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Living the Band Life
by Brian "Shorty"
O'Kane
 My name is Brian O’Kane, but most
people know me as Shorty. I am a bass
player/vocalist, and was a member of Belfast based pop/rock band,
Dirty Work in the mid seventies. That's
me wearing the Top Hat. We played mostly around the city, but
rarely ventured far from home.
Around 1977, manager Louis Walsh (Boyzone, etc.) heard us
playing and asked us to move down to Dublin to become Tony
Kenny's backing band. Tony had just finished the runs of Jesus Christ Superstar &
Joseph & The Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat. It was a big
step, but also a great opportunity, so we took the chance.
 Tony had decided that he wanted to go back on the road, so
off we went as The Tony Kenny Band, and
we were managed by Connie Lynch. I
remained with Tony for nearly three years, during which time the
band underwent a couple of line-up changes – when guitarist
Iggy Ward and drummer Peter
McKinney returned to Belfast to form rock band
Katmandu, later moving back to Dublin where
they based themselves for several years. Most notable musicians
to join the Tony Kenny Band were:
On guitar: Bobby Kelly from Dublin
(ex- Greenbeats & Freshmen)
and later on guitar, Pat Coldrick from
Navan (ex- Jim Tobin & Firehouse, and
who later joined The Memories); On Drums:
Niall Power from Kildare
(ex-Rob Strong & Las Vegas;
The Gibney & Donovan Band; and more recently seen on
tour with Westlife, and currently
playing in Bob Geldof’s band). And later on drums,
Barry Patterson (ex-
Candy; Sunshine; Colm & The Sundowners; and Cahir
O’Doherty & The Dazzle Band)
In late 1980, after a brief spell with the Dublin-based band,
The Lovers, I then joined
Daddy Cool & The Lollipops, managed by
Mick Quinn. "Daddy Cool" was Jim Farley, the famous sax player
who has been around since the 1960's. He had been with Roly
Daniels, and had his own badns like the Tophatters and the Jim
Farley Superband.
Three of us (myself, Ivan Laybourne & Len Guest)
left that band in 1982 to form The TopCats
– later to become The Strangers, where I
remained until my return to Belfast in 1983 when I formed
Shorty & The Heartbeats, in the Daddy Cool
mould.
In 1986 this band spawned The Chevys,
who are currently one of the top bands in the North – managed by
Mickey Magill. In 1991 I folded the Heartbeats and joined The
Chevys as their sound engineer, where I remained for 12 years! I
left them last year (2004) to re-form Shorty & The Heartbeats,
and we are also managed by Mickey Magill - but we have recently
dropped the name and are now called The Naked Flames,
and are playing pop/rock all over the North.
 I myself only got to see the tail-end of the
real showband era. When I was with Tony Kenny, I was only 21,
and I remember us maybe playing to 1000 - 1500 people, and
Connie Lynch complaining that the great days had gone, because
in 'the old days' there would have been 2000 there!
In Daddy
Cool they complained that it wasn't as good as it was in the
'70's - and even now The Chevys would express concern that it's
not as good as it was in the '80's!! I think a good band will
always pull a good crowd. I think it was Brian Coll who famously
said ...."We used to play to 2,000 people with a 200 watt P.A.
system - now we play to 200 people with a 2,000 watt P.A.
system!!" How true that is!
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