The Action

• Colm C.T. Wilkinson - vocals & guitar
• Peter Adler - sax & vocals
• Ken Rigley - guitar
• Brian Lynch - bass
• Ian McGarry - drums

Bio:

Sixties mod/soul group with jazz leanings, formed by Ian McGarry after Bluesville split in 1966. Like their London counterparts, The Action were the top mod group in the city in the mid-to-late 1960s.

Peter Adler, Brian Lynch and band leader Ian McGarry were all ex-Bluesville. The Action famously featured the pre-fame Colm C.T.Wilkinson (vocals & guitar), now best known for his West End and Broadway performances in Les Miserables (and, to Irish people of a certain age, his deafening Squeeze Orange Juice advert). Wilkinson and Adler shared lead vocals duties, Wilkinson taking the bluesier material, Adler in Alex Harvey mold, building on his experience standing in for Ian Whitcomb in Bluesville. The Action undoubtedly involved others at various times.

Despite offers from CBS, Tower and Immediate, there were no recordings apart from an RTE studio performance which is now lost. Peter Adler moved on to the Next In Line in February 1966, his more commerical leanings at odds with Ian McGarry's more serious approach. The Action split later the same year. Ian McGarry become a producer at RTE and contined to be an in demand session drummer. Brian Lynch was later in Full Circle.

Help!: We need your help to complete this entry. If you can tell us more about this band then please do! We welcome any corrections, missing details, connections to other bands, where are they now, etc. We also need photos, scans, copies of releases or live or demo recordings, and any other memorabilia gathering dust in the attic. If you can help, then please get in touch.