D Thursday, January 28, 2010 metrolife 15 :60second interview Paddy Moloney Paddy Moloney is a founding member of The Chieftains, whove recorded with everyone from Van Morrison to Mick Jagger. Their new record, San Patricio, is based on the Mexican- American war and features vocals from Ry Cooder and Liam Neeson Interview by Daragh Reddin We had a private audience with the Pope in the Vatican. He came down and told us he had all 12 of our albums and we were one of his favourite bands What was the San Patricio Battalion? A man called John Riley from Clifden emigrated to the US in the 1840s where he was conscripted but being a Catholic he was treated poorly in the army and later defected. With hundreds of others mostly Irish and Germans he formed the San Patricio Battalion who fought for Mexico in the Mexican-American war. Their last battle was at Churubusco in 1847. Theres a museum and a convent there and every Sunday morning, without fail, a pipe band marches through in honour of the Battalion. And theres a plaque listing the names of the Irish who were caught and hanged by the American army. We really wanted to celebrate these guys in music. How did Ry Cooders involvement come about? Ry appeared on a couple of Chieftains albums and weve always been in touch. About eight years ago, he first started telling me I needed to record this album and it eventually dawned on me that if I didnt get on top of it he was going to go off and do it himself. And youve got Liam Neeson providing spoken-word vocals on the song March To Battle. How was that? Liam loved the story and when he finished recording, he stood up and shouted Up the rebels. One of the things he said was that if anybody makes a film about this hed love to be in it. Hed make a great John Riley. The Chieftains have collaborated with everyone from Joni Mitchell to Tom Jones. Is there any artist you would like to have hooked up with? One thing I regret is that we never worked with Bob Dylan. We recorded The Long Journey Home album about the Irish who went to the US during the Famine and we had the perfect song for Bob to sing on. He was really on for doing it but it was during the height of his comeback and it never happened. But just before Christmas an entire book about that night. Youve played some very high- profile concerts, from the Berlin Wall to The Great Wall Of China. Whats been the stand-out? It has to be playing to the Pope in The Phoenix Park in 1979 with over a million people in attendance it was a total miracle that it came off. We were then invited to play for a private audience with the Pope six months later in the Vatican. He came down and told us he had all 12 of our albums and we were one of his favourite bands. Do you still get the same buzz as you did when you started 50 years ago or have you started winding down? To be honest, I cant believe that were still as popular as we are and the feedback were getting from live performances is better than ever. Whenever I discuss it with my wife she always laughs and says: Youve been in rehearsals for retirement for the last ten years! San Patricio (Fantasy Records) is out Mar 5 we hooked up with jazz pianist Herbie Hancock and recorded a version of The Times They Are A Changin. So that was the next best thing. Have you ever found yourself in the studio with an artist and realised that things just werent going to work out? I always do my research so I know what a person is like and what their capabilities are. The closest I ever came to calling something off was with Sting when he was recording Mo Ghle Mar for The Long Black Veil album. He was all for singing it entirely in Irish himself, instead of supplying only a few verses in English. I got terribly nervous about it forgetting Sting is a linguist but it turned out perfectly. I was also pretty worried when we were supposed to record a track with The Rolling Stones. They turned up in the studio at eight oclock in the evening six hours late! We were jamming until well into the morning and wound up drinking in The Ferryman till all hours. I could write index.html2.html3.html4.html5.html6.html7.html8.html9.html10.html11.html12.html13.html14.html15.html16.html17.html18.html19.html20.html21.html22.html23.html24.html25.html26.html27.html