Like all the best ideas, Tir Na Nog were a complete accident, formed by two guys with absolutely nothing in common.Sonny Condell came from somewhere remote up in the Wicklow Hills and was steeped in classical music - the nearest he came to musical adventure was listening to Radio Luxembourg under the bed clothes. Leo O'Kelly, on the other hand, was a hip young beardered wonder from Carlow heavily into Hendrix, Velvet Underground, The Doors, Love and looking cool and groovy. Over two decades on, Mr. Condell and Mr. O'Kelly are still now at a loss to explain how or why it all happened, yet somehow, somewhere the oddest of odd couples came together to create a folk rock musical hybrid of startling ingenuity. It made them famous, if not rich, deposited them on some of the worlds biggest stages and effectively opened the way for a whole flood of Irish bands to follow.
It all came together in Dublin at the turn of the seventies. The Beatles were splitting up, psychedelia was coming to a nasty end amd topping the charts were the exciting sounds of Edison Lighthouse, Dana, Lee Marvin and Rolf Harris. A suitable climate for free expression.
Leo had been working in a mixture of various bands and showbands (playing everything from Clancy Brothers songs to Monkies and Tom Jones covers) when he stumbled across Sonny working in a sensitive duo with his cousin. Leo has already toured Britain and Europe with Donal Lunny during a brief spell with Emmett Spiceland the seminal group which provided the basis of Planxty) and in addition to giving him his first taste of playing genuine folk music, filled him with a desire to move to London to try and make it as a singer/songwriter. Sonny Condell, it transpired, harboured identical ambitions. They fell into conversation, discovered they were both budding songwriters and after jamming a bit decided to travel to London together. Within two days they'd got themselves a record deal. It couldn't happen now of course, but they just walked into Chrysalis Records, played a bit and were offered a contract on the spot. This having already been turned down by Isl and!
They took the name Tir na nOg from a mythical land where gods live and you never grow old, and before they knew it they were off and running playing every folk club in Britain. They were also swiftly trotting off around the world on support tours with various heavy duty rock bands of the day, notably Jethro Tull, The Who and E.L.P. They even had a beguiling single 'I am Happy to be on this Mountain' which troubled the lower reaches of the pop charts. Always instinctive, whimsical and totally random in their approach to music, they were like no-one else around at the time, which had the advantage of separating them from the crowd, but the disadvantage of totally confusing the media, the industry and occasionally even their own audience. Two acoustic guitars, a tabla, a lot of hair and some WEIRD songs.
Tir na nOg made three albums between 1971 and 1974 before Chrysalis visibly lost interest in them, the early momentum faded and they retired back to Ireland to lick their wounds and pursue solo careers. Yet they were unquestionably ahead of their time and the progressive possibilities opened up by their third and final album certainly convinces Kelly now that they split up too soon. Some of the ideas that they were exploring were subsequently developed by others, including, it must be said, sampling! One of their tracks 'Cinema' liberally sampled from an old Henry Fonda movie. But their influence and their reputation remained strong during the ensuing years, even while Condell was working with another innovative Irish band Scullion and O'Kelly spent several years living in Amsterdam and London, sporadically re-surfacing to play solo gigs and to produce albums for others.
Yet there remained a nagging feeling in both their minds that they'd left some unfinished business behind with Tir na nOg. Which is exactly why in 1991 they decided to have another crack at making some sense of the elusive magic between them and Tir na nOg rose again. 'I can't explain it', says Leo now. 'As soon as we started to play it all slotted right back into place. I don't know why, but there does seem to be something quite special between us.'
After the break up of Tir Na Nog Sonny returned to Ireland and recorded his first solo album. This album was called "Camouflage" and was released to great critical acclaim and indeed some of the songs were to form the basis for Sonny's next venture in musical collaboration.
Songs like Down In the City, Eyelids into Snow and John the Baptist are just a few of the anthems from one of the most important Irish Bands of the twentieth century. Recent reunions of this group have sold out, proving they are as popular as ever and are arguably one of the best live bands in the country. As a band Scullion have been described as a fusion of acoustic folk and rock, with splashes of reggae, jazz, and blues.
Scullion came about by a chance meeting in the late seventies, of its two main founders, Philip King and Sonny Condell. Sonny was finding his new musical path after the break up of his band Tir na nOg, and Philip was looking for a way to express creatively a deep love for folk and roots music, in which he was and is still passionate.With co-members Greg Boland on guitar, and Jimmy O'Brien Moran on pipes, the band started rehearsing in a small apartment above a chip shop in Dunlaoire, County Dublin.
Mulligan records, a new record company dedicated to innovative folk music of the time, had already recorded a solo album with Sonny, called "Camouflage," and while Scullion were making waves at gigs, such as the Meeting Place in Dorset St. Dublin, it was not long before the band were in the studio recording their first album, "Scullion." The band then toured Ireland, Germany, Holland, the U.S. A. and appeared at many memorable festivals of the time.
The band went on to record a further three albums:
Some changes have occurred along the way, Greg Boland and Jimmy O'Brien Moran left and Robbie Overson joined bringing his unique Spanish guitar style adding sinew to Sonny and Philip's songs. In the late 80's the band went into semi- retirement occasionally playing one off concerts while Condell concentrated on a solo career. Philip King became a TV producer while Overson played with many bands including Eleanor Shanley & Sean Keane.
In 2001, Scullion reformed to re- record Eyelids into Snow for use in a commercial for Nissan. They also recorded a new version of Down In The City, a Sonny Condell classic from his first solo Album Camouflage. These new recordings along with the other tracks are taken from the first Scullion Album to be released since the last century which is called "Eyelids into Snow"
" The band never stopped, we just have some periods of intense rest! Philip is a successful film maker and broadcaster, and Sonny has his own band and recording career,
Robbie plays with Karen Casey, at home and around the world, so we come together when the time is right for us ."
Sonny Condell
While Tir Na Nog, and Scullion, continue to play live concerts Sonny's primary creative outlet in recent
times has been through his solo work albeit often in collaboration with his band.
His solo offerings to date include 4 albums with another one almost at the completed stage.
These albums are