The Medusa Fora

just seeing a few different clips from various gigs, shane seems to don a banjo a few times, how good is he on it and wot other instruments has he masterd does anyone know?

he's about as good as liam is at guitar
does he play it live?
no
does he wrote songs for it?
yes

I could swear I saw a vid on utube with Shane playing banjo. And, in general, I believe Shane can play just about anything in order to write a song.

Shane did have a go at banjo, bodhran and casio keys... Besides guitar.

MacRua wrote:Shane did have a go at banjo, bodhran and casio keys... Besides guitar.

And at accordion! Only he didn't realize you dont play it by pouring wine all over it...

on the Town and Country club DVD there's some songs in which Shane plays banjo. I read somewhere he could play bouzuki and wrote "Shanne Bradley" on it, but I can't be sure I'm remembering right. Maybe that was the IISFFGWG booklet saying that.

"Yes, it was my idea [beer tray] . I would’ve done it myself but I was
playing guitar. I stopped palying guitar cause it was difficult to
sing and keep time on the guitar – to sing such intense songs – with
the sound we had in those days, which was very bad. I was putting off
Andy Ranken on the drums a lot of time, you know what I mean. I am a
good rhythm quitarist, but I can’t sing and play guitar at the same
time. So they sacked me from playing the guitar <…> I offered to play
beer tray , cause I didn’t want to stand and just sing, you know what
I mean. I’m a musician. So I offered to play beer tray, but democracy
decided that we had outgrown the beer tray <…> I took up bodhran, and
I played it perfectly well. I mean after being sacked on guitar, I
wasn’t into just standing there singing. I didn’t want to do all rock
and roll poses and jump around either <…> So I started playing the
bodhran. I played it for a year. I use to break one particularly every
night. Eventually… <…> The bodhran got phased out, because they had
decided that I wasn’t playing it well enough. <…> I was quite serious
about it, you know. But the democracy, in the end, decided I wasn’t
allowed to play the bodhran any more. Then I got really angry and
started playing the bazuka. Had another go at rhythm guitar, for a
while. Then I started playing the banjo which really pissed off Jem,
who was the banjo player. I started playing rhythm banjo, and I did it
perfectly well. But they all… for some reason got phased out. In the
end I played Casio on stage, this was when I really didn’t give a fuck
any more<…> So I used to play Casio which made gun noises. And in the
middle of solos by Terry Woods or Jem or whoever, I would start making
gun noises, and fucking plaing out of the key and all the rest of it.
Obviously the democracy didn’t put it up with that for very long."
-- Shane MacGowan. A Drink With Shane MacGowan. Act Five.

MacRua wrote:Then I got really angry and
started playing the bazuka.

you see! that's the difference between usual person and true Artist. Usual guy having got really angry starts playing gun...

Also, if you have a copy of the Completely Pogued documentary that was filmed around 1988, Shane can be seen playing banjo in the studio, when The Pogues are recording Johnny Come Lately with Steve Earle.

Iain

Can Shane play the banjo? It remains one of the great metaphysical questions of the age. Not even Tony Brown, Steve Earle's producer then and one of the most powerful people in Nashville now, was able to give a definitive answer.

philipchevron wrote:Can Shane play the banjo? It remains one of the great metaphysical questions of the age. Not even Tony Brown, Steve Earle's producer then and one of the most powerful people in Nashville now, was able to give a definitive answer.

Is that the recording session that can be seen on the "Completely Pogues"-Video you are talking about, Phil?

Another great metaphysical question: Did Mr C ever repay the loan he got for the taxi?

Noel Kenny wrote:Another great metaphysical question: Did Mr C ever repay the loan he got for the taxi?

It was not the Pogues' custom to repay loans advanced by wealthier people. We figured if they were working with us they were bound to get even wealthier anyway.

Eric V wrote:I could swear I saw a vid on utube with Shane playing banjo. And, in general, I believe Shane can play just about anything in order to write a song.

At some shows I had gone to in the 80's, I noticed Shane with a banjo and once with a "Squire" electric guitar. Both instruments were not plugged into anything.