A-Z Artist Index Compilations Record Labels Media
Help Us! Contact Us Resources Timeline
Bio:
The Baby Snakes were very much a straight Roll'n'Roll band in Stones/New York
Dolls mould, lacking sometimes in the song-writing department. Formed by Frank
Rynne (from Arklow) and John Bonnie in 1985, both ex Those Handsome Devils.
They opened their appearance at the Mega-Bash at the Ivy Rooms Dublin on 29 August 1985
with a cover of "Wig Wam Bam". They played a residency at the Underground
in December 1985.
Bonnie left by the
end of that year. His replacement was Ciaran O'Brien who stormed out of the
studio during the recording of the "Sweet Hunger" LP because co-producer Paul
Thomas was driving him nuts. This is how Brian Downey (of Thin Lizzy fame) came
to play on that LP. O'Brien continued as the band's regular drummer after the
recording.
Frank Rynne earned a bad reputation for slagging off certain other bands in the
music press in Ireland. This combined with manager Joe Ambrose's talent for hype rubbed many
people the wrong way. This period in the music scene in Dublin was marked by scores
of mediocre rock bands vying to be the next U2 and a lot of clueless A&R people competing to
sign them. The Baby Snakes released the "This City Sucks" live cassette and left
Dublin for London in 1988, where they remained until their break up 1993.
Joe
Ambrose's novel Serious Time (Pulp Books) is a fictionalised account of the
bands days living in Brixton. The band in the book is called The Subliminal
Kids, a reference to the first Baby Snakes EP.
New Zealander Jeff Nilson became the bands drummer circa 1989 and plays on the 'Rebel Radio'
album released in 1990. His last gig with the band was at the Maquee club in London where he
was introduced to Nigel Preston (ex The Cult) who took his place.
This incarnation of the Baby Snakes played many gigs in North London,
including one at the Mean fiddler with Jeffrey Lee Pierce (The Gun Club) playing harmonica.
Pierce was reputedly
set to produce the group's next record in 1991 but Nigel Preston landed in prison (for armed
robbery) in 1990 and these plans fell through.
All in all, about 20 studio tracks and 12 live tracks were recorded during this period, and these
remain unreleased.
An EP of Johnny Cash covers, the 'Four Foot Tapping Greats EP', emerged in 1992.
On his release from prison, Preston became The Gun
Club's drummer while remaining a member of the Baby Snakes. He died of a drug
overdose on 1st April 1992.
The band's last recording session was for BBC Radio
in 1993.
Santides was the bands own label. Unreleased songs include "Herbert Huncke, US Junkie"
and a cover of Lou Reed's "My Friend George".
Frank Rynne currently manages the affairs of the Musicians of Joujouka and has
produced several of their CDs.
For more details check out www.joujouka.net.
Joe Ambrose has written several books - see www.joeambrose.net
for details.
Lineup: Frank Rynne (vocals & guitar), Colin Byrne (guitar), Daragh McCarthy (bass), John Bonnie (drums).
Ciaran O'Brien (drums) 1986-88 approx.
Nigel Preston (drums) 1988-91 approx.
Niall O'Sullivan (guitar) original lineup, co-wrote many of the early songs with Rynne,
but left in July 1987 to concentrate on painting. He played on the last recording session in 1993.
Not to be confused with the mid-80s Swedish band.
Notes: Lineup: Frank Rynne (vocals), Colin Byrne (guitar) , Niall O'Sullivan (co-guitar on "Little Sisters"), Pat O'Brien (bass) and Ciaran O'Brien (drums). "Fade" polled #13 in Fanning's Fab 50 in December 1985.
Notes:
Five live tracks recorded in 1987 including covers of the 13th Floor Elevators and Them.
The lineup is listed as Frank Rynne (vocals), Daragh McCarthy (bass), Colin Byrne (guitars) and
Ciaran O'Brien (drums).
Notes: Different recording of "Looking For Strange" which appeared on the Songs For Subliminal Kids EP. Lineup: Frank Rynne (vocals), Colin Byrne (guitar), Daragh McCarthy (bass), Brian Downey (drums).
Notes: Lineup: Frank Rynne (guitar, vocals), Alex Hooper (guitar), Axel (bass?) and Jeff Nilson (drums). Niall O'Sullivan appears on some tracks.
Notes: Four Johnny Cash covers, two recorded in mono. The studio recordings were done in two sessions in GLR studios, live to DAT. This EP was released in conjunction with a series of concerts of Johnny Cash covers during 1991 and 1992. Lineup confirmed as: Frank Rynne (vocals, rhythm guitar), Alex Hooper (guitar), Antony O'Neill (bass), Tom Hopper (drums, except "Folsom Prison Blues") and Nigel Preston (drums on "Folsom Prison Blues" only).
Notes:
This film documents The Here To Go Show, an exhibition and festival
celebrating the work of William Burroughs and Brion Gysin, staged in
Dublin in 1992. The festival was organised by Joe Ambrose, Frank Rynne
and Terry Wilson.
The film includes footage of the Baby Snakes performing at the festival
(the audio is overdubbed with a track from their last studio recording
session). There is also a performance by Agnes Bernelle among others.
The exhibition included works by Mohamed Hamri (who brought Brian Jones to
the Moroccan village of Joujouka in 1968) and a performance by The Master
Musicians of Joujouka. Ambrose & Rynne became involved with the Joujouka
musicians as a result of this festival.
We need your help to correct and/or complete this entry. If you can provide more information about this band, have scans, photos or any other memorabilia we can use, or spare copies of any releases, then please get in touch.