They came, they Saw, they conquered the Cape
Written by Ed O'Toole

Saw Doctors back for two nights under the Tent
If you’re one of the legion of Saw Doctors fans on the Cape, you’re going to love what Davy Carton says about playing at the Melody Tent: “We’ve never come across anyplace like it anywhere in the world.”

Which is why the Docs’ live DVD (Clare Island to Cape Cod) was filmed at the Tent in 2008, and why they’re returning for two shows, on Aug. 11 and 12.

“People say the Saw Doctors are better live than on record,” Carton admitted in a recent phone interview, “but it’s hard to capture that. A Melody Tent show is the perfect way to capture the atmosphere of one of our concerts. The audience responds; they’re enjoyin’ themselves, standin’ up, wavin’ their arms, and signs, and Irish flags. You can see people drinkin’ and sweatin’. “

That kind of matter-of-fact appraisal marked Carton’s entire conversation. If there’s a Gaelic equivalent of the “Aw, shucks” style we associate here in the States with someone unimpressed with himself, Carton has it. If he said once that he was lucky to be where he is, he said it a dozen times.

Carton and Leo Moran, the heart and soul of the Doctors, met back in the mid-‘80s, and got their break in a scenario that every wannabe band dreams of: “We were spotted… in a bar in Galway.” Suddenly the Saw Doctors were touring England and cutting records. “We’d only played half a dozen gigs!” Carton said with a laugh. “We’ve had a charmed life. Our second single (“I Useta Lover”) became the biggest hit in Irish history. I knock on the door, because this wasn’t meant to happen.”

In a brief moment of reverie, Carton said of rock ‘n’ roll, “I was drawn to the rebellious mystery of it… Elvis, the Undertones, the Ramones, the Clash, Credence, the Sex Pistols. You want to start a band when you hear the Sex Pistols!”

And naturally, unwittingly, tossed into that musical Mulligan stew were more than a few strains of traditional Irish music. “When we were young, we weren’t interested in Irish music,” Carton said with a tone that implied he’d grown older and wiser. No matter how little they paid attention to it, though, they couldn’t keep it out of their songs. “It’s the way we talk, the way we sing; it’s part of us,” he said with more than a hint of pride. “We just like singing and writing songs about our own place.”

Odd that the knock on the Saw Doctors’ music early was that “it’ll never travel” because it was too Irish. (Wonder if Van Morrison got a little of that, too.)

Carton was self-effacing yet again when talking about songwriting: “The credit goes to Leo. He does the majority of the lyrics. He listens to people talking and writes in what they call the vernacular.”

They have “no set way” of writing and composing, according to Carton: “Leo will come to me with bits of paper with lyrics written on them. They might sit in my pocket for three months…but I also might have a riff that doesn’t necessarily fit somewhere else.”

I asked Carton about the sweet melancholy that suffuses the band’s catalog. “The publicity sometimes emphasizes the rowdy songs,” he said, “but we write songs that are reflective,” citing “It Won’t Be Tonight.” “On our most recent album (The Further Adventures of the Saw Doctors), the most dominant theme is reflection.”

Twenty years after their first American tour, how do the Saw Doctors keep things fresh? “We love it. We feel very privileged to do what we’re doing.”

But touring must be difficult. “No,“ Carton said, with a throaty chuckle. “Leo has a saying, ‘Touring is tough,’ but he says it ironically. We love it. It’s better than workin’ in a factory or bein’ a teacher.”

This is the first time the band will do two nights at the Tent, so Carton wanted to assure everyone that the two shows will be different. “Oh, not entirely, of course. We can’t do a show without doing ‘N-17,’ or ‘Green and Red of Mayo,’ or ‘To Win Just Once.’ But the shows will vary each night.

“Every show is a great event for us,” Carton asserted as we wrapped up our chat. “The feeling… is very genuine. And we get a huge lift from the crowd.”

He added loyally, “That’s why we didn’t want a year to go by without going [to the Cape].”