I First came across Declan in the winter of 2005 on a dark night in Derry. Declan was playing at the annual Bloody Sunday Gasyard Feile on the Saturday night prior to the Bloody Sunday commemoration on the saturday night. Having not heard any of Declan's Music before i must admit i was quite taking by surprise, a hidden talet, or was he...

Declan McLaughlin Biography:

"I’ve never had to do this type of thing before! here goes.

I was born in 1969 in Derry, the first son to Hugh and Christine McLaughlin(nee Hargan).
Brought up the best they could manage at a time when everything was black and white (before colour pictures anyway).

I started playing in bands when I left school. Music was my savior. I played in any type of group I could get into. Metal,Punk,Traditional and then about 1989 I started performing solo and playing my own material which went down well. Probably because no one was singing the type of stuff. I wasn't that hot other people material.

I started The Screaming Bin Lids (see bin lid page) around 1990 with Paddy Nash. The band went through almost all of the musicians in the town and further field. It was with the Bin Lids I found the most enjoyment. We may never have been that good but we played on.

The Whole Tribe Sings was born. This was about 1996 and was to take up the next six years of my life. Most of which we spent in the states touring up and down the I-95.

I did enjoy it, but boy was it hard work and the reason I was in a band was to avoid any type of manual labour and we were one hard working band.

When The Whole Tribe Sings fell apart around the summer of 2002 and we returned home. I lay about for a couple of weeks telling myself that I was out of the music scene and I was going to get a 9 to 5 . Start living a real life, holidays in Spain, Christmas by the fire, buy a house, that type of thing. I tried really hard for about six mouths. Working different jobs, shitty pay, being told what to do. After spending 16 years playing in bands it was hard to sit still let alone be told what to do. I'm not a fan of authority.

I went back to playing again. My grandfather played trombone, my father played bass, So who was I kidding. It’s in my blood.

I wanted to record an album but had no means with which to do it. So all this kinda started here. I knew nothing about computers or the joys they could bring (Ha-ha) but after a year of teaching myself the ins and outs of recording,design and determination I now find myself at this point.

Dougal (Darren McParland) and I met at Derry Tec,(College) in 1986 and between then and the formation of the musicians collective (of which we are founding members) we became friends. Both him and I had already been playing in a number of different bands. Dougal joined the Screaming Bin Lids in the winter of 1992 just after we had just recorded our first album Given it the Message (which we asked him to produced). At the time we were a three piece acoustic outfit. Paddy Nash and myself planned long and hard to get him in the group. Over the next five years The Bin Lids were to become a smash’n and grab rock band. After the recording of the Help Yourself album and a number of line up changes. playing anywhere in the north became hazardous but we played on. We toured in Germany, did a Radio One session with Andy Kershaw. Recorded two albums and brought joy to millions! After a number of strange events at the end of 1997 we met Clinton MacKay, a real Rock ’n Roll Pirate. MacKay owns Brass Booty Records in Chapel Hill (North Carolina not the waterside) an independent record company. He’d heard of the Bin Lids and came looking for us. He put the money up for us to record so, in good old Punk spirit we changed our name, the line up and recorded the Missing EP and headed off for the first of many American tours. I would like to point out that at this stage everything was going well. We returned home dragging a number of Yanks with us and over the New Year of 1999 we recording the Happy Album in Derry. The song Happy was to open more doors an any other. The music was to be used by a major drinks company on a radio advert across the US.

We then headed back to the States were we were to spend the next three years playing up and down the I-95. Every hole in a hedge, every festival, every Irish bar any were we could set up a PA and some places were ye couldn’t.
It was at this point that it all started to go wrong. We had spent that long touring that we lost grasp of the real world. As the music began to work the band began to fall apart. We really did make every mistake in the book. We were robed but rocked on. When 9/11 happened it was not a time to be singing Happy. We finished the tour, shot the band.

Everything has a life span. In away it was a relief to be off the hook.

We returned home and started to put are lives back together, live the 9 to 5 which I thought I missed. Another great mistake. But ah well. I had written a number of song around the point that the band was falling apart and I wanted to record them for myself. Back to Dougal I went. “9 songs” I said “no big deal just 9 songs the way we want them to sound”. He agreed. I went back out playing again to get the money to buy the gear we would need to record an album. and so started the process that has brought us to this point.

There are some old songs from the Bin Lid days and a hand full of the songs that were to be on the second Whole Tribe album and three I had written along the way since.

We started recording around summer of 2004 working with machines, musicians trying to find away of putting life into a bag of words.

We begged, borrowed, stole, down loaded and ripped off what we needed to get this finished. And nobody said no. Anyone who I asked to play, any gear we needed or any information was given. When I started on this I couldn’t work calculator. And boy did we do some learning. We recorded, re-recorded and then binned the lot and started again(twice).

The drums were recorded in the Gasyard Community centre and the rest in my front room. It may not be Abbey Road but we are proud of what we have achieved. We have learned a lot and are now about to put it all back into use and record the next album.

I have shared stages with Christy Moore, Damien Demspey, Black 47, The Cowboy Junkies, The Wolfe Tones, Snow Patrol, The 4 of Us, Saw Doctors,Gary Og and the Deftones"

Having see Declan Perform many times now since January 2005 I must admit myself and im sure many others have became massive fans of his work. His Previous work with the Whole Tribe Sings is a must for any fan. Not only is Declan a well known name in Derry but also across the Atlantic in New York 'Personality Pub', Rocky Sullivans, formally of Lexington Avenue, now in Red Hook, Brooklyn. Declan has made many St Patrick's weekend performances alongside friend and fellow musician Gary Og & Seanchai & The Unity Squad, Rocky Sullivans very own house band in the bar. Hopefully 2008 we will see more of Decky....

His solo album 'No Big Deal' is availiable to download at his website

http://www.declanmclaughlin.com

PogueMahone 2008