The live music series Other Voices has become something of an institution since its inception in 2001. For a quarter of a century, many famous national and international artists have made the journey to Dingle to play in the atmospheric surroundings of St James’ church. The functioning Anglican place of worship transforms into an intimate setting with capacity for 80 audience members and has been the perfect backdrop for some wonderful performances. Don’t bother looking for tickets on Ticketmaster though – they can only be acquired by winning competitions or a ticket lottery. The latest big name to take to the stage in the small church was the world-renowned rock band Foo Fighters. If it was the band’s first time to visit Dingle together, it was not the first time for the lead singer and founder of the band, Dave Grohl. Grohl was the drummer for Nirvana, a Seattle-based grunge outfit which had disbanded following the death of singer Kurt Cobain in 1994. To escape the media frenzy that surrounded Cobain’s death, Grohl came to Ireland for a break and to try figure out what he wanted to do next. He tells the story that while driving a rental car around the Ring of Kerry, he stopped to pick up a young hitchhiker. The youngster was wearing a Cobain T-shirt and Grohl realised then that his future still lay in music. He returned to the US where he began his next project, Foo Fighters. They would go on to become one of the most famous rock groups in the world. In 2022, Grohl again suffered the pain of a bandmate’s death when Taylor Hawkins, the Foo Fighters drummer, died tragically at the age of 50. On stage in Dingle in February, Foo Fighters were also without their guitarist Pat Smear, who had broken bones in his foot in a gardening accident. The band on stage was still Foo Fighters but without Smear and Hawkins, something had been lost. At what point does a band become a different band? When The Eagles (neither The Eagles nor Foo Fighters are preceded by the definite article) played in Dublin in 2022, the line-up featured Don Henley, Joe Walsh, Timothy B Schmit, Vince Gill and Deacon Frey. Of those, only Henley was a member of the original band and in some ways, one might venture that they were their own tribute band. Famously, Henley had claimed that hell would freeze over before they ever played together again following an acrimonious split in 1980. However, the passing of time had lowered the temperature and they reunited in 1994.Of course, many bands have gone through line-up changes and reinventions. The longevity of The Rolling Stones saw the band survive the death of Brian Jones. When Mick Taylor, Jones’s replacement, left the band in 1974 to be replaced by Ronnie Wood, it was jokingly claimed that he was the only guitarist to leave the Stones alive until Bill Wyman departed in 1993. Since the death of long-time drummer Charlie Watts in 2021, the Stones have recorded new material, including the upcoming album Foreign Tongues. They continued to tour but only the Glimmer Twins – Jagger and Richards – have been there since the beginning. Other bands have called it a day when a member has passed away. Nirvana, as mentioned earlier, didn’t survive Cobain’s death. Neither did rock’n’roll giants, Led Zeppelin, who rarely played live after the death of their drummer, John Bonham in 1980.On the rare occasions when the band took to the stage after Bonham’s passing, it was with Phil Collins (at Live Aid) or John’s son, Jason, on the drums. Bruce Springsteen also opted to keep the job in the family when he asked Jake Clemons to fill the large, saxophonic hole left in the E Street band by his uncle Clarence, who died in 2011.Drumming appears to be a risky business. Apart from the deaths mentioned here – Don Henley a notable exception – several drummers have suffered physically from the violent exertions required to play their instrument.Our own Larry Mullen jnr – the drummer and founder member of U2 who pinned the famous note to the Mount Temple school noticeboard looking to start a band – has paid a price for pursuing his musical passion. Mullen required surgery to repair injuries sustained throughout a long career with U2 and the recovery time precluded him from joining Bono, Adam Clayton and The Edge when they took to the stage of The Sphere for their record-breaking and innovative residency in Las Vegas.It was a step too far for me though. How could U2, without Larry Mullen, be even better than the real thing?