The fandom in the US reached fever pitch following the release of U2’s Joshua Tree album, with the band described as ‘Rock’s Hottest Ticket’.

Bono, Edge, Larry and Adam had become household names. Embraced by America, their fame and fortune would grow to stadium proportions.

Meanwhile, in London, an already accomplished Irish musician was faced with the dilemma of a record label’s demand for more ‘radio friendly rock’ and an added pressure to recruit a fourth member – a lead singer – to a three-piece band of brothers otherwise known as Mama’s Boys.

Pat McManus, affectionately known as ‘The Professor’, and siblings John (Bass and vocals) and Tommy (Drums and vocals), already had a fanbase.

They already had enjoyed recognition in the US with their cover of Slade’s Mama Weer All Crazee Now and they had played to over 100,000 rock fans on the undercard of Deep Purple’s historic Knebworth show in 1985.

As Whitesnake and Def Leppard would learn in the US in 1987, their friends were radio and MTV. Music was changing – particularly rock music, and everyone wanted a piece of the American music pie.

Pat, John and Tommy had to adapt. The Co Fermanagh-born siblings were more than capable of doing so, having etched their name in rock music after growing up in a homestead where traditional Irish music was the daily sound.

The next album, their sixth, ‘Growing Up The Hard Way’ was due for release. It had been recorded and Jive Records wanted the band to get it out and start touring again.

Classically-trained singer Rick Chase had laid down the tracks for the new album but it didn’t click. Mama’s Boys were in pursuit of Airrace lead singer Keith Murrell whose excellent debut album ‘Shaft of Light’ captured the melodic/AOR sound the Irish lads were chasing.

Pat found himself waiting for a show to end at The Dominion Theatre in London’s West End to catch a word with Murrell, who was performing as a session singer after his relationship with Airrace had ended.

Murrell, who at the time was working alongside Cliff Richard, would balance his demanding schedule to work with Mama’s Boys late in the evening.

A fascinating journey would commence and a subsequent tale of ‘what should have been’ has left has unanswered questions some 32 years later.

In an honest interview, tenor Murrell recalls his memories of Growing Up The Hard Way and discovers something he never knew about a single from that album he believed would have made America sit up and take notice of Mama’s Boys.

Alex McGreevy (AMG): Where was your career at when you first met Pat McManus of Mama’s Boys?

Keith Murrell (KM): I was working as a session singer and I was in a show called TIME on the West End which Cliff Richard was also in. That was a show run by Dave Clark, of the Dave Clark Five. It was at the Dominion Theatre, which is where Pat McManus tracked me down and we had our first conversation.

Pat said they had been looking for me because they felt my voice suited what they were trying to capture on Growing Up The Hard Way.

I explained to Pat that I did session work during the day and TIME in the evening, and that I didn’t have much time either side of that. He said they were good to go with the album and were keen to get me involved.

I was doing my day to day work, doing the show in the evening and then about 10:30pm I headed over to Battery Studios in London to record the vocals for Growing Up The Hard Way. I did that over and over until it was done.

AMG: What did you understand about the band switching from a successful three-piece to a four-piece with a new frontman and lead singer?

KM: I knew of Mama’s Boys but not much about their music history.

I was told at the time that John (McManus) had been to see a throat specialist when he was on a previous tour with the band and it was recommended to him that he should not continue singing because of the damage it was doing to his throat.

Again, I never seen or knew of any pressure from the record company to change things up a bit and to break the American market. I do know they were dead keen to get the album out.

The boys were really excited about it. I know Mutt Lange had come into the studio once and said how much he liked the sound of the record, and I think the guys felt, musically, they were moving up a notch.

I felt the decision to go to a four-piece was a natural progression for Mama’s Boys – they just seemed desperately excited to get the record done, get it promoted and get on the road.

I was excited too. It was the first time in my life I was earning proper money!

The older Mama’s Boys stuff, I learned, was much heavier. Before Airrace, I was doing heavier music. Airrace was a musical progression and that’s what I believe Mama’s Boys were going through.

They had got better as musicians and had got better at constructing songs. They retained the heavy sound, and goodness knows they were heavy as f**k live!

AMG: What was your view of rock music at that time?

KM: I had grown up with a love for the melodic side of hard rock. I was into bands like Free and Bad Company, Queen, Foreigner rather than, say, AC/DC, who were much heavier.

Airrace was my take on our version of melodic rock, so, for me, when I heard the stuff on Growing Up The Hard Way it was easy to see that Mama’s Boys had obviously considered that style.

It was like a marriage of styles for me. Tommy (McManus) was really into that type of music. He loved the likes of Journey and Foreigner.

Music was going through a natural progression. The labels wanted radio-friendly songs. They wanted bands that also sounded good and looked the part because MTV was such an important platform for exposure.

Pat had made it clear to me that the label were looking to this album to make a success in America. They had already had some success with Mama Weer All Crazee Now over there.

They had also spent a lot of money on the video for Waiting for a Miracle and were hopeful of gaining the exposure with that.

For me, it never felt at any time that Pat, John and Tommy were unhappy with the songs or unhappy about what was a natural progression for the band.

I was always a just ‘in the moment’ person. To be honest, anything Mama’s Boys did in the years before Growing Up the Hard Way, I was ignorant of. I had no experience of the essence of the band until I was able to go on tour with that album.

AMG: Did you feel that Waiting for A Miracle would be an MTV/radio hit?

KM: Well, that’s another story. That song, some people will not know, was originally written and titled Spirit of America. It had been recorded and it was on the album. The whole band felt it would do well.

But, out of the blue, the record label pulled the song.

They said the lyrics, politically, may not be good for us. I don’t know why, to this day, the reason for pulling the song but that’s what we were told.

“So, the pressure was on to rewrite the lyrics. We had all sorts of writers brought in to do a job on it but it wasn’t happening … none of them could do it.

Spirit of America is such a syncopated sound, so to try and find something that works as well, sings as well and sounds as well as the original was very difficult. Eventually, Waiting For A Miracle came up and that was that – though I never felt it sang as well as Spirit of America.

At that time, I wasn’t even thinking about politics so it was all very odd to me. I was 26, I didn’t care much for anything political. Like, when I joined Mama’s Boys, I would never have talked about The Troubles in Northern Ireland because although I lived throughout the period, I hadn’t ‘lived it’ and never felt I would have had any right to talk about it.

For me, music was everything and anything else was irrelevant. So, it was difficult to understand where the record label was coming from. It was a real disappointment. Whether they were right or not at the time, I guess we will never know.

The lyrics for that song came from Pat’s pen and they were genuine. I know he was really proud of the song and that album.

AMG: The 7” inch single must be a rare thing then today?

KM:  What single is that then?

AMG: Spirit of America.

KM: What? A Mama’s Boys version?

AMG: Yes. I have it.

KM: Really? I didn’t know that ever came out as a single. Really? Wow, that’s news to me.

I know Samantha Fox did a version of it but I never knew there was ever a Mama’s Boys single put out.

That’s the version I recorded and I was really pleased with it but I never heard that it was ever released.

I don’t know how or why Samantha Fox was ever able to record it but I do know she was also signed to the Jive label at the time.

If that song had been released by Mama’s Boys it may well have been a hit. It’s stronger than Waiting for a Miracle, which itself is a great song too.

AMG: Why do you think Growing Up The Hard Way, the album, did not perform well in terms of sales?

KM: There was a lot going on with our label at the same time and they had changed their distribution deal in the US, so I believe that impacted on us.

It’s like this, when the Waiting for a Miracle single came out, it was a Top 10 requested song on many of the AOR stations in America.

It was only later when we tried to dissect what was going wrong that we discovered the album was not in the shops.

We were on rotation on MTV with the video and Top 10 requested on stations and kids were going out to buy the album but it was not in the stores. I don’t know what really happened but that’s what we discovered.

You never really know what goes on. I have thought over time that it could have been deliberate or it could have been that the new distributor did not want the label’s old material.

Kids were requesting the album but it simply was not there. Within a few weeks back then, if it wasn’t available on vinyl or cassette, the kids moved on to the next new album.

AMG: The choice of album artwork was controversial – a child’s doll, broken and tattered and laying dead on a floor. Did that backfire?

KM: Again, being on the fringe of things at a time when the songs were written and almost every part of the album was good to go, I didn’t have any knowledge of what was going on the album cover and certainly had no influence over it.

It was a controversial cover. Brutal, I would say. I had literally come in almost as any session singer would and didn’t have a say on things. I found the cover distasteful and that was my initial reaction.

The only connection I could think of was broken toys from a childhood and that was part of growing up. Other than that, I don’t see what the connection was with the material on the album.

I wasn’t keen on it but I couldn’t say or do anything about it. I think the boys were also of the same frame of mind. There was a feeling that they had been cooped up for so long, they just wanted to get it out and get back to touring. There always seemed to be stuff holding it back.

AMG: You began touring to support the album after its release. What was the tour like and how did you find the already established Mama’s Boys fans?

KM: To be honest, I was anxious at times about how I would be received, especially in Ireland. You know, this London boy in an Irish band of three tight-knit brothers. It’s not as if I had a drum kit to hide behind!

From my first gig though, in Dundalk (Republic of Ireland), I felt really welcome. I could not believe the love for the band in Ireland and I couldn’t believe I was getting away with no backlash. People seemed to accept the change and that I was part of it.

I cannot recall a single negative incident or ever feeling that people were thinking ‘I wish this guy wasn’t here’. I was warmly welcomed and people were so polite. The gigs were just mental too – the fans in Ireland were unbelievable, they really loved Mama’s Boys.

Of course, what some people say, they would not say to you at the time and we didn’t have social media back then. Occasionally, I have come across comments on the internet saying that I ruined the sound of the band and they should never have changed from a three-piece to four. Ironically, the album had nothing to do with me in terms of writing or style. It was, as I have said, a natural progression for the band and for music at the time. The songs were very well written.

AMG: What was your most memorable gig with Mama’s Boys?

KM: That gig in Belfast’s Whitla Hall in 1987 (October 29) stays with me to this day. It was an experience that I will never forget.

The audience was amazing. I was just blown away by the atmosphere. It was hot, sticky, pyros were going off and the audience was just insane, they loved the band. That was an overwhelming experience.

AMG: When did you feel your future was not with Mama’s Boys?

KM: After Growing Up The Hard Way the band parted ways with the Jive label and there was new management brought in. I don’t wish to go into it too much but suffice to say I felt things were a little strange.

I felt some decisions were not going to be right and that’s why I decided to go. My decision had nothing to do with the boys. I had too much respect for them and for what they had achieved with Mama’s Boys.

It was a hard decision and it hurt. We didn’t fall out. We are still good pals to this day.

AMG: You have had a remarkable career, recording with some of the finest artists of all time, including Gary Moore, and George Harrison.

KM: Yes, the world of the session singer has been good to me. I have worked with some wonderful people. You know, we all have heroes and we are all fans. It changes a little when you live in a world among them and they regard you as a fellow artist.

But I was lost for words when I got the call to record on a George Harrison album.

I had to go to Friar Park, this magnificent Victorian mansion he owned, to record for the album. I am a big fan of The Beatles, so I was naturally excited and filled with apprehension, as was the other singer who was there to record also.

When we got there, his engineer said, ‘Sorry George will be a bit late as he has family over’. When he did eventually turn up he apologized for being late and I’m thinking ‘take as long as you want, you’re George Harrison.’

We were just happy to be there for the opportunity. I had worked with Cliff Richard at the time and the engineer introduced us to George and said: ‘They work with Cliff’, to which George said: ‘I know, I’ve seen you on the tele’.

This was one of my heroes telling me he saw me on the television and he knew who I was!

I have been fortunate to have toured with Meat Loaf, Def Leppard and Queen and work with many stars. I have many fond memories.

AMG: What was your experience with Gary Moore?

KM: I have a lovely memory of singing backing vocals for Gary Moore along with Phil Lynott and Glenn Hughes (Deep Purple, Black Country Communion). I sang on Nothing to Lose from the album Run For Cover. It’s a been while since I heard that song, I must give it another listen.

I also did an album with Scott Gorham (Thin Lizzy, Black Star Riders) in the project Phenomena, with Scott and Brian May, and two guys who were in A-Ha.

We did an album called Dream Runner. Scott also asked me to join his new band, 21 Guns, but it wasn’t for me. I would not have been involved in writing the songs and that’s not something I would have been comfortable with.

I could have joined Foreigner in 1989. I auditioned with them and they said, yes, we want you in our band. But they also wanted me to drop everything else that I was working on at the time and I simply could not do that.

AMG: What are you working on at present?

KM: I’m involved in a project with three other session singers called Unsung Singers – we talk about the role of the session singer and then sing some of the songs they sang on over the years. There’s talk of a TV show being made about it.

There’s so many good stories to tell about the role of the session singer. If you remember, Lou Reed doing Walk on The Wild Side – he came to London to record it and that’s a particular song that is also famous for the backing vocals – you know… ‘Doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo’.

To many people, it sounds like three black girls from Harlem singing but in actual fact it’s three white girls from London who were known as Thunder Thighs!

Nothing is always as it seems in music and that’s what our show does – gives the audience and insight into songs and singers.

AMG: As a session singer, you have recorded many jingles for TV and radio. What would we have heard you do recently?

KM: Well, that’s a thing about the session singer. You watch TV and hear a jingle or song and you sing along or you instantly know the brand. However, you may not know who the singer is behind it.

Do you know the advert for Flash, the domestic cleaning fluid, the one with the dog singing Queen’s Flash? Well, that’s me singing!

Keith Murrell has toured and worked with:

Queen, The Who, Madonna, Cher, AC/DC, George Harrison, Def Leppard,  Meatloaf, Billy Idol, Mike Oldfield, Joe Cocker, Phil Everly, Gary Moore, Phil Lynott, Roy Orbison, Mica Paris, Michael Schenker and Stock, Aitken and Waterman.

Jingles include: Coke, Ford, Sunkist, Nikon, Dr Pepper, Renault, Cathay Pacific, Hershey, American Airlines, Samsung, Kelloggs, Weetabix, Cadburys, Cheerios, Flash, Radio One and Capital Radio.

Films include: Romeo and Juliet (solo vocal), Great Expectations (solo vocal), Evita and Beautiful Joe.

TV credits include: Stars in their Eyes, Top of the Pops, TFI Friday, The National Lottery, Barrymore, An Audience with Cliff Richard, Des O’Connor Show and Royal Variety Performance.

Bands: Airrace, Mamas Boys and Phenomena.

Footnote: Pat McManus also played guitar on Samantha Fox’s hit Touch Me, which also came out on the Jive label.

WHEN music journalist Geoff Barton coined the term ‘New Wave of British Heavy Metal’ (NWOBHM) he foresaw a denim and leather-clad movement of bands and followers that mirrored the social unrest and depression of 1980s Britain.

Iron Maiden, Motorhead, Def Leppard, UFO, Rainbow, and Judas Priest are just some NWOBHM’s household names that conquered shores far beyond their homesteads.

Among the extensive list of bands – some surviving and thriving to this day – was its only Northern Ireland outfit, Mama’s Boys. A unique three-piece band of brothers, Pat (guitar, violin, vocals), John (Bass, vocals), and the late Tommy (drums) McManus took their Thin Lizzy and Horslips influenced sound to the very top of the industry.

If anything, the Co Fermanagh boys who grew up playing traditional Irish music were arguably among the most innovative of all NWOBHM bands.

Before they had signed a deal with Jive Records, Mama’s Boys had already committed two albums to vinyl, bypassing the demo-to-DJ channel and going straight to the retailer. It may have been a risk at the time but the McManus clan, financing their albums from the takings of relentless gigging and touring, never saw their approach as anything out of the ordinary.

The band’s songwriter, Pat ‘The Professor’ McManus could do no wrong. Mama’s Boys songs were gaining airplay. DJs and record store owners like the Irish music cult-hero Terry Hooley were pushing the ‘next big thing’ to their longhaired customers who looked and dressed just like Pat, Tommy, and John. It wasn’t long before Mama’s Boys were supporting acts such as Hawkwind and Thin Lizzy and performing to 90,000 at Reading Rock Festival. The future was only to get bigger and better.

With a record deal, Mama’s Boys would share the stage at Knebworth where 120,000 fans gathered to witness Deep Purple’s 1985 reunion.

As a child, Tommy McManus, a young drummer full of energy and zest for life, was diagnosed with leukemia. He wasn’t supposed to live as long he did before finally succumbing to the disease in 1994.

“It was the drums and the band that kept Tommy going,” says Pat.

Tommy, Pat, and John were, put simply, Mama’s Boys. Any deviating from that line-up only served to dilute the magic – something the band’s record industry ‘mentors’ succeeding in doing with the enforced change of musical direction and the addition of a fourth member heralding a new voice coming through fans’ hi-fi speakers.

Ultimately, it was not the 1992 sugar-sweet AOR album Relativity that brought about the end for Mama’s Boys but Tommy’s sad passing at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast two years later.

Mama’s Boys headline appearance at the Ulster Hall in December 1985 was my very first rock concert. I was 15 years of age. They were rock gods.

This week, 32 years later, I had the pleasure and honour of spending time with Pat McManus, reflecting on a magical period for heavy rock music and one of Ireland’s finest purveyors of it, Mama’s Boys.

During the course of our conversation, it was sad to learn that all of the rights of the band’s wonderful material do not belong to the McManus family and that the Master recordings once held by the now-dissolved Jive Records may be lost forever.

Alex McGreevy (AMG): It’s almost like a novel, the Mama’s Boys story. In reality, you were actually living the dream during the best-ever era for heavy rock music.

Pat McManus (PMM): We were in a good place at a good time for heavy rock music, yes. The New wave of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM) had exploded and lots of bands were landing record deals and we were the only band from Northern Ireland to get signed to a major label. We didn’t think anything of it at the time but looking back on it now, it was a major achievement. It was not as easy to get discovered in the 1970s and ‘80s as it is today with the help of social media.

We were just bashing around in the wilds of Ireland, from Donegal to Cork to Belfast and we were lucky in many respects that the right people with connections came across us. Most musicians in Ireland back then might have thrown the towel in if they were hoping to get signed because we were so far removed from the spotlight.

I suppose the sheer determination of the band, touring, playing, and writing our own songs got us noticed. We never aspired to be in the spotlight or be rock stars. What we were trying to do was emulate our heroes, Thin Lizzy, Gary Moore, Rory Gallagher, and Horslips. To end up on stage working alongside some of those guys, well, to us, that was it, job done. It was really all we wanted to achieve because we were simply rock fans ourselves.

AMG: Going against the grain, you put out two albums before you even had a record deal. How did you get away with that in an era when record companies largely dictated who got promotion and airplay?

PMM: We self-financed our first album and second album (The Bootleg and Plug It In) from funds we gathered up from gigs. We did think at the time how we could bypass the process of getting our stuff out there. Rather than doing what everyone else was doing, sending demo tapes to DJs and record companies we thought to ourselves, if we can put out the vinyl it will give the impression we had already been signed – and it worked. There were people asking ‘who is this band, how did they get a record out and why have I not heard this before?’ We were basically a cottage industry, which is how many bands make it in today’s music scene. Making our own vinyl record give us that little jump forward, it created the impression we were ahead of the game and it made it easier for others to listen to our music.

AMG: So how do three young brothers from the countryside find out how to record an album, press the vinyl and distribute it to market?

PMM: It’s funny to think about it now but I guess that was an achievement in itself. We were friendly with the boys in Horslips because we had been to see them so many times and had gotten to know them. Barry Devlin (Horslips bassist and frontman) had many talents and quite happily volunteered information and guidance to us – in fact, he produced some of our early stuff as well. Barry helped open doors for us and so we set off to a studio to record our songs and have them pressed. Then all of a sudden we had all these records to sell! Between Barry (Devlin) and friends, we were introduced to people like Terry Hooley (Publisher, record store, and record label owner). Poor Terry, we turned up at Good Vibrations in Belfast and said, ‘Terry, any chance you could take 25 of these and sell them.’ Terry just looked at us and said, ‘who the hell are you guys?’ But he took the stuff and he got it out there for us.

AMG: So with a growing fan base across Ireland and the UK, how did you eventually get ‘spotted’ by industry influencers?

PMM: One thing I will say is that we did have our fair share of good luck, which I always believed was gained from our investment in our work and our determination to be working musicians – and it was with a touch of good fortune that we did get spotted. We were playing a gig in Tipperary and there was simply nobody at it. When I say there was nobody there, I really am telling the truth! But this guy – who turned out to be Michael Deeney (Music Promoter – Bruce Springsteen, U2, Pavarotti) – came into the place we were playing because he was hungry. He was on his way to meet with U2 who were playing in Cork and he stopped off at the hotel. He heard our unmerciful racket and came in simply out of curiosity. He was blown away by what he heard and that’s how we got a management deal – he helped structure our introduction to the wider world, through Arista, Jive, and CBS records. It was just pure luck on our behalf that he was hungry and on his way to see this young up-and-coming band called U2.

AMG: You eventually got the record deal and produced some memorable material. But today lots of NWOBHM bands are mixing their old stuff and bringing it back to vinyl. Why have Mama’s Boys not done that?

PMM: To be honest, that was my mistake. I signed everything away at the back of the Marquee Club in London. I saw a contract shoved into my hand and I signed it thinking the people providing it had the best interests of Mama’s Boys at heart. I don’t own any of the Mama’s Boys stuff now, which is a shame because we cannot do anything with it.

They will always be my songs but I have no right to do anything with them. It is my understanding that some of the Masters have also disappeared. John and I did try to find them a while back because we thought it might be a good idea to re-master the material. But I’m afraid there are so many scavengers out there that the stuff is most likely gone for good, either sold on and sold on again or perhaps even dumped. The Turn It Up album, for example, no one was able to tell us where the Masters were or who was last to have them in their possession.

We were very much victims of how the record industry worked in those days – when you put that together with three very naïve Irish kids who just wanted to play rock ‘n’ roll, that’s what becomes of you. We took no interest in the business side of music but we opened the doors and trusted people and handed over the controls convinced that we were being looked after. We were most definitely taken advantage of. We know we weren’t alone in that.

Muff Winwood (record producer, musician, and brother of Stevie) once told me that when the record company was pressing and distributing Mama’s Boys records in Holland, they were telling us they were making 100,000 copies when really they were putting out another 150,000 that we knew nothing about.

They owned the pressing plant, so it was easy to do that. How were we ever to know that at the time, or even to this day, without someone coming and telling us face to face? I was appalled when he told me that. We weren’t like Ronnie James Dio who was meticulous about his material and knew what was going out – we took people at face value and paid a price for it.

Muff, as a musician, was messed around during his career. He later signed a record deal with Celtus (an Irish rock fusion band John and Pat formed post-Mama’s Boys) but after a while, John and I agreed that we didn’t want to be contracted in the industry any longer and so we brought an end to Celtus and I moved back to Ireland.

We have exhausted ourselves trying to locate the Masters and gain the rights to our music and we have been in touch with people who should know how to help us but it got to a stage where we had to fire a warning shot across with a threat to do an audit and the response was basically, ‘bring it on, we hope you have a lot of money to do this…’ and as a musician, you tend to shy away from that sort of battle because you don’t have the money or clout to take on the big players in the industry.

Nothing and I mean nothing, was ever shown to us while we were signed with Jive Records. I was never told how many records we had sold; we never saw any accounts for Mama’s Boys. As soon as we started asking questions back then, we were banged out on another tour.

I have resigned in this battle. I gave up a long time ago because of the hurt and the stress. I had to say to myself, your life has moved on and this will consume you if you don’t stop. It’s not in my nature to dwell on things … it is what it is and I have learned from it. I am much happier now being in control of my music and what I put out. People still listen and still want to hear more but even if they didn’t I would still be making music because that’s my hobby.

AMG: If Tommy was still alive today, would Mama’s Boys still be performing and making music?

PMM: I have often thought about where we might be with Mama’s Boys if Tommy was alive today. I guess it’s natural to think where we might have been because Tommy’s passing was the reason why we stopped making music and touring as Mama’s Boys. We were very young men, unmarried, with no children, and we were tight as siblings. We had a lot of growing up to do back then, so who knows what might have become of us as grown men … it’s a very hard one to call.

I know at the time when Tommy started to get ill again we really were riding the crest of a wave but during his spell in the hospital we lost a bit of momentum and however short the period might have been, the music industry does not take long to forget you and move on. It’s fair to say when Tommy took ill that it was about to happen big time for us. Ronnie James Dio had called us and said he wanted to take Mama’s Boys on tour with Dio, that’s how big the picture was for us at that time.

We told Tommy that we would go back on the road and all would be fine when he recovered from leukemia but sadly it wasn’t to be. He would not have wanted us to stop but we just couldn’t go on as Mama’s Boys; Tommy simply could not be replaced.

When Jimmy DeGrasso (Megadeth, Ozzy Osbourne, Alice Cooper, Black Star Riders) came in to tour with us – while Tommy was unwell – he was amazing but it just wasn’t the same and we knew that the chapter was closed on Mama’s Boys. We were three brothers who lived in each other’s pockets. You know, very little needed to be said. We just knew that was it.

We have always shied away from a reunion because it still wouldn’t be the same without Tommy. We have had offers and we have even had promoters using our name to sell shows, thinking we would jump on board.

You should never say never in life but hand on heart I can never see Mama’s Boys performing again.

If Tommy were alive, we would definitely be playing as Mama’s Boys but more than likely on a sporadic basis. If he was with us today he’d be drumming behind me, make no mistake about it.

AMG: I recall Tommy being a full-throttle performer, everything you would expect from a rock star drummer. How good a drummer was he?

PMM: Tommy was an awesome drummer and that’s not a bias comment, he really was a top drummer. At the time we were recording Power and Passion (circa 1984/85) Tommy came to me and said he had got a phone call to audition for Ozzy Osbourne’s band and that he would like to try it. But he was very clear from the start, telling me that he did not want to join Ozzy’s band but wanted to take the audition just to see if he was good enough – it was just to satisfy him. So, he headed off to the audition and totally smashed it – he got the gig there and then. I knew he would get it but I think Tommy just wanted someone else to reassure him that he was a good drummer.

Apparently, Ozzy told Tommy the position was his, so you can imagine his shock when Tommy said he didn’t want it. Tommy told Ozzy he was “only codding” but Ozzy didn’t understand what that meant. “It means I’m only joking, I don’t want the gig,” Tommy told him.

Ozzy didn’t know what to say to that and asked Tommy why he bothered to come to London to try out. Tommy said ‘I’m recording an album in London with my band and I thought I would see if I could do this but I was never going to leave my band”.

“What band is that?” Ozzy asked.

“Mama’s Boys…”

Tommy said Ozzy almost imploded and said, “that fucking band, Mama’s Boys, they are always played on our tour bus over and over again. Jake E Lee (Ozzy’s guitarist) never stops playing that fucking band…”

Ozzy took it all in good humor thankfully.

AMG: The launch of Growing Up The Hard Way in 1987 saw Mama’s Boys become a four-piece with Keith Murrell taking over as lead vocalist. The sound was different too. How did this impact the dynamic of the band?

PMM: We were under a lot of pressure from the record company to change our sound to match what was happening in the US. The focus was so intense on getting a big hit, getting radio play, and reaping the rewards. They basically told us we had to evolve and that’s when we became a four-piece. While I am happy with the songs I wrote, it was a difficult departure from what we were happy doing and what we were used to doing.

At the same time, we had a crew of people working for Mama’s Boys and naturally, we felt we were responsible for their livelihoods too, so we just got on with it.

Yes, people said we had sold out and had gone down the commercial route but that’s what we were being ordered to do and we would have done anything to keep making music and performing. Our hands were tied. They were sending us Robert Palmer records and telling us ‘write something like this, it’s big in America’. It was a case of ‘do this or else’ and so many bands saw their careers end because of demands put upon their creativity.

AMG: I have to ask, what was the deal with you, John and a Tommy and the Lee Jeans, jackets and shirts – was that some kind of sponsorship deal back then?

PMG: That’s a funny story. Our roadie Peter Kerr was hitching a lift from his home in Magherafelt to one of our shows and he was picked up by a guy who, of course, asked Peter what he did for a living. When the driver found out he worked with Mama’s Boys, he got excited and told Peter he was a director of the Lee Jeans in Northern Ireland and was keen to get involved with us. It was pure chance. It was a good arrangement for us because we were getting all these free jeans and jackets and shirts and believe it or not, our fans were turning up to our shows in Lee denim.

But in true Mama’s Boys fashion, that deal ended after about two years when the same Director came to see us and John walked into the meeting wearing Levis! John tried to tell him our mum was washing all his Lee jeans. That was the end of that great deal!

AMG: Who is your favorite artist of all time?

PMM: It would have to be Thin Lizzy. They were something else to see on stage. Phil Lynott was one of the finest artists of all time, an absolute all-rounder. I could never separate Gary Moore and Rory Gallagher but I would opt for a band and, for me, there was none better than Thin Lizzy.

AMG: Who are you currently listening to?

PMM: Government Mule, an American jam band … totally gifted. They can play a five-minute song one night and reinvent the same song and play it for 15 minutes the next night. They are on top of their game and a joy to listen to. I also listen to Airbourne a lot. I watched them perform at the Ramblin’ Man festival last year and they were brilliant. I love their energy and sound. People say they try too hard to sound like AC/DC but so what, what’s so wrong with sounding like another band?

AMG: The Pat McManus Band has been very proactive in recent years, churning out excellent Blues/Rock albums. What can a fan expect at a Pat McManus gig?

PMM: They can expect to hear a variety of stuff. I appreciate people come to hear the early stuff as well as the new songs. A lot of what I do when playing live really depends on how I am feeling at the time. I could turn to the guys and say ‘let’s do this one…’ and off we go.

So, yes, anyone coming to see the band can expect to hear some Mama’s Boys, some Gary Moore, some Thin Lizzy, some Rory Gallagher, some new stuff. I don’t shy away from Mama’s Boys because they are my songs and I am very proud of them and I appreciate that they also make other people happy too. People who followed Mama’s Boys have grown with me, so I am always going to respect their expectations.

Mama’s Boys Discography

Albums: Official Bootleg (1980) Plug It In (1982) Turn It Up (1983) Mama’s Boys (1984) Power and Passion (1985) Growing Up the Hard Way (1987) Live Tonite (1991) Relativity (1992)

Singles “Belfast City Blues” (1982) “In the Heat of the Night” (1982) “Needle in the Groove” (1982) “Too Little of You to Love” (1983) “Midnight Promises” (1984) “Mama Weer All Crazee Now” (1984) “Needle in the Groove” (1985) “Higher Ground” (1987) “Waiting for a Miracle” (1987)

Notable Tours:

• 1983 – Thin Lizzy – Ireland, UK, Scandinavia. Mama’s Boys – Reading festival
• 1984 – Scorpions – France, UK. Ratt & Rush – USA. Mama’s Boys headline – Canada.
• 1985 – Ratt & Bon Jovi – USA & Canada. Foreigner & Dio – Japan.
• 1986 – Gary Moore – Germany & Scandinavia. Marillion, Jethro Tull, Status Quo, at various festivals. Mama’s Boys headline – Ireland, UK, France, Switzerland, Holland, Scandinavia.
• 1988 – Mama’s Boys headline – Ireland, UK, Germany, Switzerland, France.
• 1989 – Mama’s Boys headline – Ireland, UK.
• 1990 – Mama’s Boys headline – Austria, Switzerland, UK.
• 1991 – Mama’s Boys headline – UK, France, Switzerland, Germany.
• 1992 – Mama’s Boys headline – Holland, Switzerland, Spain, Italy, Greece.