‘Gigging’ the Murphy way

Perhaps if life had taken a different path, Ballarat trainer-driver David Murphy reckons a career on the stage with his band of Irish “brothers” might not have been half bad!

A surprise birthday celebration for the likeable horseman about 10 years ago ultimately led to the formation of a highly successful Irish folk rock band – and for Murphy it’s as much a creative and social outlet as it is an escape from his highly demanding trots day job!

“A few of the guests at the party grabbed their musical instruments and just jammed the night away,” Murphy said.

“That was where it all started, and the band’s just grown from there – most of us had a love for music and after that night we thought we’d see if we could start playing a few gigs.”

The band plays a unique blend of Irish Australian folk rock and was named Old Melbourne Road because all of the band members live on the road that runs through their hometown Dunnstown.

In true Irish tradition, there’s a good sprinkling of Murphys in the band. There’s David; his brother, lead singer John; John’s sons Patrick and Lachlan; and their cousins Paul Britt and Brendan Spratling; and Stephen Russell.

Old Melbourne Road’s gigs are renowned for their energy, passion and their easy Irish trad-folk-rock feel. There’s a diverse array of instruments including acoustic guitars, mandolin, bass guitar, lead guitar, drums, piano accordion, harmonica, keyboard and tambourine.

“I got my first guitar when I was 24 and I couldn’t read music,” David said.

“I just did it by ear and John was always an entertainer. He’d jump to his feet and start singing wherever he was.

“The area we come from is steeped in Irish heritage and we’ve all grown up with this sort of music.

“At our very first gig we played a lot of popular songs like old Paul Kelly numbers and such. But we agreed afterwards that most bands playing the pubs tend to belt out the same tunes, so we thought we’d try to sound a bit different.

“So it was then that we switched to traditional Irish and Australian folk songs, with our own upbeat rock n roll twang and grungy feel. It has just kept going from there.”

Murphy said playing in the band was an outlet from the constant rigors of harness racing.

“I haven’t had very good horses over the past six or seven years, so I’ve been able to do trips away with music. If it had been 10 years ago when I had a strong stable, that would have made things a little different with a much busier lifestyle,” Murphy, who last season surpassed 1000 career training wins, said.

“I’ve really been blessed as a trotting man, rubbing shoulders with the best (the late Gavin Lang was my idol) and the places that it’s taken me. But music has also been good to all of us to. It really is a great hobby away from the horses.

“We gigged enough money to fund a trip to Ireland in 2017. It was an adventure that none of us will ever forget.

“We had all wanted to go over there and it was great fun. But we did six gigs, and honestly it was nerve wracking: here we were, a bunch of Aussies playing Irish music to the Irish!”

Murphy said his talented nephew in Lachlan had written a song about the Mallee town of Birchip.

“It has a catchy story about it, and we can’t wait to play it up there. Birchip Cup weekend is always huge because we do the Port Fairy Folk Festival on Friday and Saturday, then we head up to the Mallee and do Birchip Cup on Sunday. And we usually paint the town red for a good few hours after the last race!” he said.

“The Irish festival at Koroit is another one that’s a favorite. I trained a horse for a guy connected to the festival and he asked six or seven years ago if we planned on going for the weekend. I told him we would, as long as we could play there! John and I went along to a karaoke night and showed what we could do, and he hired us and we’ve been there ever since.”

While performing has been interrupted by the COVID restrictions, the band has been working on their second album – including getting a bit of input on some of the lyrics from another local harness racing legend and character Glenn Conroy.

“We’ve been using the time well. The album’s is a mix of old favorites and five new original songs.

Lachlan’s also just recently written a song called Another Circuit Breaker. It’s about the COVID lockdowns and it’s been played on ABC Radio.”

Have a listen here:

By Terry Gange for Harnesslink