For the shores of green, his father’s homeland

Paul Saitowitz

When Terry Casey of Costa Mesa’s the Fenians hits the stage with his

Celtic melodies and mandolin in tow, he is playing to ghosts.

The ghost of Irish folk music, the ghost of his heritage and, most

importantly, the ghost of his father.

Casey, the son of Irish immigrants, grew up in Orange County in

the 1970s enamored with punk rock. While Black Flag and the Ramones

were inspiring him to pick up a guitar, his father -- who played the

Irish penny whistle -- was dialing him in on his roots behind closed

doors.

“I was in a punk band and listened to that type of music like any

other kid in my neighborhood did,” he said. “In the house my older

siblings would play me the Beatles and the Stones, and my dad would

play the Irish tunes ... I always liked them, but it wasn’t what I

listened to.”

When he was in his early 20s, Casey’s father died after battling a

long illness. Grief-stricken and distraught, he sought comfort in

listening to the music his father loved. The more he listened, the

more it grew on him, and eventually he started playing standards,

such as “Whiskey in the Jar” and “Drunken Sailor,” on his own.

He recruited a couple of like-minded musicians to fill in on bass

and drums, and on Halloween night 1990, the Fenians -- based on the

word Na Fiana, which is a reference to ancient Celtic warriors --

played its first show to the Guinness-fueled crowd at Costa Mesa’s

Irish headquarters, the Harp Inn.

“That first show was great, and from that moment we started to

build a following throughout Costa Mesa and Southern California,”

Casey said.

The band was a regular at the Harp Inn for years, playing its

version of rollicking Emerald Isle standards with a rock twist to

packed houses night in and night out. Its self-titled debut was

recorded there live.

Since then, the Fenians have become a national touring act,

spending more than 100 days on the road each year. Every other year,

the quintet -- rounded out by Kenny Cosca on bass; David Burnett on

whistles, sax and flute; Chris Pierce on drums; and Rob Williams on

guitar -- takes a journey to the motherland with a group of its fans.

“It’s great. We invite the fans to tour Ireland with the Fenians,”

Casey said. “We play shows and they get to see the country that we

sing about.”

The band has self-released four albums, and the latest, “Every

Day’s A Hooley,” features original tunes mixed with obscure folk

numbers.

“We have had offers from labels that have wanted to put out our

records, but in the age of the Internet, we have a distribution deal

and have been able to sell quite a few records on our own,” he said.

For Casey, making a living playing music is just a coda to being

able to connect to his father.

“My unfulfilled dream is that I never got a chance to play with my

dad, but maybe one day, on some stage somewhere, it will happen,” he

said.