Ken McCluskey talks to Viv Hardwick about his lucky break in the Alan Parker film, The Commitments, which led to 20 years on stage.

TWENTY years ago, Dubliner Ken Mc- Cluskey had one youth unemployment acting class on his CV when he turned up with 5,000 others to audition for Alan Parker’s latest film about young jobseekers trying to launch a soul band.

The result was the film based on Roddy Doyle’s 1987 book, The Commitments, and McCluskey has turned that fleeting moment of celluloid fame into nearly two decades of stage success.

“God bless the fact that the film came out is all I can say. In 1993 several guys from the movie got together and did a couple of shows and there was a lot of interest and we formed The Stars From The Commitments. The intention was to just do a few shows and that would be the end of it.

“We had an agent who said ‘we’re booking for next year now’ and the years have just been rolling by and we’re still enjoying it. Twenty years later we’re still here,” says McCluskey who feels that the show’s popular music is its greatest strength. As a result, his showband has been invited to perform alongside BB King, Wilson Pickett, James Brown, Sam Moore and Ben E King.

“We didn’t write the songs. Some date back to the Sixties and Try A Little Tenderness was out in 1910 and when we were doing the film I remember my father saying that our version wasn’t right,” he laughs.

The next touring date is Durham’s Gala Theatre on July 17, as part of the BRASS: International Festival.

McCluskey calls success a chicken and egg situation.

“We needed the backing to get the show and we couldn’t do the show without the backing. We were kind of lucky, but we were blessed with the calling card of having several stars from the film.

That allowed us to reinvest in another set of shows.

A lot of other bands needed something like a record deal to go touring. I’m 44 and if I wasn’t enjoying doing it, I’d have given it up a long time ago,” he says.

McCluskey, who played Derek “Meatman” Scully, the bass player in the film, runs the shows with fellow film cast member Dick Massey, who played drummer Billy Mooney. The pair keep tabs on promising performers in Dublin to ensure that The Stars From The Commitments cast uses the same raw talent as emerged back in the early Nineties.

“It may be two, three or five years down the road before an opening becomes available but then we call and say ‘hey, are you still interested?’”

McCluskey feels that both author Doyle and filmmaker Parker would be pleased that the sound of The Commitments was still alive and well.

“I’d played in a band since the age of 12 and we were on TV in Ireland. When the people making The Commitments arrived, everyone was sending in demo tapes or video tapes and somebody unbeknown to us had seen us on the TV and sent a recording in. We were called for an audition and we played a couple of songs in this tiny club for Alan Parker and a camera.

“Then we went into a little room and did a screen test and I was given the script and I read with the casting lady. They liked what I did and I seemed to fit into the mould of the bass player. The first guitar I ever had was bass guitar but, at 18, I changed to lead guitar so, fortunately, I could play both.

“I had a few more screen tests and, eventually, I was offered a job and the rest is history.”

McCluskey admits he thought the film was destined for an arthouse release straight to VCR.

“I remember hoping that it would be big, but I thought it might go straight to the video shops and be chosen by people looking for obscure movies. It was an amazing opportunity because there was me and 5,000 other people auditioning,” he explains.

He also feels that Parker, who came to the film after success with Midnight Express, Angel Heart and Mississippi Burning, did a remarkable job in using a non-star cast when he must have been under pressure to use a few Hollywood “names”.

“They must have told him to use a few people with experience, who would be a draw at the box office, rather than a bunch of unknowns, But he said no because he wanted the film to be exactly like the book,” says McCluskey.

His biggest problem was in turning the film’s 20 songs into a full-length show.

“Along the way we made a live album ourselves and we got some obscure soul songs that weren’t in the movie, but could have been. So Mustang Sally and Midnight Hour are joined by the Sam and Dave number Hold On, the Temptations’ Get Ready and the Otis Redding number I’ve Been Loving You Too Long.

“Mind you, when Alan Parker first chose the music I think he had 100 songs he wanted to use.”

• The Stars From The Commitments, Durham Gala Theatre, July 17. Tickets: £18. Box Office: 0191-332-4041 galadurham.co.uk