Paddy Goes to Holyhead
| Paddy Goes to Holyhead | |
|---|---|
 Band logo |
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 Paddy Goes To Holyhead live in the Huguenot Hall in Neu-Isenburg |
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| General information | |
| origin | Darmstadt , Germany |
| Genre (s) | Folk rock |
| founding | 1988 |
| Website | www.paddy.de |
| Founding members | |
| Paddy Schmidt | |
| Rainer Opitz | |
| Andreas Reich (née Gottwald) | |
Paddy Goes to Holyhead (also PGTH or Paddies ) is a German folk rock band.
history
The band was founded in Darmstadt in 1988 by Paddy Schmidt .
The band name is not only an allusion to the band name Frankie Goes to Hollywood , but also refers to the "Paddies", emigrants from Ireland , as well as to the Welsh port city of Holyhead , which was a transit station for many Irish people when they emigrated . The band's early years are therefore also characterized by many emigrant songs from Ireland. It wasn't until 1993 that the traditional Irish folk line-up turned into a folk-rock formation. With the reorientation, the band became more successful. This is how an elaborate video for the single Bound Around was shot on the Mainz Airfield .
With their album Ready for Paddy? (1994) the band jumped to number 50 on the German CD charts (Media Control). With the associated extracts Bound Around , Love Song No. 90 and Johnny Went to War (the first track that was in the listener charts of the SWF3 program Hitline for more than 50 weeks , which is why the rules of participation were changed) they managed to achieve several chart successes under Paddy Schmidt and later to regular media presence, which for the Folk rock music was unusual. They have appeared several times as opening act or equal partners at concerts by artists such as BAP , Beach Boys , Herbert Grönemeyer , The Pogues , Pur , Deep Purple , The Hooters , Jethro Tull , The Dubliners and Runrig . In addition, the band had several television appearances (Live in the Schlachthof (BR), Radio Bremen , ZDF-Fernsehgarten , ARD Disney Club, Sat.1 breakfast television , ZDF turntable , VIVA , Hessen 3 , SWR and others).
Between 1998 and 2001 there was a short but quite successful revival of the original line-up of PGTH: Paddy Schmidt, Mathias Kohlmann (founding member of the band Wild Silk ) and Andreas Reich (founding member of the band An Cat Dubh ) performed under the band name Real Ould Paddies Mixture of new songs and the old repertoire of the founding years in the greater Frankfurt am Main and southern Germany - mainly in Irish pubs, music bars and at open-air events. A concert recording from the Karlsruhe JuBeZ was released on CD in 2000 under the title Live in Germany .
A break followed in 2001 when Paddy Schmidt left the band for three years after 13 years and pursued solo ambitions and the short-lived project Paddy Schmidt & Band . During this time, the singer Mark Patrick from the USA filled this gap.
Since March 2005 Paddy Schmidt has been the head and singer of Paddy Goes to Holyhead again. With him, his old friend and keyboard player from the “Ready for Paddy” era, Jo Naumann, came back into the band. In addition to 30 band appearances a year, Schmidt appears around 200 times solo, in a duo (mainly with Uhu Bender, but also Nicole Ansperger ) and occasionally in a trio.
In 2008 the drummer Kalle Spriestersbach had his last live performance with PGTH in Aschaffenburg. He left the band after 17 years for professional reasons and was replaced for two years by Dirk Schimmel Schäfer from Wetzlar . For a short time, however, Kalle Spriestersbach returned to his old place of work (2010-2014).
Almut Ritter has been the sole violinist of Paddy Goes To Holyhead again since the beginning of 2016. In the same year the percussionist Günter Bozem also joined the band, who supports Paddy Goes To Holyhead percussively, especially during larger appearances, when the band, consisting of Paddy Schmidt, Uhu Bender and Almut Ritter, does not appear in an acoustic trio.
occupation
The current line-up (since the beginning of 2016) is highlighted below:
- Paddy Schmidt - vocals, guitar, harmonica, tin whistle, bagpipes (1988–2001, since 2005)
- Rainer Opitz - banjo, mandolin, guitar, bodhrán, vocals (1988 to mid-1991)
- Andreas Reich born Gottwald - bodhrán, accordion, keyboard, didgeridoo, drum, vocals (1988–1991); 1992–2003 with An Cat Dubh (also from Darmstadt)
- Mathias Kohlmann - mandolin, bouzuki, violin, tin whistle, bodhrán, vocals (1989–1993)
- Jo Naumann - accordion, keyboard, vocals (1991–1996, since 2005–2015)
- Kalle Spriestersbach - drums (1993–2008, since 12/2010–2014); formerly Crazy 'bout Kinski (also from Darmstadt)
- Andi Kopp - Bass (1993-1998); formerly Crazy 'bout Kinski
- Almut Ritter - violin, harp, concertina, tin whistle (1993–1997, since 2016)
- Blacky P. Schwarz - keyboard, backing vocals (1996–1998)
- Helen Mannert - violin, accordion, vocals (1997–2001, since 2013–2015)
- Jürgen Köhler - accordion, keyboard (1998, 2000 to 2003)
- Markus "Reverend" Ries - Bass (1998-2001)
- Rüdiger Kist - accordion, keyboard (1999, 2003-2005)
- Jens Kempgens - violin (2001-2004)
- Wolfgang Ritter - bass (2001-2004)
- Mark Patrick - vocals, guitar (2002-2004)
- Boris Mittelstädt - bass (2004)
- Marian Juravlea - violin (2004)
- Uwe "Uhu" Bender - bass, vocals, mandolin (since 2005)
- Nicole Ansperger - violin (2005-2013)
- Dirk "Schimmel" Schäfer - drums (07/2008 - 11/2010)
- Günter Bozem - Percussion (since 2016)
Discography
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Chart positions Explanation of the data |
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| Singles | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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- 1989: The Fairy King (tape, self-published)
- 1989: On the One Road (tape, self-published)
- 1990: Emigrants (vinyl LP, self-published)
- 1991: Live in Darmstadt (tape, self-published)
- 1992: Here's to the People (Indigo)
- 1993: Supermegaultraliveshow (Indigo)
- 1994: Ready for Paddy? (Indigo)
- 1996: E. & OE (Indigo)
- 1998: Hooray (Indigo)
- 1998: Live (Indigo)
- 2000: Paddy Tales (Indigo)
- 2002: Red Letter Days (Indigo)
- 2004: Acoustic Nights (Indigo)
Video albums
- 1995: Bound Around (Holyhead Promotion)
Books
- 1995: Paddy Goes To Holyhead Songbook (Holyhead Promotion)