The Devil Went Down To Greystones

Let there be American gothic…

art of Ireland’s music scene for five decades, Trevor Knight’s latest band may actually be his most adventurous.

It’s certainly his most ambitious, The Devil’s Spine Band bizarrely taking its lead from Oscar Wilde’s 1882 trip to Leadville, Colorado.

From there, Knight, guitarist Ed Deane, bass player Garvan Gallagher, drummer Dominic Mullen and vocalist Honor Heffernan explore ‘all things cowboy and Wilde West in an Americana explosion‘.

You have been warned.

Performing at The Whale on Sunday, September 21st at 7pm, we caught up with young Trevor to discover those songs that can still make him break down and cry, and just how he got from there to here…

Naimi 1976 Andrew Boland, Garvan Gallagher, Trevor Knight, Fran Breen. Pic: Robert Vance

I grew up in Belfast where I lived until 1970 – skipping church to play records in my friends house and listening to The Alan Freeman Show on Sundays, Top 20 on BBC Radio 1 – to see had your favourites gone up or down!

Round ’68, ’69, I loved all the Beatles, Stones, Led Zeppelin, The Move, Amen Corner, Sandy Denny, The Kinks, Thin Lizzy, Marvin Gaye,,Nina Simone, listening to Radio Caroline and Radio Luxembourg. I bought the singles and wore them out on my Dansette record player…

Auto Da Fe Robbie Brennan, Trevor, Gay Woods, Mark Megaray. Pic: Kevin Dunne

There weren’t many keyboard-oriented bands (with the exception of the amazing Booker T and Traffic) until Genesis and Yes came along, so when I came to live in Dublin I started going to gigs and saw bands like Genesis who especially wowed me (the red dress!). I’d taken piano lessons and got to grade 7 but stopped after moving to Dublin. My teacher was called Harriet Officer – a very kind woman who as well as the Mozart and Schumann let me bring sheet music of stuff like Lazy Sunday by the Small Faces and Time Is Tight Booker T and the MGs.

Eventually I found a few like-minded people to play with – started with a bit of Neil Young, Traffic, Roy Harper, Beatles, etc, in clubs like The Foxrock Folk Club and then Toners on Baggot Street. Then the band Naïma came about, playing jazz rock – Mahavishnu Orchestra, Weather Report and Chick Corea – and I began writing my own material. Met Gay Woods in Holland in the late ’70s – we formed Auto da Fé, met Phil Lynott, and he produced our records. I then played in his band and the rest as they say…

It was a dream come true to have played in Philip’s solo band back in the ’80s after seeing Thin Lizzy on Top of the Pops – a starstruck moment! Playing also with Tir na Nog and a friendship with Leo O’Kelly that still continues. I am so lucky to have played with so many great people – Paul Brady, Donovan, Mary Coughlan, and now, my beautiful wife Honor Heffernan in The Devil’s Spine Band.

As to the songs that influenced me and have stayed with me all my life, too many to mention, but, here’s 10 of the big hitters…

Fleetwood Mac The Green Manalishi
The beautiful twin guitars of Peter Green and Danny Kirwan on Top of The Pops, while I was living a teenage life in miserable Belfast.

Kraftwerk Computer World
A thing of beauty – The Model from The Man-Machine was their hit but this track and album changed everything for me, along with OMD and The Human League. My brother Stephen introduced me to this world along with anarchic punks Crass.

Jimi Hendrix Voodoo Chile
Bought the record – it became a No. 1 after he died – and it still sends shivers! The most amazing electric guitar player, then and now.

Keith Jarrett My Song
One of the most beautiful melodies ever written, with Jan Garbarek on sax. Living in Holland, the band I was in at the time – the terribly-named No Buckets – cried when we heard this first. Such emotional piano by Keith.

David Bowie Life on Mars
Anything really by Bowie I could have put in, especially the Hunky Dory, Ziggy era. Rick Wakeman’s piano playing is sublime. Also Mick Ronson’s guitar, wow! Starman on TOTP had me hooked.

Beach Boys God Only Knows
Intrigued by the chords, harmonies, everything, and in the recent past, I dissected it, finding the amazing Carol Kaye bass lines. A work of Brian Wilson genius.

Ivor Cutler Fremsley
Always loved Ivor and saw him in the Project Arts Centre long ago. Funny but poignant, it was either him or John Cooper Clarke’s Beasley Street on the list. Needed some poetry.

Joni Mitchell The Hissing of Summer Lawns
Almost anything by Joni would have been good to include, but this song’s lyrics, vocals and musicianship are transcendent.

Genesis Watcher of the Skies
I saw Genesis in the National Stadium in 1972 with Peter Gabriel dressed in a long red dress and fox’s head – those opening Mellotron chords blew me away. After witnessing this I decided to make a valiant effort to become a keyboard player (with a Hohner Pianet!), and the theatricality eventually became part of the Auto da Fé ethos.

Captain Beefheart and The Magic Band Her Eyes Are A Blue Million Miles
A more accessible track by one of the greatest. Trout Mask Replica is a genius work but Clear Spot was the album to help me get into the Captain’s world. Frank Zappa should’ve been here too maybe. I Am The Slime!

The Devil’s Spine Band play The Whale on Sunday, September 21st at 7pm, tickets here. You can find out more about Trevor, Honor and co on Ye Olde Facebook right about here or the middle-aged Instagram here.