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The Bray City Story
by Colm Jones
The year was 1976. The Bray City Rollers was the
brainchild of Charlie Hadden who ran a late night disco
in the Royal Hotel Bray, among others, during the early
seventies. He approached his business partner Peter
Barden with the idea and set about roping in some local
musicians. First came Brendan ‘Bangers’ McCann who had
come to their notice after winning a talent contest.
Peter Barden ran a record shop in Bray and regular
customer, guitarist Rob Greene, became the second
recruit. After advertising in some national newspapers
Philip O’Neill arrived with his drum kit, followed
shortly by Jimmy Murphy from Dunleer, County Louth with
his Farfisa Organ and finally, Colm Jones on bass.
Five days later they did their first gig playing a set
during the disco in the Royal Hotel. Each member was
paid the weekly wage of £30 less tax and an extra £5 a
night if there were more than 3 gigs in that week.
A single was recorded, produced by Bill Whelan and both
songs were written by Shay Healy. Vocalist Brendan was
the only member who actually performed on the record.
The A- side was ‘Lovely Lovely Face’ and Shay was so
proud of it that he credited his dog Rinty Rafferty as
the writer! A second single was released, ‘Love By
Numbers’ some months later, this time written by band
members and all members sang on the recording.
So with the arrival of a VW Van and roadie Phil Kavanagh,
it was off to see every corner of Ireland. The band did
more gigs in Donegal than any other county. However,
having to travel to Cork the next night happened more
than once. One of their biggest gigs was playing before
5,000 or so faces in Abbey Street, Dublin at the start
of the Jimmy Saville / Lady Goulding Charity Walk to
Baldoyle which was an annual event. The Rollers line up
was to change regularly and in the 9 months of its life
saw 13 members. By September 1976 it was all over.
Intervening Years.
Brendan McCann went on to form Coke, then Bangers and
Mash and played under that name up until 2005.
Rob Greene went to live in California at first, then to
Australia and England before returning to Bray in the
late eighties. He has continuously played professionally
and has released 3 albums to date. He is currently
working with Brendan McCann under the name ‘R&B’.
Philip O’Neill was a member of Coke and several other
bands and met his wife Joan in one of them, she was the
singer. They currently gig together under the name
‘Chase’.
Colm Jones played with The Sands and The Roly Daniels
Band over the next few years. He then formed ‘It’s A
Secret’ who had a minor hit single in Holland called ‘I
Cant Dance’ in 1986. In 1988 he opened up The Promenade
Recording Studio. He currently plays a Sixties Show
under the name ‘CoJo’ and has released an album of
original songs.
The Nineties
In 1996 four of the original members reformed for Philip
O’Neill’s 40th birthday. There was an attempt to bring
the band back to public gigs but this sadly foundered.
They played together again in 1998 at Colm’s wedding and
again at Philip’s wife, Joan’s 40th birthday
celebration.They have appeared together three more times
for charity functions but the last two were as a three
piece.
Charlie Hadden is now the sales manager in the local
Ford Dealership.
Epilogue
When one considers the proliferation of tribute bands in
the past two decades, the idea of the band was way ahead
of its time. Well done to Charlie. Also it’s hard to
believe that all four of the original members are still
gigging in Bray to this day, 32 years later. It's not
Bye Bye Babies just yet! |
