Maher Family / Dave Maher & the Rockets
/ Dave Marr (1973-present)
Photo Gallery -
Band Lineups -
Discography
- Audio samples -
Where Are They Now?
The Story
The Maher Family:
In the summer of 1973
the Maher Family
band hit the road initially gigging only in and around their home
town of Drogheda. The leader of the band was Joey Maher, who was
already a celebrity across Ireland as a champion handballer. The
band included Joey on guitar along with his three sons and daughter.
Within a year the band was expanding it reputation and playing gigs
further afield, although still mainly near home. The lineup was Joey
on guitar with Michael (14-guitar), David (11-bass), Eddie (7-drums)
and Linda (13-keyboards).
By 1975, the band had started
travelling up and down the country playing mainly cabaret venues in
the growing "singing lounge" circuit which was creating new
opportunities for musicians who weren't necessarily of the
"showband" genre. In April, 1976 the band released its first single,
Five O'clock Friday with vocals by "David" (in later years to
be known as "Dave). The B side was Roller Coaster. In May,
1977 the band announced it had "turned professional" a sign that
their gigging had become a full time job. At the time, Michael was
18, Linda - 17, David - 15, and Eddie 11 years old, definitely
making him the youngest "professional" drummer in the country. In
going pro they enlisted Johnny Hynes as their manager (he had
previously managed Roly Daniels according to the article).
In late 1977, the band announced
their upcoming appearance on Hughie Green's "Opportunity
Knocks" TV show. They would appear on January 30th, 1978 when they
came second in the studio voting but won the postal vote. They
appeared again on the 6th of February, but were knocked out of the
line-up after their second appearance. The exposure on the show made
them country wide stars and they were doing very well. The band
continued to do well on the cabaret circuit. Around this time, the
band did start to make inroads on the ballroom scene and were
advertised as the Maher Family Showband.
As 1978 started the band was doing
well on the dance circuit playing across the country, but still
doing a lot of cabaret gigs as well. In August, 1978, they released
their second single with Dave once again on vocals. It was the
Marmalade song, Radancer with the Searchers song,
Walk In The Room on the B side. An interesting side note is that
Eamon Campbell, prominent session musician and future member of the
Dubliners was brought in on guitar for the session.
For the next few years, the band
did a steady business, and they seemed to be playing (based on
newspaper adverts) mostly in the South, and Northwest of the
country, as well as Mayo and still playing a mix of dances and
cabaret gigs. In 1981 the band had to take a break when guitarist
Michael was injured in a fall at his home. By this time the band was
being managed by Jim McQuillan. In 1982, we found the last
advertisement for the Maher Family playing in the Hunter's Moon in
Ashbourne doing cabaret. The next time they were advertised it would
be under a new name and direction.
Dave Maher and the
Rockets:
Although we are not sure of the details, Dave Maher and the Rockets came onto the scene
in July 1982, near the "end" of what we consider the showband era.
Still based
in Drogheda, the band's lineup featured Dave (vocals and bass) along
with
brothers Michael (guitar) and Eddie (drums) and adding Stevie
McGowan (guitar) and Benny Farrell (keyboards). Stevie would leave the
band to join Red Hurley's band in September, 1982 and was replaced by Ally Pentony
(bass) with Dave moving "on front." Ally would leave a few months
later to join Johnny Logan's touring band. The band was still being
managed by Jim McQuillan, who organised the nationwide event, The
All-Ireland Rock n' Roll Dance Competition with the Rockets as the
featured band for the contest heats around the country (we think
Stage 2 was in the same position the previous year).
A report (see below) reported that
the three brothers had "quit" the family band to form a rock n' roll
outfit. Initially, the band's gigs
appeared to be dominated by their selection as the "guest band" for
the All Ireland Rock n' Roll Dance competition which was sponsored
(at least in part we think) by RTE 2 radio. A later report in the
Drogheda Independent on September 3rd, 1982 reported the contest was
being run "in conjunction" with the band and Jim McQuillan and
"sponsored to the tune of £2,000 by the Sound Shop, Drogheda and
Funtrek Holidays."
In October 1982, it was announced
they were to release their first single called "This Time" but we
are not sure if it was ever released. In December, Ally left and was
replaced by local lad, Niall Lochran on bass. In 1983 the band released the
single "Rock n' Roll Eddie."
and later that year they were playing all across Initially the country where
their nostalgic "rock n' roll" genre of music was gaining in
popularity.
In early 1984, bass player Niall
was replaced by Maurice Smith who, it was reported, would be playing
a double bass to keep with the band's "rockabilly" set list. In June
1984, they released Tore Up with Ready Teddy on the B
side on the new Bus record label which was started by Marcus
Connaughton, formerly with Hawk and Lunar records. Also at some
point in late 1983 or early 84, Les Carter joined on keyboards.
Throughout the 1980's the band
would continue to gig around the country and release records.
Eventually, around 1990, Dave changed the spelling of his name to
Dave Marr and dropped the Rockets moniker to become the Dave Marr
Band. However, some adverts would still list the band as Dave
Maher and the Rockets for several years. The last listing we
could find for Dave Marr and his Band was in 1998, but we
know he didn't stop playing as a check of local gig guides w\still
shows him playing around Drogheda and Dublin in 2019.
More to come.....
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