The loner
He sits at the bar, staring blankly into nothingness, his fingers > making mince meat of the beer mat as he waits anxiously for another > drink. The barman makes no effort at small talk as he pours him > another. With the glass now full and his bloodshot eye twitching, he > raises the […]
BAND OBITUARY
Obituary. The Basement, band. (1997-2007). Members: John Mullin (35), Mark McKowski, Declan McManus, Graham Hassle. Formed in the halls of st. Patricks High School, Omagh before moving on to the glamorous surroundings of Johnny lomax’s garage, they honed their “craft” to a semi-tolerable racket. Ambitions were high. Outlook however remained bleek. They moved to Liverpool, […]
Inner Flame
WORDS: Howe Gelb. <><><><><><><><> I was 19. Still impressionable. Living in Tucson. 1976. A good decade & age to allow the usefulness of psychedelics. It was also a time of great emptiness. It was more than possible to head out to the forest of giant saguaro ( which were only minutes away ) […]
Celticly Connected
Ok. Bear with me on this one. I’m about to go deep. But theres a point in here… somewhere. This stuff has been circling in my mind for some time now.. I’m trying to figure out the formula, or the recipe. The ingredients are all there, stewing in the brain. I Just need to write […]
78s
Here we are again with another hack piece. Straight from brain to paper. Who knows where we’ll end up this time. Let’s begin with what’s sitting on the table in front of me and take it from there. Im currently sifting through a handful of blues 78s I got handed recently. Among them are some […]
small town trap
While on the road, I often find myself in small towns that resemble home. I could be in Germany, but I’ve somehow wound up in their version of omagh. In fact, sometimes it’s even more like omagh than omagh is. These traps are all over the world. You could be anywhere. Then you walk into […]
The bone collector
An interview i did with Record Collector Magazine.. Mark McCausland is a guitarist/writer who lives in Omagh. If he is known at all, it is for his work as one half of The Lost Brothers, who have released 6 albums to date. He was also the lead guitarist in The Basement, who were signed […]
Straight from the brain
My life gets weirder every day. But now the circus has ended. Or has it just begun. The last month has been crammed with too much action to digest. It’s gona take a long time for a lot of it to sink in. It’ll probably hit me in a year. A whirlwind of events. Each […]
Awkward but social