Irish music fits (the) Bill
Traditional tunes a delightful discovery for New Haven guitarist
By Sean Spillane
STAFF WRITER Connecticut Post Updated: 03/10/2009
Since arriving from the Northern California punk scene 13 years ago, Bill Collins has made his mark on the New Haven music scene as the fiery lead guitarist for rock bands such as The Baltimore Footstompers, Big Bad Johns and The Swaggerts.
These days, you’ll find Collins leading The Dammy Bhoys, a trio that plays traditional Irish music, at pubs and clubs throughout the region.
“You can’t play the same type of music your whole life
. . . or at least I can’t,” Collins said in a recent phone interview from hisNew Havenresidence. “I keep trying to find different ways to express myself the best and the Irish stuff really seems to be a good fit.
“As I get older, I don’t feel like I need to stand in front of hugeMarshallamps every night. I love the feeling of playing before an Irish crowd with the people singing along and dancing in front of the stage. I’ll play a song like ‘The Wild Rover’ and the entire room will be singing along and clapping at the right parts and it’s just a very warm feeling.”
Collins initially was doing the Irish thing as a solo act, but Gary “Chops” MacConnie would occasionally sit in on banjo and mandolin. They eventually adopted the name The Dammy Bhoys and added Brian Kennedy, who plays the bodhran, a traditional Irish drum.
Collins’ introduction to Irish music started when he “discovered The Pogues when I was on tour inGermany in 1986 or ’87,” he said. That group’s mix of traditional Irish music and punk rock “just grabbed me.”
“Then, when people found out I liked The Pogues, they all said, ‘You need to listen to the real traditional [stuff],’” he added. “At first, it sounded too hokey to me and I didn’t like it, but it was like this strange addiction. I kept getting more and more sucked into it.
“I like history a lot and there’s this whole historical sense that is in traditional Irish music; some of the songs are hundreds of years old. It gradually helped me become more and more aware of my own Irish heritage. Although I’m a bit of a mutt — my father was Irish and Native American and my mother was German and Russian — the Irish stuff really just ended up grabbing a hold of me.”
And the music of the Emerald Isle has helped shape Collins’ other band, The Rabble Rousers, which focuses on union anthems and other more political offerings.
“A lot of the Irish tunes have social commentary, songs of rebellion that are politically conscious,” Collins said. “I’ve always liked political music ever since I first picked up a guitar and the old Irish stuff is now influencing my new political stuff.
“It’s great music to rile people up with. It’s as close as you can get to punk rock on an acoustic guitar.”