Rirà
Confirmation Day
Gerry: “So, Brian I noticed that there are some underlining topics that are common to a lot of your songs. Alcohol being one of them.”
Brian: “Yes Gerry, well you know I am Irish so; my culture is riddled with the stuff. It’s in my nature, it’s part of my life. I can remember my first taste of cider. It was confirmation day.
“We had just finished the mass and received our pioneer badges from the bishop. We were proud as punch; yep, we were officially pioneers. It was tradition on confirmation day that after the ceremony all the boys and girls and their parents would go back to the community hall for minerals (coke and juice), tea and sandwiches. So that’s what we did. All dressed up in our conformation suits and dresses eaten ham sandwiches laced with butter, drinking coke and at the same time waiting for it all to be over because it was so boring. When it was all over, some of us were allowed to stay out, you know hang out in the village until around 9 o’clock.So, when all the parents had gone home, we hung out at the back of the community center admiring our pioneer badges while sharing a 2-litre bottle of linden village cider,
laughing our heads off and talking complete shite. That was my first real introduction to alcohol, and I loved it.
“My Dad did let me taste a little sip of his smithwicks one time when I was 7, I thought it was disgusting. Little did I know at the time that 11 years later I would be knocking back ten pints of the stuff.
“But you know Gerry, on a more serious note. I have grown up surrounded by alcohol. In every village, in every town, on every corner there’s a pub. In my own village there were 2 shops, a DIY store, Post Office and 9 pubs. So, you see, you couldn’t get away from the fuckers even if you tried, they were like hoovers; you just had to walk by one and they would fuckin’ suck you in. And that would be it; You would order your first pint and sign away; a lifelong contract to the devil himself.
“And that’s it, that’s what it was. I had a made a deal with the man. I was 18, yes, I was finally able to have a pint in peace. I was legal to drink. What came after, was destruction, deceit, betrayal, aggression, sadness, depression, and death.
“Don’t get me wrong, there was lots of craic and great joyful times had but you know at the end of the day (and that day lasted 30 years), I realized that drink destroys everything.
“You could walk into a bar, have a chat over a pint with a complete stranger, have the craic, have a laugh, then after ten pints the same stranger would be punching the face off ye because you mentioned that you knew his mother and thought she was lovely. Complete madness, I tell ye.
“I have seen my best friend at the time been beaten black and blue by his father who was an alcoholic.
I have seen families been torn apart.
I have seen relationships in turmoil.
I have seen best friends turn on each other.
I have seen old men drop dead at the bar.
I have seen friends take their own lives.
I have seen the sadness, the destruction, the abuse.
“So, when I write my lyrics, I guess I am very direct. I don’t want to hide anything. This has been my life and if I can help people realize the serious effects of alcohol and what it can do if not taken seriously, well I’ve done my little bit for society.”