by Laura A. Brodin

In 1999, four Somerville musicians began playing together during traditional Irish music sessions at the popular Union Square’s Tir na nOg pub.

“It basically came out of a conversation,” Neal Cadogan, the band’s drummer. However, it was not until recently that they began taking themselves seriously as a band, said the band’s fiddler, Damon Leibert.

“About a year and a half ago, everybody was asking for an album. So last summer we started to take ourselves more seriously. We began looking for more notable gigs and drifting away from the Irish pub scene,” he said.

“We put together a press kit, we got a booking agent, and we started playing outside the area,” he said.
Five years later, the men are continuing to play together—only now as the up and coming band, the Johnny Come Latelies, or the JCLs.

Combining traditional Irish music with folk rock into a style they call: tribal Irish roots rock, the Johnny Come Latelies are spreading their unique sound throughout the Boston area and beyond.

Although they met, and now live and work, in Somerville, the members of the Johnny Come Latelies come from various different areas.

Robert Elliott, lead singer and guitarist, was born in Limerick, Ireland; Damon Leibert, fiddle, was born in Connecticut and raised in Nova Scotia; Neal Cadogan, bodhran, percussion and drums, is from Quincy; and Drew Smith, fretless base and vocals, is from Shrewsbury.

It is their wide range of distinctive musical backgrounds to which the group credits their unique Irish roots rock sound, Leibert said.

“We’re four friends from different parts of the globe with all different musical backgrounds,” he said. “Usually what you’ve been exposed to influences you the most.”

After initially meeting and playing together at the Tir na nOg , which is co-owned by singer and guitarist Elliot, the musicians began taking gigs at other pubs, and recorded a short live CD entitled “Episode.”

Now, besides continuing to perform regularly at the Tir na nOg, as well as other pubs in the area including The Skellig in Waltham and The Half Door in Hartford, Conn., the band has gone on to play at various outdoor music festivals, such as the Greater Hartford Irish Music Festival, the Irish Connections Festival in Canton, and the Cunamara Irish Festival in Bristol, N.H, Leibert said.

In September, the band will begin a tour which will bring them to Seattle, Wash., Yonkers, N.Y., and Provincetown, Mass. They also have started recording a full-length CD.

With their regular pub performances, as well as their performances at various clubs and music festivals throughout New England, the Johnny Come Latelies have taken up a large fan base.

“We have a really loyal following. Especially in Somerville, Cambridge, Downtown Boston, people really come out to see us,” Cadogan said.

With band members’ ages ranging from 25 to 45, the Johnny Come Latelies also attracts a wide variety of fans.

“What’s really cool is that the people who have caught us in these festivals have come really quick to sort of adopt us. We’ve gotten some real diehards—people driving from Providence to New Hampshire to see us,” he said.

“It’s happening slowly. We’re still young in the circuit since we spent so much time playing in bars. We really limited out audience the first few years,” he said.

The band’s style is also very unique in the Boston area, Cadogan said. “The style of music we’ve chosen to play is a little more artsy sounding.”

“We couldn’t think of a way to describe our music for a long time. Now we’re calling it ‘Irish roots rock,’” he said.

“We didn’t want to be thrust into a big pile of pub bands. You get pigeon holed,” Cadogan said.
“Our music is more up-tempo, off-beat, deading towards punk,” said Leibert.

For the members of the Johnny Come Latelies, Somerville has been good to them. Along with living in and managing the band from Union Square, three of the four members of the Johnny Come Latelies also run businesses in the city, he said.

Besides Elliot, who still co-owns the Tir na nOg, Leibert and Cadogan recently opened up their own screen-printing T-shirt business in Somerville about a year ago.

“When you’re playing in a pub, there’s lots of downtime. I had done a little screen printing in college, and Damon and I got into a conversation. The next thing we know, we’re purchasing equipment and space.”
Although the T-shirt business is not officially affiliated with the band, their shop, which is at an undisclosed independent location in the city, serves as the Johnny Come Latelies headquarters. And of course, they make their band T-shirts, Cadogan said.

Although the Johnny Come Latelies has now played in various venues in the New England area and beyond, the musicians still enjoy their homebase at the Tir na nOg.

“Union Square is becoming the Paris of the East,” Cadogan said. “Every step of the way we’ve come back there. It’s still one of my favorite places to play.”

As for their future plans, the Johnny Come Latelies will continue playing their music in pubs, clubs, and festivals, and will keep working on their full length album, which Cadogan said is the next big step.
“We’re still a young band, still getting into the touring festival circuit. We’ve kind of gotten our feet wet,” said Cadogan. “Next year will be even better.”