‘I’m a finance director by day but by night I play accordion in a band – we’ve even gone on tour with Sir Rod Stewart’

A finance director who also plays the accordion for a band which has toured with Sir Rod Stewart, taking work meetings from a tour bus and playing to thousands, said “the whole thing is incredible”.

Terry Dourish, 46, from Glasgow, plays the keyboard and the accordion for Celtic-folk and rock and roll band Johnny Mac & The Faithful alongside his day job as a finance director at the Di Maggio’s Restaurant Group (DRG).

The father-of-four joined the Scottish band in 2017, and two years later they found themselves supporting Sir Rod on three of the singer’s concert tours after the band’s front man, John McLaughlin, formed a close friendship with the superstar.

A regular day for Terry involved getting up as his bandmates were going to bed, doing a day’s work on his laptop, heading to soundcheck, performing in front of thousands and getting up the next day to do it all over again.

John recently created a new show which he and the band performed throughout the Edinburgh Fringe Festival titled For the Love of Shane MacGowan in homage to the late front man of The Pogues, with a tour scheduled for December and new dates set to be released for April next year due to its popularity.

“I think just in general, the whole thing is incredible,” Terry told PA Real Life.

“I’ve had the chance to play in stadiums, I’ve played in the Hydro eight or nine times, I’ve played in the O2 Arena four times, I’ve met Rod Stewart through it, I’ve met Ronnie Wood through it.

“I’m so grateful for the opportunity my parents gave me in learning music and the experiences it has given me are unbelievable.”

Terry has been playing the keyboard since he was six years old and the accordion since he was nine, praising his former music teacher Frank McArdle for the opportunity it has given him.

“I’ve played music since I was young and it’s the one thing I’m not bad at,” Terry said.

“I was taught (to play the accordion) by a teacher called Frank McArdle who started the St Roch’s Ceili Band, a traditional Irish music group from Glasgow.

“That was a brilliant experience for me in terms of learning to play in groups from a young age and over the years Frank has taught hundreds, maybe thousands, of young people a variety of instruments over 40 plus years which is incredible dedication from him.

“It was through that experience and opportunity that I learned to be able to play and that’s what’s given me the opportunity now to do this.”

His journey playing in Johnny Mac & The Faithful began in 2017 after the group were looking for an accordionist for a concert at Glasgow’s Hydro arena to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Celtic football club winning the European Cup in Lisbon.

“As part of it, Johnny Mac & The Faithful were signed up to do two or three supporter songs and John McLaughlin, who is Johnny Mac, had been putting Celtic songs together,” Terry said.

“He needed to get a band together to go on stage that night to do the show and they were looking for someone to play the accordion.

“We did the show and it was great but it was kind of a one-off.”

It was not until two years later that the band were thrust into the limelight after lead vocalist John phoned Terry “to say he’d become friends over the time with Rod Stewart”.

“Rod Stewart had heard a piece of music on Celtic TV that John had written and he got in touch with Celtic TV to find out who had put the music together and if he could use it,” Terry said.

“Over that period, they became friends and co-wrote together, and that song became Julia on his Blood Red Roses album.”

Terry said the band were invited on tour with Sir Rod to play as a supporting act for the superstar’s 2019 stadium tour.

“At that point in time, we didn’t have any back catalogue, we didn’t have any songs and John got on the case writing the band’s first album,” Terry said.

“We kind of put that all together and went on tour playing in stadiums from Southampton’s football ground, to York racecourse, to the Cork Gaelic ground – it was surreal.”

The band were invited to tour and support Sir Rod again for his arena tours in 2019 and 2022.

“There were times when we were in the back of the van, driving down to wherever it would be, and I would be on my laptop or doing a call and the guys are just jumping around in front of me,” he said.

“I was still trying to be kind of serious at that point but it just became a kind of joke within the band – they respected what I was doing but it was just a bit of real good fun.”

He said the close connection between John and Sir Rod also came with a few perks – which included the band being invited to the singer’s house to perform at his Christmas party in 2019.

“At one point you’ve got Ronnie Wood up playing guitar with us, you’ve got Rod Stewart and his band there and you’re thinking to yourself, ‘this is insane’.

“Just being part of that for those kind of experiences is incredible.

“And meeting the guys in the band, these are guys that I didn’t know that have now become real friends.”

Terry also praised his employers Mario Gizzi and Tony Conetta at Di Maggio’s Restaurant Group for being “incredibly supportive”, saying it is only because of their “flexibility” that he can do both the things he loves in tandem.

The company owns around 30 restaurants and two hotels across Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Newcastle, with Terry managing the finances for the whole group.

“I love both of those things and from a family point of view, I need to do my day job – that’s what sustains us and that’s how I earn my money.”

Terry, who said the late Shane MacGowan was “another good friend of John’s”, said the show created in a “tribute to his legacy” is “probably going to be the next evolution of Johnny Mac & The Faithful”.

He said: “It’s John telling stories about (Shane), sharing those stories, sharing photographs as sort of a tribute to his legacy.”

Terry said “when there’s a will, there’s a way” in his message to others about juggling their passions while earning a living.

“You absolutely need the support of your family, and in particular my wife Celia has been amazing, you need the support of your colleagues and your employers but when there’s a will there’s a way if you really want to make it happen,” he said.

“I could have looked back in 2019 and said ‘no I can’t do it’ and those opportunities I would have missed are phenomenal.

“I think sometimes you’ve just got to go and take that risk and make it work.”