Donal Gallagher on Rory find

Donal Gallagher has been talking exclusively to Hot Press about the unearthing of what may very well be the first recordings of Rory Gallagher in 1964 when he was a member of The Fontana Showband.

It was found gathering dust in an old filing cabinet by Cork music fan Tim O’Leary who was given a cache of material to look after by the wife of Phil Prendergast who managed the Fontanas.

“Yes, I am aware of the recordings and have some of them on tape and 45 RPM test pressings,” Donal tells us. “The version of Larry Williams' 'Slowdown' was intended to be the single and the band performed the song on RTÉ's Saturday evening Pickin' The Pops show. Rory got lacerated for having long hair by the 'music' panel! Two of the songs are early Rory compositions, ‘You Fooled Me All The Time’, and ‘I Want You To Be Happy’. The other songs being ‘My Bonnie’ á la Tony Sheridan/The Beatles and Buddy Holly's ‘Valley Of Tears’. The recorded material was also to be used as a 'showcase' for soliciting residencies at clubs and US airbases overseas.

“However, it's a great find by Tim O'Leary and I had a good conversation with him earlier. Philip Prendergast was the brother of Peter who owned the Arcadia Ballroom and also looked after The Dixies Showband.

“Rory and Philip clicked as they saw the need to progress the Fontana Showband, transforming them into more of an R&B outfit and changing their name to Impact. They were dubbed ‘the first of the new wave’ and were very much a template for The Commitments.”