An exhibition in Waterford on the showband era places Brendan Bowyer's Royal Showband centre stage once more, writes Catherine Foley
One young band that supported the Royal Showband at a British gig in the 1960s impressed Brendan Bowyer, the showband's lead singer. A superstar in Ireland at the time, Bowyer recalls how he urged the four lads to "keep at it" that night in the Liverpool Empire.
It was to be a couple more months before this new band, the Beatles, hit the big time. He smiles at the thought of it now, worrying that he may have spoken in an arrogant way to the Fab Four as they ate their chips out the back.
It was 1961, the year after Bowyer's Waterford band had scooped the top UK prize for "the most outstanding dance band", the Carl Alan Award. The Royal Showband had eight number one hits in Ireland, including Hucklebuck in 1965, which was their biggest success.
Bowyer was gorgeous, according to Bernie Sexton, a front-desk receptionist at Waterford Museum of Treasures, where an exhibition, celebrating the showband era, entitled Hucklebuck Time - A Celebration of the Generation that Danced Their Way Into History, opened this week. She recalls the glory days of Brendan Bowyer, when the swivel of his hips could cause hysteria.
"We were very, very innocent then. We were auld eejits but he was brilliant, he was sex on legs," she says. Going to hear Brendan Bowyer and the Royal Showband at the Olympia Ballroom in Waterford was "the highlight of the week", she adds.
Bowyer, a soft-spoken 67-year-old, was in his hometown of Waterford this week to open the exhibition with Dr Pat Wallace, director of the National Museum of Ireland. It includes old photographs, long-forgotten LPs, musical instruments, a pair of white suede shoes, items of clothing worn by band members and vintage RTÉ footage of the band on tour in Ireland.
One item on view is a letter from a fan in Fermoy, Co Cork, asking for "instructions" on how to do "the hucklebuck". It was Bowyer's mother, Maura, who handled all his fan mail, he says.
The exhibition concentrates in particular on the contribution made to the showband era by Waterford bands, such as the Blue Aces, the Derek Joys, the Savoy, the Foottappers, the Fleetwoods and, in particular, the Royal.
"America had Elvis, England the Beatles, and Ireland the showbands . . . and the greatest showband was the Royal from Waterford," declares one proud headline in the exhibition.
Bowyer's father, Stanley, was an orchestral conductor, violinist and pianist: "I was brought up on Gigli and Maria Callas," he recalls. Although he was always into pop music, it was when "Elvis happened" in the 1950s that he and some friends in the city got together to form a band.
There were seven in the band, including Bowyer, who sang and played the trombone, Michael Coppinger, saxophone player and the band's leader, and Eddie Sullivan, the trumpet player. Tom Dunphy, another member, a singer and bass guitarist, was killed in a car crash in 1975. The other members were Jim Conlon, Gerry Cullen and Charlie Matthews.
"We did put on a show, a bit of visual. We also had to play dance, and we had to do a session of slow waltzes." Recalling those days, Bowyer stresses the fact that "the whole social activity of the country was there, it was boy meets girl".
Today Bowyer, who still performs and who has been based in the US for 30 years, believes "the 1960s was pivotal" in music terms. "There was a mini Celtic Tiger that went on with Seán Lemass. The economy was strong in the 1960s. That was a big factor in the showband era because people had money to spend . . . Ireland is prominent on the world stage now, so we were in a pioneering place." By the end of the 1960s there were 400 dance halls in the country.
AS THE BLACK and white archive footage, which is on view at the exhibition, flickers on the screen, there is a sense of what those long ago days must have been like. Called The One Nighters, and directed by Peter Collison, it shows the band members being picked up from their homes as they head off in duffle coats carrying their instruments, to travel through the streets and along deserted country roads in their bus to the venue. Much later, after all the music, it shows them sleeping on the bus and then returning home to sleeping families.
"It seems so long ago but yet it seems like yesterday," says Bowyer, a hint of sadness in his voice. He performs now with his daughter, Aisling. The two will do shows at a number of venues around Ireland in July. Bowyer mentions the joy of coming home and the Bon Jovi song Who Says You Can't Come Home?
"I must use that as an opening number," he says, his eyes lighting up.
Hucklebuck Time: a Celebration of the Generation That Danced Their Way into History continues at Waterford Museum of Treasures until Sun, Aug 20
Brendan and Aisling Bowyer play Gleneagle Hotel, Killarney, Co Kerry on Jul 8, 22 and 29 and Tinteán Theatre, Ballybunion, Co Kerry on Jul 21