Wednesdays won’t ever be quiet again
THE WHITE GORILLAS WILL KEEP YOU ENTERTAINED
NOT TOO long ago, Wednesday nights in Sligo were quiet with little to offer.
Live music was hard to come by, but this all changed when Fiddlers Creek started to hold a weekly music residency.
From then on midweek business started to pick up substantially, with four piece cover band The White Gorillas playing a huge role in this transformation.
The White Gorillas come from various parts of Ireland but call Sligo their musical home.
Made up of Noel Kenny, Ray McAndrew, Joey Kennedy and Sean O'Reilly, pictured, all have years of musical experience but one thing was missing for them - regular midweek gigs.
Ray McAndrew, who formed the quartet, said: “We are really just a continuation of some other bands we play in to keep us busy during the week.
“We would be incredibly busy from maybe Thursday to Monday, but we didn't want to lose touch playing wise in those one or two days we had off so I was looking to sort something out midweek for years.”
Ray, originally from Ballina, Co. Mayo, contacted Fergal Harrison from Fiddlers who agreed to give this midweek slot a chance.
“Originally we would play on a Tuesday night but then other pubs around Sligo started to do music at that time so we changed to Wednesday.
“To be honest we didn't know how long we would be there.
“We were conscious that the crowds would not buy into it at all and it did take a couple of years for it to take off but when it did it became a fantastic night in Sligo.” Lead singer, Noel Kenny, echoed similar thoughts. The Wexford native along with guitarist Joey Kennedy was busy gigging all over Ireland with their band Gorilla Radio.
But both were extremely open to the opportunity when they were contacted by Ray.
Noel said: “Obviously I had to think about it a bit when the midweek thing came up because I wasn't sure it would work.
“Myself and Joey were obviously already very busy but music is our passion and in the end we were delighted to take up the option.
“It has really paid off now as I love coming to Sligo every week, it's fantastic fun and I've met so many new people and musicians from this.” But one member of the band must be forgiven if he misses a gig. When drummer Sean O'Reilly isn't playing with The White Gorillas, he is most likely touring Europe with Johnny Gallagher and the Boxtie Band.
But Sean often goes from playing in front of thousands of people at massive venues in France, to playing in the local residency gig. He said: “I do spend a lot of time out of the country touring with Johnny but I love coming back and playing at Fiddlers.
“It's a really intimate gig and it's great fun too because at this stage we nearly know everyone that comes in to listen to us.”
The crowd too react to Sean O' Reilly's presence as he gives a weekly master show on the drums with a spectacular solo that is not to be missed.
Even though great success has come The White Gorillas way, the quartet did receive a scare recently.
The band unknowingly used the logo of an American group as their own, and management, as well as fans, decided to let them know.
Noel said: “I was actually just at home putting my daughter to bed when my phone blew up with notifications.
“A load of people were commenting on our Facebook page under the logo saying we had stolen it and we were thieves.
“We had just found the photo on Google Images so we had no idea it belonged to someone else but we realised our mistake, took down the logo and issued an apology on Facebook.”
Ray McAndrew said: “We were shocked by the whole controversy because we're not ones to get involved in anything like this.
“When Noel told me the bands manager contacted him I knew it was serious but at the same time I couldn't help but laugh. We like to turn things into humour so we decided to have a little bit of fun and christen the controversy Logogate!”
As The White Gorillas get over this recent blip, they continue to bring live music to Fiddlers Creek every Wednesday night.
But hopefully next time it will be under a brand new, original logo.