The Gravediggers : Jack Dublin (Bass)

Jack started learning to play guitar at the tender age of eight by sneaking the odd go on one of his two older brothers guitar. For which said brother had worked all summer long shelling prawns on Howth’s west pier. Having hardly any fingers left from this venture of parting crustaceans of there prickly armour like overcoats, was a small price to pay if it ment owning a real guitar. Which by the way cost the princely sum of five pounds, twelve shillings and six pennies in very, very old money. The entire earnings of a whole summer’s blood, sweat and toil.

Jack’s punishment for being caught touching this Stradivarius of Japanese mass production, was indeed a painful process too. Being caught ment a swift kick in the arse and a second harder kick for being able to play better than his brother. Who after school hours was working as a lounge boy in the evenings and at the week-ends to pay for guitar lessons “ and there’s That little bollix pickin up my guitar and playin everything I can, The Little Shite ”.

But as the years rolled by Jacks brother became his best ally and even persuaded their mother to buy him his own guitar when he was about twelve. An Egmond 12 string acoustic and was the best thing since sliced bread. Or so Jack thought. But in fact it was a bit of a plank and had a neck on it as wide elephants arse with barge poles for strings on it. But it didn’t matter Jack loved it and the jangle of all those strings made everything sound great on it. Music was a huge part of home life for Jack, having older siblings loud music was the norm’ in the house. The red and white coloured vinyl covered mono record player taking pride of place in the sitting room crunching out THE BYRDS ,CANNED HEAT, THE ROLLING STONES, the list was endless.

At fourteen Jack decided he needed to be in band so he formed “ABBEY” with his two best friends Mick Shannon and Colm O Hare, playing there first and only gig in Sutton community centre. The summers of ‘74 and ‘75 were filled with hopes, dreams, acoustic guitars and recording sessions on Mick’s dads two track Sony tape machine all very serious stuff for young teenagers with fame in mind. Well Jack‘s mind.

Next Came Rat Salad the year was 1976. There was one drummer Robbie Campbell ( later of The Grave Diggers ) Dave “Fitzy” Fitzgerald on lead guitar, Nicky Barrett ( later of The Grave Diggers) and Jack Dublin also guitar. Which caused a bit of a problem, there was no bass player. With both Nicky and Fitzy not wanting the job, it fell to Jack. Which as it turned out he was kind of happy about. And so a long love affair with music had really and truly begun.

Rat Salad managed to get their first gig as support to a band called “Joker” in The Asgard Hotel Howth. After that they got a gig in St Fintans School hall in Sutton. Topping the bill were “The Arthur Phibes Band” + special guests were “Rat Salad” + supporting were “Feed Back”( who for the un-initiated were the first line up of U2 ) with about seven hundred kids at the gig it was a huge local success. Next opportunity came at The Asgard Hotel again. One Sunday night when the dozen or so people who had paid to see a band called “The Radiators From Space” wanted their money back and walked out after a couple of songs. The owner was freaking as they had been booked to do four Sunday nights, so he asked the band to fill in. Which turned out to be hard work indeed, as they had to carry all the gear themselves by hand to and from Jack’s house to the gig. Soon afterwards Fitzy left to go to college in Galway and that put an end to that. But Jack knew that playing music was all he wanted to do. If only there was some way to do it for a living ?

And there he was, tall with dark hair and a beard wearing a leather biker jacket, trying to sing into a brush handle in Robbie Campbell’s Shed. Yes, it was Ferdia, Mr De Valera to you !!! And so began the turbulent early days of Rocky De Valera And The Grave Diggers.

Beer, girls, rock` n` roll what more could a young boy want. It was a bliss. Then came the 24 hour Dark Space gig in the Project Arts Centre. A non stop gig of 24 hours of music and bands, which in fact went on for at least 36 hours. But there was also something else about the gig. Someone very special had come to over to Dublin to see it and the buzz was enormous. It was the late great BBC radio one D J, Mr John Peel. Who also wrote for The NME. Everyone was hoping that he might have seen their show, so when the next issue came out every band who had played bought a copy to see if they had gotten a mention in the NME by this icon of rock. And there it was, the words Rocky DeValera and the Grave Diggers and read something like: Saw Rocky De Valera and The Grave Diggers pumping out their version of raw and powerful rock` n` roll. The bass player was a treat to watch its nice to us fatter elder chaps mixing with the young twerps. WHAT ??!!!! (at 18, Jack was the youngest member of the Grave Diggers.) Ah but what heck it was John Peel after all.

After a mammoth residency run at Toners the Grave Diggers split and Jack started giving guitar and bass lessons. When one day Two young looking guys knocked at his door. It was Paul Byrne and Connor O `Farrrell drummer and guitarist with local band Deaf Actor. Connor + Paul :” We kinda need a bass player“. Jack : “Your stuff is not really my bag” . Connor + Paul :” We think you‘d fit right in, come over and have a jam and see what you think then“. Jack :” I’ll pop over and have a jam with yis but I’m not joining“. ( Never say never .) Connor O` Farrell was an incredible musician to work with and captured Jack’s imagination and there he stayed with Deaf Actor through various line up changes. The last one being a three piece version with Connor on guitar and lead vox, Paul on drums + percussion and Jack on bass. Having taken things as far as they could it was time to move on. Connor went to London. Paul worked on a demo with other local musicians Ivan O’Shea, Martin Clancy and operatic singer Miriam Blennerhassett. Jack went on to record with another local band The Spies who had just lost their bass player. The Spies were the Humble musical beginnings for David Bowie’s current musical director and guitarist Gerry Leonard.

Shortly after that, Paul asked Jack to come and demo with him and the others in what was the beginning of In Tua Nua. This project was a huge conglomeration of musicians some of whom were, Steve Wickham - (Fiddle, The Water Boys), Vinnie Kilduff ( Pipes on U2’s October) Sinead O` Connor and host of others. In Tua Nua went on to record the first single on U2’s label Mother Records, Then signed to Island Records where they recorded two albums working with Ian Brody of the Lightening Seeds and Ian Matthews of Matthews Southern Comfort ( Remember the song Woodstock). Island only released one limited mini album and a couple singles, Somebody To Love and Take My Hand. After parting company with Island In Tua Nua went on to sign to Virgin Records and recorded three albums, working with producers Wil Gosling, David Lord, Don Dixon and Paul Fox. In a career spanning some five years the band toured with U2, Simple Minds and supported others like, Bob Dylan, Crowded House, The Eurythmics, and played at some of the biggest European music festivals with Iggy Pop, Lou Reed and Fleetwood Mac, to name but a few. In Tua Nua disbanded in 1990.

Jack went on to form the Great Divide with ex In Tua Nua member Matt Spalding and Toy With Rhythm singer Jenny Newman, doing some t v, live shows and recording for some interested publishing houses. Jack finally decided to call a halt to all the live work and went on to produce and manage a band called Christina Calls. Releasing a debut single and recording a mini album for the band on their own label “Laura Records” Jack then started back writing music for himself.

In 2003 some of the members of In Tua Nua met up and after many pints decided to put the band back together for a couple of shows. It was at one of these shows that Jack met Rocky again who told him that he and the Lizard were back rehearsing and were going to put the Grave Diggers back together. After a second meeting and a pint with Rocky and looking over old photos of the band Jack was only too happy to tread the boards again with The Grave Diggers and asked Paul Byrne to come along for the ride.

Be afraid. Be very afraid and hang on to your wigs !!!!!