Knock On Woods

Eoin Woods 18JAN19

he plan was a quick five-minute chat with Eoin Woods this afternoon to announce his first local gig in 327 years, but, what the hell were we thinking…?!

The man has lived three, four, five lives, each of them soundtracked beautifully, and each worth their very own GG cover story.

Of course the interview was going to run for over 25 minutes. And, naturally, once the recording was over, there would be another 20 minutes of stories, memorable gigs, impromptu sessions and having a young Sheryl Crow as your support act.

But first, let’s jump back to those early years on the mean streets of Trafalgar Road, the short-panted young Eoin discovering that he could play piano by ear rather than follow his siblings into learning boring notation. And then the guitar, and playing loud, and chasing chicks, took over, an older boy, Brian Farrell, making the wide-eyed and ridiculously talented Eoin happily sell his soul to rock’n’roll. Joining folky forces, Brian ‘n’ Woodsy soon became perhaps Greystones’ biggest ever homegrown live draw.

Next to The Baskerville Sisters, of course.

During the ’80s, no party was complete without this dynamic, devilish duo, playing everything from John Martyn to The Muppets. As with all golden years, at the time, it felt like Brian’n’Woodsy would go on forever. But, as Sir George of Harrison once wrote, all things must pass, and the second chapter of Eoin Woods’ musical journey saw him heading to America, and Boston, where another local lad, Martin Crotty, was filling out stadiums with his crappily-named but really rather rockin’ band, Cliffs Of Dooneen. It was Martin who produced Eoin’s debut album, Everytime, voted Debut Album Of The Year 1995 at the Boston Music Awards. 

They loved Eoin Woods in Boston, WFNX Boston crowning him Folk Artist Of The Year in 1994. And 1995. And 1996. Which may explain how he came to be included on the acclaimed compilation album, This Is Boston – Not Austin, and how he came to share a stage with Carly Simon. Those years were a blur of good times, great reviews and grand designs, but the conquering hero returned to Ireland just in time to see the arse drop out of live gigs, as our great big, cuddy recession flattened many an Irish dream.

No amount of economic rust was about to keep this tenacious troubadour down though, and a chance hook-up with multi-talented multi-instrumentalist Paul Fairclough in 2008 resulted in ten years of what Eoin himself terms “musical bliss”. Which may explain the ten-year live blitz, The Bunko Brothers playing to full, swaying houses right up until Paul’s heartbreaking cancer diagnosis late last year saw him retire from the road.

And so, after organising a spectacular benefit night for his old buddy last October, Eoin has picked up the pieces and pulled together a bunch of top-of-the-range, oven-ready, Grade-A musicians (including Take It Easy’s Chris Greene on bass and Michael Meakin on drums), given that, hey, the show must go on. Always.

Playing The Beach House this Saturday night for the first time in many a year, special guest on the night will be Shane Atlas, the groovy and deliciously eccentric drummer from Gavin Povey‘s New Orleans band, Eoin Woods may cast a long shadow when it comes to playing live, but that just means that the man really knows how to send ya home sweatin’…

You can follow Eoin Woods on Facebook here and here, and Instagram here, whilst you can also check out his music on Soundcloud right here. You can also get in touch with the man himself on eoinwoods64@gmail.com.