FLYING THE CELTIC FLAG
Glowering, moody rock music, polished and textured, earthed with the ethnic sound of Irish trad.
Celtus are a new Irish-Celtic rock group who have just released their debut album.
They tell Roderick O'Connor they have rock stadiums and even the charts in their sights.
Besides a name which travels easily to home and international markets, fitting into categories including Irish, folk, ethnic, world music and new world music, Celtus have a number of winning qualities. For a start, London-based core members Pat and John McManus have considerable musical experience behind them, and yet are still in their 20s. When we connected recently, Celtus had just played their first gig supporting mega successful rock chic Sheryl Crow in no less a venue than the Royal Albert Hall. Crow and Celtus share the same agent. "Our dream is to headline in the Point Depot, our music works best in big venues," John tells me. You begin to understand why major record label Sony, who signed them up last year, is said to be very excited about this group.
Based on a farm near Enniskillen, in Northern Ireland's Co Fermanagh, the McManus family was steeped in all kinds of music, particularly traditional Irish music and folk. John became an All-Ulster Champion on tin whistle regularly between the age of seven and twelve, while Pat was an All-Ireland Champion on fiddle by the age of fourteen. John also plays flute, bodhran, uilleann pipes and bass guitar, while Pat also plays guitar and bouzouki.
They joined the family group playing at fleadhs and pubs at weekends. "I hated it, says John. -Playing was great but I didnt like pubs, with their pool tables and noise." They not only learned traditional tunes, but learned the commercial benefits of playing the popular music of the day, even playing country and rhythm and blues. So when Horslips arrived, it was what they were waiting for. "At that stage, besides Irish music, we were playing lots of rock music. Hearing them together was great."
In the early 80s, when only in their teens, with another brother Tommy who was then only 13, they formed the heavy rock band, Mamas Boys, who enjoyed varying levels of success for over a decade. They were hugely dedicated to Mamas Boys, and gained a massive amount of experience playing and performing, writing, touring, recording.Tommy who was central to the bands hard rock ethos, died in 1994, from an illness. It changed everything. "We thought that was the end of it," says John. Mamas Boys were no more and they went their separate ways. But John says it was the event which led he and Pat back to Irish music.
One day I picked up a low whistle which Tommy had given me as a present and I started to play Irish music for the first time in years. It was then I wrote the tune Brother's Lament". It's one of the few straightforwardly traditional tunes on the album. It's been a strange journey from trad to rock to trad-rock. Now Celtus are chasing the mainstream of commercial success, flying the Celtic culture flag, along with the likes of Riverdance and The Corrs.
August 1997
