Jam Van Paddys call for return of the ‘Holy Hour’

A refreshing new four-piece band is to release a music video campaigning for the government to reintroduce the ‘holy hour’ in pubs on a Sunday. Jam Van Paddy’s song ‘Between the Hours of 2 and 4’ harks back to the good old days in 80s and 90s’ Ireland when the law was that pubs were to close between 2 and 4pm on Sundays. In reality, most pubs just closed the doors and the party carried on inside.

The song was penned by Longford singer/song-writer Emmet Flood, the frontman of Jam Van Paddys, who now lives in Mullahoran. His band mates include Sean O’Reilly from Mullahoran, on drums; and Matthew Dunne on base guitar and Willie Delaney on banjo/mandolin, both from Graiguenamanagh, Co Kilkenny.

The four-piece describe their sound as ‘trad-folk-rock’ and are strongly influenced by bands such as Mumford and Sons and the Saw Doctors.
The music video itself, produced by Garry McGovern from Blacklion in County Cavan, is quite a humorous one and is already proving to be a youtube sensation. It was filmed in Kytelers in Kilkenny in January and shows a ‘lock-in’ in progress between the hours of 2 and 4, while the garda’ try to gain access to the bar.
The ‘Holy Hour’ as it was termed was abolished in 2000 by the Intoxicating Liquor Act but Emmet was inspired to write the song by his fond memories of some good trad seisúns in local bars after mass on Sundays, and in particular between the hours of 2 and 4.

Having seen how toughening drink driving laws and the smoking ban have hit the pub trade, in particular in rural areas, Emmet thinks maybe it’s time to look at ways of bringing back some of the old magic and craic that seems to have disappeared from the pub scene.

“The old Irish culture of enjoying a drink, a good ould sing song and a bit of craic seems to have faded a bit during the Celtic Tiger years. The best craic that I can remember was those Sundays between the hours of 2 and 4. And as the song says ‘when no-one was allowed but there always was a crowd’. You still get a sense of it on Good Fridays when people who might not normally be bothered going out on a Friday night, suddenly get the urge to find a lock-in, just because it’s forbidden. On a basic level, the song reminisces about those good old days but it calls too for a return to them and a reconnection with that culture,” says Emmet.

http://youtu.be/ed-DTcYDjtA

Garry tells The Anglo-Celt that the process of shooting a music video was a whole new experience. “My background believe it or not is in logistics management, I gave it all up about four years ago in the hopes of pursuing a career in filmmaking. I cover everything from corporate events to weddings so doing something like this is great fun. We filmed the music video over the course of a day in the middle of January, the lads were brilliant.”

Emmet and Sean are well-known on the local music scene through their band ‘Rhythm and Sticks’; while uncle and nephew team Matt and Willie are also part of another band ‘Roisín Dubh’. The four come together for bigger gigs and are hoping to go on a nationwide tour this year.
Jam Van Paddys hope to release the music video ‘Between the Hours of 2 and 4’ on the iTunes store in the coming weeks. Meanwhile, you can check out the video on youtube, just search ‘Jam Van Paddys’.