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Bio:
Classic punk/powerpop. "Don't Swim On The East
Coast" was about the Windscale nucleur power station (later renamed Sellafield
to help people forget) dumping toxic waste into the Irish sea. The single sold
very well locally but was not included by RTE (Irish radio) in the charts
because of it's political nature. Even so, veteran RTE DJ Larry Gogan made it
his single of the week and played it every day, which didn't go down well in
some quarters, but he didn't include it in his Irish Charts book.
Declan Jones does not appear on the single as he was unable to make it
to the recording studio because of exams. John Downey plays bass on
both sides. Liam Fox later replaced Jones as permanent bassist.
The band made a video for the single which is remembered by many as it was
broadcast continuously as a test signal by Irelands only ever pirate TV station
Channel D. See the videos page for the link.
The Sussed were booked to appear on "The Late Late Show" (thanks to B.P.Fallon)
the biggest Saturday night show on Irish television at the time, but this was
cancelled without explanation a couple of days beforehand. You can read about
this on Rory Stokes website.
The band recorded many more demos but nothing further was released. They also
did two Dave Fanning Show sessions for RTE Radio 2 and recorded every live
gig, so there must be vast amounts of material in the Stokes archive but none
of it has been released. Song titles: "Good Morning School", "I've Got Rabies",
etc.
In 1982 they printed up prank posters for a concert at Leixlip on June 31st which they
posted around Dublin:
After a brief period performing under the name Once Bitten (including an
appearance on Anything Goes), the band split up. Rory had a short-lived band
called The Cretins but I'm not sure where they fit
in the timeline; he also released a single under the name
Rory Stokes & The Spiders From Kimmage with
most of The Sussed backing him. Rory, Paul and John all joined
Ronan Stoke's band Cuba Dares in London.
Rory Stokes later returned to Dublin as an early acid house DJ (Rory Boyee).
His website carries more details.
Notes: Both tracks by Stokes/Mooney. Produced by Stokes/Mooney, engineered by
Nikki Morgan.
One source suggests that some second pressing copies were pressed on dayglo yellow vinyl
but this is unconfirmed and there is some doubt about it.
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.