music scene
Thrifty Malone in action
a touch of Irish
If you’ve passed by the Royal Calpe on a Friday evening over the last few months, you’ll know it’s become a bit of a venue for early evening live music. Often it’s blues, sometimes rock, and quite surprisingly Irish music too with tunes played by Thrifty Malone, Gibraltar’s only Irish Folk Band. The band slowly came together during 2007-08, after Neal Higgins, a construction project manager, moved to Gibraltar with his wife Deborah. “My Grandfather was from Ireland,” Neal told us, “which does make me quarter Irish.” Neal’s main forte is vocals and in the run-up to playing in his first band, Scot McNeal, he picked up the guitar to accompany his singing from what he insists in its day was the bible for all would-be guitarists — Bert Weedon’s Play in a Day — which even came with a free plectrum to get you started! “I’m not really a guitarist though and I played to accompany myself when I was doing solo gigs in the UK,” he continued. “I jammed a little with two friends and the sound was good, at which point Deborah suggested the friends came on the gigs too. That was great, except all of a sudden the money was split three ways as bars didn’t pay more just because there were more artists in the band. “But I’ve never been in music for
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the money and it’s not an issue. I appreciate getting my music over to a public and there’s no better reward than when they enjoy what you’re doing.” Although the band played mainly in the UK, Neal had the opportunity to play in a few small venues on a visit to Ireland. As someone who’s learned the style while living in the UK we thought this might be quite a daunting experience.
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the ultimate accollade in an Irish session is when the old bloke in the corner just says ‘good man’ at the end of a song
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GIBRALTAR MAGAZINE • FEBRUARY 2010