SAINTS AND ANGELS
January 1989 Issue 5

The Colin Blakey Interview
By Jim Carroll

The Waterboys’ December tour brought with it more than mere music. It was the tour which took Colin Blakey another step in his strange rock ‘n’ roll journey. Bierkeller groups, reggae on the Shetland Islands, jazz in Manchester, We Free Kings, Andy White, Van Morrison - so this is that it takes to be a Waterboy? Read on.

Who is Colin Blakey you may well ask. Well, on the Waterboys’ Christmas 1988 tour, he was one of those musicians to be seen buzzing on-and-offstage throughout the set. A talented and versatile musician, his exploits involving instruments make an interesting paragraph or six.

“My first interest in music came through my parents. They are in a group called Snicklefritz who play German Bierkeller music and it was natural for me because of this to take up the flute and whistles.” After Edinburgh University and a year spent in the Galicia area of Spain, he journeyed to the Shetland Islands. “A lot of music” kept him busy here from pub sessions to keyboard-playing for a reggae band called John Bibby’s Dog!

“A wonderful place” is Colin’s verdict on the island that was his home for nine months. “It may seem stark and barren but the islanders have a true sense of space. While the islands themselves are geographically isolated, the islanders are used to outsiders. The oil boom has changed the infrastructure of the island with all now geared towards it. While the oil won’t last forever, I’m sure the Shetlanders have contingency plans to deal with this eventuality.”

A stop-over in Manchester saw him working on an archeological dig on a Roman fort by day and playing flute in jazz and be-bop combos by night. Edinburgh beckoned, and here Colin started a craft business and ran a stall selling brooches. It was in the city’s Grass Market that fate introduced him to We Free Kings. “One day, I saw these hooligans busking opposite the market. I had my whistle with me and asked could I join in. Afterwards, I did some gigs and sessions with them around Edinburgh. A few weeks later, I heard about this Irish tour that they had lined up so I phoned Joe (Kingman, lead singer) and asked him about it. He told me that there was a seat on the bus for me. Next thing, I was in Ireland.

Colin’s days with The Kings were eventful. They did four Irish tours, released a number of records and easily lived up to the maxim Been There, Seen That, Done That. “Touring with We Free Kings was like mental Vietnam - alternative heaven and hell. It was due to there being so many of us and a lack of space and resources. And I’m a grumpy bastard on tour ; I like a hot meal now and then! The first tour was the best fun I’ve ever had with any band. We just toured around, playing and camping out. The last tour was also memorable - we were here in Ireland for so long (two months) and so much happened. It gave me a chance to do a lot of travelling and see the country.” We Free Kings were, for Colin, “like an adrenaline rush, exciting, fresh and raw.” He is no longer a full member of the band but continues to work with them.

The first Irish tour was also Colin’s first introduction to the Waterboys. “When I came over to Ireland, I had never heard of them and did not know who they were. I thought Mike Scott was just a mate of Joe’s who put us up in his flat in Dublin. And he had a friend who used to come around a lot who was a good fiddle player.” Knowledge was quickly instilled and Colin was involved in three Windmill Lane sessions with the band in 1987. Then, in 1988, “I got a call form Mike asking me to catch the next plane over and to bring all my instruments with me.” Next stop, Spiddal House.

“Trevor, I think, found it. It’s a big rambling house in acres of land and overgrown gardens - real rural beauty. It’s owned by a middle-aged woman called Mavis who moved out and let us use it. We recorded a lot more than just the songs on that side of the album. Mike Scott uses the studio time in a very clever way - he learns music and uses the studio to get good at playing songs.

Colin plays flute on “Stolen Child,” the emotive reading of a Yeats poem which features Tomás McKeown. “I had heard a tape of Tomás singing and was in awe of the man. Mike had heard him too and had an idea to get him in. Trevor and Anto managed to track him down. He was a bit reluctant at first - he’s a very shy man who likes his peace and quiet.”

Album completed, Colin returned to Scotland and spent last summer, naturally, playing music. “I toured with Andy White and The Beaker People. It consisted of Andy, James the bass player form the Class Men, ex We Free King Kenny Welsh and myself. We played in villages around Northern Scotland and just had a great time. And we did Fife Aid.

Fife Aid, a huge two day ecological festival, was where Colin encountered Van Morrison. How did that come about? “I was talking to Robbie The Pict, one of the organisers, and sorting out the details about Andy White’s slot. I mentioned to him that if Van needed a whistle player, I was available. You see, I was kinda jealous ‘cos Mark, my flatmate, who plays with Hue And Cry, was going to play drums in Van’s band. Then minutes later, Robbie phoned back and said yes, Van needed a whistle player. No, I don’t think he had heard of me before!”

“Van? I suppose he could smile a bit more. He’s a quiet man but he knows exactly what he wants from the musicians he’s playing with. I had one rehearsal before the gig and spent ages driving around Fife looking for the practice venue. I eventually found it: a Girl Guides Hall in Logie, a small village near Fife!”

In October, Colin recorded his solo album “The Roke” in Edinburgh. Featuring 19 musicians, this group called The Clan includes his parents, most of the Kings, Lucy Johnson, the 13 piece Pictish Free State Orchestra and Rob Welsh on the slide digeridoo. The album was recorded in four days. “There’s 13 tracks, three songs including the Pictish National Anthem, and 10 instrumentals. I suppose you could call it Scottish music.” “The Roke” will be released later this year.

His involvement with the Waterboys’ December tour came by way of another Mike Scott phone call. “He just asked me would I do the tour. We had a week of rehearsals and then, it was the road. I’m involved in about half the songs. It must be a very interesting show from a visual point of view with all the continuous coming and going onstage and the different set-ups for different songs, the five onstage then Mike and Steve and then the lot of us.”

And what about the other interesting vibes on tour - the endless excesses of the road? Surely Colin has a thing or two to say about this? He smiles. “The Waterboys are a group of incredibly high moral fibre (laughs). There are a lot of musical sessions going on, the tour is just a giant musical umbrella. Like, you’re back at the hotel and you hear a tune starting up next door. Or you’re walking down the corridor and hear the beginning of a tune coming from one room. Yeah, it’s just one mad session.”

Colin’s immediate future is fully planned. He will be touring with the Waterboys on their remaining Irish dates and on their forthcoming British tour. March will see the release of “The Roke” and then, it’s another tour. This one, though, is a very ambitious undertaking: Colin plans to take The Clan, all 19 of them on a tour of the Scottish Highlands. Funding from the appropriate Scottish tourism authorities is promised and Colin would like to bring The Clan to Ireland but...anyone out there willing to finance it?