Starting an Irish Band

Steve-o · Post by **Steve-o** » Mon Oct 10, 2005 2:56 pm

Hi everyone. I was talking to some of my friends, and we are thinking of starting an Irish band. While we all have experience with other types of folk music, and are all expierenced musicians, I am the only one that has played Irish music in the past, and I have never that in a band setting. I was wondering what kind of stuff we should start working on, and if anyone had any ideas or advice that could help up get started out. Thanks.

scheky · Post by **scheky** » Mon Oct 10, 2005 3:16 pm

Well, you have to ask yourself a few questions first...
What kind of Irish Band do you want to be?

Traditional Session music? Songs? Mix? Do you want to stay traditional or go the route of bands like the Pogues and Black47? Dropkick Murphys?
Are you looking to have fun or as a serious income?

There are a lot of variables here and only the people who make up your band can answer them.

Good luck on putting it together!

Unseen122 · Post by **Unseen122** » Mon Oct 10, 2005 3:40 pm

What is the instrumentation?

Steve-o · Post by **Steve-o** » Mon Oct 10, 2005 4:56 pm

Here si how it stands so far. We are all currently in college, so we are doing ti more for a learning experience and having fun than anything serious. We also want to stay traditional, but dont have anything against playing modern sounding songs every once and a while. As for the instermentation, I will be playing whistle, there will be one fiddle, one flute, and one drum. There is the prssibility of later adding a second fiddle, and a guitar/mandolin, but we are planning on starting with the 4 of us.

StewySmoot · Post by **StewySmoot** » Mon Oct 10, 2005 5:36 pm

Steve-o wrote:Here si how it stands so far. We are all currently in college, so we are doing ti more for a learning experience and having fun than anything serious. We also want to stay traditional, but dont have anything against playing modern sounding songs every once and a while. As for the instermentation, I will be playing whistle, there will be one fiddle, one flute, and one drum. There is the prssibility of later adding a second fiddle, and a guitar/mandolin, but we are planning on starting with the 4 of us.

Gee, I wiss I could stand so sober after do many beers...

My advice: Get a following at bars playing trad drinking songs. Expand from there.

Congratulations · Post by **Congratulations** » Mon Oct 10, 2005 5:47 pm

StewySmoot wrote:My advice: Get a following at bars playing trad drinking songs. Expand from there.

That's how Bill Gates got his start.

barbuck · Post by **barbuck** » Mon Oct 10, 2005 6:48 pm

When we pulled our band together, only one person really had any trad background (we later added another). Three of us had played together off & on in garage-type rock bands for the past 25 years, but we wanted to get into something different. We liked some of the music we heard from bands playing versions of trad music , incl. some of the "Celtic Rock" (for lack of a better description) bands.

We just started by taking CDs we liked & learning songs off of them. (Actually, that's what we still do). We do mostly songs; you didn't mention vocals but you would probably take a different approach if you're just doing tunes. I agree with Stewy - learn a few pub favorites for a base & then branch out to whatever you like.

AiglosCelt · Post by **AiglosCelt** » Mon Oct 10, 2005 6:49 pm

We started our band by playing for school events and open mics. We got lots of jobs for society and club meetings from those, and from those we got some really nice high-paying ones. Also, never underestimate the power of panhandling...we got some of our best jobs that way.

Clan O'McFitzPatrick wishes you luck!

Unseen122 · Post by **Unseen122** » Mon Oct 10, 2005 7:01 pm

Congratulations wrote:
StewySmoot wrote:My advice: Get a following at bars playing trad drinking songs. Expand from there.
That's how Bill Gates got his start.

If you want to do tunes and songs definantley put a couple favorites in your repitore. If tunes do a couple that are recognizible like The Irish Washer Woman or Drowsy Maggie.

Steve-o · Post by **Steve-o** » Mon Oct 10, 2005 8:09 pm

Thanks for the advice. Yes, one of us will probably be singing, so we will probably try to learn mostly songs. Can anyone give a few good songs to start off with that would be good bar songs.

Congratulations · Post by **Congratulations** » Mon Oct 10, 2005 8:23 pm

Steve-o wrote:Can anyone give a few good songs to start off with that would be good bar songs.

Here's one.

StewySmoot · Post by **StewySmoot** » Tue Oct 11, 2005 4:16 am

Steve-o wrote:Thanks for the advice. Yes, one of us will probably be singing, so we will probably try to learn mostly songs. Can anyone give a few good songs to start off with that would be good bar songs.

Songs that celebrate inebriation and invite singalong from the spectators:
The Wild Rover
Finnegan's wake
The Real Old Mountain Dew
The Moonshiner

Whiskey in the Jar - anything that involves thumping the table with words like "whack fol the diddy-o"

The Unicorn - I know. Nobody can stand this song but you will get one crocked middle-aged woman, like my wife, who is going to insist you play it so she can go through the hand motions of all the animals. Dont ever play it of course unless asked. Worth the extra tip....maybe.

colomon · Post by **colomon** » Tue Oct 11, 2005 5:57 am

You know, at the Marine City (Michigan, pop 5000) Maritime Days festival, the beer tent has a band. And as far as I could ever tell, that band is required by the organizers to play "Margaritaville", "Mustang Sally", and "Devil Went Down to Georgia" at least once an hour.

The above song list will make you the Irish equivalent of that band.

Why not grab ten or twenty CDs by good Irish bands (check your local library -- some have excellent collections) -- groups like Arcady, Chulrua, Bohola, Dervish, or Teada? Find songs you like and sing them. (For a more hip sound, you could do a lot worse than to check out the early Great Big Sea albums, though their more Irish material is sometimes prety cliche.) Don't try to do the same stuff every other two-bit pub band in North America does, just because the audience will be used to hearing it.

StewySmoot · Post by **StewySmoot** » Tue Oct 11, 2005 6:12 am

colomon wrote:
The above song list will make you the Irish equivalent of that band.

Oh I agree heartily.

However, in my experience and talking with numerous other musicians, creative music is not what keeps the butts in the barseats. I cannot tell you how many times my friends and I get sick of playing Marguaritaville or Finnegans Wake, in fact one has quit playing clubs entirely, but that is what the spectators want to hear, and unless you bring something entirely unique to the table, and more importantly, something people want, they will walk.
I was at an Irish bar in VA earlier this year. Downstairs was someone playing trad stuff and original material. They guy upstairs was playing the pop stuff.
Upstairs was packed. Downstairs was filled with people trying to get upstairs. Go figure.

Celtic983 · Post by **Celtic983** » Tue Oct 11, 2005 6:12 am

Everyone has given really good advice. I thought I'd throw in my 2 cents. One thing that is really important to ask is "Who am I playing for?" When we started a band a few years ago we sang Irish pub song and Rebel songs. However, we found that there was actually more Scottish heritage in the community and most of the people listening were older. It was only until we started doing mostly Scottish songs that we became (relatively) popular. It didn't mean that we couldn't play Irish songs, but we were much more selective in that genre. That said, we played plenty of Irish tunes. Most people don't know the difference. As I heard Alasdair Fraiser once say "The difference between Scottish music and Irish music is 15 miles" and that is true.....some times. I am not suggesting you play Scottish music, but just know who you will be playing for.