How did The Boomtown Rats come about?
Garry: Johnnie and I had been playing piano and guitar together for a year or so and decided in 1974 to try and get a band together. I had been in a band at school with Simon, who was our drummer. Johnnie and I both knew Gerry Cott, who was living near us, and Johnnie’s cousin, Paddy Cusack, whom we re-named Pete Briquette as a homage to his agricultural origins, was studying Architectural Technology with both of them. He had taken jazz guitar lessons which led us to think he might know something about playing an instrument. As he was the smallest of us, we thought it would be amusing if he was the bass player. I had been hanging around with Geldof, and I thought he would make a good manager for the band, so I got the others to agree to him attending one of our rehearsals. At the rehearsal Bob produced a harmonica and played along to a Dr. Feelgood song we had learned. I suddenly saw a way out of having to be the lead singer, as I wasn’t keen on playing guitar and singing at the same t
