Tommy Keyes, long time Super Saints fan

Interview

Had the pleasure of having a short chat with long time Super Saints fan, Tommy Keyes.

Tommy is a Singer-Songwriter. In between a long stint as a top civil servant with the government, Tommy was a member of Irish rock band Sidewinder in the 1970s, and is now back, after a “break” of 40 years, in the profession he loves the most, wannabe rock star and keyboard extraordinaire, writing songs, making albums and performing on stage with his new band.

He has released four albums to date, all recorded in Sun Studios at Temple Lane, with some of Ireland’s top session musicians. The albums are An Irish Life, The Sad Pursuit, Some of These Stories are True, and his most recent offering, his fourth album, Temptation Once Again. An Irish life was very well received by both the critics and the public, while the song “Christmas Eve in Dublin”, a track off his latest album reached the top of the Irish singer/songwriter charts on iTunes, with the album overall getting a very healthy score of 8/10 from the Irish music mag, Hot Press, an Irish version of Rolling Stone.

I’m Tommy Keyes, singer songwriter, recording artist and given Rob’s (me!) particular interest in football as well, I’m also very heavily involved in St. Patrick’s athletic football club and that’s where we are tonight doing this interview.

With the song Richmond nights, the start of the song……….”Hand in hand, the boy and man walk to the terraced shed, find some space and take their place among the sea of red” so……….

Yeah that song is about 3 generations. I mean my dad first brought me here, we are in Richmond park, my dad first brought me here maybe when we were 11 or 12 and then I brought my kids as soon as they were old enough to turn them into League of Ireland supporters as well. I don’t have any grandchildren yet but the song is kind of looking ahead to when you know and it’s most likely be my daughter, as my eldest daughter is very heavily involved now in the club as well, when she will have someone to bring along, and it’s the way the love of a football club, and the love of supporting the club, gets passed on from generation to generation, it’s a very, very special thing.

I think St.Pats is, I don’t know like I have seen a few of the other teams in Dublin, but I think St Pats are slightly different to maybe Shamrock Rovers and Bohemians, is more rooted within its area, its family, it’s more community based I think?

Its very rooted in the community here in Inchicore, about 10 or 12 years ago, when, 13 years ago, when the new owner Garrett Kelleher bought the club, a lot of people were telling him that the sensible thing was to, to sell up the ground here, move out to Tallaght which was been developed at that stage, share the ground with Shamrock Rovers, and he very quickly realized that if you did that you would kill the club because the club is absolutely rooted in the community here. Not just Inchicore but the areas around it, West Dublin, its of this place and we couldn’t move so he quickly said no the club is never moving from here.

And is it hard to get people out these days to follow the League of Ireland?

It’s very hard because any night of the week…..I mean we are here Friday night and we are playing Dundalk, who are the best team in the country so this should be a massive match but Liverpool are on television tonight so we are definitely going to lose supporters to that but the one thing I will say is that there seems to be a bit of a resurgence since the start of this season, we have had very good gates for home matches, Bohemians, our last away match was in Bohemians away last week, they sold out. We sold out for our last match here against Shamrock Rovers, we had to turn people away …….you know we are talking here about you know……4,300, 4,400, we are not talking about massive gates, but you know things are improving, but I mean the quality of the football is extremely good and you can shout at the television as much as you like it’s not the same as shouting at players who can hear you………….and referees who can hear you…..

Attendances are up this season……….

Definitely

Is there a reason for that, I mean for this season especially…….?

A lot of the clubs including ourselves did some very, very good promotion videos that went viral on YouTube and all that type of thing, maybe people have a bit more money in their pocket, the quality of the football is very good, I mean a lot of the time what we are trying to do is to get people to bring their friends to a match or two, because we know that if they see how good the product is, the entertainment is, they will come again.

And since you have been following them what was the highlight season for you?

Well….I have been following them 50 years, we have won the league 6 times in that period, but I think nothing really can beat winning the FAI cup in 2014, in the Aviva because that was the hoodoo that was hanging over this club, you know, 7 cup finals, we won the cup back in I think about 61, and after that we were in 7 cup finals and we lost every single one of them. And like some of them were so close, Shelbourne went to a replay, Derry went to extra time, we lost, 7 in a row we lost, so there was this jinx hanging over us, we are never going to win the cup, even though we won 6 leagues in the same period, and we beat Derry 2-0 in the Aviva in 2014 and that was really, really special.
https://youtu.be/YLwzH42S2tQ

Did you drink for a week after that!?

Ah, no comment on that!
And there has been some special European nights here as well. Once we get beyond a certain stage in Europe we have to move to Tallaght or whatever, and it’s never as good, but when this place is packed for a European night you know, we played Elfsborg from Sweden and we were losing on aggregate with about 5 minutes to go, we just needed a goal to win on away goals, we got the goal and then we got another goal, and that was just a massive, massive night.
https://youtu.be/rgcAHb4dhw8

Well cult heroes I mean then, its Paul McGrath……..

Every generation brings it cults heroes, I mean we have a lad at the club at the moment Ian Birmingham, the captain, it’s his testimonial year this year, 10^th successive season, and that’s 10 seasons always been in the first team, you rarely get that in League of Ireland football now.
But you know, people like Paul Osam, Eddie Gormley, Curtis Fleming, and people older than me will talk about people like Ginger O’Rourke, and Timber Cummins and people like these fellas back in the 50’s so its generation to generation.
There is a kid here at the moment called Jamie Lennon, you will see him tonight, he is a defensive midfielder, came on as a sub for the Ireland under 21’s in tallaght there last Sunday week, you know he is a star of the future.
Chris Forrester is back, Chris has had a disastrous year, he was doing really well at Peterborough and then it kind of went off the boil, they sold him to Aberdeen and that didn’t work out at all, so he is home now, and he hasn’t played very much football in the last year so he is only finding his feet again, when he finds his feet he is going to be massive, he was one of the legends here……….

So what should I expect tonight in terms of atmosphere…?

The atmosphere will be good, we are on a bad roll because the team hasn’t quite gelled with the new signings, Dundalk are the best team in the country, notwithstanding that Shamrock Rovers might be top of the table at the moment, so we are very much up against it, if we get anything out of the game tonight that would be good.

Then with regards music Tommy, so how is the music going for you these days?

The music is going very well, I was working in a completely different….I was working away from music for nearly 40 years because in the 70s I had been in bands, and so on, and I was the main songwriter in the bands that I was in, and then I was away from music for 40 years because I had a different career and it just didn’t leave any room for music, but I retired from that in 2015 and went straight into the studio and recorded stuff, started doing albums, getting back gigging, looking around for singer songwriter sessions…….I’m not really interested in going into pubs doing covers,

You do your own songs…

I do my own stuff and there are, particularly around Dublin, there are places where you can go and play your own material and I ended up landing on my feet really, because I got involved with a pub in Dublin called Darkie Kelly’s, which has singer songwriter night on Tuesdays, and I started playing that and then they asked me to host it and then they asked me to run it and so I run that session now, and I get to do quite a few original songs, and every Tuesday night and we usually have 9 or 10 other singer songwriters who all perform and then we have a big jam at the end, and I do a thing then in the same place, an idea came up with myself last year called the Sunday Song Brunch where twice a month we have half 12 until 3 o’clock sessions on a Sunday where we have much the same thing. And the nice thing about that is our musicians because during the day, musicians who have young kids, the kids maybe never seen daddy or mammy play so they can bring them in, so that’s nice as well.
I’m very content, 4^th album, Temptation Once Again, came out in November, has done really well, got really nice reviews for it, getting a good bit of radio play, I’m never going to make money out of this but it doesn’t matter I just want my original songs out there

But you get your own audience online……..

That’s exactly it, that’s exactly it.

Does the football feed off it, when you are standing on the terraces on a cold wet night, does inspiration hit you………

Well I don’t know about that. but the first thing is I look around the ground as you will do this evening and behind each goal I will see a big billboard Tommy Keyes, that I decided I was going to put a little bit of money into promotion so St pats might as well have it…….so every time that Soccer Republic (TV Show) is on or whatever it is called now, if they are showing any goals from Richmond Park, just a quick little subliminal add that catches everyone for Tommy Keyes, which is good.

Which would be better, the buzz from a live performance, you are playing in front of people, or a goal tonight, is there…………

They are both brilliant……. that’s like saying you can only keep one of your kids……..which one would you give up, you couldn’t really choose between those………….

You said you were with Sidewinder back in the day…..

In the 70’s………….

Yeah, is there much of a difference between then and these times?

Yeah well first of all, big difference personally because I was just the keyboard player in the band I was never the front man, now it’s me, I’m Tommy Keyes, sometimes I play with a band, but it would be the band I put together myself and so on…………so it is different……
And the other big difference is now, and this is why I said I feel very sorry for young musicians now, in those days you could actually make money doing it, you know….the gigs all paid, there were big crowds and all that type of thing, and if you brought out an album or single people would buy it, now the venues generally don’t pay, or pay very, very little, and everyone downloads the albums, singles, or streams them whatever, I mean if you hear everything you want to hear on Spotify, why are you going to buy things, and that’s the problem. So, in terms of it been a money-making proposition it is very difficult.

But you are more catered to your audience I think due to YouTube and social media; you can go direct to your audience.

Absolutely, you can target them in that way.

Ok Tommy, just with regards to tonight’s game, any predictions on the game ………….

Mmmm………my head says we will lose, and my heart says a one all draw.

I think they lost in the cup there (To Dundalk) ……….

We played them in the League Cup on Monday, 2-1 defeat, yeah

But that was the second team maybe?

Well yeah both teams were under strength for the game you know.
Our problem this season is scoring goals, and our striker, Mikey Drennan is the only player who has scored so far this season and unfortunately, he got sent off against Bohemians last week so he is suspended so that doesn’t help. Gary Shaw is playing up front

Ok so it might be a one nil then, a narrow one nil then

I will take that now

Ninetieth minute

I will take that now.

Ok thanks very much……………….

(Game ended one nil to St. Pats!)

Follow Tommy Keyes

http://www.tommykeyes.com/

I did a short and brief review of two of Tommy’s albums. I am not a great music reviewer, maybe not even a good beer reviewer, but I gave it a try.

An Irish Life: Tommy Keyes (2016)

This album is Tommy reminiscing about the olden days, the time he was growing up as a wee lad, the teenage years of angst and rock music, gigging around the country, the monotony of a working stiff, and the equal pleasures and sadness of seeing his daughters grow up and then leave home. Basically it’s the story of Tommy’s life in music, and in poetic form sang with passion and feeling. The soundtrack to his life in all its glory and wonder, just like the lives of his fellow compatriots, a life not too separated from what so many were going through in Ireland at the time, an Irish life we all know so well.

The album is cleverly set up into 4 parts: Spring, Summer, Autumn and, finishing with, Christmas. Showing the various stages of life in music form, hot stepping it as a young nipper in spring, football in the summer, sad reflections in autumn, and get togethers around the family tree at Christmas.

From the beginning we are brought into the life of a dreamer, “I was there” is the first track, taking us back to the days of late night clubs and old gigs, the craic was great and the fun Tommy had………..”Those were crazy days, I know cause I was there”, all played out to the beat of an old style light rock tempo just like what was heard back in the day. Great start, sets us up nicely, gets us in the mood…………

“Happy days” is another cracker of a tune, love it. This time Tommy goes back even further, to the excitement he had as a young nipper acting out make believe scenes as a cowboy, football superstar, or 007, like we all did when we were kids. Happy days indeed. “In our field of dreams we’ll be football teams, we’ll take to the pitch in the green shirt of Ireland, win every match on the way to the final”. Great, makes me wonder do the young ones these days, what with their Iphone and Ipads, have the same amount of fun we had when we were young, somehow I doubt it. The backing vocals on this track provided by Ellen and Cian O’Mahoney are excellent, and what makes the song stand out. There is also a nice guitar solo, from Dick Farrelly, midway through the track, just to remind you of Tommy’s rock credentials!

The soft rock and easy listening continues with the next tune, “Landscape Park”, again about childhood memories, again about football in the park, “Kick a football until dark”. Something tells me Tommy, was a keen footballer and perhaps music was not his first love!

“SmallTown Superstars”, track 4, goes off on a little tangent, more of a country twang to this song, pretty upbeat and chirpy, and another guitar solo from Mr Dick Farrelly, perhaps highlighting the mix of the showband and the new music coming from across the water, “We were children of the 50’s, we grow up with rock n roll”, before Tommy and his mates had a band themselves and while making all the local newspapers, they “were small town superstars”, for a while at least living the dream.

After the upbeat start Tommy slows it down a bit for the next few songs, a more soulful, more soothing collection of memories. “In Dublin” is about emigration, a subject I think most Irish people are only too well aware of, “We’re climbing slowly in the sky, never look behind, leaving on our own, America, Australia, we’re never coming home!”, while “Long Distance Call” is another reminder of the ways things were pre internet or pre skype when calling from afar. A call home, to loved ones, “On Bondi Beach on Christmas day the sky is clear, I just called to say I’m fine”. The backing vocals create an air of sadness and shows how distance does indeed make the heart grow fonder.

Tommy’s life has settled down as shown in the next few tracks, as a working man in “Sleep She Said“, a “cog in the wheel in a lifetime of service, when morning comes I do it all again!”, all played out with a lovely melody on the guitar. He has grown up and now has a young child, “My Little Girl“, it is a “Slowdown world for me and my girl”. track 8, mid life, mid album.

We then move onto my favourite track of the album and the song that got me into Tommy’s music, “Richmond Nights”, an ode to time spent watching St Patrick’s Athletic as a young lad, “Hand in hand, the boy and man walk to the terraced shed, find some space and take their place among the sea of red”, excellently setting out the scene of footballing seeds taking root. Tommy later sings about continuing this family tradition with his daughter, “in years to come, one will hold tight to his hand, when she’s allowed to join the crowd”. I love the way Tommy expertly shows through this song, what football is all about, the love of the game passed down, generation to generation. This is what it’s all about, the passion of the beautiful game, all highlighted perfectly in “Richmond Nights”.

More beautiful poetry in the next track, song 10, “Bloom”, another slow number, this time a song to his daughter, the memories of her growing up, and now she is in adulthood, “The rose is in bloom”. “Souvenirs” follows in the same vein, “A baby tooth, a tattered teddy bear, a lock of golden hair”. By the time we get to “Dust In My Eye”, we see his daughter has grown up, “I am standing in terminal two, handing your suitcase to you”, as she prepares to travel abroad. In “Shooting Stars”, he hopes she will return, “near or far, please be here for Christmas. All these songs are slow numbers, one follows the other, a father showing his love for his children in music form. Anyone that is a parent can empathise with this passion from the heart.

“An old Irish song” is a number with some traditional music included, there is a bodhran, the tin whistle, a fiddle, even some As Gaeilge sung beautifully by Ellen O’Mahoney and Carla Ryan. One of my favourite tracks, as it is hard to get an original traditional tune right, but Tommy does it just fine. The song is about where his mother taught.

The last track, “New Years Eve”, highlights the ending of the year, a time when we are all together as a family, and the album comes full circle, a pleasant conclusion to the life and times of Tommy Keyes. It starts like it will be a version of Auld Lang Syne but with a touch of Dublin soul. “Here we are again in New Years Eve around the family tree”. A fitting end to a great album.

I enjoyed this album a lot and in some sense it is good that Tommy has returned to music but this time without the pressures of trying to “make it” or the endless hassle of meeting album deadlines and doing gigs for self promotion. Now that Tommy has lived, his music shows a more soulful reflective mood, easy going and with a wonderful poetic style of writing easy for the listener to follow and partake in. It is a good album and one to listen to again and again.

Temptation Once Again: Tommy Keyes (2018)

Two years after “An Irish Life” Tommy returns with “Temptation Once Again”, another easy listening collection of songs, but this time the topic is love, the good and the bad of it all. The “mainstays of the live set”, were brought to life in the studio with a team of the best session singers and musicians one can find!

On the cover we see temptation…………..women, beer, the party lifestyle…………the story of my life! (yeah right!)

“Just A Simple Love Song”, kicks off the album, and what an excellent track to start with, brilliant, we get the the drums, piano, the backing vocals, violin, cello, sax, all coming together nicely, music that has a bit of everything, but “it’s just a simple love song for you”. “Snakes and Ladders”, seamlessly into song two, a similar song and mood, love is in the air…………..”feels like we’re playing a game of snakes and ladders, and we’re always falling down”, the turbulence of a rocky relationship but feels like it will all work out in the end. In both songs backing singer Ellen O’Mahoney and Tommy on lead vocals guide the songs expertly to their destination.

Track three, “By My Side” is a kind of Randy Newman style number, I half expect to hear it on the new Toy Story movie, a contemplative song, “I was searching far and wide for an answer that was right there by my side” true love was found.

“Superman”, the next track, sounds like an ode to Tommy’s parents, working the piano, while singing some soul, “little fingers wipe away the tears, pull the blanket tight around my ears”.

Track five, “It Wouldn’t Be Me”, and we are back to the Randy Newman crispy voiced pop sounds. Works well and easy to listen to. This time we see some problems from the lovers, “I can change if you want me to, I can be anyone you’d like me to be, but it wouldn’t be me!”. Richie Buckley on sax is heavy on this one. Nice tune.

We get to see the reality of life as a young musician, on “Brimful In My Soul”, “I’m empty in my pockets but I’m brimful in my soul”, the harsh life as a musician with promises of stardom, “I was playing a open mic to a crowd of nine or ten”. Temptation here, perhaps, is to pack it in, give up on your first love……………….music? A very good song, love the story in it, from the heart and a nice slow number with Tommy perhaps giving us a glimpse of the struggles he, like a lot of musicians, went through for his craft.

Track seven, “Something’s Broken”, like the previous song, is another mellow piano sound that lingers in the mind. “Lean on me and I’ll guide you home” perhaps a song showing his love towards his children? “I promise you, you’ll never be alone”

Tommy on the piano once again shining in the next number, “The Moon and the Stars”. Gerrard Farrelly softly on the drums, while the chorus “you light up the night like the moon and the stars” sang beautifully by Ellen and Cian o’Mahoney, Paul o’Toole, and Padraig MacMahon, easy going and upbeat, the couple are back in love again. And “Everyday I Fall In Love Again” an enduring love song, Tommy’s upbeat tones declaring “everyday I fall in love again with you, with you, everyday I fall in love with you”, undying love.

But is the love undying since we move onto track ten and we get “Temptation Once Again”, an easy going soul/pop number, where an older man encounters a younger woman, “she’s walks in your direction flashes you a smile”, “experience is best”, tempting for the old man. Another song where the musicians and the session band come together as one, with a great sax again by Richie Buckley, and Gerrard Farrelly on the drums again smooching it up, with, I am guessing his brother, Dick Farrelly on bass strumming out those heavy moods, all in unison, excellent track.

“Valentine” brings the pace down a bit, a slow love song with the excellent pairing of Aisling Bridgeman and Aine Gallagher on their violins in the background, a lovely song of “two lovers growing old, bring(ing) back those memories, bring(ing) back that smile”

Track 12, “Christmas Eve in Dublin”, did very well in the ITunes charts, and it’s not hard to see why, as it’s a lovely seasonal song perfect for the time of year that’s in it, meeting in the pub over pints, seeing “Just the same old faces, just the same old show Christmas Eve on Dublin, they say it looks like snow”, slow number with a lovely guitar melody running through. Pubs, pints and Dublin, what’s not to love there?

Perhaps track 13 shows what can happen if you indulge too much in the old beer drinking, as “I Was Joking”, Tommy sings about acting the maggot, playing the joker, but it got out of hand, “I never meant to hurt you, I was joking that was all”. A break up on the cards?, “Now I know the jokes on me”

Perhaps the break up has happened as in “Drunk Lullaby”, it certainly looks like lost love and someone has hit the drink, “A bottle of rye and a drunk lullaby and an old faded picture of you”, Clare Kinsella on the cello the stand out here, very good.

Bu the last track, “Land’s End”, Tommy looks back on life again, “memories, nothing more, lands end, lands end, land end” a song that reminds me of Tom Waits with his gravelly voice, contemplative and reflecting the short time we have on this little old planet we have”awaiting the last ship, to the other side, lands end, lands end, lands end”. A great song to finish a very good album, an album where time spent perfecting the songs in the studio was well worth it all with the musicians in their own unique ways come together to produce a well crafted love album. I was thinking that Tommy could be the Irish version of Louis Armstrong, Randy Newman or at times Tom Waits. take your pick! Yes it is that good!

Full video of interview here