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Bio:
Eire Apparent was in fact the last lineup of The People,
a band whose history dates back through several lineup changes to the early 1960's.
The People had been managed by David Robinson and had moved from North Ireland to Blackpool
and then spent a highly successful and influential period in Dublin, before setting off for London in May 1967.
There they endured a tough couple of
months until old manager Dave Robinson got them a gig at the UFO club. This brought
them to the attention of Mike Jeffreys & Chas Chandler which led to a new management deal,
a name change to Eire Apparent courtesy of Chandler, and support slots
on the legendary Jimi Hendrix Experience,
The Move and Pink Floyd tour of November - December 1967.
Eire Apparent's recording debut was an excellent single for Track Records, "Follow Me" / "Here I Go Again".
Released in January 1968, it failed to take off and Track did not pick up the option
for an LP. Nevertheless the band's fortunes were picking up especially in North America, where
they spent most of 1968 touring as support act either for Hendrix or The Animals, and often with
the Soft Machine on the same bill, as all these acts were managed by Jeffreys & Chandler.
Then in September, McCullough was busted in Canada
and had to leave the country to avoid a jail sentence. The rest of the band were
understandably reluctant to quit the tour, and so McCullough's place was taken by Mick Cox
(ex The End, The Alleykatz).
With a new lead guitarist and Jimi Hendrix in the producer's chair, the band recorded it's
debut LP for Buddah Records in October 1968.
"Sunrise" is a mix of rock, 60s pop, psychedelia and some early progressive moves.
It's diverse nature is held against it in some
quarters but it's long been a staple for psych collectors. It sold reasonably well
and was kept in print for some years. In fact it was once a common bargin bin find,
but now it's become somewhat harder to find in good condition.
One track on the album "Mr. Guy Fawkes"
became a hit for Australian psych band The Dave Miller Set, who recorded a fantastic
version of the song. It is a rare example
of a cover outdoing an original by some margin.
Mick Cox was replaced by David 'Tiger' Taylor in November 1968.
Back in London in early 1969, the band recorded a new song "Rock'N'Roll Band" for the A-side of
their second single and spent the rest of January touring in Europe with Hendrix.
Rough tapes survive of the bands performances in Stuttgart (January 19) and Vienna (January 22nd) on
this tour. Their half hour set included covers of "The Price of Love" (Everly Brothers),
"Highway 61 Revisited" (Dylan) and "Gloria" (Them), the later including extended instrumental
sections complete with drum solo.
At the end of this tour
the relationship with Mike Jeffreys and Hendrix ended, and the band returned to
the UK without management or record company support.
The rest of 1969 was spent by the band trying to establish itself in the UK
but they paid the price for concentrating on touring in the USA and being signed to
a US label. They found themselves
starting from scratch again. The
second single came out in March 1969 to promote the album. "Rock'N'Roll Band"
is good but the B-side, "Yes I Need Someone" is superb.
It failed to chart. On April 20th they recorded three tracks for a John Peel BBC Top Gear session
(Yes I Need Someone / Highway 61 / Gloria) which have never been released.
After a long year spent touring the small clubs and universities in Britain
and with nothing to show for it, the band split at the end of 1970.
Ernie Graham released a solo album on Liberty Records in 1971,
backed by members of
Brinsley Schwartz,
and was involved in Help Yourself (briefly, in 1972) and then formed Clancy.
Henry McCullough was briefly in Sweeney's Men and later joined Joe Cocker's
Grease Band, and also released two solo albums on George
Harrison's Dark Horse label. His list of guest appearances is very long indeed.
Tiger Taylor later formed Anno Domini. He actually left Eire Apparent shortly before
the end, and his short-lived replacement was Peter Tolson (guitar/vocals), now better
know for his time with the Pretty Things in the mid-70s.
Chrissie Stewart was later in Frankie Miller's Full House and Spooky Tooth.
Dave Lutton played drums with Heavy Jelly, Steve Ellis and Marc Bolan.
Mick Cox later fronted his own Mick Cox Band and recorded with Van Morrison in the 80s.
Recorded at TTG and Sunset-Highland Studios, Los Angeles on 30th October 1968.
Produced by Jimi Hendrix. Hendrix plays guitar on all tracks. He also played on the
non-LP A-side "Rock 'N' Roll Band", recorded at Polydor Studios, London on 5 January 1969,
produced by Carlos Olms.
The Japanese issue is retitled "Jimi Hendrix presents Eire Apparent".
Notes: This is the band's complete set, recorded at the Liederhalle in Stuttgart on 11 January 1969 as opening act for The Jimi Hendrix Experience. The front cover shows Tiger Taylor, the back cover Mick Cox -- it was certainly one of them!
Notes: This is the band's complete set, recorded in Vienna on 22 January 1969 as opening act for The Jimi Hendrix Experience. The running time is 44 minutes approx but there's quite a lot of tuning up and between song chat.
Bio:
Belfast beat/soul group best known for the final 1967 lineup of
Ernie Graham, Davy Lutton, Henry McCullough & Chris Stewart
who were renamed Eire Apparent by
their manager Chas Chandler.
The People developed out of an earlier beat group called The Telstars. In 1966
they moved to Blackpool, following in the footsteps of The Wheels,
who'd gained a huge local following there. Eric Wrixon left The People for The Wheels during
the Blackpool period, appearing on their final "Kicks" single (1966).
His replacement was guitarist Henry McCullough, late of
Gene & The Gents, who suggested the band move to Dublin,
where he'd heard
they could do much better financially than the tough living they were eeking out
in Blackpool.
The People had a huge impact on the Dublin beat scene.
Their manager during this period was Dave Robinson, later head of Stiff Records.
They left for London in May 1967
and became Eire Apparent.
The People's only vinyl appearance is on the Ireland's Greatest Sounds LP released
on Ember Records in 1966. I don't know the exact lineup on these recordings.
According to several sources, both tracks feature Henry McCullough on guitar.
Mike Niblett was bassist from late 1965 through all of 1966 and therefore is
very likely to appear on the recordings aswell. Guitarist Tiger Taylor was
briefly a member of the band during 1965 and left shortly after Mike Niblett joined
to join Teddie & The Tigers, and so he's unlikely to feature. He
would later join Eire Apparent, of course.
Mike Niblett
was in many other bands including The Stellas;
Eric Wrixon had been a founding member of Them and was later in The Trixons,
the fledling Thin Lizzy and the late 1970s reformed version of Them.
Bio:
Mick Cox (born Gillingham 1943) was posted during military service to Northern
Ireland where he met local musicians and played in the local scene where he met
such guitarists as Henry McCullough (of The People and Eire Apparent) and Billy
Hollywood of the Alleykatz. His brother John Cox was another guitarist
who also played in local Belfast bands. John Cox almost
became a member of The Just Five and lived with Sam Mahood for a period.
Mick Cox replaced Billy Hollywood in the Alleykatz in 1964
and toured with them and other bands before returning to
London in 1967.
On the recommendation of his brother John who'd meanwhile played with Van Morrison
in the USA, Mick joined Van Morrison's band in 1967, playing the same Northern
circuit he'd earlier played with the Alleykatz, before Van returned to
the states. He then got the call from Dave Robinson to come to the USA to
replace Henry McCullough in Eire Apparent after
Henry has been deported for possession. While McCullough's name is frequently
associated with Eire Apparent, Cox remains
less known even though he was with the band for over 2 years. This was
arguably the most fruitful period of the band, during which they toured with
Jimi Hendrix and they recorded their sole album with Hendrix's help.
Cox plays on the LP and his name appears in half the writing credits.
He left Eire Apparent shortly before the LP was released in 1969. His
replacement was Tiger Taylor.
Mick formed his own band Magnet (1970-71) who has some success in the
USA, releasing a single. He then toured with Arrival (1971-72) and the post-
Arrival outfit Kokomo (1974) but he doesn't play on any of either bands records.
He worked again with Van Morrison playing on the "Common One" (1979), "Poetic
Champions Compose" (1985) and "The Philosophers Stone" (1998) albums as well as
live work.
In between he released his solo album on Capitol Records in 1973.
See Mick's site for further details of his career.
Notes:
The lineup on the album is Mick Cox (guitar), Tony O'Malley (Arrival/Kokomo) (vocals),
Chrissie Stewart (ex Eire Apparent)(bass), Mick Weaver (keyboards),
Peter Arnesen (keyboards), Alan Skidmore (sax), Andrew Steele (ex-Herd) (drums).
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.