Former Oasis Drummer Tony McCarroll is visiting Co Offaly where he is being honoured in the village of Kinnitty.
Mr McCarroll attended the local primary school and has family members living in the village. He remembers his time with the band fondly saying they were five lads from Manchester who grew up on council estates within a two mile radius of each other.
He said they had a dream of becoming successful, they worked hard, did lots of rehearsals and managed to achieve the dream. When asked about frustration with today’s ticket prices, Mr McCarroll said he has been wondering if it is even down to the band.
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“I don’t think it is, I’ve never seen prices like that. It isn’t any of my business I suppose, but between promoters, this, that and the other, who knows what’s going on behind the scenes.
“We haven’t seen the line up yet, I’ve got a feeling there’s going to be some amazing bands on that line up. They [the tickets] are a little bit expensive, considering, back in my day, to be in Oasis and selling the tickets for a pittance we really did think about the fans.
After seeing the statement issued by Oasis last night in relation to reselling tickets, he believes the band is on the fans side.
“When tickets roll onto certain websites for triple, six times or more, I don’t think that’s fair. There really should be some control over that.”
Mr McCarroll said he did miss Oasis, and the escalation of the band, after he left in 1995, but he continued with music by opening a little studio for ‘latchkey kids’ in Manchester teaching them drums, keyboards, guitar, singing and djing.
“There was one guy who came out of there and he joined up with Shaun Ryder of the Happy Mondays. He actually plays with his other band called Black Grape. So there was a success story that did come from there.”
Mr McCarroll said he is very proud to have a plaque unveiled in his honour in Kinnitty. He gave his first “rehearsed outing” in the school nativity in the parish hall in the village. His late teacher Mr Dooley recognised he could play the drums and “another local lad played the tin whistle” to perform silent night.
“It must have sounded ridiculous but the village have never forgotten that. They saw the success with the band, but now they’ve recognised me and the band, they’ve brought me back to give this Blue Plaque and it’s an absolute honour.”
One of the plaque unveiling event organisers John McFadden is also a lifelong friend of Mr McCarroll. He said they invited the drummer to the village because his roots are in Kinnitty.
“Tony’s aunt and my mother went to Manchester, then Tony’s mother Bridie followed them over and met his dad Anthony, and their first born child was Tony McCarroll.”
The family moved to Kinnitty for a few years and it was during that period that he made his first ever parish hall appearance. Mr McFadden said his friend [Mr McCarroll] has been incredibly humbled and honoured by the recognition of the village.
“Tony is actually the first person who has ever had a plaque or any kind of an acknowledgement like that in the village. He’s really, really proud, and we’re really proud that he’s been attached to this village. We’re talking about somebody who definitely maybe sold over eight million copies worldwide.
“Then he was featured on the first number one single ‘Some Might Say’, that was on the album ‘What’s the Story Morning Glory’, and that sold about 34 million copies.
“So, for Kinnitty to be attached to an artist of that calibre and proud of it, we’re just really, really proud.”
Reporting Gail Conway