Black Catholics

• Shark ??
• a.o.

Bio:

Late 70s/early 80s Dublin punk with a self-destructive streak. Mostly from Finglas area, and Bohemians supporters.

The Black Catholics played live just once, at the Dandelion Market on Sunday 20th May 1979, supporting The Letters. The original singer died aged 18 when he fell off the ferry to Liverpool or Holyhead and drowned. His replacement was Dave Donnelly. There are no recordings but practice tapes reputedly exist.

The band gained a reputation for wreaking havoc at other bands gigs, especially "new wave" bands. This was not the band itself but it's fans/supporters who chanted their name at these gigs. Eventually the name became associated with the gang. Their motto was "Actifed For An Active Head" (Actifed being a popular cough medicine) which they spray-painted on walls, etc. The gang attacked/disrupted one gig as the CIE Hall staged by the bands from the Belfast anarchy centre (Stalag 17, Toxic Waste, supported by Paranoid Visions). But Allan Clarke of Ruefrex reputedly dealt with them effectively at a gig at the Mansion House with SLF ... anyone there? There are also reports of disruptions of U2 gigs at the Baggot and the Project Arts, which I presume is documented in one of the many U2 books out there.

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