John O'Leary: Sir Henry's
Title
John O'Leary: Sir Henry's
Subject
Sir Henry's Nightclub and Music Venue
Description
John O’Leary describes life as an insider of the alternative music scene in the 1990s. This interview focuses largely on the clubs (Sir Henry’s on South Main Street), characters, events, and bands throughout this period.
In this interview, John O’Leary relates his memories of attending and then working within the alternative music scene in Cork in the 1990s. He discusses how a club named Sir Henry’s would have had alternative music nights, one of which was called Tight, on a Friday and a Sunday night. He attended University between 1990 and 1994 and states that these nights would have had a ‘free in’ for ‘penniless students’ early on a Sunday night. He describes how students and other frequenters of the night club would generally have been drinking at other local pubs before coming to Sir Henry’s, a phenomenon he later describes as ‘feeder bars’ in relation to his own experience DJ-ing. He states that everyone, back then, would have wanted to be in a band and that the ‘you were just made’ when Dave Fanning played your demo on the radio. Sir Henry’s would have been known, on a Friday and Sunday, for playing all alternative music such as The Smiths, The Pixies, Nirvana, as well as Dinosaur Jr, Sonic Youth and so forth. Later, when the Tight on Friday Night closed, he and a few friends set up their own night called Freakscene and John relates some of the ups and downs of that experience as well. Specifically, what attendance was like when they first started out, what records would fill or clear the dance floor, and the general relationship with management and security at Sir Henry’s. He also describes getting some live acts, such as The Fall into the venue for a show.
In this interview, John O’Leary relates his memories of attending and then working within the alternative music scene in Cork in the 1990s. He discusses how a club named Sir Henry’s would have had alternative music nights, one of which was called Tight, on a Friday and a Sunday night. He attended University between 1990 and 1994 and states that these nights would have had a ‘free in’ for ‘penniless students’ early on a Sunday night. He describes how students and other frequenters of the night club would generally have been drinking at other local pubs before coming to Sir Henry’s, a phenomenon he later describes as ‘feeder bars’ in relation to his own experience DJ-ing. He states that everyone, back then, would have wanted to be in a band and that the ‘you were just made’ when Dave Fanning played your demo on the radio. Sir Henry’s would have been known, on a Friday and Sunday, for playing all alternative music such as The Smiths, The Pixies, Nirvana, as well as Dinosaur Jr, Sonic Youth and so forth. Later, when the Tight on Friday Night closed, he and a few friends set up their own night called Freakscene and John relates some of the ups and downs of that experience as well. Specifically, what attendance was like when they first started out, what records would fill or clear the dance floor, and the general relationship with management and security at Sir Henry’s. He also describes getting some live acts, such as The Fall into the venue for a show.
Date
07 January 2015
Identifier
CFP_SR00536_oleary_2015
Coverage
Cork; Ireland; 1990s;
Relation
CFP_SR00536_oleary_2015; CFP_SR00537_hanover_2015; CFP_SR00538_spalding_2015; CFP_SR00539_hUigin_2015; CFP_SR00543_obrien_2015; CFP_SR00544_comber_2015; CFP_SR00545_leader_2015; CFP_SR00546_creedon_2015;
Penny Johnston based a digital oral history mapping pilot project called ‘Cork’s Main Streets’ on the audio interviews from this collection in 2016, as part of her PhD research. The 2018 website and the map layer can be viewed at: http://corksmainstreets.corkfolklore.org/cms/
Penny’s PhD dissertation can be accessed at: https://cora.ucc.ie/handle/10468/5469
Penny’s PhD dissertation can be accessed at: https://cora.ucc.ie/handle/10468/5469
Other Material Relating to Cork's Main Streets:
CFP_SR00448_hinchy_2012: Interview of ex-Beamish Brewery (South Main Street) staff member Ed Hinchy.
CFP_SR00532_davis_2014: Interview with the former manager of The Other Place Resource Centre (South Main Street), Clive Davis, conducted by Stephen Dee and Dermot Casey, as part of the LGBT Archive Collection
CFP_SR00535_wilkins_2014: Mark Wilkins was interviewed by Aisling Byron on the music scene of Cork City in the 1980s and 1990s: the interview contains an in-depth discussion of South Main Street music venue Sir Henry’s and of the South Main Street pub The Liberty.
Source
Cork Folklore Project Audio Archive
Rights
Cork Folklore Project
Language
English
Type
Sound
Format
1.wav File
Interviewee
Interviewer
Duration
32 mins 50 secs
Location
Farrenferris, Cork
Original Format
.wav
Bit Rate/Frequency
24bit / 48kHz
Transcription
The following is a short extract from the interview transcript, copyright of the Cork Folklore Project. If you wish to access further archival material please contact CFP, folklorearchive@gmail.com
M S: Em just in your own opinion now, cos I mean this is very subjective thing, but like do you think that the location where Henry’s was in the city had any impact on the kind of place it was, being on the South Main Street?
JOL: [pause] Well I suppose em if you were to start with a blank canvas and you were to geographically pick good spots to have a live venue it would be a good spot because you’re close to the college, it’s practically in the city centre, so you know from that point of view, it would have been in a good spot but em you know in terms of, I suppose, you know, putting on my promoter’s cap, you know, you would be looking for feeder bars and things like that, because back then definitely when we were running Freakscene, em maybe one third of the people that would turn up would be people on a given night who necessarily didn’t intend to come, they would just be having one or two drinks and have a taste for more, and there was no late bars, so you know they, they’d then choose which nightclub were they going to go to, so there was lots of good bars relatively near you know, so they would have all been feeder bars for the want of a better word and stuff so, yeah, it would have been a good location alright.
M S: Em just in your own opinion now, cos I mean this is very subjective thing, but like do you think that the location where Henry’s was in the city had any impact on the kind of place it was, being on the South Main Street?
JOL: [pause] Well I suppose em if you were to start with a blank canvas and you were to geographically pick good spots to have a live venue it would be a good spot because you’re close to the college, it’s practically in the city centre, so you know from that point of view, it would have been in a good spot but em you know in terms of, I suppose, you know, putting on my promoter’s cap, you know, you would be looking for feeder bars and things like that, because back then definitely when we were running Freakscene, em maybe one third of the people that would turn up would be people on a given night who necessarily didn’t intend to come, they would just be having one or two drinks and have a taste for more, and there was no late bars, so you know they, they’d then choose which nightclub were they going to go to, so there was lots of good bars relatively near you know, so they would have all been feeder bars for the want of a better word and stuff so, yeah, it would have been a good location alright.
Interview Format
Audio
Collection
Citation
Cork Folklore Project, “John O'Leary: Sir Henry's,” accessed April 16, 2024, https://corkfolklore.org/archivecatalolgue/document/64.