Growing up in Derry, Northern Ireland, during the sixties and seventies proved to be a challenging experience that shaped Sharkey into the brilliant man he is today. Looking back at the early years he remembers “walking down the road carrying what I now know to be an anarchist flag” but maintains: “I am desperately grateful for the world I grew up in.”
It’s a bold claim to make for a man who, whilst playing a show with The Undertones in Nottingham, was told that his mother and sister were being held hostage by members of the IRA. “They had gone to visit a close family friend” says Sharkey “but the door was opened by a guy in a balaclava who said they had better come in.” The house had been taken over for use in an IRA mission and Sharkey’s mother and sister were held there until his mother found a way out by faking a heart attack. “I think at that point they thought, oh shit this is Feargal Sharkey’s mother and they called an ambulance which took them both from the house.”
His mother and father’s politically influenced lives alongside the fame and success, which allowed him to be one of the only people in Derry to own a home at the age of twenty, gave Sharkey the chance to make huge change in the industry. “The voice still works,” says Sharkey, “I still do it occasionally on a Sunday morning to annoy the kids saying, look you un-grateful kids, people use to pay for this shit!”
On why he traded the lights and glamour of showbiz for the business side of the industry he said: “Well who in the hell else was going to give me a job?!” But on his journey Sharkey has found documents and legislation that have encouraged him to make some very important changes. Not least of which are The Licensing Act 2003, which affects the ability of music venues to provide regulated entertainment as well as alcohol, and Form 696, a risk assessment form compulsory to promoters and licensees in certain boroughs of London.
As a result of the Licensing Act 2003, a venue cannot legally host a live music event without a license that clearly states it has permission to do so. Sharkey highlights the impact it has on struggling young artists who are trying to get people to take notice of them, something which is very close to Louder Now’s heart. “If I picked up a guitar now and sung a song, someone would be facing a £20,000 fine and/or a 6 months prison sentence, now would that stop a pub landlord putting a kid on stage one night? I think it might.” Despite the security and profit that can be brought to venues who hold a licence Sharkey remains adamant that the process is un-fair and damaging: “I don’t think it is healthy that someone who wants to do something as harmless as sing a song in the back of a pub has to ask permission from a local council.”
One of the most pressing issues facing the music industry today is that of illegal internet downloads which, with the closure of Limewire in late 2010, seems to have fierce action being taken against it, especially in the US. Sharkey says: “I genuinely think the Internet is an extraordinary thing. My industry has a 120 year history of disruption. For me this is just another disruption.” Memories of days when radio shows were recorded on to tapes and passed on to friends and family, and an acknowledgement that the music industry is still booming leads to a conclusion that this disruption is a fleeting one. “I think now is an extraordinary time to be a music fan. You can buy Liam Gallagher’s new album off Amazon for £3.99. £3.99? Bloody hell I can barely buy a pint of beer for £3.99!”
Feargal Sharkey is a remarkable character and with his experience, morals and sheer determination the myths and rumours of the music industries demise will remain just that, myths and rumours.
I loved the Undertones back in the 80s I was only 16 then.. They were playing live in Kelly's night club Portrush..I was too young to go see them I was gutted..I had friends at the time working in a woman's centre on Landsdown Cresent Portrush..As the story goes ..I walked in there one day with my Undertones LP.. This lovely lady with dark hair called me over.. asked me to look at the LP.. she then told me she was Fergals mum..turned out she worked for the woman's group at that time..I never got to see the band .. but it was a pleasure and some thing to remember meeting his lovely mum
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