The 123Fours
The 123Fours is a punk rock band from Ireland. It features three comedians Colin Murphy (guitar), John Colleary (guitar and vocals) and Dermot Whelan (drums) and comedy promoter and ex-Moondog, Jackie Hamilton (bass and vocals). Comedian, Colin Murphy, got an electric guitar for his 40th birthday. Like all sensible men in the throes of a midlife crisis, he said a sentence much feared by wives all over the world: “I should form a band!” That he did. He called the only other people he knew who would have time to do things they should have done when they were twelve – other comedians. John Colleary (The Savage Eye) and Dermot Whelan (Republic of Telly ) joined the band after little persuasion. Then Colin realised the band was missing something. A musician. So he called on his old pal, Jackie Hamilton. Jackie worked for the BBC in Belfast but, more importantly, he had been in a real band from Derry called The Moondogs. A real punk band that had recorded real John Peel sessions. So the 123Fours was born and Colin immediately set about using his forgotten art degree to design band logos no-one would ever see. The 123Fours made their debut at the Portlaois Comedy Festival in 2009 and, ever since, have been banging out the hits of the Ramones, The Undertones, The Clash and any other great bands that start their songs with, “One, two, three, four...!”