WE had a great time together and saw things and places we might never have seen if it were not for the band.’
That was the summation of Enniskillen man Niall Bogue, whose band Crisis, are reuniting for one night only.
The band, who formed back in 1994, featured Niall along with Marty Jones and brothers Darren and Colin Timoney – and their gigging days saw them travel to London and New York for shows.
The will reunite for a show on February 23 in the Crowe’s Nest in Enniskillen.
Reflecting on the band’s formation, Niall described the band’s early days.
“Myself and Darren had played with Darren’s father Sean Timoney. At some point we had decided to put our own band together and I knew Marty and knew he was a drummer so asked him to join. Darrens younger brother Colin was around and got drafted in to complete the line up.
“To begin with we played covers of all sorts. It was around the time that ‘britpop’ was emerging so we played a lot of Oasis, Blur, Pulp etc but there were a few left field songs as well.
“We were not afraid of a country song or two in the set, which I suppose was a throwback to the Sean Timoney band. If only country had have been as big back then.”
The band got their first gig in the Bush bar in Enniskillen. Not having a set at the time, the band pulled together and put two hours together.
“We played the pubs around Ireland and thought we would try our hand in London. Three of us headed over without Colin as he was still in school but he used to join us for as many gigs as he could.
“In 1996 we were entered into an all Ireland talent competition in Tullamore which we went on to win. We started to get more Irish dates off the back of that so came home and gigged around Ireland.”
Gigging throughout Ireland, the band found themselves in touch with an American agent who took them over to New York.
Niall went on: “We visited the East Coast several times for little tours around New York, Boston, Conneticut and the Catskill Mountains. We also used to make regular trips back across the water for, mainly, London-based dates but some tours around the UK as well. We also ventured into Germany and Holland for the occasional drinking session… sorry tours!
“Later on we started to write and record original material. We have had a few requests recently for an original song of ours called ‘Girl’ to be included in the set and it was our most popular original.”
The band had continued on for a number of years after Marty and Niall left, but when the former put up an old photo on Facebook – the boys got chatting again.
“We are busy at the minute trying to remember what songs we played so we can relearn them. There will be a flurry of rehearsals, although knowing us it will be last minute.
“We had a great time together and saw things and places we might never have seen if it were not for the band. There are loads of stories from the road which I won’t go into here as we are now all parents, well almost all marty is awaiting the arrival of his first, and as some of our kids can read I am not telling them here. But come along to the gig, buy us a pint and we can regale you all night long.”
The band will play in The Crowe’s Nest, Enniskillen on Sunday February 23.
And Niall concluded: “If you are expecting songs from after 1999 you are going to the wrong gig. However, if you want a night of nostalgia, beer and seeing four lads hurtling towards middle age trying to recapture the sounds of their formative years with some friends then it is the place to be.”