Cavan drummer a-moos-es himself during lockdown
The Kildallan-native, when live music is back in full-swing, is an integral member of the Johnny Gallagher and his Boxtie Band.
How do musicians keep busy during lockdown? If they're also part-time farmers they a-moos themselves by drumming to their livestock.
These brilliant videos of drummer Sean Reilly first emerged on social media back in early November, when the country was dealing with the fall-out of entering a second Covid imposed lockdown.
The Kildallan-native, when live music is back in full-swing, is an integral member of the Johnny Gallagher and his Boxtie Band.
The renowned Irish four piece regularly tour major festivals across Europe and in recent years have supported the likes of Iron Maiden at Rockavaria in Munich's famous Königsplatz Square. Last summer they also shared a billing with American rock and blues legends Buddy Guy and Ritchie Kotzen in Corsica, among a variety of other major concerts from France's Côte d'Azur to Monferrato in Northern Italy.
Sean is well-known on the local music scene too having cut his teeth gigging as a member of the Barflys, before joining up with former Mamas Boy's Pat McManus and his band, and later Blue Moose.
Sean also regularly fills in as a session musician for Larry Beau and X Factor series one star Tabby Callaghan.
He says of decamping his state-of-the-art Ludwig drum kit with Sabian cymbals to the slatted shed: “The craic was I was living in Sligo, recording loads of little lockdown videos. When I came home I had the drum kit and a bag of clothes. I was doing bits about the farm and struggling to think what I was going to do to keep playing.”
It was then Sean hit upon the initial idea of bringing a set of bongos he found in the house out to the shed.
“I tripped across the bongos going out the door and I brought it with me not thinking much of how it would sound. So I'd done a few jobs and picked them up and gave [the bongos] a whack, and with the reverb in the shed so big, the sound was really cool.”
Sean should have been playing in Bundoran with Boxty and afterwards put a video up with a comment about this being his “audience” for the evening.
Not one for resting on his laurels, after his bongo escapade, Sean's thoughts immediately drifted to bigger- and louder- things.
“I have a little shed for recording in but when you're recording in it without a full mic set-up it can sound quite dry. But with the natural reverb in the big shed it sounds cool.”
Since the videos were shot, Sean has sold the cattle and rented the shed out.
But he is still thinking of ways in which to use the uniqueness of the sound and the setting in future.
Asked what the cows themselves thought of his drumming, Sean laughs: “I'm not sure what they thought. I didn't want to scare them. I had a few funny looks, but after the initial playing, they didn't seem to pay much heed to me at all.”