This narrower focus proves decisive, as the band begins to build a real reputation on the music circuit in the city. Where he initially believed they could take the whole country by storm and bring a craze for soul music to the Irish, he begins to contemplate a focus on Dublin.

Mickah Wallace, who had been acting as a bouncer for the band at their live gigs, takes over on the drums and is a much better fit.Īlthough the band begins to gel, slowly getting a warmer response from the local crowds thanks to Joey’s musical education, Jimmy begins to scale back his goals for The Commitments. The drummer, Billy, and Deco do not get along, and before long, Billy quits the band. Deco is talented, but his personality is irritating. Joey begins training the rest of the group, who have little idea how to play their instruments, much less how to function as a band. Balding and middle-aged, Joey, much older than everyone else, is the only true musician in the group and has played professionally at a relatively high level. Finally, Jimmy recruits Joey 'The Lips' Fagan to play the trumpet. Jimmy builds the band, bringing in James Clifford as a keyboardist, Dean Fay to play saxophone, Billy Mooney to play drums, and backing vocalists Imelda, Natalie, and Bernie (collectively known as The Commitmentettes). Jimmy has already put an ad in the paper and makes the band kick in for the cost. At a band meeting where he introduces Deco to Outspan and Derek, Jimmy tells them they will need to recruit more players for his vision: drums, saxophone, trumpet, keyboards. Jimmy recruits a local man Declan Cuffe, whom everyone calls Deco, to be the singer in the band.

His second is to rename the group The Commitments because all the great band names begin with “the.” When formally asked to be their manager, Jimmy agrees. Jimmy believes they should be playing what he considers “soul” music.

He advises them to forget about the “art school” songs they’ve been trying to cover and to focus on the basics – sex and politics. Jimmy is open to taking on the challenge of making them a band. They don’t know much about music and are already arguing over the musical direction for the band Outspan and Derek despise Ray’s taste. A third member, Ray, is in the bathroom when this decision is made and isn’t immediately informed. Outspan and Derek ask local audiophile Jimmy Rabbitte to be the manager of their band, And And And. Roddy Doyle’s The Commitments (1987) is told mainly through exchanges of dialogue as the novel tracks the formation, slight rise, and fall of a band in 1980s Dublin attempting to bring soul music to Ireland.

The commitments doyle