Before Kevin Kennedy was Curly Watts he was the bass player in Johnny Marr's first band. As claims to fame go, learning to play Thin Lizzy covers in the bedroom of the man who would soon be at the heart of the Smiths is pretty impressive.
But it's not something Kennedy has been dining out on for decades. In fact the only reason he is talking about it now, in the lobby of the Bord Gáis Energy theatre, is because he reckons his musical cameo in Marr's life prepared him for his role as Jimmy Rabbitte's da in The Commitments musical which comes home for a Dublin run starting on October 12th.
He sort of shrugs when asked why his connection with one of the most influential guitar players of the last 50 years is not more widely known. "I just kept it to myself for some reason," he says. "We were 14 years of age for starters. I grew up on the same estate as Johnny and it was very much a Commitments kind of story. We had one amp – a Vox AC30 Valve – probably worth a fortune if I still had it," his voice trails off, almost wistfully.
Then he is back in the moment. "We did a lot of Thin Lizzy and Rory Gallagher covers. Even then, when I was sat in Johnny's bedroom watching him play the guitar, it was a privilege. You just knew it was something really special."
Does he regret not sticking with his childhood friend? Could he have elbowed Morrissey off the stage? Could he have been at the heart of every teen’s angst ridden dramas for decades? He shakes his head. “Everything happens for a reason. I was leaning more towards acting at that point,” he says. “You have to remember it was 1976 and it was a punk revolution, not just a punk revolution, it was a revolution in everything. It was a great time to be alive because things were happening all over the place.
He references the Sex Pistols, the Fall, John Cooper Clark, the Buzzcocks. "I do claim I was at the [legendary] Sex Pistols gig in the Free Trade Hall sometimes but I wasn't. It was an amazing time so to form a band wasn't earth shattering news. Everyone was doing it."
It wasn't just as a teenager that music played a central role in Kennedy's life. It has been a constant all the way through, in fact. He played bass in an Irish show band called the Borderline in the 1980s at the very height of his Coronation Street fame, at a time when Curly Watts was a household name and millions of people followed his life with Raquel and Emily and Reg and all the other characters so beloved of people in both Ireland and the UK.
"I couldn't stand nightclubs," he says. "I couldn't stand the music any more, all that Stock Aiken and Waterman stuff that that was the end for me. There was no more guitar bands and I couldn't cope with that. I wanted to learn to play live and the only circuit that was still going that was of any value was the Irish showband circuit.
“So I joined the Bordeline as the anonymous bass player and it became like a brilliant secret. People either thought I was just someone who looked like Curly Watts or they didn’t notice me. The Irish community pretty much kept it to themselves. It was my way of keeping my feet on the ground and learning to play live. The guys I played with are still my friends to this day.”
He is repeatedly drawn back to all the way his journey intesects with The Commitments . "It is all about starting out in bands and nearly making it and then doing something else and then making it on some level and doing stuff I love."
In this run of the musical version of the Roddy Doyle book, Kennedy is playing the quintessential Dublin everyman Jimmy Rabbitte's Senior. "He has a big heart but he can't show that, not in Dublin at the time. He is very proud of his son but he doesn't tell him that either. He is there to take the piss out of him and his band all the time and to make funny little comments but what he is really doing is keeping an eye on him. He keeps showing up – especially during the stage show – just here and there. He's not got the biggest part in the world but his story arc is quite interesting cos he goes from "could you turn that shite down to I'm very proud of you. And don't worry about it there will be other bands".
Kennedy says he has been a “massive, massive Roddy Doyle fan” for almost 30 years. “This is a very gritty real show with gritty real language and it shows that not all stories have happy endings. That is what I loved about it, the fact that it was dark and raining and never pretty. But it was about this group of people who for one minute achieved something together that was brilliant. It wasn’t going to last but it was real life and it was amazing.”
He says the story reminded him of Willy Russell and his standout work Blood Brothers. "They both get killed at the end in [spoiler alert]. It was real but you still come out of the theatre feeling uplifted. It has huge heart."
He is the only non-Irish person in the cast. Is it daunting to be coming to Ireland to play a role as an everyman Dubliner in a play about Dublin? "No, I am very honoured. My mum was born around the corner – he nods towards Ringsend – and I was brought up with the musical ear for an accent. It was just put upon me. My gran and granddad were proper Dubs.
“If you were from an Irish decent family, the people you lived with told stories and most of them were about Dublin and 90 per cent of them were very funny. But a lot were very tragic and there was a certain amount of hatred there too. I was scared of the Black and Tans before I was scared of the dark. My own family has its tragedies to do with the Black and Tans and murder and all kinds of terrible things.”
He recalls his gran having just two records when he was a child. "One was Val Doonican and the other was the Jolly Ploughboy. He starts to recite the words, stopping just short of breaking into song. "We're off to Dublin in the green, in the green; Where the helmets glisten in the sun; Where bayonets flash and rifles clash, to the echoes of a Thompson gun; Oh I am a merry ploughboy; I plough the fields all day; But then the thought came to my head; That I should run away; I've always hated slavery since the day that I was born; And I'm off to join the IRA."
He stops suddenly. “I used to sing it as a kid. I didn’t know what it was about. I just liked the tune.”
Musicals and the Black and Tans aside, the thing that most people identify with Kennedy are the two decades he spent as Curly on Manchester’s most famous street. Is that a millstone? “I think it is something great. I think that is the biggest compliment they can give you. Because they remember the work you have done and I find that very touching. They remember certain things – they mention Raquel or Emily or me being a bin man or the Reg and Curly years – that was some of the funniest stuff I have done. It is part of their lives and I find that an honour.”
Corrie has changed a lot since he left. Characters have come and gone. Some walked away others were carried off in a box. The Street still makes headlines mind. As recently as last month it was in the news after featuring its first gay kiss. It angered some people. But Kennedy hails the programme's inclusive acceptance and acknowledges its potential for bringing about change.
“Art has always made people look at stuff they wouldn’t normally want to look at, whether it be racism or homosexuality or war. When they see it humanised in a play or film or book and they become emotionally attached to the characters that are involved in it is better than any political speech. Some people will always give out because that is what they do.”
The Commitments is at the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre from the October 12th to October 29th
