MacD on Music: New Year, Old Tribe

So, we’re officially into 2024 which means we’ve got another year of brilliant music coming up.

Next month sees the release of CHERYM’s much-anticipated debut album ‘Take It Or Leave It’, on the 16th February with a launch in the Nerve Centre on the 9th February. That’s just one of many, many highlights over the next twelve months.

This year, the gigs are kicking off early, with some brilliant ones taking place this month, including the one night only reunion of The Whole Tribe Sings, also taking place in the Nerve Centre on the 20th January. To start off the year, I’m talking to Tribesman Declan McLaughlin about the gig and the history of the group:

“There was me and Paddy [Nash] and Dougal [McPartland] and there had been varying other musicians and we had been the Screaming Bin Lids and we were kind of like a punk/folk, at any given point, depending on who was in the band, that informed the kind of music we were making.

“But during that period of the mid-’90s, we wanted to change that sound and become a bigger band and maybe use music in a way that hadn’t been done before. We wanted to be a band celebrating what we had achieved.

“That was the idea, making music people could dance to, that they could enjoy. That’s when the Whole Tribe Sings was conceived. From early on, people came to see us to enjoy it.”

“At that point in time, from the mid-’90s to maybe the early-2000s, the amount of original bands that were in Derry was incredible.

“There was us, there was Schtum, there was Cuckoo, there was the Stray Toasters, there was Rare, all these bands that were producing original material at a really, really high standard. I’ve always believe that people talk about what makes Derry different from everywhere else, the main thing to me is just it’s musical talent.”

“The Whole Tribe Sings, the difference between ourselves and a lot of the other bands, we were out to have a good time.

“We were still addressing the issues that needed addressed, like homelessness and drug addiction, but we were doing it in a way that people could come out and celebrate what we were doing. To me that has always been very important, that we celebrate where we are.”

“At that point, in the early-2000s, we got the chance to go to America. We signed to a wee label called Brass Booty. We went out first and set up camp in Chapel Hill in North Carolina, and from there we moved to Hartford, Connecticut, we signed to another record label called Valley and we spent the guts of two years just touring up and down the I-95 and that took its toll and while we were there September 11th happened and at that point, not only did America change, but I think the world changed.

The introduction of downloading, Napster was a big thing then. The music industry itself was trying to figure out how it was going to deal with all that. I think we were just the right band at the wrong time. The fact that we were just touring and touring and touring, people were getting homesick.”

“Within the music game, for bands, you have to feel that you’re moving up the ways. You start off doing bars, you move from bars to clubs, from clubs to venues. What happened was, whilst we were in America, ‘Happy’ was going to be the single, September 11th happened and ‘Happy’ wasn’t the song to be playing at that point in time.

“We had a good time, and we got a lot further than we ever thought we were going to get. We had spent the guts of three years living and performing in America, recording and partying and having a good time, but we got to an age where we wanted to do other things.

“This will be the twentieth anniversary of the band breaking up, and it’s for Tuned In, which is a charity that both Paddy and Wally [Phillip James Wallace, aka Waldorf of & Cannon-fame] and it’s to take kids with special needs to Disney.

“It’s great to get back again with the rest of them and go over the old set. Tomas [MacSeain] is coming back from America so it’s going to be fun, if nothing else.

“There’s a huge line-up playing that night as well, there’s Reevah and a pile of other local bands playing. I think this would probably be the last, not that you can never say never. It’ll be a good concert.”

And that’s column #1 of 2024. The Whole Tribe Sings will be playing the Nerve Centre on Saturday 20th January. Tickets are £12 and available now.

Now, social time: Declan McLaughlin can be found on Facebook and Instagram @declanmclaughlin_derry and the Nerve Centre @nerve_centre.