Tipsy 

 

Tipsy was a lifelong friend to the entire band, and he will be sorely
missed. Besides being a true friend he was also our sound man, stage
manager, and a fixer upper of all things electrical and emotional from a
power blackout of an entire village to the biggest hissy fits any band
could possibly muster.
 
He was always helping and giving to others, one of the most selfless
people I have ever met and despite all is hard graft he never expected
anything in return. Once he even pretended to be sick from work so he
could 'borrow' his work van full of sound equipment and bring us on a
week long tour around Ireland. I think he might have got caught but
invariably charmed his way out of that one.
 
He was ill all his life but never let the illness rule him or stop him
from living. He always seemed to be at ever session and every mini bus
you ever got on! He kept up with the best of us and most of the time put
us to shame.
 
He loved life, loved music and loved his friends. He had a special
individual relationship with everyone here and always had time to listen
to everyone else's woes. I never heard him complain about being sick or
bitch about other people. He was the infectious one with the cheeky
smile, the charmer every girl had a soft spot for. He was a legend, a
warrior and a champion wrapped up into the biggest little man that ever was.
 
I'm so glad he was our stage manager at Oxegen a couple of weeks ago. It
was an amazing experience and he ran the show with no fuss, no dramas
fixing everything before it went wrong, selfless to the last. The people
running the festival were delighted and kept asking 'who's that little
fella you brought with you?' Afterwards he kept telling my girlfriend
how brilliant the gig was and of how proud he was of us. He wasn't one
to dish out complements in too handy so as you can imagine we were all
really delighted to hear that.
 
It's fantastic we all got to let rip before he left us. It was some
laugh, Tipsy loved to laugh, he was really good at it. You should have
seen him wreck the place to Rage Against The Machine; he jumped
amazingly high for a little fella. He was such a ball of positive energy.
 
It's hard to sum a character like Tips up in words or convey how
heartbroken we all at the moment. I know he wouldn't want us to be sad
and would definitely want us to focus on the good times of which there
we so many. The 'No Sleep till Dublin' and no 'sleep till Boston' tours
, the countless dodgy gigs, tours, sessions and situations we all always
seemed to end up in. All priceless and golden memories.
 
 
We are all going to miss you so much man. You are a true legend. Thanks
for such an amazing friendship, you gave us more than you will ever know-.
 
But let's not think of Tipsy as being no longer with us he's just gone
to arrange the bus for the next big gig.
 
Tipsy, now there is a light that will never go out...