INTERVIEW Andrew Strong on The Commitments reunion tour

Still committed, 20 years on


Ciara Moynihan

IT’S hard to believe, but next year will be the 20th anniversary of the release of ‘The Commitments’ – that classic Alan Parker film about a young Dublin band, based on the book of the same name by Roddy Doyle. To mark the occasion, the stars of that film have announced that they are reforming to do an anniversary tour.
Andrew Strong, Robert Arkins, Angeline Ball, Bronagh Gallagher, Michael Aherne, Glen Hansard, Felim Gormley, Dave Finnegan, Ken McCluskey and Dick Massey are coming together plan to do four shows next March, with the first slated for the Royal Theatre, Castlebar, on March 14. Last week, I caught up with Andrew Strong – aka The Commitments’ lead singer ‘Deco’.
I asked Andrew (pictured, second from left) whether, after a 20-year hiatus, it’s hard to remember the film and its songs, or is it still fresh in his mind? Laughing, he admitted that while some of it might be a bit fuzzy, it’s all still there, waiting to be recalled: “It’s funny, I just did an interview with a guy on Belfast Radio, and he asked me whether I remember the line in the film, ‘How’s the soup?’, and I was like, what the hell are you talking about? And then boom, it just hit me – ah yeah, ‘It’s bleedin’ poxy!’ So a lot of those things are kind of imprinted there, they’re kind of in a back room all filed away and it’s just a matter of opening up the room and taking things out and going over them.”
It must be good to see everyone from the film again? “Well I’ve seen some of them on and off over the years … We hooked up there about eight weeks ago in Liberty Hall. We played a few songs and then we sat down and we all had a big chat about our feelings about the whole thing– where we wanted to go with it, what we wanted to do and what we didn’t want to do … Everyone was pretty much on the same page, so we said we may as well go and do it, ’cause if we don’t do it now, we’ll never do it.”
Andrew strong has not been sitting on his laurels in the intervening years, however. Far from it: He’s released five albums in his own right, including a ‘greatest hits’. He has also set up a new group called the Bone Yard Boys. “This is a side-project band I have … I’ve been busy with them all last year, and next year I want to bring out a new solo album.”
So there’s no sign of him abandoning his solo career now that he’s back touring with The Commitments then? “Ah god no! At the end of the day, we don’t really know where it’s going to go after these four shows. At the moment we’re all just waiting to see how the shows go and take it from there. I don’t think anyone’s going to abandon their careers for The Commitments … but you know, if there’s demand there … if it really feels like we’ve had a great time and we want to go further with it then we will, but for now it’s just the four shows.” 
So would he consider acting again? “Yeah, I’d like to do more acting, it’s just a matter of whether a director could trust in my ability or not … a lot of people have said to me over the years that I should get back into it, that I’m a great actor, but it’s not my comfort zone – that’s singing.”
Sounds like Andrew’s acting skills might reemerge next March, however, as he revealed that there will be more to the show than just the film’s famous soundtrack: “We may put on a skit of the movie here and there … We just want people to feel that when they come into that auditorium they’re actually in the movie themselves … It’s about reliving the moment.
“That movie has affected so many people’s lives in so many ways … it’s important that the audience walks out feeling a part of the whole thing. It think any show should be like that to be honest.”
And from what Andrew says, ‘The Commitments’ has also had a profound effect on the lives of the actors who made it: “Regardless of what we all do in our careers, and regardless of how successful we as individuals are, we’ll always be The Commitments … we’ll always have that connection with each other. We were all kids at the time, and those sorts of memories are going to be with you for life – it’s nice to get the chance to rekindle them.”