The Capitol Showband pg. 4

Where are they Now?

Butch Moore, John Kelly and Bram McCarthy have, sadly, passed away. Paddy Cole is still a household name on the Irish musical scene. Pat Loughman played through the seventies and eighties with the Dublin Concert Band and can still be found jamming at the Cork Jazz Festival. After leaving the Capitol, Eddie Ryan played with the SIPTU band. Paul Sweeney is a highly respected architect. Eamon Monaghan runs a very successful bathroom accessory business. Don Long still gigs with a jazz band in the U.K. Des Kelly is a regular performer in his native Galway while Jimmy Hogan still gigs though not to the same extent as formerly.

The Capitol were groundbreakers: First to hand out colour photographs; first showband to record an L.P.; first to have their own programme on Radio Luxembourg and first to appear on the London Palladium. A lot of sixty and seventy somethings out there have nostalgic memories of crowded halls and an age of innocence and Sunday nights when they were entertained by eight young men who gave of their best from the first few notes until they signed off with their signature tune, “Bye and Bye.”