LEO MORANThe Saw Doctors guitarist shares his thoughts on Oxegen, longevity and the race for the Áras, with EOIN BUTLER
So it's Oxegen weekend and you're on the bill again. It's a great occasion. It's a rite of passage for Leaving Cert students. My son is 20 and thinks he's too old for it. So that's a challenge for us. It's the same venue, but a new audience each year.
You've been derided by some as a novelty act. But after almost 25 years together, you're still enormously popular.We enjoy what we do – I think that's what it comes down to. The songs connect with people. We're always writing new songs, but there are enough "bankers" in our set to keep the show going.
What's the essence of a Saw Doctors hit?It's hard to define. We write a lot of songs that don't work. But you know when you stumble on something that does. You don't know where it'll come from and you're not sure it'll connect with anyone until you've played it live. But you've just got to keep trying. It's like sport. It doesn't matter if you won, lost or drew last week. It's all about looking to the next game.
Which of your songs got the greatest reaction the first time you playedit? Probably N17. It seemed silly to us at the time because no one called that road the N17. It was the Galway Road out of Tuam, or the Tuam Road out of Galway. Davy [Carton] and I were in McEvoys pub after we'd written it and we didn't play it. I think we were embarrassed, because no one had ever written a song about the Galway Road before.
What convinced you to give it a go?The pub closed and we went up to the hotel for a bit of a late session. I suppose we were feeling a bit less inhibited. Davy started singing "well I didn't see much future when I left the Christian Brothers school" and the whole place went silent. People immediately tuned in. We couldn't believe it, because we were fighting embarrassment just to play it. But it's true what they say – it's when you reveal something of yourself that your songs really resonate with people.
You still live in Tuam. But songs such as 'Same Oul' Town' suggest a deep ambivalence about the place. That's my favourite of all our songs. People have this idea of us as a fun, party act, that we're upbeat and frivolous all the time. But Same Oul' Town tells the other side of the story. And to be honest, I'm as interested in one side as I am in the other.
You've got a huge overseas fanbase. How many weeks a year do you tour?We do about 100 gigs a year, so that's about five or six months of touring. We play Britain and North America mostly. We try to do Europe the odd time and we were in Australia last year. We get to visit a lot of places we wouldn't have seen otherwise.
One American newspaper has even called you Ireland's answer to the Grateful Dead. I think that was a reference to our fanbase. Our popularity isn't driven by the radio or television or the music press. It's all word of mouth and we have people who travel to see us at more than one gig on a tour. So we get on stage in Cleveland or San Francisco and there'll be 100 people in the audience we recognise straight off.
Do fans ever express their devotion in any odd ways?Not really. They're very ordinary people. But they do feel very proprietorial towards us, because they feel they've found us themselves. They love passing the word on and bringing other people on board. There was a family who came to see us in New Hampshire a few years ago and there were four generations of them there. None of them were Irish, not even the great-grandmother. The local references in our songs have never been a problem. If anything they've been an asset. Very often when you reference a particular place or a thing abroad it sounds even more important or romantic to them than it actually is.
So they probably imagine the N17 is some majestic highway?Exactly. They have a picture of the N17 that . . . isn't necessarily what it looks like.
Finally, you once wrote a song in praise of Michael D Higgins. Will you be supporting him for president?Absolutely. I studied under him in UCG and he was just a breath of fresh air. He's so broad-minded, compassionate and well versed in international issues. When he speaks about something, you can bet he knows what he's talking about. Of course, he's bound to be a bit colourful and controversial. But I think he would make a wonderful ambassador for the country.
Lesser writers would have struggled to come up with a rhyme for Michael D. You came with six, including "up on his bike-ldy".Well, the Saw Doctors reserve the right to be silly!
The Saw Doctors new single Be Yourselfis out today