Q & A with The Saw Doctors

The Saw Doctors are an Irish institution at this stage, playing around Ireland and the world consistently for the last 24-odd years and making a load of appearances on the Den back in the Zig and Zag days. Meg caught up with Saw Doctors mainstay Leo Moran to talk about gigging, the new album and GAA…

Howya Kevin, thanks for asking, here are the results of the Tuam Jury..

24 years in and about to coming up on album number seven, still enjoying yourselves?

I’m enjoying myself more now than I ever did; the band is playing hard and tight, we have a brand new album of eleven songs ready to hit the world with, we’ve been to Australia, the States, Norway and all over Britain so far this year and we’ve got our first visit to Switzerland coming up as well as the release of the album and two weeks back in the US. Fingers crossed we can stay healthy and keep enjoying it…

Why do you think you have managed to achieve longevity?

We love what we’re doing, people relate to the songs, we treat it a bit more professionally than many people might think and we keep investing our earnings in the future.

What can fans expect from the new album?

We’re being told that it’s more rocky than normal for us – it’s not for me to say what it sounds like, it’s up to the listeners…

What’s been the highlight of your time together as a band? Hard to single out one highlight from twenty-plus years of gigging I know, but sure feck it, try!

As recently as last May we played an amazing sell-out show to four thousand people in The House Of Blues in Boston; we hadn’t played in such an impressive venue, to that many people, in our own right, in that part of the world. Looking back there’s the Glastonburys, The Albert Hall with Sam Maguire, The Governor of Maryland’s Inauguration Ball, the first West’s Awake in Tuam in 1991, The Glasgow Barrowland, every time, playing with The Undertones in Galway – the list goes on……

I’ve seen the Saw Doctors play live a couple of times and Leo is constantly giving the nod to people in the audience. Is that just being friendly or do you always know plenty of heads in the crowd?

When an act goes on stage there are many avenues of communication to be aware of – the songs, how well they’re played, the demeanour of the band, the lighting and visuals and the face-to-face contact with the audience, who are simply other people in the same room as us, out for a good time. Often I know the people I’m nodding at, sometimes I’m just acknowledging a smile or a gesture.

You are all GAA fans (I think, anyway Hay Wrap was on repeat around my house for a few years back in the day, my Mam is from Mayo and was a big Willie Joe fan) do you think Louth should have got a replay?

I feel very sorry for them but unless a different approach is taken as to how refereeing decisions are made, I think we’ll have to stick with the old wisdom that the referee’s decision (no matter how wrong) is final.

What about Paul Galvin what’s the craic with him?

You’d prefer to have him playing for you rather than against you! He has that x factor which draws notice on himself, which is often a bullet in his own foot. As for the Kerry belief that he’s being victimized – I don’t go along with that.

And Mayo and Galway footballers, they were useless this year, why do you think that was?

Good teams come in cycles and neither Galway nor Mayo are at the crest of a wave at the moment; some very good players but just not enough national standard talent to stand up to the best of the counties.

Finally, back to a music question, who or what are you listening to at the moment? Any recommendations for meg.ie readers?

I keep an eye out on local stuff all the time; here in Tuam you have The Ralphs and The Coonics, The Government, Noelie McDonnell and many more all doing good and interesting music. Off the middle of the road there’s a young woman from Galway, Laura Sheeran, doing amazing darkly melodic moody tunes. Then of course last week The Undertones were at the same festival as ourselves, Wickerman, in Scotland – there still isn’t a band around with so many great songs played perfectly.

www.sawdoctors.com

By: Kevin Donnellan