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A chairty CD gathering together Wexford's best rock, pop
and indie acts from the late seventies and eighties which
show there's no better fertile environment for creativity
than the gloom and oom of recession, emigration, dole queues
and spiralling mortgage interest rates. As the archive pictures
reveal, the haircuts and fashion styles have not aged well, but
most of the music stands up to the test of time.
'Dreamers & Corner Boys: Rock Pop Indie Wexford Bands 1978-1989'
is a 20 song collection from an extraordinary decade in Wexford
music, by any standards. It includes recordings by the shining
stars of the era (The Roach Band, Pierce Turner,
Larry Kirwan, Cry Before Dawn, Paul Bell)
alongside some super-talented bands who were not favoured
with a major recording deal but contributed in spades to a vibrant
music scene in eighties Wexford.
'These recordings have been taken from various sources, old cassette
tapes, vinyl and CDs. Sound quality may vary'. It's a tribute to the
perseverence of Ger Byrne and the rest of the committee who
jumped through hoops to get the record/publishing company
permissions to use some of the tracks and had dusty attics torn
asunder for long-lost demos.
The project brings to CD many tracks that may otherwise never
have made it to the format and were previously only available
on vinyl or cassette tape. It revives memories of sweaty nights
in Wexford Arts Centre and a number of venues that don't exist
anymore: Imperial bar, The Shambles and the County Hotel in
Anne Street, for example. And, indirectly, it pays tribute to behind the
scenes contributors who enabled a Wexford music scene to
survive and thrive.
Peple like Mike Odlum of Cooleycall Studios in Bridgetown, Denis
Collins in teh Arts Centre and Declan Lowney who, as a producer
in RTE at the time, made it possible for Wexford acts to access
some important TV exposure.
One of the striking features of this set is the diversity of material.
Another is the number of very successful names who burst forth
from Wexford and put the town on the international music map.
Just why Wexford succeeded in this refard where other towns did not is
maybe difficult to explain. But it surely has something to do with
geography: Wexford's proximity to Wales and the fact that the majority
of people travelling throug the town are off the boat and not from
another Irish town has long meant an exposure to wider influences.
And, while we have had some outstanding traditional musicians
and country performers, Wexford's never been a hotbed of trad,
compared to counties on the Western seaboard, not a centre of
country 'n' irish excellence compared to the counties in the midlands
and up into Donegal, leaving rock, pop and indie to fill the vacuum.
Proceeds from the sale are going to a cause that probably doesn't
get enough attention and is not widely publicised. Ichthypsos affects as
few as one in 300,000 people (in its most severe form), and there are
sufferers in Wexford. A rare genetic skin condition, it can cause
excruciating pain thanks to cracking of the skin, and complications
can be life threatening. Money raised through 'Dreamers & Corner
Boys' will go to the Ichthyosis Support Group to fund research and
provide support to those affected through literature and educational
conferences.
Dreamers & Corner Boys features almost every band of
note from Wexford's rock and pop scene of the late
seventies and eighties, and also some of the Wexford
exports who achieved success abroad.
One obvious omission is three-piece Out Of Uniform
who recorded one memorable two track tape ('Turning In Circles',
'Primary Innocence'). Unfortunately, no copy could be unearthed,
so if you have one it's a real rarity ... and the band
probably want to buy it back.
Dreamers & Corner Boys could have been an eighties
compilation, but that would have meant omitting The
Roach Band and that was simply not an option.
Billy Roche and his band not only drew up the blueprint,
but laid the foundations on which an entire Wexford
music scene was built. In the final few years of the
seventies they brought their brand of bluesy powerpop
to venues all over Ireland, attracted an RTE TV crew to
Wexford for a special feature (check it out on Youtube) and
released two singles: 'Shamrock Shuffle' and 'Italy'. Sadly,
neither are included on this CD, but the song 'Werewolf'
captures their sound.
The Roach Band had a group of disciples and a
regular Sunday morning Imperial Bar support act in the near
legendary Black Arthur and the Undertakers, the
only band on this CD who never recorded in their brief
career. Their inclusion is made possible through a new
song, 'Boppin' Down The Bog Road', written by original member
Niall Lacey who performs it with former Black Arthur
bandmates Mick O'Brien and Pat Hayes, Tony Hall completed
the original lineup. Post Black Arthur, Mick,
Par and Tony went on to form Cry Before Dawn
with Brendan Wade. Niall Lacey would go on to play
with Tru'penny Opera. After the demise of the
aforementioned Out Of Uniform, Vinnie Doyle
went on to replace Mick O'Brien as Cry Before Dawn
bassist. CBD frontman Brendan Wade later
teamed up with Paul Bell o nthe successful Wild
Swans in the nineties but Bell, who first came
to attention outside of Wexford as a founding member
of The Lookalikes, is included on the CD fronting
Zerra 1, his London-based band who released
a number of singles and two albums in the eighties.
Paul Bell's brother Shay also features on Dreamers... as part
of The Beatless (who also included Out Of
Unofirm's Boris Carroll on drums). There are other
examples of a tangled web of inter-band relationships.
Mick Odlum and Des Gaffney of The Roach Band
are also included as The Bantu Bottle Company
who first and only single 'Teach The Children' was created
using milk bottles and other everyday objects as musical
instruments.
Many of the demos and singles featured on the CD were
recorded at Odlum's Cooleycall Studios in the idyllic
setting of a farmhouse near Bridgetown where Paul
Spencer, also of the Roach Band, was sound
engineer. Spencer had a spell as guitarist with
Cry Before Dawn after the departure of
Tony Hall in the early ninetines.
Ian 'Mocha' Moloney was consistently one of the best
vocalists on Wexford's rock scene in the eighties and
he features on two bands here: Prime Suspect and
Twilight Dreams. The bands also shared the
same guitarist, David Vaughy, and drummer, Declan Roche.
There are also two entries for Niall Jordan and Mick
Ringwood who, with Brian Moore, delivered a compelling
electronic sound on Elektron, and then formed
The Third Mind as a duo.
Ger Byrne, one of the main movers behind the 'Dreamers
& Corner Boys' compilation, played bass with Prime
Suspect and later Dorchadas, the only
folk/trad outfit to be included. Paul Molloy also played
with Dorchadas and contributed to
Tru'penny Opera.
One of the most fondly remembered bands of the era,
Tru'penny Opera drew their ranks from Wexford
and Enniscorthy and were fronted by Mick Egan who
later released a wealth of original as a solo artist.
Egan had the task of perparing much of the material
for Dreamers & Corner Boys in his studio. He wrote the
closing number 'Take Care Of Me' especially for the
project with former Tru'penny Opera band-
mate Noel Quaid, and it's performed by an Ensemble
that includes Pat Hayes, Niall Lacey and Conor Kenny,
as well as Egan and Quaid.
Pierce Turner and Larry Kirwan,
Wexford's finest music exports, were signed to Polydor
as a duo in the seventies, a time when few Irish acts
has recording contracts. They left these shores for
New York where they played as Turner And Kirwan
of Wexford, before forming The Major Thinkers.
It's a pity the Thinker's 'Back In The
Eighties' single didn't find its way on to this CD (for
the name alone), but Turner and Kirwan are
well represented, with key songs that reference
Wexford, from their subsequent careers: 'Banks of
the Hudson' from Kirwan's celtic rockers Black 47,
and Pierce's 'Musha God Help Her' which was later recorded
by Christy Moore.
If anyone can help me locate a copy of this CD please get in touch.