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It was around 1963
that Maurice Boland first got excited about the music of
the day, The Beatles and the Stones were happening and after a visit
to Maccabi Club in Terenure and watching a young beat group
performing, a very young Maurice decided to put his ‘own’ band
together. At first there was Jeff Key (now a doctor and Howard
Spear and called themselves The Keynotes. Maurice on drums (a
drum!) and the other two on guitar, they only lasted a short time
(luckily!) but Maurice was bitten by the bug.
Bassist Jim Hudson came along with
guitarists Jay Malone, Mick Rafferty
and singer Ditch Cassidy and The
Kingbees were formed. For the first year they played in the new
wave of ‘Beat Clubs’; Sound City, The 5 Club in Harcourt Street The
Stella, Mount Merrion, etc., then followed a spell of playing
support to numerous showbands.
The country folk had
never seen the likes of these long haired foursome and soon followed
their first spell in Germany playing Brunswick and Hanover. The band
released their only record ‘My Little Red Book’ with ‘I’m
A Kingbee’ (of course) on the B-side.
Maurice left after the '66 spell in Germany and was replaced by
Dougie McIlwaine from The Mad Lads. He
set up Ireland's first mobile disco and then the first discothèque
in Ireland, Elizabeth’s in Leeson Street. He then went on to open
Barbarella's in Baggot Street and Sachs Hotel on Morehampton Road.
He now lives in Marbella, Spain with his wife Wendy and owns Radio
Europe Mediterraneo, Spain’s largest English-speaking radio,
broadcasting across southern Spain, on the Costa Del Sol, Costa
Blanca, Costa Calida, Costa Tropican, The Canaries and Majorca,
www.rem.fm.
Ditch Cassidy went on to front The News. Jim Hudson and Dougie McIlwaine
teamed up with (The) Movement singer John Farrell to form The
Dreams.
by
Maurice Boland |
