Getting into the swing of things: Johnny 'Fang' Murphy on his musical journey
Johnny ‘Fang’ Murphy, frontman with Cork group The Stargazers, tells about the cultural milestones on his musical journey.
Over a quarter of a century after they formed, Cork harmonising swing and folk trio The Stargazers have been through several incarnations. But Johnny ‘Fang’ Murphy has always been at their core.
Murphy, a self-taught guitarist and singer born in Blackrock on the outskirts of Cork city, has collaborated with numerous well-known Cork musicians including Jimmy Crowley, whose folk outfit, Stoker’s Lodge, he played in in the 1970s before forming The Stargazers with John Spillane and Chris Ahern.
The latest collaboration sees Murphy and his bandmates team up with fellow Cork music veterans the Four Star Trio for a fusion of trad, folk and jazz styles as a six-piece, collectively known as Stars & Gazers.
FILM
“When Bladerunner came out with Harrison Ford and Sean Young, I really thought that was brilliant. I liked the futuristic sense of it and the whole dark, rainy atmosphere of the movie. I thought it was a ground-breaking movie of its type. I rented the sequel with Ryan Gosling recently and I didn’t enjoy that as much at all; I thought the first one was a lovely movie in a lot of ways.
“How old was I when it came out? I’m 66 now, so I’ll let you do the maths. But we formed The Stargazers around the same time as Bladerunner came to the cinemas in Ireland; I’d been in Stoker’s Lodge and we’d split up about three or four years earlier. Myself and John Spillane used to do the warm-up for Jimmy Crowley at gigs, with jazzier, swingier numbers, and it was around then, in the mid-Eighties, that we got Chris Ahern in and became a trio.”
TELEVISION
“I used to have the neighbours plagued to see their TVs as a kid; we didn’t get a TV at home until I was about twelve. I remember watching Rin Tin Tin, that’s probably my earliest memory of TV. It was about an alsatian dog.
"I don’t think TV was a big influence on me; it was a novelty because we didn’t get one until long after everyone else had one. I was more into being out playing soccer and being outside instead of being inside watching TV.
“Recently I’ve been watching Mr Mercedes: I like the music because T Bone Burnett did the theme tune. I thought Breaking Bad was fantastic a couple of years ago, and I thought Love/Hate was very good as well. But to be honest I watch more sport on TV than anything: soccer, hurling and tennis.”
ALBUM
“If I had to only choose one album to bring to my desert island with me, I wouldn’t be able to go! The first album that really captured my imagination was called The Tracks of Sweeney by Sweeney’s Men; that was the late 1960s or early ’70s. Planxty would have been a big influence on me as well.
“When I was younger, it was all folk I was into. The Tracks of Sweeney and then Bob Dylan. Then I was kind of introduced to swing harmony music, but mainly acoustic. I think the vibe that came out of it was that this was happy music, that you always play with a smile on your face.
“In those days, there was no internet and you couldn’t go on YouTube to learn something; the only thing you had was someone coming back from America and giving you a loan of a new album.
None of this stuff was on the radio either. You’d listen and then you’d have a discussion with your friends where you were trying to figure out what key the musician was in and what chords he was playing. I wasn’t trained in music, so it was all by ear.”
LIVE MUSIC
“Paul Simon’s Graceland was ground-breaking for the time [1986]. Every track of it was fantastic: the song-writing and musicianship and imagination; the whole thing was just brilliant. When Graceland was in Dublin, I missed the train.
"So I jumped into a battered old van I had and drove up and nearly missed the gig. I drove back again that night. It was a really stand-out gig for me. He had the Ladysmith Black Mambazo choir and the whole lot on stage, in all the traditional gear. It was just mind-blowing.
“We used to have people like Paul Brady and Andy Irvine down to the folk clubs in Cork. The folk club would move location every season: there was one in Christians Rugby Club for a while, one in Nemo football club, one in Douglas. It was mainly so we’d have an opportunity to play ourselves, and then you’d have the guests, who were huge stars to us.
“We were always more comfortable with the folk clubs and small concerts where people listen to you instead of big pubs and venues. For our type of music, concerts always meant we could present the music and talk about the songs.
"The song is all-important; going back to Paul Simon, the way he writes songs is really interesting and the story he is able to tell in three minutes is amazing. For me, that’s lost in a pub or nightclub.”
BOOKS
“The last book I read was The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto by Mitch Albom. It’s a journey through 20th century music that weaves in Hank Williams and Elvis Presley, The Beatles. It’s not a musical history, it’s just this character and his music and how it travelled to all these people: it goes right back to Django Reinhardt and Nat King Cole. It’s a great story.”
RADIO
“I listen to Lyric FM when I’m in the car or travelling. I don’t really listen to other stations.
The idea of losing Lyric is a disgrace; I think it’s the best station RTÉ has. It has a great variety of music from early in the morning until late at night, and I think it’s absolutely great.
“But that’s all in the car: I don’t actually listen to music a lot at home because I’m playing music, or I’ll be trying to do a bit of writing or listening to the things we’re working on at the time.”
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