Phil Coulter: 'I haven't played a note in public for more than 500 days'

Cork musician Roy Buckley (left) who introduced Phil Coulter to online media to stay in touch with his fans during lockdown. “Roy has struck a chord with me and brought me back to the days of the ballad."

Music industry legend Phil Coulter has criticised the government for not allowing live performances when tens of thousands of people can attend GAA matches in Croke Park.

He said musicians have been living “in a complete echo chamber,” being the first profession to close down and “likely to be the last to get back up”.

Mr Coulter pointed out that concerts were up and running in the North and the entertainment sector “is pretty much open everywhere in England.” 

“I'm lucky I can still write (music), but I haven't played a note in public for more than 500 days,” he said.

However, he pointed out that he discovered a new way of interacting with his fans thanks to a Corkman who showed him how sessions could be done on social media.

He said his experience of social media “was pretty much zero” before hooking up with Cork musician Roy Buckley.

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“It wasn't until we fell off a cliff (with no live performances) that creative people like Roy pointed out that I could use social media to perform,” he said.

As a result of this collaboration Mr Coulter created a series of online concerts, aptly called the Lockdown Lounge, to re-enact with his fans.

Every Saturday he would sing a few songs and tell a few stories “and it quickly grew and grew.” One edition he did, entitled 'The Town I Loved So Well', was a tribute piece to the late politician John Hume.

“We got nearly 500,000 views for that. It absolutely flabbergasted me. It taught me that to still stay relevant I had to do this (online performances). It was a case of teaching an old dog new tricks,” Mr Coulter said.

"Roy talked to me about doing the whole social media thing (as a substitute for live performances) and he explained the whole set-up to me," he said.

“When the pandemic struck last year I talked Phil into performing online for his fans and followers and he started performing virtual shows, “ Roy said. 

"We recorded many videos for the project of songs written by Phil including 'Yesterday's Men', 'The Molly Maguires', 'Hand Me Down My Bible', 'Gold & Silver Days' and 'Free The People'. 

"We also recorded a version of my song 'The Old Man On Patrick's Street'."

Phil Coulter pointed out that concerts were up and running in the North and the entertainment sector “is pretty much open everywhere in England.”  Photo: David Mitchell

Mr Coulter is now collaborating on a new song for Roy, to whom he gave a ringing endorsement when describing him “as the last of the great balladiers”. 

“Roy has struck a chord with me and brought me back to the days of the ballad. I've heard what he does to my songs, such as the ones I wrote for Luke Kelly and others. I admire what he's trying to do,” Mr Coulter said.

He explained that he wrote a song 'Holy Moses' for the band Pumpkinhead, which was released in 1974.

“They broke up and the song sat on the shelf for years. I sent it to Roy and he said 'I'm all over this'. We're recording it now and it should be finished in a matter of weeks,” Mr Coulter added.