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DC Nien (DC9)

From: Dublin

Active: 1976- December 1980

Style: Punk/New Wave

Lineup:

Bio:

Named after the north Dublin city district (Dublin 9) which spawned them and in tribute to their German Musik influence (a mispelled 'nein') DC Nien were unusual by 1977 standards, incorporating sax & synths and an unorthodox approach to songwriting, and were reputedly awesome live, but by 1981 they had regrettably morphed into Tokyo Olympics.


l-to-r: Brian Seales, Damien Gunn, an elderly fan


DC Nein were one of the big Dublin bands of their time, rivalling U2 and The Atrix in popularity. Guitarist Paul McGuinness had been a roadie for the Radiators From Space at their first gig in November 1976, by which time he'd already formed DC Nein and was full of confidence about the band. DC Nein toured Ireland as support to XTC in 1979; opened for AC/DC the same year; they were mentioned regularly in the UK music press' coverage of the Dublin music scene and were one of the main bands covered in Dave McCullough's "Coming Up For Eire" piece in Sounds magazine in September 1979; and they played the Dark Space (1979) and Sense of Ireland (1980) festivals; does anyone recall an outdoor performance in Mountjoy Square during the summer of 1980?; they also launched their own Nienteeneightease label in 1980.

DC Nein made their vinyl debut in December 1979 on the Just For Kicks compilation LP and self-released their excellent single a couple of months later in February 1980. All three tracks ("Reptile", "Nightclub" and "Things Japanese") are highly recommended. This was followed by a cassette only release "The Red Tapes" containing live and demo recordings. Despite uneven sound, it is also excellent and well worth tracking down [if anyone has a copy for sale, please get in touch!]. All this material is ripe for CD reissue Paul! It was well received at the time and expectations were high.

But the expected breakthrough didn't happen. Punk became post-punk, new wave, new pop, new romantic... and DC Nein, with the addition of a couple of ex Fast Skirts (Joey Cashman on saxophone and John 'Sarge' O'Hara replacing Brendan Gannon on keyboards) became Tokyo Olympics, sometime around Christmas 1980.

 

left, Paul McGuinness in action; right, live at the Dandelion in October 1979 (photo by Gerard McIver)





Hot Press cover 1980?

Discography

• demos
There are undoubtedly several early demo tapes.
Details unknown; Hot Press mentions "Living At Risk", "Reverberation", "Master of the Universe"


• various artists - Just For Kicks
LP - Kick Records - KK-1 - IRL - December 1979
See Compilations section for full track listing.



• Nightclub / Things Japanese
7" - Nienteeneightease Records - DC9-001 - IRL - February 1980 - insert


Notes:
Recorded at Windmill Lane Studios. Produced by Tony O'Meara and Donal Lunny with assistance from Ross Fitzsimons.
Excellent cover design by Rapid Exteriors AKA Steve Rapid. Approx 1500 copies sold.



• The Red Tapes
K7 - Nienteeneightease Records - DCMC 01 - IRL - 1980
10 track cassette

Compilation tape released shortly after the Nightclub single, featuring recordings spanning the bands career. Over 500 copies were sold by April 1981 and it remained available at least during the lifetime of Tokyo Olympics. When the original 500 sold out, copies on branded blanks were made available. I'm looking for a copy of this tape, preferably an original; if you have one please get in touch




Help!

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.



See Also: Fast Skirts, The Mod-Ls, Tokyo Olympics


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