Paul CASPER Gillespie drums vocals

  THE ORIGINAL IRISH ROVER!! Mick Ward hails from a little townland called Keadue in north-west Donegal, a county known far and wide as a hotspot for irish musicians, with musical knowledge passed down from generation to generation through nearly every family in the locality.Raised and educated there , he developed a keen musical ear , through various music sessions, and learned to play a variety of instruments ,Guitar, accordion,saxophone,but excelling particularly on flute and whistle. At 18 years of age, he left his native Donegal to study Engineering in Glasgow, and at any given weekend, could be spotted playing in various pubs, clubs and bars with a host of different bands,including his Uncles, the Gillespies, and his cousin paul, on drums ( later nicknamed Casper, who we'll get to later!!)and also the famous celtic band Charlie and the Bhoys. Although very enjoyable, all those gigs were hugely important financially too,as it funded his education at the Glasgow Caledonian University. In 1994, during a summer break from Uni, mick gatecrashed a holiday to benidorm. 4 friends and his cousin mark went over for 2 weeks and mick joined them in the last week.they soon found the only Irish bar in Beni at the time,Lisa and Graham's "the little shamrock ", and all being able to play and sing, the lads were given the start for a few hours music every night...with ireland doing well in the world cup that year, needless to say, the craic was mighty!!!! Mick went back to his studies and returned the following summer 1n 1995 for 3 months, to play in lisa and Graham's new larger pub , The shamrock as it is located and known today, in a duo with a fine singer/guitarist from county Clare, Cathal McLoughlin, and together they enjoyed a fantastic sound, a fusion of traditional and contemporary irish music! They called themselves " THE IRISH ROVERS" even recorded a tape to sell ( no cd's in them days!!) which literally flew out!! mick went back to his final year of study, and needless to say was asked back to play the following season in '96 with cathal and another bassplayer/ accordionist called colin waterson.It was here he urged the owners to consider making the band a 4 piece outfit, giving his cousin Paul Gillespie a start on drums, and hence the legend of "Casper " was borne!! The band quickly gelled, , and , in recruiting another fine multi-instrumentalist , steve martin , in colin's place, they went from strength to strength, and ,also recruiting the fabulous shane farrell on fiddle and banjo,,, In over the next 7 years that followed, the Rovers recorded no less than 4 studio albums and 2 live albums, every winter mick organised winter Band tours to England , Scotland and Wales, which became hugely successful, selling out huge venues such as the Kerrydale Suite at Celtic Park, Leeds Irish Centre ,and Green stars Club , Port Talbot, to name but a few!! The Band's musical personnel changed Over the following years, and mick left the Rovers for a while to try his hand as a solo artist , even going back to live in glasgow for a year. A highlight of that time back in scotland was to co-write and record a song with The Pogue's legendary Shane McGowan! But the lure of a return to life in sunny spain proved too hard to resist, and since returning to Benidorm, mick's enjoying life to the full, happily married to his wife lynne, with 2 beautiful kids, Michael and Ellie... At the moment , Mick is still working hard on his own songwriting, doing an Early spot every evening with his pal steve as a duo called BEFORE THE STORM in the western saloon And, most importantly,, back in the Shamrock Bar, doing his thing once again every night with Casper and the Rovers , on that now famous stage!!