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THE COMERFORD BROTHERS (2014)

A vibrant city in south-east Ireland, Waterford is rich in culture, steeped in history and always has been a hub for producing great musical and theatrical entertainers - Brendan Bowyer, Gilbert O’Sullivan and Hal Roche to mention just a few. There are literally hundreds of local artists and bands that have entertained up and down the length of Ireland and beyond.

In the early 1960's a young family group of six brothers formed a band. . . and so the Comerford Brothers story began.

The Comerford family grew up at 10A William Street, Waterford, Ireland, children of Michael and Ellen Comerford who hailed from Gowran, Co. Kilkenny and Ferrybank, Waterford, respectively. The family of 6 boys (John, Andy, Pat, Michael, Frank, Tony (and 2 girls Margaret and Marian), grew up surrounded by music as their dad and mum loved entertaining and regularly invited family and friends their home at weekends for big sing-song gatherings. In the large 'front room' of the house, the boys gathered most evenings after school, playing different instruments and learning to play songs together.

John, being the eldest was first to take a real interest. He was introduced to music in the guise of a little red plastic six string guitar, which he mastered very quickly and soon purchased a ‘real’ one. He had some early lessons from a next door neighbour Mick Gilligan, and then just learned his craft by listening to, and copying the guitar parts of chart hits, particularly ‘The Shadows’ guitar player Bruce Welch and creating his own style.

Both parents being religious, they encouraged the boys to join the Catholic club ‘The Legion of Mary’ and through that organisation, Andy met Ben Brown, who had a fundraising band called the Thomas Davis Players. As it happens, they did not have a drummer and so invited Andy to join. Andy became the drummer and also played in the family band. Pat also played the 120 bass piano accordeon in this band. However, in the mid-sixties, Andy, being an apprentice electrician, had to go away for 3-month Block Release courses with the ESB and so could not fulfil the local Comerford brothers gigs. Tony was encouraged to play the drums and took up the challenge with relish. After completing his apprenticeship, Andy became more interested in other activities and joined the Waterford Harbour Sub-Aqua Club and was not involved again in music for a number of years. In 1980 Andy returned to the music when he teamed up with John Collins (who just happened to be married to our sister Marian) and they played the pub scene under the name ‘Nice n Easy’. They played a number of years and eventually John stepped back and brother Frank joined Andy on the circuit. In the late 80’s Andy retired from playing music and took up other interests. He is a keen photographer and enjoys the sport of Archery.

Pat, Michael, Frank and Tony can all thank the local primary school they attended (De La Salle Primary School) for their introduction to instruments as the school had a great school accordion band - The St. Declans Ceili Band It was there that Pat learned the 120 button Accordeon, Michael was introduced to the Double Bass and Frank also learned the button accordion. Tony began playing in place of Andy and soon become a very competent, solid drummer. They were all still in primary school and one the youngest bands to play in public at the time. Michael was 15, Frank 14, and Tony just turned 13. The boys almost became a traditional ceili band as their father encouraged them to play all the old Irish tunes at house parties for friends and family, but eventually the boys wanted to expand and so began playing more mainstream pop music. The Comerford name became synonymous with music from the 1960's right up to the present - all be it in different line-ups. The talented family of musicians have been involved with music in all facets of the music scene.

JOHN In the early 1960's, older brothers John, Andy and Pat began playing together with local musician Terry Lacey in many of the clubs and dance hall. They also made appearances in the early 'Tops of the Town’ shows with Clover Meats. (Tops of the Town was a hugely popular Talent Variety Show staged each year where many business companies would put together an hour long stage variety show with just working staff). John left to join the national Showband scene with a band called the 'Boston Stompers' and later had great recording success playing lead guitar and vocals with 'Don Duggan & The Savoy Showband'. This band went on to great success nationally, releasing many singles and albums and made many TV appearances. They also toured extensively in the UK. John was highly regarded as a guitar player and excelled in the style of the English group 'The Shadows' that featured Cliff Richards. In the1970's, john returned to the cabaret scene, teaming up again with brothers Frank, Tony and Michel to form The Brotherhood and again this combination of pop and rock 'n roll proved very popular with the band gigging widely across the south-east of Ireland. In 1975 John joined, The Charlie Matthews Trio and played in this group until ill-health forced him to retire from music. John passed away in July 1977. R.I. P.

PATÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖ.. Pat, having mastered the Accordion in school, with the 'Thomas Davis Players’ and the ‘Davis Boys’, switched to keyboards and in 1964  joined 'The Boomerangs' who played the clubs and toured Germany. Following the German tour, Pat moved to London in 1966 and worked there for a year before forming an new band ‘The Roulettes’ with Fred Greene and Micky Cahill and played most of the Irish clubs in London (The Gresham, The Galtimore The Regent Rooms, etc ). Pat returned home to Ireland in 1967. In 1969 Pat joined 'The Derek Joys' Showband and was off touring again, this time across the continents to Mexico. When the band returned, Pat decided to stay on and pursue a career in music over there. He spent five years in Mexico City and, after signing to Capital Records, released two singles and an EP which charted there. Having played many public concerts, Pat was recognised for his civic contribution at a big Mexico City outdoor Charity gig. He was awarded ‘The Freedom of Mexico City’ for his contribution to the culture. Back home in 1975 Pat, with music still in the blood, was soon back playing in a band called 'Metric' with brothers Frank and Tony, bass player Des Whelan and guitar player Frannie Walsh. This band was very successful on the club scene, winning two ‘Best Group’ awards along the way in the annual Munster Express Entertainment Awards.

ANDY Andy originally played drums and sang with the brothers but as Tony reached his teens, Andy left the scene for a while, and when he returned to play with the band, moved to percussion and was always the humorous one. He excelled at comedy, and took part in many shows - in fact he won a special adjudicator's prize in the early Tops for his individuality, with a rendition of a humorous piece called 'Carmody's Mare'. Andy left the music for a long spell, returning in 1988 to form a duo with brother Frank. This group played locally for about 3 years when both Andy and Frank then retired from the music business for other pursuits. The mid 60's saw younger trio of brothers, Michael, Frank and Tony form a group under a variety of names - The Comerfords, The Fantastic Four, and The Royal Four, with guitarist Mick O’'Connor and later, with life-long friend 'Toots' McConnell.

FRANK Having begun his early music on piano accordion, Frank switched to rhythm guitar and developed a fabulous rhythm technique. When the band would practice, it often involved buying a copy of the latest chart hit record, (usually from Cantwell’s Music Store on Michael Street or Noel Sinnotts in John Street), taking it home and dissecting the music for each instrument, and it was Frank who had the sharp ear to pick out the chords sequences so we could reproduce the music as accurately as possible. In the early nineties, Frank decided to give up live gigging and developed a great interest in all things woodworking. Currently Frank has carved and built over two dozen guitars, both solid and acoustic to very high standards. He also has made a few to order. Check out the vid on the bass guitar he made for Michael, a real beauty. He also dabbles in studio sound recording.

TONY Tony is the youngest of the boys and began playing the drums at aged 11. Self- taught to play drums (with a little help from Andy, he soon became a very skilled drummer and at age sixteen he began a year-long trek to Dublin every week to get drumming lessons from Ireland's most famous drummer - the legendary Johnny Wadham - who played with the Jim Doherty Trio. Tony has become recognised as one of the best drummers in the south of Ireland.

In 1980, Tony, together with two ex-members of the Royal Showband, Michael Coppinger (Saxophone) and Eddie Sullivan (Trumpet), formed a new 10-piece big band outfit called Brass & Co. The full make-up of the band included Michael ‘Dutchy’ O’meara (Trombone), Patrick Kennedy (Trombone), John Collins (Trumpet), Terry Lacey (Guitar), Eddie Drea (Sax), Dick Quinn (keyboards) and Frank Walsh (Bass).

The band is still going strong today (34yrs later - with some personnel changes) and has played at many celebrity weddings, such as Ronan Keating and Keith Duffy. Brass & Co have also played with The Corrs, Chris De Burgh, Phil Coulter, Sharon Shannon, Brian Ferry and many more stars of the music industry, even taking part in a movie with Richard Harris and Pecker Dunne called ‘Trojan Eddie’.

The current lineup of Brass & Co today is Tony Comerford (drums), Mark Robinson (keyboards/mandoliin), Stephen Mackey (saxaphone), Conor Power (trombone), Alan Duggan (Trombone), Sean robinson (trumpet), Mitch Cuss (trumpet), Michael Comerford (bass) and Mac McCarthy (guitar).

Tony started song-writing in 1973 and wrote a hymn ‘Welcome’ for a local youth choir "The Young Generation", which was later recorded by the choir and released on their album. Two of his original songs are included on the Comerford Brothers Reunion album (Hold My Hand, and She). He reached the final of the Castlebar International Song Contest in 1983. Ray Dolan, nephew of the great Joe Dolan also recorded one of Tony's songs (Love Song) on one of his albums. Tony emigrated to Australia in 1974 for a couple of years and while there appeared on television singing some of his own original compositions. He made a demo recording of some of some of his songs and was asked to submit a theme song for a new pilot television programme that was being made by Channel 9 Television. Tony has recently adapted Australia's most famous iconic poem, ‘My Country’ by the late Dorothea Mackellar and set it to music. It has received approval from the Dorothea Mackellar Trust executors in Australia for it to be recorded for general release.

TOOTS Hugh (Toots) McConnell grew up next door to the Comerford family in William Street and are life-long friends. Toots learned guitar sitting in at practice sessions in the front room of 10A. As the years progressed, Toots became very proficient and a permanent member of the band. (still referred to as ‘the other brother’). Toots played with the Comerford Brothers for many years and later with Michael in a duo called ‘Sapphire’ that played throughout the 1980’s and then in a four-piece band ‘Broadstreet’ after which Toots retired from public performance. He is an enthusiastic photographer and loves spending time on the lakes and waterways of Ireland.

MICHAEL Michael began playing double-bass at 11 in the De La Salle School Accordeon band and within two years, had got brother Frank and two friends (Robbie O’Keeffe on drums and Mick O’Connor on guitar) to form a band. This line-up only lasted a year before the brothers joined and formed the young Comerford Brothers, with Michael, Frank, Tony and Toots McConnell which then went on to play the regular Olympia gigs.

In the 70’s Michael formed the Brotherhood with brother John joining the lineup. Michael ,always the organiser looked after the progress of the band through the years. In fact the reunion in 1983 was Michaels idea and he made it happen to great success. In 1975, after the country's premier Showband, The Royal Showband broke up, its drummer and vocalist Charlie Matthews teamed up with John and Michael to form The Charlie Matthews Trio and they worked the music scene in the southeast. Tragically in 1977 John Comerford, still only 32, passed away. Toots McConnell stepped into the line-up and this combination played on until 1982. In 1991, Michael, together with fellow musician Michael Dower compiled an extensive collection of musical artist and bands photographs (over 300) and edited and published a book on Waterford entertainment covering the past 50 years. The book is called ‘Heads and Tales’. The book includes all Waterford, Kilkenny, Dungarvan and Carrick bands from the Showband days, the local group scene, the ballad scene, ‘Tops’, all the Waterford Brass Bands and of course our big exports Val Doonican, Hal Roche, Brendan Bowyer and Gilbert O’Sullivan.

Michael enjoyed success with another band ‘Broadstreet’ in the 90’s and in 2001 joined the hugely popular 10-piece dance band ‘Brass&Co’. This band enjoys great success across |Ireland and has released two albums, with a third in the planning stage.

--- The younger Comerford brothers quickly established themselves as one of the big draws in the clubs and they were working constantly at Weddings, Dinner-Dances (which were a big annual event for most businesses throughout the 70''s and 80's) and Conference Dances. They also played regular Saturday night dance 'hops' at the St. Annes Tennis Club on St. John's Hill, the St. Johns Youth Club, The Crystal in Thomas Street and there were some great nights at the Fisherman’s Hall, Dunmore. On one occasion, heading for a gig at the Tennis Club, the wagon broke down and neighbour Bill McConnell used his Austin Cambridge car to transport the ‘gear’ for the show. With only enough room for all the equipment in the car, the boys all stood on the back bumper, held onto the roof bar, and scooted up St. John’s hill to the tennis club. Hmmmm, the things we did back then.!!!! This young, popular Waterford group will be remembered by many Ballroom goers of the late 60's as the resident 'Support Band' where they performed from 9 to 11pm every Friday and Sunday night at the mecca of music in Waterford - The Olympia Ballroom. This ballroom played host to the top national bands and visiting international artists and had a capacity of 2000. Some of the big name artists that the boys had the pleasure of supporting included ‘The Tremeloes’; ‘The Troggs’; ‘Roy Orbison’; ‘The great Plattermen’; ‘The Move’; ‘Eddie Grant and The Equals’; ‘Dave Dee Dozy Beaky Mick and Titch’; Geno Washington & his Ram Jam Band’; ‘The Freshmen’ and number one Irish band, ’The Royal Showband’. They also regularly supported the top national and international bands at the Atlantic Ballroom, Tramore on the Tuesday nights during the summer months.

During the 1960's the Comerford Brothers played in many Tops shows as part of the variety show and won the Best Group award for 6 years in a row. After an absence of 7 years, they returned to the stage variety shows and again won the coveted Best Group award.

During the 1980’s, Tony, Michael and Toots toured many USA states (in a different genre of music) as a ballad group called ‘The Irish Balladeers’’ with top Dublin comedian Shaun Connors. This was part of a tourism drive with successful Irish travel company ’Terry Flynn Tours’, and resulted in increased numbers of USA tourists coming to our shores. (Many Waterford bands will remember Terry Flynn fondly as he was responsible for transporting lots of bands around the country to gigs).

In 1983, The Comerford Brothers were persuaded to reform for a series of Concert gigs which were a phenomenal success - and to coincide with the shows, the band released an album of 12 songs. The album reflected the music of the 1960's/1970's era.

The title of the album was 'Comerford Brothers Reunion’ and featured 12 tracks. Suddenly You Love me Yo Te Amo Maria Song Of the Mira Mohair Sam Castles In The Air Hold My Hand Mary From Dungloe Lying In the Arms of Mary She Noreen Bawn Teach Your Children Rhythm Of the Rain.

Then in 1999, before the remains of the iconic Olympic Ballroom on Parnell Street was to be torn down for re-development, local businessman Ollie O’Brien decided to restore the venue and hold one last weekend of Ballroom Dances there. So The Comerford Brothers were once again pressed into getting together for an appearance. That weekend of music was a huge success and could have sold out twice over. The last time the Comerford Brothers played live together was at a benefit night at the Tower Hotel Waterford for the Waterford Hospice In 2010

Our sisters, Margaret and Marian were both good singers but never had enough interest in the music scene to be part of it. They both stayed local and married. Sadly Margaret passed away in June 2001. R.I.P.

Now into 2014, with most of the boys retired, they have enthusiastically embraced the health culture and get together each week to go walking the scenic places in Waterford City and County.

Musically, they have now begun a regular weekly session of singing ‘accapella’ (singing without musical instruments) using just their voices on songs with 6-part harmonies. Songs like the Beatles ‘Nowhere Man’, The Beach Boys ‘In My Room’ and and The Eagles ‘Seven Bridges Road’. To date there are no plans for a final farewell performance!!!!!