There is a pub in Halifax that encapsulates the essence of Irish heritage and heart right in the downtown core. Join us as we have a Guinness with Brian Doherty, the charismatic proprietor of the Old Triangle, as he shares the pub’s rich history, from its humble beginnings to its 24-year standing as a community cornerstone. Hear Brian’s humorous and insightful anecdotes about early morning lineups on St. Patrick's Day, the importance of supporting local musicians & craft beers, and the challenges they faced during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a nostalgic trip, Brian shares a glimpse into his migration to Canada as a musician, and the creation of the iconic duo Evans and Doherty (Kevin Evans & Brain Doherty.) Brian recounts his personal journey from performing six nights a week at a neighbouring Pub to opening the Old Triangle, reflecting on the ever-evolving ways music is learned and performed.
We also discuss Claddagh rings, Guinness's newer non alcohol option and the the celebration of life through living wakes, Brian offers a glimpse into his roots in Northern Ireland and the meaningful symbols that keep heritage alive. This episode is a celebration of the sense of belonging and community. Stay to the end of the episode to hear Evans and Doherty's fantastic song 'The Tavern'
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Cheers.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
Welcome to the Afternoon Point.
I'm Mike Tobin, I am MattConrad, and who do we have with
us today?
I'm Brian Daugherty.
Brian Daugherty.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Well who are you?
Well, it depends on what hatyou want me to describe myself.
I wear many hats, and one ofwhich is a musician.
I'm also a bartender.
Well, that was a while back.
I own the Old Triangle.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
That's where we are today actually, so we should say
that.
So we're at the Old Triangledowntown Halifax.
You know just kind of we feltduring this episode that the
right thing to do was to drinkGuinness.
Yeah, so that's what we'redoing.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
We're drinking some Guinness.
We're all celebrating our Irishheritage in this very moment.
I think that one commonality weall know we have is we all have
Irish blood.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
We're all related through alcohol.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
That's right, so you are the proprietor of the Old
Triangle in downtown Halifax.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
I am yeah, this is our 24th year, so next year we
had great plans on our 20thanniversary.
We thought it was a greatmarketing 20 in 2020.
Of course, COVID put the bricksto that.
We now have our 25 in 2025.
That's a great deal.
(01:16):
We'll probably do somethingspecial, barring there are no
worldwide pandemics opening up.
Again I've got to say, man, wealways toast a beer at the
beginning.
There are no worldwidepandemics opening up again.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Yeah, I've got to say man, mike, I mean we always
toast the beer at the beginningof this show and I just had my
taste of the beer.
It's fantastic, fantastic pint.
Like the cold, it's Guinnessbut it's perfect.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
Guinness used to market their beer.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
Guinness is good for you and it is it's full of iron
yeah, it is full of iron, it'sfull of iron, it is full of iron
.
It's a perfect beer, man.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
And very light beer.
Actually, people think Guinness.
They say they see the darknessof it and people think it's a
very heavy beer.
It's actually lighter than mostbeers.
Calorie-wise.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
Calorie-wise it's lighter than a Coors Light.
Yeah, Crazy Really.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Yeah, it is.
How many calories is a GuinnessI?
Speaker 3 (02:01):
don't know, it's a four and a half percent beer, if
you know the calories.
You have a problem so the uhlike honestly one of the cool
things I think what people needto kind of know.
But when you're coming to tohalifax, the old triangle is
honestly like one of, if not thego-to place for an irish pub in
(02:23):
in downtown halifax absolutelyso much so that you guys have a
lineup at 7 am on St Patrick'sDay.
It's funny, yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
It's an amazing and something that we don't organize
on St Patrick's Day,particularly that one day of the
year we just open up and holdon for dear life and try and get
through it, because it is theone day that captures the
imagination of everyone, whetheryou're Irish or not.
And, uh, you know, thankfullywe have four triangles now, one
(02:53):
in Sydney, one in Moncton, onein Charlottetown, and that keeps
the sort of uh the name in theframe.
You know if people are visitingHalifax from either of those
centres, they know the oldtriangle so they tend to drop by
and say hello, that's awesome.
I have to get a passport orsomething going you should get
it stamped on everyone and givethem a T-shirt or something if
(03:16):
they've had a pint of Guinness.
I must see Guinness about that.
It might be a good marketingtoy, yeah they should give you
some money for it.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
You support that craft beer industry quite a bit
here, you actually have a LCDscreen on the wall there that
shows all the craft beers youhave.
I think you have eightdifferent ones on tap.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
I mean we love to support local craft beer.
Local wines are very popularand they're very good, you know
and they're a good product, sowhy not?
It's good to support localbecause we're supported locally,
so we like to reciprocate.
They're good quality products,so why not?
Speaker 2 (03:49):
We're a beer-competitive province for
sure, in terms of quality.
I just had a family friend comeup from Colorado.
They were astounded by thequality of IPAs in particular
that we had in Nova Scotia, thequality of IPAs in particular
that we have in Nova.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
Scotia, and even the gins and the vodkas and the rums
are all being produced locally.
So we have a wide range ofalcohol products.
And you know what?
We have as many non-alcoholicproducts as we have alcohol
products.
Have you tried?
Speaker 2 (04:21):
I need to know if you've tried this Brian
Absolutely Zero percent Guinness.
Do you like it?
You know tried.
I need to know if you've triedthis Brian Absolutely the 0%
Guinness.
Do you like it?
Speaker 1 (04:27):
You know what?
I'm not a big Guinness drinker,I'm more of a wine drinker.
But you know what, when I wouldhave, my wife loves it.
The secret to the Guinness Zerois you have it before you have
a pint of Guinness, because ifyou have a pint of Guinness and
you have the Guinness zero,Doesn't cut.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
it Doesn't hit the same no.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
Have the Guinness zero first, or one or two, and
then have a pint of Guinness andyou'll really and I love their
marketing for it because it wasthey said they took the alcohol
out but left the Guinness in.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
That's pretty good.
So, circling back to St Paddy'sDay, there's an old saying that
everyone on St Patrick's Day isIrish, except the Scottish.
They're still Scottish.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
Well, the Scots are really Irish people who went
somewhere more depressingweather-wise than Ireland, oh
jeez.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
All right trigger warning.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
But do you?
Speaker 3 (05:16):
guys think you guys must have to get some sort of
special licensing to be servingslinging beers at 7 am.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
Yeah, we do, and I mean, the licensing is very
strict in this problem acrossCanada really, but for that one
day it's a national holiday inIreland, so I think they allow
it because they know it's amajor celebration for the Irish
diaspora.
Yeah, and worldwide.
Like Ireland's populationhasn't changed in the last 200
(05:42):
years, they've remained aroundabout six to seven million
people.
That's what it was 200 yearsago.
The Irish diaspora is 70million strong around the world,
so that's a huge market really.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
They spread around man, They'll claim anybody.
It's the one time.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
We had Obama.
He's got Irish roots, you know,and of course Joe has Irish
roots, biden.
It's the one time in the yearor two when the Irish you know
small country like Ireland hasaccess to the most powerful
nation in the world, the US,when the Prime Minister of
Ireland is hosted by thePresident of the United States,
(06:24):
and that's a huge.
Not many people can do that onan annual basis and be
guaranteed it.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
But yeah, Ireland gets it, you know.
So, Brian, I want to go back abit.
So you ended up owning thisamazing bar right, and you said
you're a bartender and amusician.
So walk us back.
How the heck did you end upcoming to own a bar in Halifax,
Nova Scotia?
Speaker 3 (06:44):
Well, actually even further than that.
How'd you end up in Halifax,nova Scotia?
There you go.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
Well funny I came here in 1980 with a group called
Barley Bree.
We were a five-piece group Atthe time.
We had TV shows with ATV as itwas known then, oh yes, and we
were on.
I suppose we hadn't muchcompetition back then because
really it was ATV and CBC werethe main two stations.
(07:10):
There wasn't this mega universeof cable stations that there
are today and we had a show thatwas running every Wednesday
night at eight o'clock.
It was prime time and it'sfunny my wife used to say when
she was young she remembers theBarley Breeze show being on and
right away at eight o'clockshe'd turn the channel.
But for the most part the showwas widely watched and it
(07:32):
created for us a great marketaround the maritimes and and
beyond.
So that was the beginning of it.
But then a few years into that,after all the travel and I get,
I wanted to develop um become anagent really for a lot of the
ir Irish acts who weretravelling here, because I knew
most of the venues and I wasvery kindly offered the job of
(07:55):
agenting for Tommy Macomb andLiam Clancy and the Clancy
brothers A lot of the top Irishacts at the time.
But in doing that myself andKevin Evans would back up the
acts that we were promoting.
So in doing that, kevin and Iwould very casually get together
(08:15):
and I would hire Kevin to comeand play with me, backing up
Tommy Macon, say, for example,and then Tommy would give us
about 15 or 20 minutes in hisshow to his audience that we
would go out and do so.
Kevin and I said, well, let'sget together, and I had no plans
to do it, but we'd casually doit on the weekends and it turned
into this year a 40-year careerfor Evans and Doherty as our
(08:38):
musical entity.
But for years we played in aplace called O'Carroll's which
is now a Royal Bank down inLower Water Street.
It was an iconic spot, you know.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
O'Carroll's.
That was one of the places Icouldn't remember.
When we were talking aboutprevious pubs, o'carroll's was
one of my favorite places to goback when I was younger.
The food was great.
They did, in my opinion, thebest French onion soup I've ever
had that's right and they justlike.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
what a great place to go and sit.
I haven't had a French onionsoup in years, man.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
You know what I liked about them and I know you guys
kind of do a little bit of thisis like they would have a small
stage like you guys have here,and it felt more like a jam
session.
They'd have a band go up.
No joke, I'm sitting there andI I requested, for there was a
band that was playing there onetime and I was like, can you
guys play sam hall, because Ilove sam hall, great, great,
like irish tune.
(09:31):
Right, that might have been usyou know, it wasn't you guys.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
I know it wasn't you guys.
Speaker 3 (09:34):
But I said I was like , can you guys play sam hall?
And the the guy lead singer,and he was like I know it.
He said but um, he's like, he'slike I know the song, obviously
, but he's like I don't know thelyrics really.
And I was like what if I writethem out for you?
And he was like I know the songby heart and he said write it
out for me.
So I sat there and I wrote thelyrics out on a piece of paper
(09:55):
and they played the damn song.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
Wow, that's how great O'Carroll's was Well nowadays,
you know, in the modern era, ifyou come up, most musicians have
a laptop or an iPad in front ofthem and they can just dial up
a song and get the lyrics.
Speaker 3 (10:10):
This was before that.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
Absolutely yeah.
But now it's so easy now thataccess even for learning songs.
I remember with an LP you putthe needle on here two lines,
lift it up and then put it backon and try and get it back to
where you left off.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
I always wondered that how do you learn songs?
How does a musician remembertheir entire discography?
It must be.
It's amazing.
After time you put out 10 or 12albums if you have a good you
know, you eventually forget morethan you ever remember.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
You know, but but it's funny, it's like riding a
bicycle, you do.
Once you start thinking about asong you haven't sung in years,
it does come back.
I mean, it's in there, it'sbeen stamped on the brain
somewhere.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
Well, the brain can remember an incredible amount of
songs.
If you think about it, italways sustains me.
When I hear a song that's 20years old, I'm like Jesus.
I still know every lyric tothis song I haven't heard in
maybe 15 years.
Speaker 1 (10:56):
So there we were in O'Carroll's, playing six nights
a week, every other week, for 15years.
It was an incredible way oflearning the skill of performing
on stage.
And then we'd get to doconcerts with the people, the
heroes, our musical heroes, thatI was able to promote as well.
(11:17):
So we had both the concertstage and the pub stage and that
gave you a great wide varietyof material, because a concert
is a different, there's adifferent dynamic when you're
doing a concert from doing a pubnight.
Sure, and of course now, as theyears went on, it was always
our intention, like we'd alwaysloved the bar business and
(11:40):
O'Carroll's.
When Jim O'Carroll retired andwas moving back to Ireland, he
did offer it to us first.
Jim O'Carroll retired and wasmoving back to Ireland, he did
offer it to us first, but at thetime, you know, musicians, we
hadn't two pennies to rubtogether and we couldn't raise
enough money to do it, to buy it.
So it was bought by someoneelse and around about that time
(12:00):
we discovered that the OldTriangle location was available.
The Old Triangle location wasavailable and at the time we had
about 14 fans of ours who werewilling to invest in our concept
of what we thought would beanother great Irish bar in the
city.
Oh wow, and we still playedO'Carroll's for a year or so
after we changed plans.
Speaker 2 (12:22):
Well, the Triangle started getting up and running.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
And we played the Triangle as well.
So we had a great city-widetour for about a year or two
years.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
For those who don't know, what does the old triangle
represent?
Speaker 1 (12:34):
Well, you know, it's the hardest thing.
It's easy to open a pub.
It's the hardest thing to namea pub with a kind of you know,
if you want to be creative.
We got together with four majorpartners myself, jerry Guest,
kevin Evans and my wife Cheryl.
So we got together one day andwe decided right, we're going to
keep thinking about this.
(12:56):
And, of course, a few scoops ofbeer helped.
What was that?
Speaker 2 (13:01):
I don't know.
This is your bar buddy.
It happens all the time.
Speaker 3 (13:06):
I think that's ice being shoveled in.
We oh, this is your bar buddy.
It happens all the time.
I think that's ice beingshoveled in.
We're used to a little noise inthe background.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
We'll numb that it frightened me in the headphones
here.
I didn't know what was going on.
I thought there was a waterfallhappening here.
But so we got together and wehad, you know, a number of
thoughts of what we wanted tocall the place and of course, we
had a myself and Shell had anold stone cutting of the Celtic
(13:33):
knot, which is our symboloutside, and it has three points
that are all connected.
There were three rooms in theold triangle at the time and
apart from my wife, there werethree other partners, and three
is actually a very lucky numberin the Celtic world.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
So we looked at that Celtic knot and we thought
that's kind of an old triangleand the square triangle did not
sound great.
That was the other reason.
Right, Didn't cut it.
Yeah, Didn't cut it, yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
So there we were.
And if you Google the oldtriangle, there's one other old
triangle, I think, in the worldand it's in Amsterdam.
There's an AULD triangle inDublin, but there are very few,
I mean around, so you know manyother bars that you see the
names.
There are dozens of themsimilar named around the world
(14:26):
if you Google them.
But if you Google the oldtriangle, I think we're the
first ones to come up.
Fantastic.
So it was kind of fortuitousthat we stumbled upon that at
the time.
Speaker 2 (14:35):
It's an iconic name.
I mean it feels iconic when yousee it.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
And each room we name .
The lower room where we havemusic is called Tigham, cioll,
which is an Irish word for houseof music.
Okay, music is called tig andkyoel, which is an irish word
for house of music.
Okay, and uh, the middle roomis the poor house.
Yeah, you know p-o-u-r, yeah,as opposed to p-o-o-r and uh.
And this is the snug up herewhere we're sitting and we're
snug in these rooms.
(15:00):
And snugs traditionally inireland were places where women
didn't go into bars, but therewere always little rooms off the
side of the bar where theycould serve drink through a
little portal in the wall andthey were called snugs, so woman
could go in there, not be seendrinking at the time.
So that was the way it was.
Then, of course, it's all ofall, but this kind of captures a
(15:22):
little bit of that, wherepeople can come in and have
private meetings and and enjoyeach other's company.
Speaker 3 (15:28):
Record podcasts Away from and record podcasts.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
Yeah it's our third one, here, away from the racket
of ice flowing into a bucket,that's right.
Speaker 3 (15:40):
So whereabouts in Ireland do you hail from?
Speaker 1 (15:42):
I'm from a place called Oma, which is right in
the middle of the north ofIreland.
Okay, I'm from a place calledOma, which is right in the
middle of the north of Ireland,and it's a small town.
It's about maybe 40,000, 50,000people and it was a great town
for music growing up and myfather was actually the
undertaker in the town and, as aconsequence, as a youth, I went
(16:04):
to more funerals than I couldsay.
I had hot dinners.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
Seriously Because every week.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
There'd be a couple of funerals a week, but in going
to these funerals it was agreat place where I mean the
Irish Wake is known worldwidefor the Cayley.
Yeah, I mean it's a place ofcelebration of the person who
passed really, and they talkfondly about the corpse and the
character of the corpse and ofcourse then after a few drinks,
(16:32):
which flow freely at the Irishwake, but if music starts and I
mean you get caught up in theatmosphere of it all.
So it was a wonderful, uh, itwas a wonderful way of learning
the love for music and hearing alot of songs.
He thought oh, I like that, Imust go and learn that song.
Speaker 3 (16:51):
So my grandfather was very much fascinated with his
Irish heritage.
We talked about it.
We both have clodder rings on.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
Describe that for our listeners.
Speaker 3 (17:02):
The clodder ring.
We both have big gold ones, butyou'll see hands and a heart
and a crown.
So the hand symbolizesfriendship, the heart is love
and the crown is loyalty.
Points in towards your heartmeans you're taken, and when the
heart points out, means you'renot.
So you guys are both taken, huh.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
We are both taken.
Oh good stuff.
Who took his?
Speaker 1 (17:27):
Liam Neeson, I will find you.
I will find you, I will killyou.
Speaker 3 (17:33):
But my grandfather, he wanted a Cayley.
When he was dying he had braincancer, and when he was dying,
he wanted a Cayley because,again, it's that celebration of
life, right, and uh.
The thing is, though, is my mygrandfather was very much a
planner and he said I don't wantto miss out on it.
So we actually had a kaylee acouple months before he passed
(17:54):
away.
Yeah, and he because he wantedto have a big thing.
So we had irish music.
Come in, oh cool.
We had irish dancers yeah, hadit in the community center in
herring cove and we had this bigthing.
Actually, it was a hugesnowstorm and hundreds of people
showed up.
It was just a blast.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
It's not uncommon.
In Ireland they call themliving wakes, people do prepare
and we've had a few of themactually here in the Triangle.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
So to celebrate before you pass, yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
Kevin used to play with a guy called Stephen
Wainwright in a group called theGarrison Brothers, prior to him
and I getting together andStephen, who has passed since.
But Stephen had a week inMarblehead in Massachusetts and
all the musical friends gatheredover a period of three or four
days and he wasn't doing well,but he was there, he
(18:41):
participated and two days laterhe was dead.
So there you go, but got tohave his last wish of a life.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
I think everybody deserves a good funeral before
they die, just so they know theywere loved.
Good celebration of life.
Speaker 3 (18:56):
There was something I heard recently that said it was
just like a little quote that Isaw, that I loved it, but it
said that we should be sayingall the good things that we say
to people at their funeral, ontheir birthdays, yeah absolutely
and I love that right.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
But.
Speaker 3 (19:11):
I love the idea of a living wake.
I think just, you know,celebrate the life and have a
little bit of party and, youknow, have a couple of points.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
As they always say, live every day like it's your
last and someday you'll be right.
That's right.
Speaker 3 (19:25):
That's right.
So you guys are still playinghere, aren't you?
No, kevin, and I don't playKevin lives in St John's,
newfoundland.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
We still play, but we get together in the well in the
summertime we do a lot.
We play Kitchen Fest in CapeBreton, which is you know, seven
or eight days all around theisland and then in the fall we
get together, we do a fewconcerts, yeah, um, around the
(19:53):
october time.
So we'll be doing somethingoctober, november this year,
then in march of course we do abit of a tour around and that's
as much as we like to do now.
I mean, it's, uh, you know,business has kind of put music
in the on the sort of uh, theback burner.
It's very difficult to traveland do the business and be here
nowadays and of course, afterCOVID, the challenges of the
(20:16):
food and beverage business arestill a very fragile industry
for most people who are in thatindustry.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
Can I ask if you have a recorded song that we could
share at the end of this episode?
We do that for other musiciansnow, actually Sure.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
We'd love to do that, no bother.
So coming up at the end of thisepisode, what do?
Speaker 2 (20:33):
that for other musicians now actually, sure,
yeah, we'd love to do that.
Oh yeah, no, bother.
So, coming up at the end ofthis episode, what song are we
going to have?
Speaker 1 (20:35):
I'll give you one of my favorite songs, which I can't
recall at the minute.
I don't know which CD I haveavailable here, but Just give me
the best answer we've ever got.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
If we recorded it, we loved it, robert.
If we recorded it, we loved it,robert, there's nothing wrong
with that.
Speaker 3 (20:53):
That's good, I like that.
If we recorded it, we loved it.
I guess let's see what we callthis If we recorded it.
Speaker 2 (20:59):
If we have a guest on the show, we love them.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
Exactly 100% the same thing, the way it should be.
That's right.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
My gosh.
Speaker 3 (21:06):
Yeah, that's fantastic.
So yeah, I mean, you guysobviously have the food and
everything.
I guess you guys are havingacts and stuff.
Is it Thursday and Fridays thatyou have music acts coming in?
Speaker 1 (21:17):
We do music seven nights a week in the Triangle.
Seven nights a week and youknow that was always our goal.
We wanted music to be one ofthe main components of what the
old Triangle is.
You know, music, food,atmosphere and yeah, now COVID
of course changed a lot of thatfor a while, but now we're back
(21:40):
to seven nights a week and wehave everything from the
instrumental tradition to thesong tradition, and then, you
know, we have sort of the stockand trade sort of songs of the
pubs.
Speaker 3 (21:52):
Yeah, of course, stock and trade sort of songs of
the pubs.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
They're not always Irish.
They don't have to be, but notall songs that are sung in
Ireland are Irish either.
Speaker 3 (21:59):
No, that's true.
That being said, though, Ithink a lot of, at least here in
Halifax, the Irish songs arevery much ingrained, Absolutely
yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
And it's more than the atmosphere that they create
within the bar.
You know, and so we yeah, we'revery lucky with that, and you
know what?
There's lots of talent around,lots of local musicians who are
very, very capable of doinggreat shows, and that's a way
and we're delighted we're ableto hire them as well.
Speaker 3 (22:30):
No, they appreciate it.
And I mean, I don't even knowif I've even anytime I've come
here.
I don't know if I've ever paida cover.
You guys aren't turning a cover, no, we don't do that.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
You know, I was never a fan of that myself.
I always thought like when Iwent out to a place, if I was
stopped at the door and asked topay before I go in you know, it
was kind of a personal thing.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
I appreciate it now.
I mean, in their defensethey're trying to keep their
doors open too right Of course,and everybody's doing what they
can to survive.
It's not easy, you know.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
And it's another way of generating revenue.
Thankfully we were not in aposition where we absolutely
needed it.
So if we don't need it, we'drather do without it.
Speaker 2 (23:09):
I remember being in Alberta and I was shocked by
that the first time I covered it.
I'm like I'm just going therefor a drink, what are you
talking?
Speaker 1 (23:15):
about dude.
Speaker 2 (23:16):
But that was everywhere in Alberta.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
Now it's more systemic, but that was what he
had 15 years ago and sometimesyou know if you come into the
Triangle, there's really onlyone room where you can hear well
, where you can see the music.
Would it be fair if people wereup in the snow, having to pay a
cover charge and not access themusic?
Speaker 3 (23:35):
I honestly kind of think and maybe I'm completely
wrong here, but I actually feelthat not charging a cover charge
, you end up getting more on theother end, kind of thing, right
, someone?
Speaker 1 (23:50):
might have an extra beer, might get an appetizer or
something along those lines, andfunds are limited with people
like me, so they're veryselective about how they spend
them and because of thatlimitation you're right you pay
a cover charge you're not goingto buy that extra beer, maybe.
Speaker 3 (24:02):
Maybe not.
Yeah, so you're really sellingexperiences.
Speaker 1 (24:06):
Yeah, that's what we want.
I mean, we want to create a bitof an illusion of what Ireland
is like In our mind anyway andwe you know by the decorations
and by just how you know themenus and stuff like that.
It's just transporting peopleback for a few hours, like and
entertain them with that.
Speaker 2 (24:26):
I'm a big food guy too, so a little bit about the
menu, like what are some of yourmost popular things here?
Speaker 1 (24:31):
So a little bit about the menu.
What are some of your mostpopular things here?
I mean, fish and chips isalways the great go-to.
We have a lamb shank.
Lamb is very big in Ireland aswell, but we do the, you know.
We have vegetarian selection aswell.
We do a great veggie burger.
Speaker 3 (24:46):
Do you guys still have the Ploughman's lunch on
the menu?
Speaker 1 (24:50):
Yes, we do, yeah, it's basically Irish charcuterie
.
Speaker 2 (24:52):
Oh yeah, I mean you can walk me through the
plowman's lunch real quick.
What's that?
Speaker 1 (24:56):
Well, I mean, there's ham in there and there's corned
beef in there and there's eggsin there.
Sounds good.
You know all the food varieties.
Okay, I'm on board with thatCheese?
Speaker 3 (25:07):
Yeah, it's an Irish chicory base.
Speaker 1 (25:10):
Nice Salmon as well.
We have a salmon board as welland we do it in-house here as
well.
We treat the salmon and stuffyou treat the salmon in-house.
Speaker 2 (25:19):
We do.
We treat it very well, yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:28):
Gets massages.
You missed the massage roomdownstairs.
We like to do the.
You know you have the meat andthe poultry and you use the fish
and stuff.
So it's a large menu and alarge variety of foods, I think
for everyone.
Speaker 3 (25:45):
Amazing yeah, it's awesome.
No, it's a good spot, it'salways a go-to spot, Like my
folks try to come here every StPatrick's Day as well too.
It's like their number one spot.
Dad's trying to get down hereearly enough.
I mean, like I said, you'll seepictures.
There's no joke.
Speaker 1 (26:00):
The block is lined up before 7 am Every year.
Yeah, and even on St Patrick'sDay we don't have a cover charge
either.
Speaker 3 (26:07):
That's also another huge thing, because a lot of
places, because they takeadvantage of the fact that St
Patrick's Day, people want to goout there and drink.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
People want to go out there and have a few drinks
right.
Never have, never will we hope.
Speaker 2 (26:16):
I think I'm going to take next St Patrick's Day off.
I haven't done that in a while.
You know what?
I haven't done that in a while,and I used to.
Speaker 1 (26:22):
And it happens to be a Monday in 2025.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
Monday's my.
There we go.
Tuesday could be a difficultday.
You don't want to have apodcast host your St Patrick's
Day, do you?
Speaker 3 (26:39):
We'll come up.
Speaker 1 (26:40):
We'll stamp the hands of going in.
As the day gets on, the podcastwill get sloppier Sometimes.
The sense that's right, Makingsense of the finished product
might be difficult.
Speaker 2 (26:46):
Do they got passports for St Patrick's Day Little bar
passports if?
Speaker 1 (26:48):
you went around the city or something like that.
There you go.
They used to do it.
You know when I think labatt'sdid it at one time where you
would uh.
You know if you filled out a uhgot a stamp from each of the
local establishments on stpatrick's day and then you
submitted that it went into adraw for, I don't know, a week
at rehab or something I don'tknow, because they could promote
(27:09):
an over drinking or potentiallyand you could get yourself.
Speaker 2 (27:12):
You know what here like honestly like it's.
Speaker 3 (27:14):
It's a like.
I find, at least the times thatI've been here on st patrick's
day, that the culture has beenlike get in early and stay in
here and, like you know, paceyourself, drinking all day and
eating all day because peopledon't want to leave well, and
that's the thing you know.
Speaker 1 (27:28):
And then really there is no big drinking culture
anymore.
People want to come in havefood, have a few drinks and
stuff, and that sort of belly-upto the bar culture doesn't
exist anymore.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
It used to be like that, in fact, in Ireland, I
mean, many of the bars didn'teven serve food, but in recent
years, if they've survived, theyhave have as much uh access to
food as as possible well, as youknow, I was saying this to matt
before, but I went to, uhmaxwell's plum one night and uh
(28:00):
see, my buddy was playingsaxophone and uh, you know the
the kids out on a date thatnight.
On a saturday night, we'redrinking coffee yeah, right.
So I think, and I was readingjust recently that the younger
age the the younger demographicare a lot less interested in
alcohol.
Speaker 1 (28:14):
Well, that's why we have as many non-alcoholic
cocktails, which are verypopular as we have alcohol.
But I think it's important thatwe have as much a variety to
appeal to.
But that was not a shame gameeither.
Speaker 2 (28:25):
No, not at all, but it used to be right.
Speaker 1 (28:27):
When I was younger it used to be like what do you
mean?
You're not having a drink.
What's wrong with you when youhave a?
Speaker 2 (28:31):
non-alcoholic drink, you get a blue cup or something
ridiculous Like here wear thishat, you know wear this silly
hat you goofball?
Speaker 1 (28:39):
But they don't do that anymore, right?
A lot less shaming.
I think that's a good thing.
Speaker 3 (28:43):
It is.
Speaker 1 (28:44):
Absolutely.
Speaker 3 (28:45):
Yeah, you can always come here and Well, awesome, you
know what?
Honestly, thank you very muchfor one my pleasure.
This is our third podcast thatwe've recorded here.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
I've made it even more.
Speaker 3 (29:02):
Thank you for allowing us to host us here, and
it won't be the last, that'sfor sure.
Good so yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:09):
Enjoy the day, boys.
Speaker 2 (29:11):
And stay tuned because we have whatever song is
Brian's favorite coming up nextit's coming right up.
Speaker 3 (29:15):
Coming right up song is Brian's favorite coming up.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
Next it's coming right up, cheers, cheers,
sláinte, sláinte.
When the moon's on the waterand the night's drawing in and
you feel like a rum or a jiggerof gin, I'll take you along To
the Mariner's Inn, to the placewhere the sailor men gather.
(29:38):
The old concertina plays someshanty song.
They'll tell you the words sothat you'll sing along and
before the night's over, you'llfeel you belong in the tavern
that's down by the harbour.
So lift up your voices and swayto the tune.
(30:03):
The good times we cherish areover too soon.
We'll find our way home by thelight of the moon From the
tavern that's down by theharbour.
There's a ship's figureheadmounted over the door.
(30:27):
She's heard all the songs andthe stories before.
She'd sooner be facing the wideocean's roar, but she knows
that her sailing is over.
So she smiles all the whilewith her tongue in her cheek the
(30:47):
thing she could tell if sheonly could speak how the tails
of the sailors grow taller eachweek in the tavern that's down
by the harbour.
So lift up your voices and swayto the tune.
The good times we cherish areover too soon.
(31:11):
We'll find our way home by thelight of the moon from the
tavern that's down by theharbour there's an old man who
swears he's been twice round thehorn.
Sailors aren't made, he said.
(31:32):
Sailors are born.
When the seas in your bloodfall, the dangers you'll scorn,
for the home of your heart isthe ocean In the half-light.
An old sea-dog Tells a sad taleOf a ship once was lost On the
swell of a gale, and he vowedfrom that night that he never
(31:58):
would sail, since his matesfound a grave at the bottom.
So lift up your voices and swayto the tune.
The good times we cherish areover too soon.
We'll find our way home by thelight of the moon, from the
(32:19):
tavern that's down by theharbour there's a lantern that
squeaks as it swings in the hall, nets and harpoons and old
ropes on the wall, and it's cosyand warm for the room.
(32:40):
It is small and the candlelightdances and flickers and the
sights and the sounds and thesmells of the sea Set your mind
stirring with things that mightbe Fewer, but younger and single
and free To follow the dreamsof your boyhood.
(33:04):
So lift up your voices and swayto the tune.
The good times we cherish areover too soon We'll find our way
home by the light of the moon,from the tavern that's down by
the harbour.
(33:25):
So lift up your voices and swayto the tune the good times we
cherish Our over.
To soon We'll find our way homeby the light of the moon From
the tavern that's down by theharbor.
Cheers.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
Welcome to the Afternoon Point.
I'm Mike Tobin, I am MattConrad, and who do we have with
us today?
I'm Brian Daugherty.
Brian Daugherty.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Well who are you?
Well, it depends on what hatyou want me to describe myself.
I wear many hats, and one ofwhich is a musician.
I'm also a bartender.
Well, that was a while back.
I own the Old Triangle.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
That's where we are today actually, so we should say
that.
So we're at the Old Triangledowntown Halifax.
You know just kind of we feltduring this episode that the
right thing to do was to drinkGuinness.
Yeah, so that's what we'redoing.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
We're drinking some Guinness.
We're all celebrating our Irishheritage in this very moment.
I think that one commonality weall know we have is we all have
Irish blood.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
We're all related through alcohol.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
That's right, so you are the proprietor of the Old
Triangle in downtown Halifax.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
I am yeah, this is our 24th year, so next year we
had great plans on our 20thanniversary.
We thought it was a greatmarketing 20 in 2020.
Of course, COVID put the bricksto that.
We now have our 25 in 2025.
That's a great deal.
(01:16):
We'll probably do somethingspecial, barring there are no
worldwide pandemics opening up.
Again I've got to say, man, wealways toast a beer at the
beginning.
There are no worldwidepandemics opening up again.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Yeah, I've got to say man, mike, I mean we always
toast the beer at the beginningof this show and I just had my
taste of the beer.
It's fantastic, fantastic pint.
Like the cold, it's Guinnessbut it's perfect.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
Guinness used to market their beer.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
Guinness is good for you and it is it's full of iron
yeah, it is full of iron, it'sfull of iron, it is full of iron
.
It's a perfect beer, man.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
And very light beer.
Actually, people think Guinness.
They say they see the darknessof it and people think it's a
very heavy beer.
It's actually lighter than mostbeers.
Calorie-wise.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
Calorie-wise it's lighter than a Coors Light.
Yeah, Crazy Really.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Yeah, it is.
How many calories is a GuinnessI?
Speaker 3 (02:01):
don't know, it's a four and a half percent beer, if
you know the calories.
You have a problem so the uhlike honestly one of the cool
things I think what people needto kind of know.
But when you're coming to tohalifax, the old triangle is
honestly like one of, if not thego-to place for an irish pub in
(02:23):
in downtown halifax absolutelyso much so that you guys have a
lineup at 7 am on St Patrick'sDay.
It's funny, yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
It's an amazing and something that we don't organize
on St Patrick's Day,particularly that one day of the
year we just open up and holdon for dear life and try and get
through it, because it is theone day that captures the
imagination of everyone, whetheryou're Irish or not.
And, uh, you know, thankfullywe have four triangles now, one
(02:53):
in Sydney, one in Moncton, onein Charlottetown, and that keeps
the sort of uh the name in theframe.
You know if people are visitingHalifax from either of those
centres, they know the oldtriangle so they tend to drop by
and say hello, that's awesome.
I have to get a passport orsomething going you should get
it stamped on everyone and givethem a T-shirt or something if
(03:16):
they've had a pint of Guinness.
I must see Guinness about that.
It might be a good marketingtoy, yeah they should give you
some money for it.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
You support that craft beer industry quite a bit
here, you actually have a LCDscreen on the wall there that
shows all the craft beers youhave.
I think you have eightdifferent ones on tap.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
I mean we love to support local craft beer.
Local wines are very popularand they're very good, you know
and they're a good product, sowhy not?
It's good to support localbecause we're supported locally,
so we like to reciprocate.
They're good quality products,so why not?
Speaker 2 (03:49):
We're a beer-competitive province for
sure, in terms of quality.
I just had a family friend comeup from Colorado.
They were astounded by thequality of IPAs in particular
that we had in Nova Scotia, thequality of IPAs in particular
that we have in Nova.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
Scotia, and even the gins and the vodkas and the rums
are all being produced locally.
So we have a wide range ofalcohol products.
And you know what?
We have as many non-alcoholicproducts as we have alcohol
products.
Have you tried?
Speaker 2 (04:21):
I need to know if you've tried this Brian
Absolutely Zero percent Guinness.
Do you like it?
You know tried.
I need to know if you've triedthis Brian Absolutely the 0%
Guinness.
Do you like it?
Speaker 1 (04:27):
You know what?
I'm not a big Guinness drinker,I'm more of a wine drinker.
But you know what, when I wouldhave, my wife loves it.
The secret to the Guinness Zerois you have it before you have
a pint of Guinness, because ifyou have a pint of Guinness and
you have the Guinness zero,Doesn't cut.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
it Doesn't hit the same no.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
Have the Guinness zero first, or one or two, and
then have a pint of Guinness andyou'll really and I love their
marketing for it because it wasthey said they took the alcohol
out but left the Guinness in.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
That's pretty good.
So, circling back to St Paddy'sDay, there's an old saying that
everyone on St Patrick's Day isIrish, except the Scottish.
They're still Scottish.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
Well, the Scots are really Irish people who went
somewhere more depressingweather-wise than Ireland, oh
jeez.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
All right trigger warning.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
But do you?
Speaker 3 (05:16):
guys think you guys must have to get some sort of
special licensing to be servingslinging beers at 7 am.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
Yeah, we do, and I mean, the licensing is very
strict in this problem acrossCanada really, but for that one
day it's a national holiday inIreland, so I think they allow
it because they know it's amajor celebration for the Irish
diaspora.
Yeah, and worldwide.
Like Ireland's populationhasn't changed in the last 200
(05:42):
years, they've remained aroundabout six to seven million
people.
That's what it was 200 yearsago.
The Irish diaspora is 70million strong around the world,
so that's a huge market really.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
They spread around man, They'll claim anybody.
It's the one time.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
We had Obama.
He's got Irish roots, you know,and of course Joe has Irish
roots, biden.
It's the one time in the yearor two when the Irish you know
small country like Ireland hasaccess to the most powerful
nation in the world, the US,when the Prime Minister of
Ireland is hosted by thePresident of the United States,
(06:24):
and that's a huge.
Not many people can do that onan annual basis and be
guaranteed it.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
But yeah, Ireland gets it, you know.
So, Brian, I want to go back abit.
So you ended up owning thisamazing bar right, and you said
you're a bartender and amusician.
So walk us back.
How the heck did you end upcoming to own a bar in Halifax,
Nova Scotia?
Speaker 3 (06:44):
Well, actually even further than that.
How'd you end up in Halifax,nova Scotia?
There you go.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
Well funny I came here in 1980 with a group called
Barley Bree.
We were a five-piece group Atthe time.
We had TV shows with ATV as itwas known then, oh yes, and we
were on.
I suppose we hadn't muchcompetition back then because
really it was ATV and CBC werethe main two stations.
(07:10):
There wasn't this mega universeof cable stations that there
are today and we had a show thatwas running every Wednesday
night at eight o'clock.
It was prime time and it'sfunny my wife used to say when
she was young she remembers theBarley Breeze show being on and
right away at eight o'clockshe'd turn the channel.
But for the most part the showwas widely watched and it
(07:32):
created for us a great marketaround the maritimes and and
beyond.
So that was the beginning of it.
But then a few years into that,after all the travel and I get,
I wanted to develop um become anagent really for a lot of the
ir Irish acts who weretravelling here, because I knew
most of the venues and I wasvery kindly offered the job of
(07:55):
agenting for Tommy Macomb andLiam Clancy and the Clancy
brothers A lot of the top Irishacts at the time.
But in doing that myself andKevin Evans would back up the
acts that we were promoting.
So in doing that, kevin and Iwould very casually get together
(08:15):
and I would hire Kevin to comeand play with me, backing up
Tommy Macon, say, for example,and then Tommy would give us
about 15 or 20 minutes in hisshow to his audience that we
would go out and do so.
Kevin and I said, well, let'sget together, and I had no plans
to do it, but we'd casually doit on the weekends and it turned
into this year a 40-year careerfor Evans and Doherty as our
(08:38):
musical entity.
But for years we played in aplace called O'Carroll's which
is now a Royal Bank down inLower Water Street.
It was an iconic spot, you know.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
O'Carroll's.
That was one of the places Icouldn't remember.
When we were talking aboutprevious pubs, o'carroll's was
one of my favorite places to goback when I was younger.
The food was great.
They did, in my opinion, thebest French onion soup I've ever
had that's right and they justlike.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
what a great place to go and sit.
I haven't had a French onionsoup in years, man.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
You know what I liked about them and I know you guys
kind of do a little bit of thisis like they would have a small
stage like you guys have here,and it felt more like a jam
session.
They'd have a band go up.
No joke, I'm sitting there andI I requested, for there was a
band that was playing there onetime and I was like, can you
guys play sam hall, because Ilove sam hall, great, great,
like irish tune.
(09:31):
Right, that might have been usyou know, it wasn't you guys.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
I know it wasn't you guys.
Speaker 3 (09:34):
But I said I was like , can you guys play sam hall?
And the the guy lead singer,and he was like I know it.
He said but um, he's like, he'slike I know the song, obviously
, but he's like I don't know thelyrics really.
And I was like what if I writethem out for you?
And he was like I know the songby heart and he said write it
out for me.
So I sat there and I wrote thelyrics out on a piece of paper
(09:55):
and they played the damn song.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
Wow, that's how great O'Carroll's was Well nowadays,
you know, in the modern era, ifyou come up, most musicians have
a laptop or an iPad in front ofthem and they can just dial up
a song and get the lyrics.
Speaker 3 (10:10):
This was before that.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
Absolutely yeah.
But now it's so easy now thataccess even for learning songs.
I remember with an LP you putthe needle on here two lines,
lift it up and then put it backon and try and get it back to
where you left off.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
I always wondered that how do you learn songs?
How does a musician remembertheir entire discography?
It must be.
It's amazing.
After time you put out 10 or 12albums if you have a good you
know, you eventually forget morethan you ever remember.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
You know, but but it's funny, it's like riding a
bicycle, you do.
Once you start thinking about asong you haven't sung in years,
it does come back.
I mean, it's in there, it'sbeen stamped on the brain
somewhere.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
Well, the brain can remember an incredible amount of
songs.
If you think about it, italways sustains me.
When I hear a song that's 20years old, I'm like Jesus.
I still know every lyric tothis song I haven't heard in
maybe 15 years.
Speaker 1 (10:56):
So there we were in O'Carroll's, playing six nights
a week, every other week, for 15years.
It was an incredible way oflearning the skill of performing
on stage.
And then we'd get to doconcerts with the people, the
heroes, our musical heroes, thatI was able to promote as well.
(11:17):
So we had both the concertstage and the pub stage and that
gave you a great wide varietyof material, because a concert
is a different, there's adifferent dynamic when you're
doing a concert from doing a pubnight.
Sure, and of course now, as theyears went on, it was always
our intention, like we'd alwaysloved the bar business and
(11:40):
O'Carroll's.
When Jim O'Carroll retired andwas moving back to Ireland, he
did offer it to us first.
Jim O'Carroll retired and wasmoving back to Ireland, he did
offer it to us first, but at thetime, you know, musicians, we
hadn't two pennies to rubtogether and we couldn't raise
enough money to do it, to buy it.
So it was bought by someoneelse and around about that time
(12:00):
we discovered that the OldTriangle location was available.
The Old Triangle location wasavailable and at the time we had
about 14 fans of ours who werewilling to invest in our concept
of what we thought would beanother great Irish bar in the
city.
Oh wow, and we still playedO'Carroll's for a year or so
after we changed plans.
Speaker 2 (12:22):
Well, the Triangle started getting up and running.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
And we played the Triangle as well.
So we had a great city-widetour for about a year or two
years.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
For those who don't know, what does the old triangle
represent?
Speaker 1 (12:34):
Well, you know, it's the hardest thing.
It's easy to open a pub.
It's the hardest thing to namea pub with a kind of you know,
if you want to be creative.
We got together with four majorpartners myself, jerry Guest,
kevin Evans and my wife Cheryl.
So we got together one day andwe decided right, we're going to
keep thinking about this.
(12:56):
And, of course, a few scoops ofbeer helped.
What was that?
Speaker 2 (13:01):
I don't know.
This is your bar buddy.
It happens all the time.
Speaker 3 (13:06):
I think that's ice being shoveled in.
We oh, this is your bar buddy.
It happens all the time.
I think that's ice beingshoveled in.
We're used to a little noise inthe background.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
We'll numb that it frightened me in the headphones
here.
I didn't know what was going on.
I thought there was a waterfallhappening here.
But so we got together and wehad, you know, a number of
thoughts of what we wanted tocall the place and of course, we
had a myself and Shell had anold stone cutting of the Celtic
(13:33):
knot, which is our symboloutside, and it has three points
that are all connected.
There were three rooms in theold triangle at the time and
apart from my wife, there werethree other partners, and three
is actually a very lucky numberin the Celtic world.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
So we looked at that Celtic knot and we thought
that's kind of an old triangleand the square triangle did not
sound great.
That was the other reason.
Right, Didn't cut it.
Yeah, Didn't cut it, yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
So there we were.
And if you Google the oldtriangle, there's one other old
triangle, I think, in the worldand it's in Amsterdam.
There's an AULD triangle inDublin, but there are very few,
I mean around, so you know manyother bars that you see the
names.
There are dozens of themsimilar named around the world
(14:26):
if you Google them.
But if you Google the oldtriangle, I think we're the
first ones to come up.
Fantastic.
So it was kind of fortuitousthat we stumbled upon that at
the time.
Speaker 2 (14:35):
It's an iconic name.
I mean it feels iconic when yousee it.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
And each room we name .
The lower room where we havemusic is called Tigham, cioll,
which is an Irish word for houseof music.
Okay, music is called tig andkyoel, which is an irish word
for house of music.
Okay, and uh, the middle roomis the poor house.
Yeah, you know p-o-u-r, yeah,as opposed to p-o-o-r and uh.
And this is the snug up herewhere we're sitting and we're
snug in these rooms.
(15:00):
And snugs traditionally inireland were places where women
didn't go into bars, but therewere always little rooms off the
side of the bar where theycould serve drink through a
little portal in the wall andthey were called snugs, so woman
could go in there, not be seendrinking at the time.
So that was the way it was.
Then, of course, it's all ofall, but this kind of captures a
(15:22):
little bit of that, wherepeople can come in and have
private meetings and and enjoyeach other's company.
Speaker 3 (15:28):
Record podcasts Away from and record podcasts.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
Yeah it's our third one, here, away from the racket
of ice flowing into a bucket,that's right.
Speaker 3 (15:40):
So whereabouts in Ireland do you hail from?
Speaker 1 (15:42):
I'm from a place called Oma, which is right in
the middle of the north ofIreland.
Okay, I'm from a place calledOma, which is right in the
middle of the north of Ireland,and it's a small town.
It's about maybe 40,000, 50,000people and it was a great town
for music growing up and myfather was actually the
undertaker in the town and, as aconsequence, as a youth, I went
(16:04):
to more funerals than I couldsay.
I had hot dinners.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
Seriously Because every week.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
There'd be a couple of funerals a week, but in going
to these funerals it was agreat place where I mean the
Irish Wake is known worldwidefor the Cayley.
Yeah, I mean it's a place ofcelebration of the person who
passed really, and they talkfondly about the corpse and the
character of the corpse and ofcourse then after a few drinks,
(16:32):
which flow freely at the Irishwake, but if music starts and I
mean you get caught up in theatmosphere of it all.
So it was a wonderful, uh, itwas a wonderful way of learning
the love for music and hearing alot of songs.
He thought oh, I like that, Imust go and learn that song.
Speaker 3 (16:51):
So my grandfather was very much fascinated with his
Irish heritage.
We talked about it.
We both have clodder rings on.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
Describe that for our listeners.
Speaker 3 (17:02):
The clodder ring.
We both have big gold ones, butyou'll see hands and a heart
and a crown.
So the hand symbolizesfriendship, the heart is love
and the crown is loyalty.
Points in towards your heartmeans you're taken, and when the
heart points out, means you'renot.
So you guys are both taken, huh.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
We are both taken.
Oh good stuff.
Who took his?
Speaker 1 (17:27):
Liam Neeson, I will find you.
I will find you, I will killyou.
Speaker 3 (17:33):
But my grandfather, he wanted a Cayley.
When he was dying he had braincancer, and when he was dying,
he wanted a Cayley because,again, it's that celebration of
life, right, and uh.
The thing is, though, is my mygrandfather was very much a
planner and he said I don't wantto miss out on it.
So we actually had a kaylee acouple months before he passed
(17:54):
away.
Yeah, and he because he wantedto have a big thing.
So we had irish music.
Come in, oh cool.
We had irish dancers yeah, hadit in the community center in
herring cove and we had this bigthing.
Actually, it was a hugesnowstorm and hundreds of people
showed up.
It was just a blast.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
It's not uncommon.
In Ireland they call themliving wakes, people do prepare
and we've had a few of themactually here in the Triangle.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
So to celebrate before you pass, yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
Kevin used to play with a guy called Stephen
Wainwright in a group called theGarrison Brothers, prior to him
and I getting together andStephen, who has passed since.
But Stephen had a week inMarblehead in Massachusetts and
all the musical friends gatheredover a period of three or four
days and he wasn't doing well,but he was there, he
(18:41):
participated and two days laterhe was dead.
So there you go, but got tohave his last wish of a life.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
I think everybody deserves a good funeral before
they die, just so they know theywere loved.
Good celebration of life.
Speaker 3 (18:56):
There was something I heard recently that said it was
just like a little quote that Isaw, that I loved it, but it
said that we should be sayingall the good things that we say
to people at their funeral, ontheir birthdays, yeah absolutely
and I love that right.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
But.
Speaker 3 (19:11):
I love the idea of a living wake.
I think just, you know,celebrate the life and have a
little bit of party and, youknow, have a couple of points.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
As they always say, live every day like it's your
last and someday you'll be right.
That's right.
Speaker 3 (19:25):
That's right.
So you guys are still playinghere, aren't you?
No, kevin, and I don't playKevin lives in St John's,
newfoundland.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
We still play, but we get together in the well in the
summertime we do a lot.
We play Kitchen Fest in CapeBreton, which is you know, seven
or eight days all around theisland and then in the fall we
get together, we do a fewconcerts, yeah, um, around the
(19:53):
october time.
So we'll be doing somethingoctober, november this year,
then in march of course we do abit of a tour around and that's
as much as we like to do now.
I mean, it's, uh, you know,business has kind of put music
in the on the sort of uh, theback burner.
It's very difficult to traveland do the business and be here
nowadays and of course, afterCOVID, the challenges of the
(20:16):
food and beverage business arestill a very fragile industry
for most people who are in thatindustry.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
Can I ask if you have a recorded song that we could
share at the end of this episode?
We do that for other musiciansnow, actually Sure.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
We'd love to do that, no bother.
So coming up at the end of thisepisode, what do?
Speaker 2 (20:33):
that for other musicians now actually, sure,
yeah, we'd love to do that.
Oh yeah, no, bother.
So, coming up at the end ofthis episode, what song are we
going to have?
Speaker 1 (20:35):
I'll give you one of my favorite songs, which I can't
recall at the minute.
I don't know which CD I haveavailable here, but Just give me
the best answer we've ever got.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
If we recorded it, we loved it, robert.
If we recorded it, we loved it,robert, there's nothing wrong
with that.
Speaker 3 (20:53):
That's good, I like that.
If we recorded it, we loved it.
I guess let's see what we callthis If we recorded it.
Speaker 2 (20:59):
If we have a guest on the show, we love them.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
Exactly 100% the same thing, the way it should be.
That's right.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
My gosh.
Speaker 3 (21:06):
Yeah, that's fantastic.
So yeah, I mean, you guysobviously have the food and
everything.
I guess you guys are havingacts and stuff.
Is it Thursday and Fridays thatyou have music acts coming in?
Speaker 1 (21:17):
We do music seven nights a week in the Triangle.
Seven nights a week and youknow that was always our goal.
We wanted music to be one ofthe main components of what the
old Triangle is.
You know, music, food,atmosphere and yeah, now COVID
of course changed a lot of thatfor a while, but now we're back
(21:40):
to seven nights a week and wehave everything from the
instrumental tradition to thesong tradition, and then, you
know, we have sort of the stockand trade sort of songs of the
pubs.
Speaker 3 (21:52):
Yeah, of course, stock and trade sort of songs of
the pubs.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
They're not always Irish.
They don't have to be, but notall songs that are sung in
Ireland are Irish either.
Speaker 3 (21:59):
No, that's true.
That being said, though, Ithink a lot of, at least here in
Halifax, the Irish songs arevery much ingrained, Absolutely
yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
And it's more than the atmosphere that they create
within the bar.
You know, and so we yeah, we'revery lucky with that, and you
know what?
There's lots of talent around,lots of local musicians who are
very, very capable of doinggreat shows, and that's a way
and we're delighted we're ableto hire them as well.
Speaker 3 (22:30):
No, they appreciate it.
And I mean, I don't even knowif I've even anytime I've come
here.
I don't know if I've ever paida cover.
You guys aren't turning a cover, no, we don't do that.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
You know, I was never a fan of that myself.
I always thought like when Iwent out to a place, if I was
stopped at the door and asked topay before I go in you know, it
was kind of a personal thing.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
I appreciate it now.
I mean, in their defensethey're trying to keep their
doors open too right Of course,and everybody's doing what they
can to survive.
It's not easy, you know.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
And it's another way of generating revenue.
Thankfully we were not in aposition where we absolutely
needed it.
So if we don't need it, we'drather do without it.
Speaker 2 (23:09):
I remember being in Alberta and I was shocked by
that the first time I covered it.
I'm like I'm just going therefor a drink, what are you
talking?
Speaker 1 (23:15):
about dude.
Speaker 2 (23:16):
But that was everywhere in Alberta.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
Now it's more systemic, but that was what he
had 15 years ago and sometimesyou know if you come into the
Triangle, there's really onlyone room where you can hear well
, where you can see the music.
Would it be fair if people wereup in the snow, having to pay a
cover charge and not access themusic?
Speaker 3 (23:35):
I honestly kind of think and maybe I'm completely
wrong here, but I actually feelthat not charging a cover charge
, you end up getting more on theother end, kind of thing, right
, someone?
Speaker 1 (23:50):
might have an extra beer, might get an appetizer or
something along those lines, andfunds are limited with people
like me, so they're veryselective about how they spend
them and because of thatlimitation you're right you pay
a cover charge you're not goingto buy that extra beer, maybe.
Speaker 3 (24:02):
Maybe not.
Yeah, so you're really sellingexperiences.
Speaker 1 (24:06):
Yeah, that's what we want.
I mean, we want to create a bitof an illusion of what Ireland
is like In our mind anyway andwe you know by the decorations
and by just how you know themenus and stuff like that.
It's just transporting peopleback for a few hours, like and
entertain them with that.
Speaker 2 (24:26):
I'm a big food guy too, so a little bit about the
menu, like what are some of yourmost popular things here?
Speaker 1 (24:31):
So a little bit about the menu.
What are some of your mostpopular things here?
I mean, fish and chips isalways the great go-to.
We have a lamb shank.
Lamb is very big in Ireland aswell, but we do the, you know.
We have vegetarian selection aswell.
We do a great veggie burger.
Speaker 3 (24:46):
Do you guys still have the Ploughman's lunch on
the menu?
Speaker 1 (24:50):
Yes, we do, yeah, it's basically Irish charcuterie
.
Speaker 2 (24:52):
Oh yeah, I mean you can walk me through the
plowman's lunch real quick.
What's that?
Speaker 1 (24:56):
Well, I mean, there's ham in there and there's corned
beef in there and there's eggsin there.
Sounds good.
You know all the food varieties.
Okay, I'm on board with thatCheese?
Speaker 3 (25:07):
Yeah, it's an Irish chicory base.
Speaker 1 (25:10):
Nice Salmon as well.
We have a salmon board as welland we do it in-house here as
well.
We treat the salmon and stuffyou treat the salmon in-house.
Speaker 2 (25:19):
We do.
We treat it very well, yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:28):
Gets massages.
You missed the massage roomdownstairs.
We like to do the.
You know you have the meat andthe poultry and you use the fish
and stuff.
So it's a large menu and alarge variety of foods, I think
for everyone.
Speaker 3 (25:45):
Amazing yeah, it's awesome.
No, it's a good spot, it'salways a go-to spot, Like my
folks try to come here every StPatrick's Day as well too.
It's like their number one spot.
Dad's trying to get down hereearly enough.
I mean, like I said, you'll seepictures.
There's no joke.
Speaker 1 (26:00):
The block is lined up before 7 am Every year.
Yeah, and even on St Patrick'sDay we don't have a cover charge
either.
Speaker 3 (26:07):
That's also another huge thing, because a lot of
places, because they takeadvantage of the fact that St
Patrick's Day, people want to goout there and drink.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
People want to go out there and have a few drinks
right.
Never have, never will we hope.
Speaker 2 (26:16):
I think I'm going to take next St Patrick's Day off.
I haven't done that in a while.
You know what?
I haven't done that in a while,and I used to.
Speaker 1 (26:22):
And it happens to be a Monday in 2025.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
Monday's my.
There we go.
Tuesday could be a difficultday.
You don't want to have apodcast host your St Patrick's
Day, do you?
Speaker 3 (26:39):
We'll come up.
Speaker 1 (26:40):
We'll stamp the hands of going in.
As the day gets on, the podcastwill get sloppier Sometimes.
The sense that's right, Makingsense of the finished product
might be difficult.
Speaker 2 (26:46):
Do they got passports for St Patrick's Day Little bar
passports if?
Speaker 1 (26:48):
you went around the city or something like that.
There you go.
They used to do it.
You know when I think labatt'sdid it at one time where you
would uh.
You know if you filled out a uhgot a stamp from each of the
local establishments on stpatrick's day and then you
submitted that it went into adraw for, I don't know, a week
at rehab or something I don'tknow, because they could promote
(27:09):
an over drinking or potentiallyand you could get yourself.
Speaker 2 (27:12):
You know what here like honestly like it's.
Speaker 3 (27:14):
It's a like.
I find, at least the times thatI've been here on st patrick's
day, that the culture has beenlike get in early and stay in
here and, like you know, paceyourself, drinking all day and
eating all day because peopledon't want to leave well, and
that's the thing you know.
Speaker 1 (27:28):
And then really there is no big drinking culture
anymore.
People want to come in havefood, have a few drinks and
stuff, and that sort of belly-upto the bar culture doesn't
exist anymore.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
It used to be like that, in fact, in Ireland, I
mean, many of the bars didn'teven serve food, but in recent
years, if they've survived, theyhave have as much uh access to
food as as possible well, as youknow, I was saying this to matt
before, but I went to, uhmaxwell's plum one night and uh
(28:00):
see, my buddy was playingsaxophone and uh, you know the
the kids out on a date thatnight.
On a saturday night, we'redrinking coffee yeah, right.
So I think, and I was readingjust recently that the younger
age the the younger demographicare a lot less interested in
alcohol.
Speaker 1 (28:14):
Well, that's why we have as many non-alcoholic
cocktails, which are verypopular as we have alcohol.
But I think it's important thatwe have as much a variety to
appeal to.
But that was not a shame gameeither.
Speaker 2 (28:25):
No, not at all, but it used to be right.
Speaker 1 (28:27):
When I was younger it used to be like what do you
mean?
You're not having a drink.
What's wrong with you when youhave a?
Speaker 2 (28:31):
non-alcoholic drink, you get a blue cup or something
ridiculous Like here wear thishat, you know wear this silly
hat you goofball?
Speaker 1 (28:39):
But they don't do that anymore, right?
A lot less shaming.
I think that's a good thing.
Speaker 3 (28:43):
It is.
Speaker 1 (28:44):
Absolutely.
Speaker 3 (28:45):
Yeah, you can always come here and Well, awesome, you
know what?
Honestly, thank you very muchfor one my pleasure.
This is our third podcast thatwe've recorded here.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
I've made it even more.
Speaker 3 (29:02):
Thank you for allowing us to host us here, and
it won't be the last, that'sfor sure.
Good so yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:09):
Enjoy the day, boys.
Speaker 2 (29:11):
And stay tuned because we have whatever song is
Brian's favorite coming up nextit's coming right up.
Speaker 3 (29:15):
Coming right up song is Brian's favorite coming up.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
Next it's coming right up, cheers, cheers,
sláinte, sláinte.
When the moon's on the waterand the night's drawing in and
you feel like a rum or a jiggerof gin, I'll take you along To
the Mariner's Inn, to the placewhere the sailor men gather.
(29:38):
The old concertina plays someshanty song.
They'll tell you the words sothat you'll sing along and
before the night's over, you'llfeel you belong in the tavern
that's down by the harbour.
So lift up your voices and swayto the tune.
(30:03):
The good times we cherish areover too soon.
We'll find our way home by thelight of the moon From the
tavern that's down by theharbour.
There's a ship's figureheadmounted over the door.
(30:27):
She's heard all the songs andthe stories before.
She'd sooner be facing the wideocean's roar, but she knows
that her sailing is over.
So she smiles all the whilewith her tongue in her cheek the
(30:47):
thing she could tell if sheonly could speak how the tails
of the sailors grow taller eachweek in the tavern that's down
by the harbour.
So lift up your voices and swayto the tune.
The good times we cherish areover too soon.
(31:11):
We'll find our way home by thelight of the moon from the
tavern that's down by theharbour there's an old man who
swears he's been twice round thehorn.
Sailors aren't made, he said.
(31:32):
Sailors are born.
When the seas in your bloodfall, the dangers you'll scorn,
for the home of your heart isthe ocean In the half-light.
An old sea-dog Tells a sad taleOf a ship once was lost On the
swell of a gale, and he vowedfrom that night that he never
(31:58):
would sail, since his matesfound a grave at the bottom.
So lift up your voices and swayto the tune.
The good times we cherish areover too soon.
We'll find our way home by thelight of the moon, from the
(32:19):
tavern that's down by theharbour there's a lantern that
squeaks as it swings in the hall, nets and harpoons and old
ropes on the wall, and it's cosyand warm for the room.
(32:40):
It is small and the candlelightdances and flickers and the
sights and the sounds and thesmells of the sea Set your mind
stirring with things that mightbe Fewer, but younger and single
and free To follow the dreamsof your boyhood.
(33:04):
So lift up your voices and swayto the tune.
The good times we cherish areover too soon We'll find our way
home by the light of the moon,from the tavern that's down by
the harbour.
(33:25):
So lift up your voices and swayto the tune the good times we
cherish Our over.
To soon We'll find our way homeby the light of the moon From
the tavern that's down by theharbor.
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