The Saw Doctors

The Saw Doctors blend the memorable melodies of 1960s rock groups such as the Beatles and the Byrds, the working-class themes of Bruce Springsteen, Ireland’s musical heritage, and punk rock’s raw force. A little-known bar band from Tuam (pronounced "Chewam") in County Galway, the group received an invitation from Mike Scott to open for the Waterboys on their 1988 Irish and UK tour. Within the next decade the Saw Doctors became the most successful Irish rock band since U2. The Washington Post called them "one of the world's most appealing roots rock outfits."

Breakthrough arrived with the second single, "I Useta Love Her," a high-velocity number about craving an ex-girlfriend during Mass. Despite Catholic Church objections the track became the biggest-selling single in Irish history and held the top Irish chart position for nine weeks. Its success prompted reissue of the band’s first single, "N17," an account of an immigrant’s homesickness, which also reached number one. The 1991 debut album If This Is Rock and Roll, I Want My Old Job Back likewise topped the Irish charts.

The 1992 second album All the Way from Tuam earned strong Irish reviews, yet the first British hit came with the four-track EP Small Bit of Love, which reached number 24 on the UK charts. A second EP, World of Good, issued in January 1996, climbed to number 15. The third album Same Oul' Town, released in 1996, fared better still, peaking at number six in Britain. In 1997 the band issued Sing a Powerful Song, a seventeen-track collection drawn from the earlier three albums. That same year they recorded "She Says" as the theme for the BBC comedy series Give My Head Peace; a May 1997 Irish EP paired the song with three new tracks—"School of Beauty," "Days," and "Bushwackin'."

American commercial entry followed when "Never Mind the Strangers," co-written with original drummer Padraig Stevens, appeared in a million-dollar Guinness radio campaign for Harp Lager. At the request of their US label Paradigm, the band toured the United States before the September 1997 release of their fourth album Songs from Sun Street. Villains? appeared on the Shamtown label in 2002, followed by the live albums Play It Again Sham! in 2003 and Live in Galway in 2004. Cure arrived in 2006.

Principal songwriters Leo Moran (guitar) and Davey Carton (vocals) emerged from Galway’s punk scene before forming the Saw Doctors; Carton had previously performed "I Useta Love Her" with the punk band Blaze X. As of 2013 the lineup comprised Moran, Carton, Derek Murray (keyboards), Rickie O'Neill (drums), Eimhin Cradock (drums, percussion), Anthony Thistlewaite (bass guitar, saxophone), and Kevin Duffy (keyboards).