WRITING.ie Feature by Mark Cunningham (groovehype)

FEATURE © Ian Tomey

FROM ROCKER TO WRITER

On November 4th 2013, when a heavyweight biography on Irish music giants Horslips was published by The O’Brien Press, an unlikely dream was fulfilled. Its author, MARK CUNNINGHAM talks about his ‘Plan B’ career journey. If you had somehow gone back in time to 1976, when I first fell in love with Horslips, and told my spotty, 13 year old self that I would one day be responsible for charting the extraordinary journey of this pioneering Irish band, I would have laughed you out of the door because, hey, I was an aspiring musician. But at the very start, I had every intention of becoming a writer. In 1968, at the age of five, I formally announced to my parents that I wanted to be a journalist when I grew up and proceeded to write a letter to Michael Aspel, then a Daily Express columnist, seeking his advice on how this precocious, working class kid from London’s East End might attain such a lofty career. To my family’s surprise, Michael replied on an Express letterhead, recommending a couple of University degrees and wishing me good luck. The letter has long vanished but I have never forgotten the kindness shown by Michael in taking the time to point the way. As far as Mum and Dad were concerned, their son’s future was mapped out. By the time I reached my teens, however, the lure of rock’n’roll had diverted my attention as I began to lay a path for a future career as a professional musician and producer. After the age of 16, I received my education from the University of 24 writing.ie

Life, and went from one band to another in search of that elusive Top 10 status. Brushes with fame were fleeting but I made a decent living until late nights and periods away from home were no longer conducive with a state of domestic bliss. Left-field thinking was applied. I had always been the go-to guy whenever friends needed a creative paragraph or two written, and I had accumulated a wealth of music knowledge. Perhaps I could marry two disciplines. Eureka! Within three months of deciding to become a music writer, I had five feature-length articles published by leading musicians’ magazines. They were all lucky breaks. I’d interviewed a handful of musicians I knew and, chancing my arm, I submitted pieces to editors, hoping they would be of some use. I must have done something right because commissions started to pour in. In the early ’90s, however, there was much competition amongst the pool of freelance writers and I had to find a way of distinguishing myself. Up to this point, there had never been a book published on the development of record production through the decades. It was a gap Mark at his first typewriter, with his mother Joan, Christmas 1967.

Mark Cunningham (wearing cap) with Horslips members Jim Lockhart, Johnny Fean, Charles O’Connor, Eamon Carr and Barry Devlin. Below: Mark’s long-awaited hardback biography of the band.

an intimate rehearsal for a forthcoming world tour or receiving an exclusive preview of a piece of technology that would soon change an audience’s perception of live entertainment. With the publication of the new Horslips biography – a genuine labour of love that slowly fermented over 18 years – I am proud to have filled another gap. Given that Ireland is such a literary nation, it strikes me as oddly ironic that it has taken a Cockney to write the only book dedicated to the founding fathers of Celtic Rock, but sometimes it takes an outside view to make sense of it all.

that needed to be filled and I had the raw, brass neck to think I could do it. ‘Good Vibrations: A History of Record Production’ (Sanctuary Music Library), my book début, was a milestone for me; it gave me some valuable credibility and provided a springboard for my future career. Soon after, in 1998, I co-founded my own magazine for the live event production industry, Total Production International (TPi), which continues to thrive two years after I moved on. It gave me an unimaginable lifestyle. Rarely did a week pass without meeting a gifted show designer, witnessing

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The author on stage with Horslips at the book’s launch event in Dublin.

Horslips’ story had always fascinated me. I discovered them late but from the moment I heard their Dancehall Sweethearts album, I was hooked on how they married traditional music to rock’n’roll, introducing Irish history and culture to me along the way. In their original 10-year career, Horslips infused Irish youth with a new sense of national pride; they created a live circuit by opening up provincial Irish ballrooms to a new generation of original rock bands and showed the likes of U2 that it was possible to have complete control over their artistic product. It disturbs me that the Irish media often trivialises Horslips’ legend by focusing on the origins of their peculiar name and their extravagant wardrobe habits in the early days. They deserve much more than this and I feel blessed to have been the person to bring their full story into the public domain… at last. The memory of disappointing my parents one evening in 1979 when I revealed that I was opting out of journalistic studies to pursue a life in music has often returned to haunt me. My father, a London docker, was deeply hurt and it took me many years to rid myself of the guilt I felt from not being at his side when he passed away in 1983. I had been playing 26 writing.ie

a gig at the Embassy Club, London’s answer to New York’s Studio 54, doing the polar opposite of what he envisaged when I was a boy. Dad spent some of his late twenties working in Cork and Killarney, where he also earned numerous medals as a cyclist. He adored Ireland and would often tell macho tales of Guinness-fuelled shenanigans, pre-Elvis. If he was still around, I think Dad would be swelling with pride, not only because his son finally realised his writing ambitions, but also that his latest work celebrates a captivating side of Irish culture. I feel like I’ve come full circle. Mark Cunningham ‘HORSLIPS Tall Tales: The Official Biography’ by Mark Cunningham is published in hardback by The O’Brien Press, price €24.99. Visit www.obrien.ie Featuring a detailed timeline of events, exclusive interviews, previously unseen photography and a wealth of memorabilia including original handwritten lyrics and session notes, this is the long-awaited, first-ever book dedicated to the history of HORSLIPS, the pioneers of Celtic Rock.

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