Athlone Miscellany
By Gearoid O’Brien
The Paul Brock Interview – Part 1: The Early Influences
As far back as 1960 it was been predicted that Paul Brock would have a great career ahead of him as a traditional musician but no-one could have predicted just how successful he would be. The music critic and commentator P.J. Curtis in his book ‘Notes from the Heart’ says: “throughout all his recorded and live work, Paul Brock’s total love for, commitment to and mastery of, the music he plays with generosity of spirit, soulful subtlety, grace and depth of feeling is abundantly evident at all times”.
Paul won his first All Ireland junior accordion title at the age of eleven and won multiple titles before taking the senior title by age fifteen. He was in constant demand for appearances at concerts and broadcasts and he celebrated his sixteenth birthday in the United States where he was on a three month tour; this was merely the prelude to a musical career which has spanned more than fifty years and which continues to go from strength to strength.
Let me turn back the clock by fifty years. About twelve months ago I started looking through the files of The Westmeath Independent for 1960 and one thing which struck me was the amount of times I came across good news stories about Paul Brock. I have only known Paul for about ten or twelve years, though I knew him by reputation long before that. I got to know him better when he was doing his research for a talk on John McCormack and I was very impressed by the way he immersed himself totally in his subject. Last year when I devised a Cultural Tour of the Connaught side of Athlone one of my surprise elements for a walking group was stopping in O’Connell Street and playing two reels, John Kimmel’s and The Flowing Bowl from Paul Brock’s 1992 solo album ‘Mo Chairdin’. The response to this musical interlude was amazing and no wonder because this was from an album which The Rough Guide to Irish Music described as ‘a modern masterpiece of accordion music’.
Growing Up in Athlone in the 40s and 50s.
Paul Brock was born in Athlone in 1944 and grew up in O’Connell Street in the post-war years in times which he describes as being “tough: tough times economically and hard times”. His parents worked hard to provide for the four children of whom Paul was the eldest. When Paul thinks back to his youth his memories centre on Connaught Street because he grew up nearby in O’Connell Street and Connaught Street was then a bustling business area with a lot of strong businesses. He recalls some of the attractions of the Connaught side of the town: the railway station, the army barracks, the post-office, the library and Lyster’s with their shop in Pearse Street and the saw-mill on the Docks. He remembers the fairs which were held on the streets – he remembers these particularly fondly because they used to get days off school when the fairs were on. He remembers coming and going from school in the Batteries and passing his uncle’s shop at 45 Connaught Street, and diverting down Pipe Lane to the forge where Willie John Byrne, the blacksmith, made railings and other items in metalwork as well, of course, as shoeing horses. Like all forges, Willie John Byrne’s, held a great fascination for young boys.
“We were regular visitors to my uncle Tom’s Egan’s house and Radio & Bicycle shop. I used to see musical instruments in the window, including accordions, and I asked him on one occasion “do you mind if I have a look at that?” Now a bit earlier I had been tricking around with a mouth-organ but I remember taking the accordion out from the window and starting to play “How much is that doggie in the window” a tune which was very popular at that time. Having tried it I was hooked so over a period of time I convinced my father and mother that I wanted an accordion. It would have been almost impossible to buy a new one at that time but I remember my father answering the door one Saturday evening, he called me out to show me what he had got, he had done a deal with some man and he had bought me a melodeon. It was wrapped in newspaper and he had paid £1 for it – needless to say I was on cloud nine”.
Paul Brock grew up in a pre-television age when people made their own entertainment, it was coming towards the end of the era of the wind-up gramophone but it was still the golden age of radio. Paul recalls “being acutely turned on by the power of the radio at a very early stage” when he was listening to all the music programmes and especially the Irish music programmes. By the time he was seven or eight he was very conscious of his attraction to traditional Irish music.
An Early Influence
Paul explains that when he was young people were generally more pro-active in entertaining themselves and this was as true for his house as anywhere else in town. His father was “a decent singer”, he had a good amateur voice and a huge interest in music and in particular the music of John McCormack. “We grew up with a John McCormack over-load in our house because my father never stopped singing and mostly it was the McCormack repertoire – he knew all the songs and he loved them”.
As John McCormack had only died in 1946 the whole shadow of McCormack was still very evident in Athlone at that time, especially in the Brock household. “In our household, I can tell you, McCormack’s photograph – his favourite portrait of himself – was in the middle of the mantelpiece and Pope Pius XII was to one side…and that says it all”. Paul still has both pictures in his home in Ennis because somehow they symbolise the years of his youth spent in Athlone.
“When I think back to my early years and to where my early musical influences came from the first, I’d have to say, the first major influence would have to be my father. It took me a long time to realise the importance of the McCormack influence, which remains with me and continues to be an important factor in my life. I would say that musically I’ve probably learned more from the art of McCormack than I have learned from any other musician. Would you believe that?”
Knowing Paul and his interest in McCormack I am not really surprised and yet it is difficult to reconcile the fact that a young accordion player in Athlone in the mid to late 1950s could cite a tenor as a major influence. When I press the issue further he tells me “……I’ve thought about that, Gearoid, isn’t it interesting but the whole approach of McCormack to the art of music and his approach to technique these are common to whether you are an instrumentalist or a vocalist. There are things that are common right across the board – his attention to his music, his approach to rehearsal and performance, his sheer professionalism in everything he did and the degree to which he prepared himself and the seriousness with which he took his art form. He is an amazing model for any musician. To me he is, certainly, but it took me a long time to realise that – it just seemed to seep in somehow”.
Interests Other Than Music
Before we move on to talk about the other important musical influences on the young Paul Brock we talk briefly about life other than music. Paul tells me that he loved soccer which is not surprising at all given the prominence of Athlone Town F.C. at the time. He remembers that for many years he attended home matches in St Mel’s Park where he recalls seeing the legendary Dinny Hannon, the Athlone solicitor and former footballer, who was a regular and esteemed attendee of matches. Apart from soccer Paul played tennis and was a member of the tennis club in Garden Vale – little did he realise then that the same Miss Kilkelly who objected strenuously to balls going in to her garden was a vital link with his hero John McCormack. Kitty Kilkelly was the daughter of Michael Kilkelly who was the choir-master in the old St Peter’s when John sang in the choir. Michael Kilkelly was a great champion of McCormack in the early days and his daughter, Kitty, was the prime-mover in having the McCormack bust by Seamus Murphy erected on the Promenade.
Apart from his involvement in sports Paul recalls that the River Shannon seemed to run through everything they did. “It was such a feature of the town and it was at the heart of everything we did, it divided the east from the west – it was responsible for so many divisions, the two opposing parishes and the two provinces. There was so much competition between the two sides on the west you had the Galway and Roscommon thing going on and on the east side you had Westmeath. There was always a great divide it was almost like two separate communities”.
Next Week: Paul Brock on Music in Athlone and Frank Dolphin.
