“I had a great childhood as a kid, but I have to confess to being a bit of a rebel at secondary school. I kind of hated my school, because there was no class for music and I wanted to learn music. Before the end of my Leaving Cert year I got caught on the bunk from school after I was spotted hopping over the gate. I was called into the principal’s office and told that if it happened again I would be expelled. My ambition was to go to the rock college. To get in there you had to audition on to a tape. I did that and got accepted out of 500 people, but I also needed a reference from my school to say I was a good pupil. I went back to the principal and did a deal with the permission of my parents. I told him that if I stayed in school I would probably get expelled because I wasn’t into academic subjects and I was just messing in class and disrupting people. I asked to be allowed to leave, but that I would come back and sit the Leaving Cert. He agreed and that day I stood at the gates on the way out and thought: “Onwards and upwards!” [33]