THIRTY-ONE years ago, The Gilhooly’s boys couldn’t have pictured this now.
Then - in their early 20s - the group of six were just starting out, raising the roof at King Tuts Wah Wah Hut, the SECC and Nice N Sleazy’s.
Fast forward to 2021, the boys are all now in their mid-50s and they’re sitting smug in a studio in Coatbridge having successfully scheduled their third album release for September time.
After going their separate ways in 1995, a trip to their local boozer in Hamilton reunited John McPartlin, Paul Devlin, James Clifford, Stephan McBride, Paul Fitzpatrick and Tommy Shaw and their love for composing indie and rock music.
“We were having a few pints and we just thought, why not give this another go?”, laughed John, who’s on backing vocals.
“We started up in 1990 and stopped five years later because it was just one of those things where we were getting on and it wasn’t going to get us anywhere at that time.
“There were so many different reasons why we went our separate ways, but we always stayed in touch.”
A long three decades apart was brought to an end after songwriter Paul’s daughter, Charlotte, began uploading videos of herself doing covers of her father’s music.
The clips soon started ramping up hundreds of views – inspiring the boys to get behind the beat again.
John said: “If it wasn’t for Paul’s daughter we wouldn’t have got back together. But now, here we are, in our 50s and ready to give it another shot and we’re about to launch a new album – I’m so glad we’re doing it.
“I have got to say, I really missed it when we split up. I have noticed now that so much has changed since the 1990s in terms of recording – back then there were so many different aspects and now it’s all technology-led. It’s amazing.
“Our kids have helped us a lot in the sense of helping us to get back out there again. We never expected this to happen.
“The music has really helped us in more ways that we thought – it has helped our mental health in the sense that we can see old pals again and reconnect.”
The Gilhooly’s have truly re-emerged from the shadows with the first track of their new album, ‘Star’, released last month and a spate of promised live dates in and around Glasgow to follow.
The band are hoping to see familiar faces in the crowds from gigs gone past but are anticipating a wave of younger fans with the launch of their new album.
At their height of fame, they were best known for their electrical indie hit 'You Bring Out the Devil In Me'.
“We will have some old fans out there but we are hoping to get some new ones too, hopefully”, said John.
“We’ve got a mix of new music – some of it is a bit slower and chilled out whereas other songs are a bit more upbeat. It’ll be a busy few months.
“We are all Hamilton lads so we thought we would do a charity gig for the area. We’re hoping to raise money for Scottish Association for Mental Health (SAMH).”
And to their surprise, ‘Star’ hit number one in Amazon’s New Release Indie Chart only a few weeks ago.
“Not bad for six lads who thought their time had gone”, laughed John.
“We’re looking forward to what the future has in store for us.”
More information about The Gilhooly’s upcoming gigs can be found on their Facebook page HERE.
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here