.

“We started to do what were called Sunday afternoon hops in the CYMS halls, and I used to beg and borrow gear here and there,” Brian said. “It was the era of the showbands, with hundreds of the bigger bands touring the country.

“They would play down the country, in Redbarn, the ballroom there, in Youghal, in Macroom, in Cork, in the Arcadia, in Mallow, and in Crosshaven. They’d be down at the weekend, they’d play around, and on their way back up the country, on a Tuesday night, in Glanworth, Gerry Anglum would get them in the village hall, and the place would be packed. There would be 250 or 300 people dancing on a Tuesday night!

“We used to play to the showbands, they were some of the nicest guys you could meet, and they were very helpful.” It was a great apprenticeship for the young Fermoy musicians.

“We were only young fellas starting out, but it meant we could plug into their amplifiers, and sing a few songs, and Gerry would give us a few sandwiches, and we’d get a few bob,” Brian said.

“Many’s the time we would cycle to Glanworth with the guitars up on the back, and off we’d go.” 

A line-up change was forced when Jimmy Cotter got a job in Dublin. “For us, that might as well have been a foreign country” and long-time fan Brendan ‘Bunny’ Neligan ed on drums. Brian’s brother, Paud, subsequently ed the band, first as a guitarist and then as a drummer, with Bunny Neligan switching to vocals. The louder guitar sounds of Jimi Hendrix, the Doors, and Cream became an influence, and a new name, Loudest Whisper, reflected that harder rock sound as well as their earlier, folkier influences.

Brian had become involved in local stage musicals, and he soon combined this with a growing interest in Irish folk music and folklore, eventually sowing the seeds of an ambitious conceptual work that became The Children of Lir. The album’s songs were based on the legend of the Irish King Lir, whose children are cursed to live as swans. The Children of Lir premièred in Fermoy in January 1973, with the lead role played by the band’s latest recruit, singer and guitarist Ron Kavanagh.

A record deal with Polydor followed, and the album The Children of Lir has since become a cult classic. In 1979, Brian opened his own studio, Studio Fiona, in Fermoy, and the following year, the band’s second album, Loudest Whisper, was released.

A third album, Hard Times, was released on the band’s own Fiona imprint in 1982, and in 1984, Brian won the Castlebar Song Contest with his composition Spread Your Wings, and the musical Buskin’ debuted in 1985 in Fermoy and Cork, and again in Cork the following year, packing out the Everyman and the Opera House, and also playing in London.

Down the years, other projects and albums have followed, the line-up changing multiple times, with Brian and Paud remaining constants.

The brothers are still playing, with Brian 75 now and Paud 77.

Paud says he wouldn’t have traded their music career for anything, and he’s delighted that they’re still going strong.

“It’s been a brilliant experience from the word go, there’s been ups and downs, of course, but, overall, it’s just been fantastic. What a privilege it’s been to play live music in front of people all over the country, and abroad too.

“I don’t know how many people have played in the band at this stage, it’s certainly 30 or 40 people at this stage, and we’ve had some fantastic friends in the band, and what an experience it has been to work with so many wonderful singers and musicians over the years.

“We’re down to a three-piece now, and there’s no dossing in a three-piece.” Paud says with a laugh.

“With Brian living in Spain these days, we only do a certain amount of gigs, but that suits us both. We still love to play, and we’ll keep going until we collapse! I’m still getting a kick out of it, and the day I don’t get a kick out of it is the day I’ll pack it in.” Brian agrees, saying that when he’s in Spain, he plays with a local blues band, and he says he is grateful for a life in music.

“When I think back, we had nothing, and an electric guitar was the dream for us. We had to borrow the money, we had to get our parents to sign so we could get money out of the credit union to buy an electric guitar.

“I’m playing music now for 60 years, and it’s great to be able to go to the Corner House, go to Ballycotton, and play a bit of music, and, as long as it’s fun, as we say, we’ll bop till we drop.”

Loudest Whisper plays at the Lee Delta Blues Club in the Corner House on Coburg Street at 9.30pm on Thursday 27 October, and at 10pm on Friday 28 and at 10pm on Saturday 29 at Blackbird, Ballycotton.