Happiness with the Blues

Date Published: 29-Feb-2008

Keith Richards has said that “if you don’t know the blues there’s no point in picking up the guitar” and the endurance of the genre shows in the continuing popularity of guitar bands. Of course, it’s not fame — most musicians are drawn to the blues because of its irresistible rhythms and honesty.

The Lazy Blues Band are a Galway based quartet who tap into the timeless appeal of blues music. The current line up has been playing together for just over a year, but there have been a few different incarnations of the group.

“A good few people have come and gone,” says singer and guitar player Mark Sullivan. The Lazy Blues’ bassist Charles Carr who has been gigging with Mark for a while, spent his early childhood living in the Caribbean and the United States before settling in Ireland when he was 15.

“I’ve been all over the place!” he says. Sheer luck led to the band finding their red-hot harmonica player Maciek Zaworonek. Maciek, newly arrived in Galway, was walking through Eyre Square one evening when he passed a bar where The Lazy Blues Band were performing.

“We were playing up in Richardsons and he just wandered in off the street and asked to come up and play a few tunes,” recalls Mark. “We tried to hold on to him as long as we could that night!” “It doesn’t matter where you go you’ll always be looking for the music,” Maciek opines. “It’s always number one.”

Completing the band’s international line up is Raoul Terzi, who hails from Italy. “I came to Ireland for the first time in 2001 then basically every year I came back,” he says. “Then I came over with a friend of mine for a few weeks. That was the plan! I just had a small rucksack and nothing else. After two weeks we rang home and said ‘we’re going to get a place and stay here for a bit’. We never went back — that was two years ago.”

“Galway’s like that, people come down here for the weekend and ten years later they’re still here!” jokes Mark.

The Lazy Blues Band have a monthly residence in ………………..