Vibrations Once Again

The great and the good of the Northern music scene were out for a very special movie premiere, in a very special setting.

Colin Carberry, 21 Jun 2012

Now that the Ulster Hall premiere of Good Vibrations is over, some of you (if there are any of you!) may have noticed I’ve been indulging in a spot of moonlighting of late. I’ll hold off on the full (true?) confession until the film gets its general release, but in the meantime, and on the understanding that normal service will resume in the next issue, I’ve scribbled down ten things I learned during the course of a pretty insane night.

1. Terri Hooley can’t half rustle up a guest-list.

The Hewitt, Hudson and Duke are emptied. The great, the good, the not so good – they’re all here to see how the filmic Hooley measures up to the man himself. Playwright Martin Lynch, Undertone John O’Neill, the Belfast-born film theorist Mark Cousins, and Oliver Jeffers, the brilliant children’s author, are amongst those spotted in the lobby of the Ulster Hall minutes before show time. Which adds much to the sense of occasion, but does little for the digestive health of the film’s co-author. And don’t even get me started on the real Brian Young, the real Greg and Marty Cowan, the real Ruth, the real Anna, the real Dave and, of course, the real Terri.

It’s the Ulster Hall!

It’s the Ulster Hall! Okay, because of the high ceiling maybe the sound isn’t perfect for a movie showing. But it’s the Ulster Hall!

The local music fraternity stepped up to the plate.

Yes, there are members of Mojo Fury, Colly Strings and The Wonder Villains in our Rudi, Outcasts and The Undertones – all adding musical back-bone to the Equity-carded frontmen (and there’s young John D’Arcy, too, playing John O’Neill) – but off camera, sterling work has also been done by the Cashier No. 9 guys who, produced for the occasion by Rudi’s Brian Young, are responsible for the roaring versions of ‘Cops’, ‘Big Time’, ‘I Spy’ and ‘You’re a Disease’ that appear on screen. There had been talk of a de-indiefiction ritual taking place before the boys hit the studio. Whatever they did – it’s worked a treat.

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