Horslips artist picimg 2 . akamaized . netiu 252 a 539 afd 09 c 6 b 47 e 993 a 38 cd 1 ea 899 df 4 . png Horslips were a 1970 s Irish rock band that composed , arranged and performed their own Celtic rock songs and music based on traditional Irish jigs and reels . They were one of the first , if not the first , of the Celtic rock bands of that era . Formed in 1970 , they disbanded in 1980 , but recently in 2005 the original lineup has regrouped and performed a small number of gigs . Band members Jim Lockhart , from Francis St in Dublin , studied classical music at Trinity College Dublin . He fell under the influence of Sean Riada , wanting to build an orchestral sound out of Irish music . He played keyboards , pipes , whistles and flute . He did vocals on a select number of songs , mainly in Manx or Irish . Eamon Carr is from Kells , County Meath . He started a quarterly literary magazine called The Tara Telephone in Dublin in the late 60 s that also ran poetry recitals . He was the drummer . Charles O ' Connor , from Middlesbrough in the UK played concertina , mandolin , and fiddle later on he played the electric guitar and shared the main vocal tasks with Barry Devlin and Johnny Fean . Barry Devlin , from Ardboe in County Tyrone once trained as a Franciscan priest . He left this to do English in UCD and then after joined a graphics company as a screenwriter . He was the band ' s bass player , shared vocals and its unofficial front man . Johnny Fean was born in Dublin in 1951 and spent his childhood in the city of Limerick . He soon mastered guitar , banjo , mandolin and harmonica . In his teens , he played in sessions in Limerick and County Clare . He 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 . Read more on Last . fm . 20 , 192 listeners , 286 , 724 plays tags folk rock , irish , Progressive rock , celtic Please downvote if incorrect ! Selfdeletes if score is 0 .