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Barry McCabe
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| ... was born 30th April 1958 in Virginia, Co. Cavan, Ireland. |
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| He spent his youth on a farm close to the Irish town of Cavan. |
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| When he was twelve years old the family moved to Virginia, a small village consisting of only of a couple of small streets, |
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| with a main road right through it and - just like any other Irish village - has a remarkable amount of pubs. |
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| The guitarist still lives there. |
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As long as he can remember he’s loved music. One day he saw an acoustic guitar in the window of a bicycle shop in Virginia. The instrument cost
five pounds.
The young Barry Mc Cabe bought the guitar from his saving money and started his musical career - at first to the great displeasure of his mother.
At high school Barry founded his first band. Inspired by the famous Fleetwood Mac song Barry picked the name Albatross for the band. |
"My musical hero was
Rory Gallagher,
... way and beyond anyone else.
I don't have any other real heroes..."
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"... The only other one
who comes close is
Peter Green
from the original
Fleetwood Mac
(not the "Rumours"
Fleetwood Mac)."
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"Around this time I was very into
Peter Green from Fleetwood Mac and one day we were out driving when I came up with the idea to call the band ´Albatross´ and that was it."
For nearly twenty years this blues band of Barry Mc Cabe played on numerous stages throughout Europe.
The band got famous for their loud blues rock concerts, and Barry Mc Cabe got everybody's attention through his flaming guitar work.
The band released three live CD's.
Two years ago, however, the music from Barry's younger years reared its head. |
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Albatross toured together with a lot of well known musicians like Molly Hatchet, Walter Trout and many more ... and also together with the late Rory Gallagher.
Barry about Rory:
"Rory Gallagher was in bad condition at the end of his exuberant blues life.
We opened up for him in Paradiso (anno 1994), just before his death, and I was shocked by his physical condition.
That made me think. I lived, just like him, from day to day, traveled with my band from hotel to hotel and also liked a Guinness or an Irish whiskey. I didn't want to end the same way as Rory. After twenty years of playing non-stop I was looking instinctively for the solace of the Irish countryside."
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"Blues is Irish.
The melancholic feeling ...
... and the resistance against
bad conditions under which you
live connect the two music styles."
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There was one time in Barrys life when he listened for a whole year only to music from Peter Green.
Those were primarily records from
the old Fleetwood Mac, and the album “A Hard Road” from John Mayall & the Blues Breakers, because Green plays on that album as well.
"... I listened morning, noon and night to Fleetwood Mac". |
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Barry McCabe about
"THE PEACE WITHIN":
"On my CD I also refer to a solution, without wanting to tell people what to do. The only way to stop the fighting is to find inner peace. I don't give any answers.
Everyone has to find peace in their own soul. I think now there's a big chance to come to a good peace agreement.
I didn't pick the title The Peace Within for nothing." |
"The only way for
peace without ....
is to find the peace within!"
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"Phil Lynott (Thin Lizzy) was areally
great songwriter in my opinion.
... he was a poet actually."
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Barry McCabe about other musicians:
"I've listened most of my life to Blues, so people like B.B. King, Freddie King, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Ronnie Earl, Walter Trout, The Red Devils, Lightin' Slim, Sonny Terry & Brownie McGee, Ry Cooder, David Lindley stand out as players I like.
I'm pretty proud of a lot of our Irish artists who have made a contribution to the world stage, so names like Van Morrison, Thin Lizzy, Paul Brady, Clannad, The Chieftains are all names that rank in the music I like to listen to. Phil Lynott (Thin Lizzy) was a really great songwriter in my opinion. I think because he was in a hard rock band people didn't really listen to his songs with open ears. He was a poet actually." |
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The comment after a live - concert of the BMC - Band in Holland (taken from a newspaper):
"And of course you're very curious how this is all going to be presented (the author means theCD "The peace within") on stage...
...After complementing the support act, they hit the stage running. Breaks are only there for the band, as Barry Mc Cabe stays on stage for over three hours.
The breaks for the band members are used for acoustic intermezzos from Barry. The extremely enthusiastic audience only lets Barry go after about five encores. After this marathon session, there is no noticeable wear and tear on him. He has an eye and ear for everyone, signs CD's, has his picture taken with fans and talks with both press and public about the concert." |
"The extremely
enthusiastic audience ...
... only lets Barry go after
about five encores."
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