The Tearjerkers

• Paul Maxwell - vocals
• Paul 'Groover' McIlwaine - guitar
• Brian 'Brinsley' Rawson - guitar
• Howard Ingram - bass
• Nigel Hamilton - drums
  
  
  The Tearjerkers in 1979, LR: Howard Ingram, Nigel Hamilton, Brian Rawson, Paul Maxwell, Paul McIlwaine.
  

• Paul Maxwell - vocals
• Paul 'Groover' McIlwaine - guitar
• Brian 'Brinsley' Rawson - guitar
• Howard Ingram - bass
• Greg Lindsay or Johnny Lee - drums

• Dave Huntley - vocals
• Brian 'Brinsley' Rawson - guitar
• Howard Ingram - bass
• Johnny Lee - drums

• Janine Mullawley - vocals
• Nigel Hamilton - guitar
• Christian Peters - keyboards
• Kit Wright - bass/vocals
• Steve Lathe - drums
• Brian Rawson - guitar (guest)

Bio:

The Tearjerkers were a superb powerpop band formed in Portadown in October 1978 by local boys Paul Maxwell AKA Paul West (ex Speed and Midnite Cruiser) on vocals, Brian Rawson on guitar and Nigel Hamilton (ex Cobra) on drums, and from Belfast Paul 'Groover' McIlwaine (ex Detonators) on guitar and Howard Ingram (ex Detonators) on bass. They proved to be an excellent powerpop band with several excellent songwriters, all producing very strong material. Howard Ingram & Paul McIlwaine wrote together while Nigel Hamilton provided the music for Paul Maxwell's lyrics, though other permutations of these arrangements also occurred.

They began gigging a few months later, making their live debut at the Rockin' Chair in Derry on 23 February 1979. They played the usual N.IRL haunts of the time including the legendary Belfast punk venue The Harp Bar in March 1979. This proved to be an eventful gig as there was some trouble from certain members of the crowd and the band was pelted with bottles and cans. Two members suffered minor injuries, though some of these may have been the result of retaliating against their attackers. The reason for this unpleasantness remains unclear. The authors of It Makes You Want To Spit! speculate that it may have been due to rivalry or jealousy, or because The Tearjerkers were not considered 'punk' enough by The Harp crowd. In any case, the band never played there again.

On the cover of Positive Reaction #5 (1979)

The Tearjerkers recorded a demo tape which was given to Terri Hooley, owner of the Good Vibrations record shop and label in Belfast. He offered them a deal. A recording session for the debut single took place on March 8th 1979 at Keystone Studios in Dublin during which several (four?) tracks were recorded. Two of these ("Love Affair" and "Bus Stop") were selected for the single which was released in July 1979. Two more tracks ("Chit Chat" and "Don't Blame Me", possibly recorded on a second visit to Keystone) were earmarked for a second Good Vibrations single, but this would be cancelled when the band signed to Phonogram. A piece in Hot Press in 1979 quotes the band as saying that one of these tracks was planned for a projected Good Vibrations compilation called "It Takes All Sorts" but like many Good Vibes projects this never came to pass.

In April 1979 the band set out on the two week "Good Vibes Spring Irish Tour" with The Outcasts and Rudi. The tour was organised by Nigel Hamilton and included a couple of gigs south of the border. That same month the debut A-side "Love Affair" was performed on Good Evening Ulster, broadcast on UTV on April 5th, making The Tearjerkers the first Good Vibes band to appear on TV.

Love Affair finally released in July 1979.

In June 1979 the band recorded a Downtown Radio session for the Monday night rock show Have You Heard. Four of the seven (?) tracks recorded were also broadcast by John Peel on his show on 23 November: "Dressing Up", "Heart On The Line", "Murder Mystery" and "Comic Book Heroes". Plans to perform one of these tracks on RTE were hampered by the BBC rules governing the use of such tapes. The performance was filmed for RTE's Our Times show and was scheduled for inclusion in the broadcast on Monday October 8th, but I'm unsure if it actually happened (I was 15 at the time and glued to this show presented by Dave Heffernan every week, and I don't recall The Tearjerkers performance). The band had earlier played the now legendary Dandelion Market venue on Saturday 18th August 1979.

In September the band signed a 5 year contract with Phonogram Records in the UK (Mercury worldwide). They choose Phonogram's Back Door imprint, home of new wave outfits The Donkeys, Dalek I Love You and Agony Column). This ended plans for a second Good Vibrations single.

The recording session for the planned Phonogram debut took place at Downtown Studios in November. "Murder Mystery" and "Heart On The Line" were re-recorded (they'd already recorded both at the same location back in June) and the single was released on January 18th 1980. It was released in the UK, where it peaked at #74 in the charts, France, Sweden and the Benelux.

 
Prominent gigs in Februayr & March 1980.

March 1980 was a busy month for the band. They played some dates in the UK and continued to recorded. On the 15th they recorded their second Peel session which included a new recording of "Comic Book Heroes" plus "Is It Art?", "Jenny Jenny" and "I'm Sorry". The following day on Sunday 16th they played the opening night of the Sense of Ireland festival at the Venue in London, with the Rudi and Ruefrex (and not the Moondogs as the poster advertised). The festival ran for 4 nights and also included bands like DC Nien, the Virgin Prunes and U2. There's an apocryphal story that Bono once asked Nigel Hamilton to join U2 as they were unsure about Larry; this may be true but it appears to have been a tactic used regularly by the rest of U2 to get Larry to commit seriously to the band as other drummers were asked the same question.

March 1980 also saw the recording session for the second Phonogram single. Three tracks were recorded at Parkgate Studios "Comic Book Heroes", "Can't You See" and "Fingers" for a maxi-single scheduled for release on May 30th.

Thin Lizzy invited The Tearjerkers to support them on their 10 date Irish tour during April 2-13. At least three gigs were recorded (I suspect all were in fact recorded). Recordings from two shows yielded the "Everybody Wants To Shag..." bootleg tape (later on CD) while a third show recorded in Sligo on April 6th was issued as the "Good Evening Sligo" CDR. There's another live tape in circulation which was recorded at the Barrel & Basket in Omagh but I haven't heard it. The band then appearted at another big Good Vibes gig at the Ulster Hall on April 24th 1980 with headliners The Outcasts, Big Self, Rudi and Ruefrex.

Good Vibes at the Ulster Hall, 24 April 1980

Phonogram cancelled the second single, scheduled for release on May 30th and the release date for the debut LP provisionally titled "Grey" is pushed from August to later in the year. Some of the tracks would emerge on a US only compilation of Back Door artists (and The Who!) in May 1980 anyway, though the band didn't know about this at the time. In retrospect, a cancelled single so soon in their relationship with Phonogram was an ominous sign. Communication with the label was obviously not as good as it should have been.

Nigel Hamilton left the band over musical differences and perhaps the lack of progress with Phonogram. Johnny Lee (of Blue Steam) and Greg Lindsay would fill in for him off and on over the coming months. Lee played on a short UK tour in the autumn. Lindsay was a more permanent replacement. The band continue to work on new material without Hamilton and to record at Downtown Studios in Belfast with Stephen 'Rasta's' Nelson at the controls.

Official publicity photo taken after Nigel Hamilton had left, circa May 1980.
LR: Ingram, new drummer Greg Lindsay(?), Maxwell, Rawson, McIlwaine.

In June "Where's Julie" and "Lip Gloss Factor" were recorded at DTR with Greg Lindsay on drums. Both tracks would emerge two years later on a single credited to Paul West.

In July the band played several dates in the UK, including a gig at Dingwalls on the 15th, which was recorded. Further sessions on July 20-24th at Radio Luxembourg Studio yielded the tracks "I'm Sorry", "True Love Stories" and "Jenny Jenny". These were considered as a replacement single for the cancelled "Comic Book Heroes" with a new release date of September 1980 (and the LP released pushed into early 1981), to coincide with an autumn tour, but it never came to pass.

By September the band has split in two. Maxwell, McIlwaine & occasional drummer Greg Lindsay form Etc Etc with Stephen Mallaghan. Ingram & Rawson with the help of John Lee (switched to guitar??) and new singer Dave Huntley (ex P45) continue as The Tearjerkers for a short period, including the autumn tour of the UK, originally intended to concide with the now cancelled "True Love Stories" maxi-single. They also record a final session for DTR ("Teenage Love Song", "Holiday Romances" and "Hong Kong Maiden") and almost complete the "Grey" LP but they split and The Tearjerkers are no more.

Ingram joined Maxwell and McIlwaine in ETC ETC who existed up until 1982 approx. Ingram founded the Blue Rhythm Audio label (see links below) which released two June 1980 Tearjerkers tracks under the name Paul West in 1982.

In 1981, Nigel Hamilton (now on guitar) revived the bandname. This version of The Tearjerkers recorded a four song session for Dave Fanning's Rock Show on RTE Radio 1 (Fanning was a big fan), including re-recordings of 'Comic Book Heroes' and 'Fool'. The session was recorded at RTE's studios in Donnybrook in Dublin. The lineup was Janine Mullawley (vocals), Nigel Hamilton (guitar), Christian Peters (keyboards), Kit Wright (bass/vocals) and Steve Lathe (drums). 'Comic Book Heroes' and 'Fool' were re-recorded for a single on the Vixen label in 1982, recorded at Lombard, Dublin. Original Tearjerker Brian Rawson guested on this single. He later emigrated to the USA. Nigel Hamilton recorded as a solo artist and as a member of Radio City.

Howard Ingram, Paul Maxwell, Nigel Hamilton and Davy Ewing (of Radio City) also recorded as the Dingo Babies.

In recent times, various Tearjerkers & related recordings have emerged. Nigel Hamilton appears to be the source of various live tapes and a bootleg singles compilation judging by the catalogue numbers (NHM = Nigel Hamilton Music?) but I should stress this is speculation on my part!

Maxwell, Ingram, McIlwaine and Lindsay continue to play and record together and are instrumental in attempts to issue the long lost Tearjerkers LP (simultaneously resisting the temptation to alter the original recordings in any way, eh lads?) now re-titled "Comic Book Heroes". It's been imminent since 2005 but has yet to see the light of day.

At present The Tearjerkers recordings are now scattered across various dodgy/bootleg CDRs of varying quality (see discography). It's a shame that such a great band have yet to have their original studio recordings issued on CD.

tracks:
Dressing Up
Heart on the Line
Murder Mystery
Comic Book Heroes

Notes: Seven tracks in all were recorded for DTR, but only four were broadcast by Peel (those listed above). The titles of the other three tracks are unknown.

Notes: Recorded March 8th 1979.

Notes: Recorded at the same March 8th 1979 session as the Love Affair single. This was the projected second on Good Vibrations which was cancelled when the band signed with Phonogram in September 1979.

tracks:
Dressing Up
Heart on the Line
Murder Mystery
Comic Book Heroes

Notes: Recorded November 1979 at Downtown Studio, Belfast.

tracks:
Is It Art?
I'm Sorry
Jenny Jenny
Comic Book Heroes

tracks:
Dressing Up
Murder Mystery
Comic Book Heroes
Suzy

Note: the John Peel site lists this session but it may in fact be the November 1979 broadcast on Peel's radio show of the June 1979 DTR session with song titles mixed up.

During 1980 a series of follow up singles to Murder Mystery were announced by Phonogram and then cancelled. The foreign issues show below have all been reported but their existance is unconfirmed as far as I'm concerned:

tracks:
Fingers
Comic Book Heroes
Murder Mystery

Notes: A compilation of Back Door artists. This was the first official release of "Fingers" and "Comic Book Heroes" (apart from foreign singles whose existance is unconfirmed, that is). The album came with a free single by the High Numbers, an early version of The Who. See compilations for more details.

Notes: I'm not convinced this actually exists. When WLTP copies were offered for sale on the net, the story was that this single was recorded in June 1980 for Phonogram but it's release was cancelled due to litigation (by whom?) but that WLTP copies exist with handwritten labels credited to the Tearjerkers and housed a plain white sleeve. Some of these WLTP copies [reputedly 10?] are signed on the sleeve by Nigel Hamilton . . . which is odd as he'd didn't play on it! As far as I'm aware, the June 1980 recording date suggests this would have featured Greg Lindsay on drums. In any case, I suspect this is unsleeved editions of the Paul West single (see next item). If it's a genuine Back Door test pressing, it should have a DOOR matrix number.

Notes: This contains the same June 1980 recordings as above, issued in 1982 on Howard Ingram's Blue Rhythm Audio label under the name Paul West. In fact the A-side is credited to Paul West & His Mood, and the B-side to the Paul West Rhythm Squadron.

tracks:
Teenage Love Song
Holiday Romances
Hong Kong Maiden

tracks:
Chinese Diplomat (Hamilton)
The Story Ends
Fool
Comic Book Heroes

Notes: Re-recordings done at Lombard in 1982 by the Mullawley/Hamilton/Peters/Wright/Lathe lineup plus original Tearjerker guitarist Brian Rawson. 'Heroes' is misspelled on the front cover

Notes: A bootleg cassette of the aborted/incomplete 1980 LP "The Grey Album"

Track listing
1. Is It Art
2. Hearts on the Line
3. Love Affair
4. Bus Stop
5. Naughty Girls
6. Chit Chat
7. Come Dancing
8. Dressing Up
9. Armpits
10. She's Gone
11. Murder Mystery
12. I'm Sorry
13. Jenny Jenny
14. Suzie
15. Comic Book Heroes
16. Fingers

Notes: Recorded live during the Tearjerkers 10 date tour of Ireland supporting Thin Lizzy between April 2-13, 1980. These soundboard recordings are drawn from two gigs but the exact details are unknown to me. The original cassette was housed in a cover with artwork taken from the Magic Roundabout animation series. The banana cover was created for the CD issue which was sold online for a couple of years and then deleted.

tracks: I'm Sorry (demo)

 
Tracks
1 Love Affair
2 Bus Stop
3 Murder Mystery
4 Heart on the Line
5 Comic Book Heroes
6 Fingers
7 Wheres Julie
8 Lip Gloss Factor
9 Fool
10 Comic Book Heroes

Sources:
1-2 Good Vibrations single, 1979
3-4 Back Door single, 1980
5-6 Mercury Records sampler LP, 1980
7-8 Blue Rhythm Audio single, 1982
9-10 Vixen Records single, 1982

Notes: Complete official release discography mastered from vinyl. Privately pressed. Sleeve notes by Nigel Hamilton as follows:

"Due to Four or Five Record Companies being involved, we decided to cut through the red tape. We recorded this CD from mint unplayed copies of the original records. Play Loud!

1) Love Affair - (Hamilton - Maxwell) 2) Bus Stop - (Ingram - Mcllwaine)
The Bands first single released on the Good Vibrations label in Ulster 1979. Reputedly the fastest selling single ever on the label. Recorded at the Keystone Studios, Dublin and produced by the band. Fact note - all original folded sleeves were done by the band themselves.

3) Murder Mystery - (Hamilton - Maxwell) 4) Heart on the line - (Hamilton - Maxwell)
Several record companies wanted to sign the band at this stage, so a proposed second single for Good Vibrations "Don't Blame Me" / "Chit Chat" (both songs recorded at Keystone on a second visit) was cancelled so the money could be spent on some other Ulster band. The Tearjerkers signed with Phonogram and were offered their own label "Back Door Records". The band considered that being the first band on a new label would force Phonogram to go all out on promotion etc. They were produced for this single by Jon Astley and Phil Chapman and recorded in Downtown Studios. Astley and Chapman had previously worked with many major bands, including "The Who", "Darts" etc. Although happy with the original tracks, the band were very unhappy with the design of the sleeve which didn't feature the bands name anywhere. Despite this, the single was single of the week in "Sounds" and "Record Mirror". It eventually reached 79 in the U.K Charts.

5) Comic Book Heros - (Hamilton -Maxwell) 6) Fingers - (Hamilton - Maxwell)
Recorded in March 1980 at Parkgate Studios, Sussex, and produced by Chris Hughes (Adam and the Ants) this was to be the Tearjerkers second single for Backdoor. Relations between the band and their label were already frosty, and were not improved when they turned up for the mix to find the studio doors closed to them! This and other factors, led to this release being cancelled. It eventually surfaced on a U.S. only album "Thru the Back Door".

7) Wheres Julie - (Ingram - Maxwell) 8) Lip Gloss Factor - (Ingram - Maxwell)
Recorded for Phonogram in Downtown Studios, this single became the source of litigation, although several white label test pressings are credited to the Tearjerkers, it was eventually released under the alias of Paul West and his Mood. It was of course, a legit Tearjerkers release, but legal problems prevented using the name.

9) Fool - (Hamilton) 10) Comic Book Heros (Hamilton - Maxwell)
In 1982, Nigel Hamilton recruited a girl singer, Janine Mullawley, and reformed the band for this single plus a session for R.T.E in Dublin. Brian Rawson from the original Tearjerkers also appears, playing superb lead on both sides. By this stage Hamilton had switched from drums to playing guitar. A large amount of money was spent on this single, including a final cut at Abbey Road Studios. Distribution, however was poor, and despite loads of radio play, people simply couldn't find it in the shops. Nowadays it sells for large amounts in its original picture sleeve in of all places Japan."

 

Tracks:
1 Is this Art
2 Heart on the Line
3 Love Affair
4 Bus Stop
5 Naughty Girls
6 Come Dancing
7 Dressing Up
8 Armpits
9 She's Gone
10 Murder Mystery
11 I'm Sorry
12 Jenny Jenny
13 Suzie
14 Comic Book Heroes
15 Fingers

Notes: Recorded live during the Tearjerkers 10 date tour of Ireland supporting Thin Lizzy. Recorded at the Baymount Ballroom, Sligo on 6 April 1980. The recording is taken from the soundboard and is excellent quality. It was recorded during the same tour as the "Everybody Wants To Shag" CD but on a different night. From the sleeve notes by Nigel Hamilton:

"There are only two soundboard recordings of the Tearjerkers. This is the second of them. Recorded in the Baymount Hotel, Sligo. The owner had shoehorned over 1000 fans into a hall designed to hold 800. Water was literally dripping down the wall behind me as we played. It's also funny to hear the soundman suddenly realise we had two guitars halfway into our first song! Still, a good time was had by all."

tracks:
Hong Kong Maiden
Murder Mystery
Can't You See
Heart On The Line
Here Comes John
I'm Sorry
Lip Gloss Factor
No Laughing Matter
Tell Me
True Love Story
Fingers
Hong Kong Maiden
Lost Boys (Bonus Track)

Notes: The band began investigating the possibility of issuing the long lost Tearjerkers album in 2004, consisting of the studio recordings made at Parkgate and Downtown Studio. It was announced as forthcoming, in conjunction with Blue Rhythm Audio, in 2005 and again set for 2007 release but it has not materialised.

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.