www.theroyal.ie

The Saw Doctors will be travelling on the N17 this New Year’s Eve but, instead of turning left at Claregalway for Shannon Airport, they will be turning left at Claremorris for The Royal Castlebar Theatre and Event Centre.

The Saw Doctors have had a fantastic year. After more than twenty years of hard work, hugely successful tours both at home and abroad are not unusual. However, being presented with a lifetime achievement award at this year’s  Meteor Music Awards was something special for the band.

“2008 has been very kind to us and we’re very much looking forward to seeing it out with aplomb!”, according to Leo Moran songwriter, guitarist and occasional singer. “The lifetime achievement award was a very pleasant surprise and we feel very honoured to have been selected.”

So does Leo now consider himself to be a star? “As someone once said to me, the only way that they would ever agree with me being called a star would be if I was wedged on top of a large Christmas tree!”

The Saw Doctors latest single, released on 10th October,  is a cover version of the Sugababes hit ‘About You Now’. “It started as a bit of fun on a TV programme back in February and we just started including the track in our live set. We have had a fantastic reaction to the song”, according to Leo.

“We were guests on The Podge and Rodge Show. I had to shoot at a moving target to find out which song we had to sing for the closing credits of the show. We were then given about 10 minutes to learn the song. The other options included ‘Agadoo’, ‘The Men Behind The Wire’, ‘A Boy Named Sue’ and ‘Smack My Bitch Up’. I’m glad we didn’t pick the last option”, says Leo “I wouldn’t want to condone cruelty to animals”.

The New Year’s Eve concerts by the Tuam outfit have become the stuff of legend and, once again, the Royal  Castlebar will be the setting for this year’s event . “It’s going to be great fun and we’re really looking forward to playing in the new venue. We played in the old Royal Theatre last New Year’s Eve  and we also played during the Summer while the building work was taking place, so we have forged a strong relationship with The Royal over the years.”

The Saw Doctors join an already impressive line-up over the festive season at the Royal Castlebar that includes The Stunning, Shayne Ward, Sharon Shannon and Shakin’ Stevens. “Maybe we were booked because our name starts with ‘S’!” says Leo. “We might surprise people on the night and announce that The Saw Doctors are going to stay off the drink…. until 2009 anyway! We can promise everyone a great night. It’ll just be us and 4,000 or so of our closest friends!”

Westport band Whitewater have been confirmed as special guests for the concert.

Tickets for The Saw Doctors New Year’s Eve Party are priced at € 25 before booking fee and can be booked through www.royal.ie, www.ticketmaster.ie, any ticketmaster outlet nationwide or, for the price of a local call, the box office of The Royal Castlebar at 0818 300 000; this number is operational 24/7.