A few words from the horse’s mouth

Brush - you say you haven’t had a rehearsal since 1972, since when you’ve become significantly more successful:

‘Since I’ve stopped playing, you mean! I stopped ‘playing’ in 1972 and I’ve been basically making a living ever since. To make a living I had to stop ‘playing’. So from ’73, ‘74 I didn’t play at all - I just stood out the front and jumped around. Somebody said to me once, “Why are you so confident?” And I said, “Cos I’m a lot better than most people think I am.” I’m very hard to intimidate, whether I’m playing or not. So, basically, I’d have enough confidence NOT to play, if you know what I mean. I couldn’t see the point of it when I saw people like T Rex, Slade and so on – these guys were coming in as I was going out. I thought they were awful. I still do.’

No regrets, then?

‘Watching the Biography Channel, the amount of guys who’ve got to the end of what they’re doing and have had a good time – they’re very few and far between. Success – there’s an awful lot of problems that seem to come with it. Everyone has problems with their life anyway. You start off by wanting to play to the best of your ability and then you get to a point where you find out what I call the ‘Hucklebuck syndrome’. No matter what you’re playing, whether you’re Duke Ellington or Charlie Parker, the punters always tune in to what I would call the ‘Hucklebuck’ in your set – which is usually the simplest thing. Like ‘Whiskey In The Jar’!’

So if Gary Moore rang and said he wanted to rejoin your new Skid Row…?

‘I might do it for one night, but that’d be it. It’d be a great night, but the main problem would be it’ll never be as good as it was. At a certain stage we’re all only cabaret.’
 
Are you a contented man?

‘Well, I reckon if you put me in a room with everybody else in the Irish music business you might find I have less hassles…’