Galway’s ‘Jimi Hendrix’ recalls tales of his own transition years

The minute Séamus Kelleher picked up a guitar at the age of 14, he knew music would be his life. He didn’t know then how, and he didn’t care, but music was his saviour as he struggled not only with puberty but with school.

He says he hated “every minute of every day” but stresses that St Enda’s College (now known as Coláiste Einde) was a very different school back in the 1970s.

On Tuesday morning, Séamus, a Salthill native who emigrated to the United States 38 years ago, returned to his old school to give a talk to the Transition Year students.

A renowned musician who played a gig in the Crane Bar later that night, he says it was very hard for him to return to the school and he admitted to the students that he was very nervous and still gets “almost physically sick” before a gig.

He didn’t come across as nervous as he spoke to the students about his love of music, how it saved him, how important it was to finish your education, and how he has battled depression.

His first bout was when he turned 20. His beloved mother, Mary, who he says was his biggest fan, had just died and he started to feel unwell as if there was a cloud hanging over him. He even stopped playing the guitar, which was something he did every day, normally.

He told the students to watch for the signs and to even look out for other students and friends and if they didn’t know what to do, to tell an adult if they had concerns about someone.

“I felt I couldn’t talk to the students about my life without talking about my depression. It’s not that it defines me or it has never stopped me from doing anything, but nobody ever talks about it. It’s the silent killer,” he explained afterwards.

“I keep in touch with what’s happening in Ireland and the rate of suicide among young people concerns me very much. I want young people, anyone, to know that there is help, just reach out for it. I got help that first time and that certainly helped me. Having depression is not a death sentence, but you do have to learn to cope with it, to manage it.

“I felt if I hadn’t spoken about it with the Transition students, it would have been a lost opportunity because I wish people were a bit more open about it as it is stigmatised universally.”

His family were very supportive at the time. His mother had always told him to follow his dream and, if it was music, to stick with it. But by the time he got his first bout of depression, she was gone and it was his father Jim, a taxi driver, who Séamus says was “years ahead of his time” simply said his son needed help – and got it for him. He also drove him to all his gigs and didn’t seem to mind that Séamus constantly practised his guitar playing at home. At least when he was back playing his music, his family knew he was better.

By then he had been gigging in the city since he was 15 and had switched from acoustic to electric guitar. In fact, he was nicknamed by some as ‘the Jimi Hendrix of Galway’ and he opened for many a visiting band, including Thin Lizzy one night in Seapoint. He played with Spoonful, Life’s Feast and Skull to mention a few in places like the Ocean Wave, the Hangar and Seapoint in Salthill and the Talk of the Town on the Headford Road.

His big break came when he joined Rock and Roll Circus and he travelled with them on tour to the US. Like picking up the guitar, Séamus knew when he got to New York, that this is where he needed to be. So without much ado, on his return home, the youngest of the five Kelleher family set about emigrating to the Big Apple. That was 1975 and he never looked back.

He got work as a musician but by the age of 26, realised he needed to go back to college. He had tried college in Galway but he couldn’t focus, he wasn’t interested. But this time he did focus and even got a Masters in communications.

He also enrolled in the American Institute of Music. Between his work in media and communication, alongside his music, he has forged two successful careers. He does admit that he was 40 when he got his first ‘real job’ where he had to wear a shirt and tie to the office! 

For a longer interview with Seamus Kelleher see this week’s City Tribune