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Mark O'Leary Interference

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  I was in Interference for a while when they were based in Cork and played on several demos before they moved to Dublin. It was a nice formation, yours truly, with Ferg, Kev and Cal. As already iterated, I was in a moderately successful band with Kev, we played a lot of gigs, some massive crowds, even had a manager, we were recording and had a bit of potential, everyone was into the band; Kev, yours truly, Tom and Seam, all hunky dory until Kev was offered the bass position in an early transitional line up of Interference and basically, left his own band to join them, he was persona non grata, although, I still personally had great time for Kev, then Interference had no guitarist, Kev approached me, and basically offered me the guitar role. I went to a few rehearsals and I was in. Then I was persona non grata and had to explain exactly what was transpiring to Tom and Seam who were great friends of mine and thought that there was a conspiracy going on. So I had to elucidate, but r...
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Mark O'Leary, Cillian Murphy, Marlon Brando (Johnny Depp)

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  I had two students that were picked to star with Marlon Brando and Johnny Depp (always forget Depp...as well). I coached them a little bit besides the music, confidence building, tactics, and in that supplementary moment, 'do you have anything you wish to add', grabbing a guitar and a rendition with maximum impact, whereby after the first verse, "sorry kid, exactly when would you like to start work with Marlon Brando".. On a rainy, drab, innocuous saturday afternoon I was auditing new students in the Wright Music Centre on Castle Street and two new students arrived in to be assessed; Cillian and his friend Eoin. I'll never forget, Cillian was kind of, pardon the french, "who the fuck are you." "Well, I've got two students that are going to be starring with Marlon Brando"... "Yeah boy, yeah." "Oh Yeah boy, oh yeah" I retorted. An older lad in the class intervened and said he does, I'm in school with one of them. Su...
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Paul Bley Mark O'Leary Duo Concert Half Moon Theatre

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  Paul Bley and Mark O'Leary Live at the Half Moon Theatre. This was the last concert of our little tour over here. Paul and I kind of worked well together, musically and personably. The concert at Half Moon was full to maximum capacity, even though EST were playing just across the street, with people travelling from far and wide for us and them. Paul would usually play solo, you would play solo and then for the last fifteen minutes play together, but he liked the idea of us playing together from the beginning. We played all improvised material, Paul working inside the piano ala John Tilbury, I was in ambient guitar mode, we then diverged into more disparate type improvisations, angular, rhythmic, Monkesque and a digression to material that was more second vienesse school, next to the terra firma of ECM genre material, a short solo from Paul, a short solo from me, he stood up and tipped his hat, the audience gave a thunderous applause.... We played blues tinged material and that wa...
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Paul Bley Mark O'Leary Duo Performance Kilworth Arts Centre

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  Paul Bley Mark O'Leary Live at Kilworth Arts Centre. First concert with Paul Bley. Declan Jones obliged by driving us to West Cork, back to Rochestown for a cup of tea and then to Kilworth for the concert. No rehearsal, just a thirty second soundcheck, payment up front for the gig, Paul's stipulation to much chagrin and show time. No set list, no discussion, just straight into the musical discourse, when people engage in dialectic with regard ECM, this concert in Kilworth was the epitome of this aesthetic, both tonal and more open ended material. Primarily rubato, albeit, with interjections of rhythmic based material, the Kilworth concert was more; cerebral, subtle, oblique melodies, countermelodies, working the interstices, lots of space, short motifs and leitmotifs, the merging of the two musical minds, but also what Paul sensed was a degree of compatible musicality, our mores where congruent, no grandiose grandstanding, more minimal lyricism, the audience, were appreciativ...
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Mark O'Leary Oasis Anecdotes

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  Mark O'Leary Oasis Anecdotes A couple of claims to fame, I did teach a chap who was in Inspiral Carpets, was he; before, during or after Noel's tenure as roadie. Never asked, but he was in the band as a transitional member. I also worked in a band with a guy who played with Paul Stacey and knew him well, Stacey is an exceptional guy; brilliant guitarist, multi instrumentalist, producer and much more, Oasis are lucky to have such a sagacious band member. Ipso facto, connections. Another minor claim, I did meet, albeit serendipitously, Paul Gallagher outside comet on Washington Street in the early nineties, a decent enough sort. One thing that stands out about Cillian Murphy, to an extent he was pre Oasis, but it is a credit to him and his contemporaries, they were not really influenced by Oasis, nor Blur, nor Radiohead, it makes them sui generis and confers a degree of authenticity upon them. When Oasis were nascent, Cillian, his contemporaries and myself were cultivating our ...
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Mark O'Leary, Cillian Murphy and The Sarahdaze and the band that got away

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  Mark O'Leary, The Sarahdaze and the band that got away. The Sarahdaze were a band with unsurpassed potential, with relative ease, they could have inhabited that mezzanine space between Fontaines DC and U2. I know, I was teaching three of them; Cillian, Eoin and John. In a way I connected John and Cillian. Cillian needed a bassist, John was keen to join a band. With a superlative touch on fender bass, using finger work, slap and pop, excellent organic timing, he was the perfect match. Cillian decided to do the vocals and be the front man, I initially hypothesized that it could be a twin guitar band, but Cillian just astounded everyone with his vocal range and stage prowess. Cillian and Eoin met up with John, John was superb, he got into the band, no small feat! Eoin was a brilliant guitarist, influenced by the Edge, David Gilmour et al. With a little nurturing they most definitely could have also ended up on Top of the Pops like some of my other students and made a breakthrough. ...
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Holly Bough front cover 1972 with Mark O'Leary

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