The Airchords
(1960-1973) [last year as Treetops]
© Gerry Gallagher
Photo Gallery -
Band Lineups -
Discography
- Audio samples -
Where Are They Now?
The Story
Editor's note: Every care
has been taken to present only factual information in our stories
based on first person reports, newspaper articles and photographic
archives. If you can add anything or correct info in this story,
please email us and let us know.
Formed by members of the Irish Air Corps, the Airchords
came together in 1960.
Two years after graduating from the Technical
Training Squadron, Archie Raeside was on duty one night at the
Officer’s Mess gate and was visited by two former student
colleagues. They were Paddy O’Meara and Sean Kinsella.
“We are
thinking of forming a showband and thought you might be interested -
what do you think?” the boys asked Archie. He liked the idea and was
pleased they considered him for the job of trumpeter so he said,
“count me in.” The original line-up included Paddy O’Meara (tenor
sax), Seanie Kinsella (drums), and Archie (trumpet). Then
came Arthur O'Neill (tenor and alto sax), Myles Mooney (guitar),
Ernie Berkenheier (RIP-bass) and Mick McNamara (vocals).
Archie
takes up the story, "Colonel W. J. Keane, our commanding officer,
gave permission for us to use a room in the dining block for
practice. In order to play in most dance halls and ballrooms around
the country it was important to become a member of The Irish
Federation of Musicians, so they were contacted and a date set for
us to take the test. First we were questioned individually in the
theory of music and then as a band, we performed a couple of
numbers. Having passed the test and gained admittance to the
federation we turned our attention to image. Like other Showbands,
we appeared clean-shaven, well groomed and wearing white shirt, bow
tie and a blazer, complete with pocket crest."
As far as
we can tell from researching newspaper archives, the band played
mainly in and around Dublin for the first 2-3 years. Their first
ventures outside the city seemed to focus on gigs in Drogheda and
the North. It would take them some time before their managed to gain
a foothold in the rest of the country.
The band
was initially managed by Nobby O'Reilly and
for the first few years, like most of the
showbands in the early 1960's the band continued to do their "day
jobs" and it wasn't until late in 1964 that they took the major
step of turning professional. They also changed managers and were
then managed by Don Kinsella. A 1964 press release reported that Don
was originally the trumpeter/vocalist with the band.
Archie was the first to leave the band
when he was selected
as the official photographer to accompany the first
Irish United Nations troops to serve overseas since the foundation
of the state. Details of his role and of the members of the 32nd.
and 33rd. Battalions, in what was an historic and
groundbreaking operation for the Irish Defence Forces are recorded
in his book, The Congo-1960. Myles Mooney was also sent to
the Congo and was "replaced" by Liam Hurley, who would turn out to
be a significant addition to the band as he wrote songs and handled
the band's musical arrangements. However, Myles did return to the band a
short time later.
Archie was
initially
replaced by Phil O'Reilly.
1965 was a big
year for the band as early on the appeared on RTE's Showband Show,
but around the same time, lost their lead singer, Joe
Fitzmaurice who went to the Altonaires. However, his replacement
would be Pat Lynch (brother of the Dixie's Steve Lynch), who came from the recently split Clipper
Carlton. In 1964 the Clippers split into the Santa Fe Showband and
the Clippers. Pat would guide the Airchords' fortunes until their
breakup.
The band released
its first single, A Knock On the Door on March 29, 1965
and Pat made his debut with the band a few weeks later on Easter
Sunday, 1965. Although the record failed to make an impact on the
charts, it established the Airchords as a bona fide player on the
growing Irish ballroom circuit after being part time for the first
five years.
The band followed
with two more singles, Are You Sincere and Worry, once
again neither of which made the charts, but their fortunes would
soon change. In July, 1966, Danny Ellis would leave the band to join
with Jim Farley's Band and he would be
replaced by Dermot Ryan. Later that year, the band jumped on the
growing showband ballad craze and released The Leaving of
Liverpool which would crack the Irish top ten rising to number
six, the band's first chart hit.
A few months
later, around March, 1967, the band would be in the charts again
when The Irish Soldier reached number three. However, at the
same time, the band lost one of its musical mainstays when Liam
Hurley left to follow Danny Ellis into Jim
Farley's band. He was replaced on guitar by Pat's brother Tony
Lynch, who had come from the Earl Gill's Hoedowners.
An article in
Top Thirty magazine in March, 1967 reported that
Aidan Hand was now the band's manager. A November article in the
Sligo Champion told a lengthy tale
of their new single being called The Chickens Round the Garden.
However, we can find no record of this ever being released as at the
same time, late 1967,
the band had its first number one hit, Treat Me Daughter Kindly.
In early 1969,
Ernie Berkenheier, one of only three original members left would
leave the band and was replaced by bassist Johnny
Brown, who had been with the beat group Magazine and would soon go
one to bands like The Billy Brown Band and the
Real McCoy. A little later in the year
another founding member of the band, Arthur O'Neill left, along with
four other members in October, 1969 to form the core of a new band
being put together to back former Colours vocalist Brian "Red"
Hurley, brother of Liam. Dermot Ryan (sax), Arthur O'Neill (sax), Emmet Wynne
(trumpet) and Myles Mooney (guitar) and Johnny Browne (bass) left to
join the newly formed Wheels.
At this point, the only original member of the
band left was drummer Sean Kinsella. The band needed to be rebuilt
in a hurry and they brought in Norman Clifford, Dave Curran, Arthur
Madden and Billy Hopkins. As with many bands of the era, major
shakeups in the lineup usually signaled the beginning of the end of
the band and so it was for the Airchords. At this point the band was
being managed by Matt Nodwell.
Now down to a seven piece, the band, mainly of the
strength of Pat Lynch's vocals, continued to have popular records,
despite the turmoil it faced in its lineup. Tony Lynch left the band
in December, 1970 and emigrated (he would eventually return to
Ireland). He was replaced by Fergie Burke. Just three months later,
in March, 1971 Fergie was to feature on the band's next record,
When We Were Young. Just before the band went into the
recording studios, Dave, Arthur and Billy took up an offer to form a
new band backing Paddy Day and they became the core of the Wanderin
Stars. Norman Clifford also left to join Ian Corrigan's band. At
this point it appears Pat was ready to call it quits, but the single
was a huge hit and went to number one in the Irish charts. The split could not have come at a worse time
and the only way to overcome the situation was to put together
another band quickly. In an act of desperation,
the entire lineup of the Regal Showband was hired to become the new
Airchords.
The band
continued to release new singles including I Only Live to Love
You and This is My Lovely Day, but neither made an impact
on the charts. Unfortunately, in August of
1971, Fergie Burke, Arthur Madden and Billy Hopkins left the band
and joined the revamped Royal Showband after the departure of
Brendan Bowyer and Tom Dunphy to start the Big 8. Once again, it
appeared the Airchords were finished but new musicians were found
and they moved to new management in January 1972, but were soon back
with Matt Nodwell in March of the same year. With this came a name
change from the Airchords to the Treetops.
The first gig we
can find for the new band was in April, 1972. In June, 1972, the
band announced that Derek Davis. Derek, the RTE newscaster,
impersonated Big Tom on Hall's Pictorial Weekly and then went
on the road for a short time as "Mean Tom." For the next year Pat
Lynch, Mean Tom and the Treetops did the ballroom and carnival
circuit but as far as we can tell no new records were released. In
September of 1973, Pat left the band, which folded and went over to
the fledgling cabaret scene being managed by his brother Steve Lynch who had been
with the Dixies for more than a decade.
Pat sadly passed
away on January 26th, 2018. Steve Lynch passed away in 2016.
click on thumbnails for full image
 |
Mick McNamara - RIP:
Paddy O'Meara wrote us in May, 2012 to tell us that Mick
sadly passed away in 2011.
If you
know more,
please let us know. |
 |
Myles Mooney: We
received an email from Arthur O'Neill in June, 2011 telling
us 69 year old Myles is
in Australia entertaining on tour buses.
From an old issue of Spotlight, we have discovered that
Myles first went off to Australia in the early 70's and was
playing with a group called The Drovers in Sydney in 1975.
It appears from an Internet search that the Irish Drovers
are still on the road (we think) in 2017! We received an
email in Feb, 2018 from Andrew Clark who tells us Myles is
still going strong, although no longer gigging. If you
know more,
please let us know. |
 |
Ernie Berkenheier -
RIP: Ernie sadly passed away 23rd June,
2004. |
 |
Sean Kinsella: We
received an email from Arthur O'Neill in June, 2011 telling
us that 68 year old Sean
is now living in Cork with his wife and two labradores.
|
|
|
Archie Raeside:
Archie left the band when he was selected
as the official photographer to accompany the first
Irish United Nations troops to serve overseas in the Congo in 1960. Details of his role and of the members of the 32nd.
and 33rd. Battalions, in what was an historic and
groundbreaking operation for the Irish Defence Forces are recorded
in his book, The Congo-1960.
|
|
|
Paddy O'Meara: Paddy
now lives in Ennis, Co. Clare and in May, 2012 he stepped
down as Chairman of the
Air Corps "Old Boys" after five years, but was still
;looking after the branch website and newsletter. More to
come... |
 |
Arthur O'Neill:
We received an email from Arthur in
June, 2011 telling us he is still
gigging in Ireland. He is 70 and
living in Portlaoise and playing lots of golf.
Got the photo from his son Mark in Feb 2018, Arthur still
going strong at 77. |
|
|
Joe Fitzmaurice:
Unknown, if you know more
please let us know.
|
|
|
Liam Hurley: Liam
left the Airchords and ended up in The Nevada with brother
Red (Brian Hurley). He left the band after being seriously injured in a car
accident. Although he never returned to the bandstand, he
became one of Ireland's best known session musicians and
record producers. |
|
|
Phil O'Reilly - RIP:
We received an email from Shay Martin in January 2018
telling us that Phil joined the Garda band but has sadly
passed away. If you
know more,
please let us know. |
|
|
Al Devine - RIP:
Al's son, Phil, emailed us recently to let us know that Al
sadly passed away in March, 1998. |
 |
Pat Lynch - RIP: After the
breakup of the Treetops Pat continued to sing on the growing
cabaret scene in the 1970's. He finally retired from
professional performing, although we don't know what he did
for the next forty years except that he still sings
occasionally for nostalgia shows and charity events. Shay
Martin sent us an email in early January, 2018 telling us that Pat
was teaching in his native Cork but sadly, a few days later,
Pat passed away on January 26th, 2018. . |
 |
Tony Lynch-RIP:
Tony sadly passed away February 14, 2023 in Cork. |
|
|
Johnny Brown:
Unknown, If you
know more,
please let us know. |
|
|
Emmett Wynne:
Emmet's daughter Jennifer wrote us in November, 2021 to tell
us he is doing well, still living in Dublin and turning 80.
If you
know more,
please let us know.. |
|
|
Dermot Ryan: Unknown,
if you know more,
please let us know. |
 |
Billy Hopkins - RIP: After
leaving the Airchords, Billy went on to play with the Royal
Showband. In
the early eighties, Billy joined with brother Des
Hopkins to form
the Cluskey Hopkins Band. The band plays jazz and has
been on the road for over twenty years. They have played all
the major jazz festivals in Ireland and the UK, as well as
touring. They have a close association with Guinness and are
the original Guinness Jazz Band. Sadly Billy passed away on
the 16th February 2010. |
 |
Arthur Madden - RIP:
Arthur sadly passed away many years ago while still
quite young. |
|
|
Norman Clifford:
Unknown, if you know more,
please let us know. |
|
|
Fergie Burke:
Unknown, if you know more,
please let us know. |
 |
Derek Davis (aka
Mean Tom) - RIP:
Derek went back to his regular job as a newscaster after
flirting with the showband world joining RTE as a full time
newscaster in 1975. After a long career as a newscaster on
both TV and radio, Derek sadly passed away on May 13th, 2015
after a short illness. He was aged 67. |
