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Big Bag of Sticks was formed in the early nineties after the six members met in Galway. Colin and Dave initially began playing together in the pub formerly known as The Canal Bar which is now Roisin Dubh.Caroline joined after Dave had met her at a party and joined them at these sessions. It wasnt long till Banger the bongo player and Gus the bazooki player joined. Tony was picked up hitching on the way to Thurles for Feile ,fiddle in hand agreed to join the band.......Electric gigs began shortly after that and busking festivals were also big on the agenda.We decided it would be better if Gus became a bass player and Banger got his hands on some drums......
Off we went then touring every nook and cranny of this green isle eating tayto and easi singles cheese sandwiches. We gigged intensively for a few years building up a fan base and trying to build up a bit of attention for ourselves..... Peat Bog arrived, djiredoo in one hand and congos in the other,. Rapping was another one of his strengths and every one loved him but circumstances led him to leave a little while later but I am sure the crowd will love him wherever he goes......
Whilst all this touring was going on we managed to record and release3 tapes
independently - these being
Explosions in Thomas's Toilet 6 track e.p....
Thorny Bush Noise....
Six Guinness and a cider ....
We being regulars in Connollys of Leap and playing to full houses over the years were asked by Paddy to record an e.p with him and his partners label Rescue Records. So we headed off to Leap for a week of recording, the result..
Run Wild E.P....
We didn't stop there , we were only getting going......
A swiss friend of ours financed our next recording,
Short Term Memory, our 10 track album...
Also released was-
Hardcore Folklore , a mixture of live tracks and some tracks from the tapes...
We met a great guy Jochen from a band called Across The Border and he organised a tour for us to play in Germany and our relationship with Germany began and what a good relationship that has been over the years. We have also played in Holland Switzerland and England...
In 1997 we were invited to play alongside Altan and The Pogues in The Montreux Jazz Festival
We continued to play for a no of years touring Ireland and Germany but in the end we called it a day, burned out from touring and needing some space individually we called it a day.
But alas there are people out there who insist that we play and for that reason we do play together for time to time when we are required too and it is always a joy to get that adrenalin rush.
For anymore info or any details you may think we have left out send us a message or maybe you have met us in the past, say hi!
P.s Rob we love you too, our driver, our manager and the man we called Dad