Interviews
-(Niall 2002)
Benny McCormack 2001 -
Guitarist
Benny McCormack shares his memories of life in The Hitchers
Niall Quinn 2002 - Niall Interviewed by Sarah
Purcell around the time of the first Re-Union show.
NEW!!
Eoin O'Kelly and Hoss
Carnage 1990 - Interviewed by Stuart Clarke on local radio the week before the
'Fruit' launch in June 1990
MP3 6.7mb but well worth it!!!
This interview was done a couple of
days after the Dec 30th show. The Boy-oh answering is the bould Niall. The lady
with the questions -Sarah Purcell. This interview was first published in
Livewire, Temple of Shayne... www.websters.ie/staff/shayne/livewire.html
Niall Huffin' and Puffin',
Dolans Limerick Dec 30th 2001
(Photo Brendan Quinn)
Q1. What did you make of the gig on
Sunday?
Niall: It was great craic -a lot of hard work putting it together too
but absolutely worth it. Many thanks to all who made it along.
Q2. What bands did you first get into? what are u into now?
Niall: When I was a tweenie I liked Madness and Boomtown Rats -we
had one single by each at home. By the time I hit my teens (1986) my
older brothers had weened me from Frankie Goes To Hollywood
and onto The Smiths, The Clash and New Order/Joy Division. At the same
period I started listening to The Who, The Housemartins,
Half Man Half Biscuit, Dr. & The Medics and lots of other underground stuff and I still
love 'em all today. By 1990 while everyone else seemed to be getting
flowered up I was similtaneously discovering metal, The Wedding Present
and lots of folky stuff...not raggle taggle mind. These days I like
Alabama 3, Grandaddy ...not much else.
Q3.Does Strachan know about Strachan?
Niall: He does indeed, sure he picked the photo on the sleeve of the single.
It was sent to him back in 97 before we released it and he was chuffed.
He phoned to wish us well and offered what assistance he could so we
said well why not choose a picture you're keen on yourself and he obliged.
He also reminded me that contrary to the story in the song -he's never
scored a hat-trick in his life.
Q4. How did you feel during the period of the 'last gig' at the globe and the one in
dolans?
Niall: The main difference between the two is that the Globe was all such a rush.
We found out the end had come on a Monday evening and 72 hours later we
were onstage grabbing the chance to say goodbye. I mean it was great in
that it was so spontaneous and such a long shot and yet people showed up. But it
did seem like we were rushing out the door and shouting 'bye bye' as we left. I think
in Dolans we got a chance to say goodbye properly and thank people and get
some of the old guard back in action. I think Dolans was a bit more of a
party as well, a bit more of a celebration of what we had done rather than
feeling sad about it coming to an end. I'd a lump in my throat for much of the three days running
up to the Globe gig whereas with the Dolans one I was too worried and too busy
to be getting sentimental. I think I'd done most of my grieving for it back in February anyway.
With both gigs once I was on it was great ...just heads down and boogie.
Q5.Who's idea was it initally to end things and how did the rest feel?
Niall: Nobody wanted to end it. We just knew that we couldn't keep going forever.
Individually and collectively we spent most of our twenties living on the dole or more often on FAS courses so as to hide from
the dole, or doing whatever dodgy jobs would put up with our groundbreaking work
in the field of flexi-time, all simply to enable us to carry on being The Hitchers.You can't do that forever. Bills have to be paid and lives have to be lived outside
rock'n'roll.
So we started taking regular jobs and Andy was offered a job that was simply too good to turn down. The only problem is it was in Western France.
There was no problem as far as we were concerned with him doing that. The same as when
Hoss left there was no problem because as I said at the time "There's no conscripts
in The Hitchers". Neither Hoss nor Andy had anything to prove to anyone about their
dedication to what we were trying to do. They'd both given over a decade of their
best years and had simply exercised their right to draw a line under it and say it's
time to move on. Actually I wanted us to split in April 2000 -when Hoss left. That to
me seemed like the right time to end it. Hoss himself asked us not to, Eric and Andy
felt there was unfinished business so we recruited Frank and ploughed on and now I'm
glad we did because Frank was a lot of fun to have in the band -if only for a few months.
How did I feel when it ended? Very strange. I'd been a Hitcher since I was 15. Now I was a
month off 28 and suddenly I'm not a Hitcher anymore. It sounds fruity but when you're
in a band that long you make life decisions based on your being one of four
rather than an individual. For example many folks in their twenties these days like to
go work in Australia or the States for a year after college for the hell of it. It was
never an option I considered. It just wasn't for me coz it would have a negative effect
on the band. So it was hard to get used to just deciding to take off for a few days
without checking to see it was cool with the others and all that.
Q6. What are the highlights of the 13 years (its about that right) ye've been together?
Niall: Yeah The Hitchers 13th birthday would've been Jan 6th. Highlights? For me doing a
'Peel Session' was a real buzz. Also it's the best recording we ever did I reckon.
Being nominated for best Irish Single and meeting Morrissey and Shane McGowan
was great too, though I was blotto. There's a lot of other things, some of the gigs, some
of the pissed singsongs in the back of the van on a long spin home from a gig. I remember
one of the lads saying at the time "we'll all miss this shit someday" and he was damn right.
I think it was the bould Mr. Gallagher actually.
Q7.Will you be still performing?(with the
pennywhores?)
Niall: Yeah as soon as the 'whores are ready for mounting I'll start gigging. We could've
done the Dolans gig but we'd have been ropey and I'm always saying that the
greatest failing of Irish bands is premature gigging -it's hugely counterproductive.
But as I say as soon as we're ready. I want to keep doing one man shows as well just to
try and strenghthen my voice, my guitar playing and even just to push the stuff
out in a slightly different direction. We're going to be compared with The Hitchers and
there's nothing I can do about that so I'm not even going to try. We'll actually be doing
one or two hitchers tunes as well which may or may not help but what can I do?
I am looking forward to it a lot though.
Q8 . What was you're favourite toy as a kid?
Niall: I've always been crazy about model aeroplanes. Y'know the Airfix/ Revelle/
Matchbox kits. I had about forty at one stage pinned to my ceiling ...mostly Second World War era but a few
1914-18 bi-planes as well. I currently have 16 and am working on a beautiful Spitfire Mk1AI picked up in Normandy last summer. The kits are about half the price in France that you'd
pay here so I might be making Andy Gallagher stop by the local toy shop next time
he's coming home to visit.
Q9. What was it like playing with the 3 old hitchers after so long?
Niall: Fantastic. The response was incredible. I mean there'd have been a good sized
portion of that crowd who simply wouldn't have heard the original line up of The
Hitchers and they were so warm to us.
Andy Joins in on vocals
with ex-Hitchers Benny McCormack-Guitar (1989-90), Eoin O'Kelly-Vocals (1989-91)
and, on the right Donagh Twoomey-Lead Guitar (1989) for 'Which Leg of a Chicken
is More Tender?'. Meanwhile Niall Quinn on Drums screams the chords to
Bassist Hoss Carnage. Dolans, Limerick Dec 30th 2001(Photo
Brendan Quinn)
Of course the ones who did remember the lads went mental. It was
amazing -just one of those things I never thought would happen and that I'll never forget.
For ten or twelve minutes the years rolled back for all of us. Well done to the three of them too. I mean it wasn't easy for the me, Andy and Hoss to play those songs after all that time but bare in mind that
Eoin, Benny and Donagh haven't been on a stage in over a decade. That took guts.
Q10.Did ye sell all the CD's and T-shirts?
Niall: Plenty of CDs sold but plenty left to be bought yet too. I'll have 'em in a couple
of shops in town in the next few days or you can get them either on the
site or at 'whores gigs. T-Shirts went like hot cakes. I'll get more though and sell
them at Pennywhores shows hopefully.