IN June of 2019 the visit of Metallica to Liscannor was an unexpected novelty, coming the day after the American heavy metal group had played in Slane.
Their visit was recalled in an exhibition entitled Tiny Little Histories which was at the Limerick City Gallery of Art recently.
The visit of Metallica was evoked through an audio story made by artist John Lillis entitled ‘Black Helicopter’.
Speaking about it, John says, “There was a call out from the GAFF in Limerick to do with audio storytelling. I have an interest in storytelling in general and I knew it was something I’d be interested in applying for.
“It was quite short, you only had seven minutes, and they wanted something that was kind of a contemporary story, it had to have happened in the last 100 years. I just sat with it for a couple of days.”
By chance he came upon his subject.
“I live in Clahane just outside Liscannor and just by chance I heard the story while I was still looking for something. I wouldn’t call myself a Metallica fan, but I did find it fascinating when I heard it in the village.
“I think the thing that I found really fascinating about it was the way the two protagonists, Robbie (Ball) and Tim (Quaid), told the story.
“In Ireland we have these small stories that kind of emerge in communities but the telling of the stories is actually masterful. The way they relayed the story to me one evening, I said ‘this is it’. That’s really how it came about.”
The audio story was accompanied by relevant images.
“There would be a collection of photos which I took locally, photos that they gathered themselves from the experience, not only at the concert but when they came to Liscannor afterwards. There was a hired professional photographer who took one unique shot that each story emerged from, he did some really interesting work in terms of what he picked for each location.”
John had only recently moved to the area when he heard the story through a chance conversation, and he decided to make it his subject.
“A random piano player and a singer from Cork arrived into Egan’s of Liscannor and did an impromptu concert. I said this was amazing, that these guys showed up like this. I think it was Tim who then said it was like the time Metallica landed in a helicopter at the back of the pub. I was like ‘What?”
John says that for the two fans going to the Metallica show was less of an outing than a pilgrimage, and Black Helicopter is more about them than the world famous group.
“The story is less about Metallica, it’s more about the two guys and their enthusiasm for the situation. When you get a little bit older you treat yourself, you say I’ll go away for this concert, this is something I’ve always wanted to attend, but the last thing you expect is that the band are going to follow you back home afterwards.”
When the two locals got calls to say Metallica had come to Liscannor they thought it was wind up initially, but came to realise the rock stars had arrived.
“They met them in Vaughan’s restaurant, greeted them for a few minutes, welcomed them to Liscannor and told them they’d been at the concert the night before. ”
John found it a very pleasing story to get involved with.
“It was quite a strange story for me to tell, it’s a little bit different to most of my other work, but I thought it was a really heartwarming story, sometimes we need the heartwarming stories.”
Also included in the project was a piece of work by Sean Horgan, entitled Intergenerational Exhcange. This featured a gathering of multiple generations of the McCarthy family of Ennis to celebrate their inherited love of story and song by honouring the patriarch of the family John McCarthy.
There are plans for the two Clare stories, and the others included in the exhibition to be stored online as a long term, accessible arts and community resource.
Owen Ryan has been a journalist with the Clare Champion since 2007, having previously worked with a number of other publications in Limerick, Cork and Galway. His first book will be published in December 2024.