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Bio:
Sample And Hold was originally formed by three school friends Richard Wakely (bass),
Keith White aka Chalkie (drums) and Barry Powell (guitar and vocals) in 1978.
Keith McVeigh (keyboards) who worked with Chalkie at Shorts then joined the band,
shortly followed by Gordon Hood (guitar).
The band gigged locally at venues such as The Pound, Queens and the Ulster
Polytechnic, playing mostly covers of Tom Petty, Roxy Music and Eddie and Hot
Rods just to mention a few.
By the time of their two singles released on their own Akdov ('vodka' backwards) label,
they were a synth/electronics band.
The lineup on the first single was Barry Powell (vocals), Gordon Hood (guitar),
Keith McVeigh (keyboards/synth), Richard Wakely (bass) and John McDowell (drums).
Wakely and McDowell were replaced by Nigel Galashan (bass) and Philip 'Rufus' O'Callaghan (drums)
for the 2nd single. Trevor Wray did the lights.
Both singles are worth tracking down.
A video exists for "Monopoly Games". This was made by one of the youth TV shows
on BBC Northern Ireland at the time and was shot on film. It will probably surface
on youtube one of these days...
On one occasion when they played the Ivy Rooms in Dublin supported by St.Vitus Dance
there was only one person in the audience, journalist John McKenna, who reviewed
the gig for Hot Press.
Sample & Hold supported Simple Minds on the Belfast leg of
their New Gold Dream tour.
Keith McVeigh played in an early Androids lineup.
Rufus' O'Callaghan later played in Blah! Blah! Blah!.
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.