The two brothers John and Pat McManus had previously been members of Irish heavy rockers Mamas Boys from Ireland/Enniskillen, Co. Fermanagh. Both were multi-instrumentalists and their desire to achieve a more atmospheric, reflective groove was the birth of Celtus.
The debut album 'Moonchild' was an irresistible blend of Celtic and contemporary fusion and spawned several airplay hits. They continued to tour and played several festivals to critical and public acclaim and with their third album What Goes Around further employed contemporary synth stylings whilst afting melodic and infectious melodies and ethereal harmonies. The live synth sound deployed by additional band member Dan Axtell was so powerful that one recalled 'Earthquake' and 'Sensurround' although not necessarily in the same breath.
Sadly, a combination of label indifference and changing popular taste led to the bands split.
It might be said that Celtus just missed the Celtic fusion boat popularised by Riverdance and latterly The Corrs and for a period capturing the popular imagination during the late-1990s.
Pat subsequently returned to Ireland to join irish band 'Indian' whilst John McManus and Dan Axtell immersed themselves in commissioned library music.
'Moonchild' is a good starting point, 'Portrait' is arguably more overtly pop and radio friendly (no doubt under pressure from their label). The album, 'Rooted' which features material composed for library and incidental music is well worth rooting out, and 'Live 2000' is a perfect document of the band in concert.
Now Pat has his own band with Gordon Sheridan on bass and Paul Faloon on drums. They have just released a new cd called "In My Own Time."
John McManus is currently playing with Eddie Clarke in the re-united Fastway.
CLICK HERE TO VISIT MAMA'S BOYS ON MYSPACE
Pat McManus continued to play with irish soft rock band 'Indian' -
CLICK HERE TO VISIT INDIAN ON MYSPACE
Pat has co-wrote with members of 'Indian' a collection of tracks that have been performed {in demo form} by Lorraine O' Riley -
CLICK HERE TO HEAR TRACKS WRITTEN BY PAT AND MEMBERS OF INDIAN AND PERFORMED BY LORRAINE
CLICK HERE TO MEET JOHN MCMANUS ON HIS WEBSITE
We are the ones behind this Celtus site: :)
We wish to tell you a small story how we've met with the three McManus brothers...
One day in 1991 - we both were little school girls - there was an autograph session in our favourite record store with a strange rockgroup called MAMA'S BOYS... hmmmm... Mama's Boys...? "Never heard of it!" we thought, but maybe interesting to drop in! Can you imagine how it was for two girls of age 13 to meet 'real' musicians? Wow! Finally Tommy was the one who introduced us to the band and so it was the beginning of a wonderful and far-reached time. The Boys captured us immediately by their great music, their naturalness, happiness and charm!
Three weeks later we had the luck and possibility to enjoy our first Mama's Boys show and from then we became big fans and have followed the Boys through Switzerland during three years... and a special friendship was created at the same time. Sometimes it was more than half a year of waiting for new concerts... and tears of joy when we could hug the Boys again finally! We thought that it must always go on like this...
As Tommy left our world in 1994 we both were completely devastated. Only Pat & John were capable of taking the pain from us. Our grief has stayed for a very long time until we begun to live again with the memory of Tommy.
We're happy to know that Pat + John still are creating wonderful music - it would be a shame if the world would loose such great talents. Celtus will stay one of our favorite bands forever and it's still important for us to bring that beautiful music to the people outthere!
