 
Albums Silver & Dust and
Exit Helsville
are available for download @ the digital outlets above.
(To download, click on the pictures)
Bio
I played my first gig in the summer of 1980 in a shed
in rural South Mayo in the west of
Ireland
. Within a few months we had made the gloriously stupid mistake of changing our
name from The Vibration Squad to New Testament. I think it was something to do
with a changing line-up. With Joy Division and The Clash as major
influences we were equal parts Gothic doom and rock 'n' roll swagger.
Low slung guitars and eye liner were the order of the day, and we must have
raised a few eyebrows as we brought our songs of angst and rebellion to dance
halls, pubs, parish halls, and student events around the Wild West.
My next ensemble was even more bizarre. Formed in 1986, The Swinging
Swine combined country, folk and psychedelic rock 'n' roll in a way that
offended more than a few journalists. It was that dark bleak decade when it was
a novelty to have a friend who had a real job. Money was hard to come by and it
took us until 1990 to find funds to release a record. Appearing on more TV
shows than I care to remember, we had a small following for a few years, and
even scraped onto the lower rungs of the Irish Top 30. There was scant loyalty in those days and the band
imploded shortly afterwards. Following a Kerouac type sojourn on the American west coast, I arrived back
in
Ireland
with a bunch of new songs and quickly put together Captain Hex. Back in those
days the Irish music business wasn't so corporate, so we could manipulate the
media and score TV shows easily enough, and we gigged happily for a few
years, but with a couple of single releases under our belt we were staring
disinterest in the face. Around that time ecstasy was the new big thing and live
music seemed to take a back seat to the clubbing scene. I wrote the music for a
play that had a two week run at
Dublin
Castle
, and with that I quit music.
With a young son in my life, I took on jobs as a roadie, bar tender, bootlegger,
jewelry salesperson. I played harmonica on one of Blink's records, and mandolin
on a Hyper Borea record that won a Hot Press Award. I eventually got hired to
play rhythm guitar with ex-Beautiful South singer Brianna Corrigan. The band
toured the
UK
and it was a never ending party....until the record company pulled the
plug. With the money I had saved, I started to record what would become the
first Racketeers album, and within six months of the albums release I was on a ferry,
looking back at the solid white cliffs of Dover
It was a hectic time. Paddy pubs and mad houses
masquerading as music halls, we continued to bring them the songs they often did
not want to hear. Our adventures took us from the lowlands of
Holland
to the
Arctic Circle
, through the Baltics and beyond. I imagined myself the rock 'n' roll equivalent
of Ed Wood. But if the money was right and there was a place to kip, we would
turn up and put on a show of sorts. Not unlike Horslips in the 70's who played
rural Irish ballrooms, we played dodgy bars throughout
Europe
where cover bands reigned supreme. What they made of us is any body's guess,
but we got away with it for a long time. While the first album, 'By Hook Or By
Crook' got us good publicity and opened new doors for us, its follow-up, 'Long
Time Gone' suffered a distribution nightmare. Occasionally I meet people
who tell me it's their favourite racketeers album, and who am I to argue.
It would take four years before 'Exit Hellsville' would see the light of day and
put us back on track. With Jack White calling his new band The Raconteurs, and
there being 3 (at the last count) other racketeers out there, one in Boston, one
in L.A and one in the UK, the recent album 'Silver and Dust' is credited to
Eamonn Dowd and The Racketeers and released by cool German label, Cannery Row Records. This year we're in the process of releasing 4 download/promo singles on each equinox and solstice. It's my pagan way of marking time on the wheel of the year. There's a new album in the pipeline too.
Of the 80 -100 gigs a year that I play, about 70% are
solo, the rest with the band - Chris Teusner on drums
and Leslie Keye on bass. Other players come and go, and I've been lucky to
have played with some talented musicians over the past decade, and I've met
some great people along the way. So, if you make it down to a gig some night,
come up and say 'hello'. We might have more in common than you
realize..............
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