Interview with Gary O'Dea - part 2

Jack and Shane - cultural icons

In last month’s edition we published the first part of an interview with Black Country born singer-songwriter and guitarist, Gary O’Dea. In the first part of the interview, Gary talked about the generation of his Irish and English grandparents and how the family’s sense of identity was influenced by their Black Country surroundings and experiences in the 2nd world war.

 I asked Gary how his musical interests developed:

“I grew up a lot at my nan’s house listening to my uncle’s records in the 60s and 70s. He was into the groups like the Small Faces, Jimi Hendrix and the Stones, all that kind of thing. Around the time I left school in 1978 I was influenced a lot by punk music, but mainly I was a big soul music fan, I loved Northern Soul, Tamla and Stax. I liked The Jam as I felt they were doing soul music stuff and The Clash too as there was a reggae influence in stuff like White Man in Hammersmith Palais, which was about white kids being into reggae. Reggae was big around these parts because of Steel Pulse and their album Handsworth Revolution and ska-revival stuff like Gangsters by The Specials from Coventry. There were great things going on in music in this area and UB40 were also something else.”

Some interesting musical influences, but did Irish heritage have any influence for you as a young musician in the Black Country?

“My old man was actually a big Elvis fan and there was always a lot of rock ‘n’ roll and country being played in our house, but also some of the Irish stuff like Fields of Athenry would get sung every now and then, especially if there was a family get-together at Christmas. But I do remember when The Pogues came out, that was a magic moment.”

“I saw them live at the Fleadh Festival in Finsbury Park in London. I took my lads when they were kids, they were only little tackers and when The Pogues came on stage I got them up by the mixing desk. It was in a great big circus tent and people were climbing up the poles, people were going bananas and my kids had their mouths wide open saying “Dad, look at him …look at him!” They’ll mention it to this day as “that nuts’ party where The Pogues played in that park”. Later I saw them at Aston Villa Leisure Centre when Joe Strummer stepped in for Shane MacGowan when he became too ill. That was brilliant with Joe too.”

Another significant area of Gary’s life where his Irish heritage was to have an influence was as a sports fan:

“I remember when I went to see Celtic feeling this is my football club. I just love that football club, the fans and what they’re about. That’s my international team if you like. I do follow the Republic of Ireland team more so than any other, I ain’t really bothered about England as much now, I used to like to see them do alright but I think over the last number of years I’ve lost all interest. I think it was the Jack Charlton thing that was brilliant. I remember the one game when they played England in the European Championships in West Germany, I think it was 1-0 to Ireland and if they played that game again it might be a different result as England hit the bar and had a couple cleared off the line, the Republic would probably lose 3-1.”

“I remember going into a pub in Tipton called The Rose and Crown and some of my mates going “who yow gonna support then, I bet yow following the Paddies ay yer?” and I remember saying “have I got two horns come out o’ me head?” but they wanted someone to be the opposition and I remember having this conversation and saying “well I think they’ve got a great chance” and them saying “what d’you mean they got a great chance?” But you know, they were drawn from the same teams and Ireland had Paul McGrath from the Villa at that time, he was the best centre half in Europe, and I bet some money with them and they were all “I’ll have some of that, I’ll have some of that” and I was broke and I thought “oh no, I’m going to be about 40 quid out here” Then I remember watching the game and about 7 o clock of the night when the pub opened, I was over there. Two seconds past seven I was in that boozer, “come on!” and they’ve never let me forget that.”

Events like winning a football match or getting excited about a new band may not seem quite so culturally significant in 2015, but Gary reminds us that supporting Ireland in an English pub (on your own) was once a ground breaking, if risky, thing to do. My thanks to Gary O’Dea for his memories.  

Visit the blog at

http://harp-gathering.blogspot.co.uk/

Join our Facebook group at

http://www.facebook.com/groups/420135884725856/

Please send your stories and photos to Pete Millington at recollections.contact@yahoo.co.uk