Tuam’s favorite sons play Oslo this summer for the first time since the mid 90′s. The Saw Doctors return is part of a two date visit to Norway. On Thursday the 8th of July the Doc’s play at the Rockefeller (www.rockefeller.no) in Oslo and on Friday the 9th of July they take part in the Fotball Flora festival (www.fotballflora.no ) in Florø, Norway’s most westerly town.
The Saw Doctors at the Cape Cod Melody Tent August 2009. From Left: Leo Moran (Guitar), Kevin Duffy (Keyboards), Davy Carton (Vocals), Anthony Thistlethwaite (Bass Guitar) and Eimhin Cradock (Drums). Photo: Steve Gullick
In the last eighteen months, Ireland’s Saw Doctors have blazed back phoenix-like from almost two decades of unsung glory. Out of the blue, their rambunctious cover of The Sugababes `About You Now` rocketed to No 1 in Ireland, restoring them to their rightful place as that nation’s best-loved good-time band.
“I suppose we’re a bit like an old dress,” says Leo Moran with a wryly philosophical smile. “If you keep it long enough, it’s bound to come back into fashion.”
This is the band that entered the record books back in 1990 when ` I Useta Lover` spent nine weeks at number one, becoming Ireland’s best-selling single of all time. They followed up with the No 2 hit, N17, and a chart-topping album, If This Is Rock And Roll, I Want My Old Job Back.
The Saw Doctors were formed in Tuam, Galway, Ireland, in 1986.
Although membership has fluctuated over the years, two founder-members have remained constant. Leo Moran, formerly of local reggae combo Too Much For The White Man and Davy Carton, a refugee from short-lived punk band Blaze X, were there right at the start, when it felt like success to be able to play in local venues such as Tuam’s Imperial Hotel.
The Saw Doctors were discovered in the back room of the Quays Pub in Galway in 1988 by Mike Scott of The Waterboys who was recording The Fishermans’ Blues album in nearby Spiddal. Mike Scott asked The Saw Doctors to open for The Waterboys’ on the Fisherman’s Blues tour of the UK and Ireland in the Autumn of 1988.
Saw Doctors’ fans go home glowing from a gig crammed end to end with songs about real life. The band work the same live magic wherever they play, from the Royal Albert Hall in London to a convent in the West of Ireland.
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Top photo of The Saw Doctors by London photographer Steve Gullick at the Cape Cod Melody Tent in Hyannis Ma.
