his teens, he played in sessions in Limerick and County Clare. Fean developed his listening tastes from rock to blues and incorporated it into his guitar style. In his late teens he played in a group called Sweet Street, with Joe O'Donnell on electric fiddle and Eugene Wallace. He later played in Jeremiah Henry, a rock and blues band. His idols were Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton. He left Jeremiah Henry in 1970 to play traditional music again in Limerick. Career Original line-up Barry Devlin, Eamon Carr and Charles O'Connor met when they worked at the Ark advertising company in Dublin. They were cajoled into pretending to be a band for a Harp Lager commercial but needed a keyboard player. Devlin said he knew a Jim Lockhart who would fit the bill. The four enjoyed the act so much that they decided to try being proper rock performers. They joined guitarist Declan Sinnott, a colleague of Eamon Carr's from Tara Telephone and, briefly, Gene Mulvaney to form Horslips (originally Horslypse) in 1970. The band went professional on St Patrick's Day 1972 having shed Mulvaney and released a single, "Johnny's Wedding", on their own record label, Oats. Declan Sinnott left soon after, primarily due to his annoyance at the group appearing in an advert for Mirinda orange drink (shot in the grounds of Ardmore Studios Bray in Easter 1972). Sinnott was replaced by Gus Guest, who appeared on the group's second single "Green Gravel", but departed shortly thereafter. Johnny Fean then replaced Guest, and the 'classic' Horslips line-up that would appear on all future releases was set. Albums Horslips designed their own artwork, wrote sleeve-notes and researched the legends that they made into concept albums. They established their own record label, Oats, and licensed the recordings through Atco, RCA and DJM for release outside Ireland. They kept their base in Ireland, unlike previous Irish bands. In October 1972, Horslips went to Longfield House in Tipperary and recorded their first album, Happy to Meet – Sorry to Part, in the Rolling Stones Mobile Studio. On this first album the melodies were mostly traditional. Jim Lockhart was on keyboards and gradually mastered other instruments including uillean pipes. Eamon Carr was on drums, including the Irish bodhrán. Happy To Meet, Sorry To Part was the fastest-selling album for eight years in Ireland. The sleeve was an elaborate concertina-shaped fold-out design. The Abbey Theatre in