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Bio:
Arguably the most important Irish beat group, and one of the first to score
international success. The Creatures were formed in 1965
by Frank Boylan, Liam McKenna
and Ray McDonald of The Hootenannys.
An earlier version of the Creatures reputedly pre-dated The Hootenannys.
That lineup was Boylan, McKenna, Reg Dunne and an unknown drummer,
but they never recorded and were presumably short-lived (they also toyed
with the name The Wogs).
The Creatures were spotted at the Locomotive Club in Paris by Neil Levenson, a
staff producer at Columbia Records in New York, who signed them to Columbia
Records USA. The band travelled to the USA in 1966 for a promotional tour and
stayed for an extended period, making many recordings with Levenson. In all
four singles were released in the USA and 3 in Ireland and the UK.
The debut single "Turn Out the Light" was their best chance at a chart hit outside
Ireland but it failed to provide a break through. It is credited to D. Lindsay who
is undoubtedly Derry Lindsay, who played with the Pat Loughman Showband and The Kamels
and later co-wrote "All Kinds Of Everything" for Dana in 1970.
The Creatures listened to a lot of demos while in New York while selecting material to
record.
Liam McKenna brough two of these songs back to Dublin where they were recorded by The Deep Set.
Both were Neil Levenson compositions, "The House With The White Washed Gable" (originally
titled "222 East Maple") and "Walking In The Park".
The lifestyle in New York didn't appeal to everyone and Ray McDonald was first to leave,
replaced in late 1966 by Fran Byrne, ex Chosen Few.
The band split in September 1967.
Boylan, McDonald and Harris all played with Ditch Cassidy & The News.
Brian Harris subsequently joined The Gentry and the Cotton Mill Boys.
Liam McKenna joined The Real McCoy and later played the showband circuit with The Memories.
Frank Boylan joined Mellow Candle and later the Gary Moore Band and Chips.
The Creatures were managed by Ted Carroll who with Peter Bardon and Brian Tuite formed
the partnership which managed Thin Lizzy and Mellow Candle in the early 70's.
The Creatures discography is crying out for a CD release.
Bio:
Instrumental beat group similar to The Shadows, The Ventures and The Outlaws formed in late 1962.
Issued a decent if unexceptional single in April 1964. The A-side is credited to J.Bonner, J.Cuddy [presumably Joe Cuddy]
and D.Kay [probably manager Dermot Kerley]. The band performed "Fiona" on Pickin' The Pops on RTE on April 18th.
Evolved into The Creatures a year later.
Boylan, McDonald and McKenna later became The Creatures in April 1965.
Jim Dalton joined the Johnny Flynn Showband (November 1967) and was later in The Fleet (April 1972).
Bobby Kelly joined The Chosen Few
and was later in The Greenbeats and The Sands.
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.
thanks to TP McLoughlin