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Bio:
Very Mental were a Dublin area punk band led by Donagh O'Leary. They released an impossible
to find single in 1983. It had a very small pressing and was to be their only release. It's now higly
regarded and much sought after.
It was released on I Live In Hell records with a contact address in Dalkey.
The bands roots were in Dalkey and Dun Laoghaire.
Ken Sullivan plays drums on the A side, while a drum machine was used on the AA side.
A dub version of the A-side appeared on the It's Not Just All Leprechauns cassette compilation
released on the same label in 1984. According to the (error strewn) scene report in MRR #17
(published September 1984 but already out-of-date by then), a second EP was planned
but it never came to pass.
The band changed their name to Drunken Jury shortly after the single's release.
Ken Sullivan's brother David 'Sullo' Sullivan joined Very Mental/Drunken Jury
around this time.
I'm not
sure of the exact date of the name change but they were being billed as Drunken Jury by the time of
their appearance at the "Let's Get Serious 2" punk festival held at the TV Club
in Dublin on the 30 September 1983 featuring the cream of local punk bands at the
time, plus UK headliner Conflict.
Drunken Jury also appear on the aforementioned
It's Not Just All Leprechauns cassette compilation.
Gipo and Donagh O'Leary were also in a band called Rawhide who are
also on the cassette comp.
Ken Webster left the band in late 1983 and went to London. He later joined the French Foreign Legion.
Donagh O'Leary also moved to London where he is now based and has played in various
outfits (This Eternal Waiting, Jesse James,
Dave Vanians Phantom Chords, The Wild Frontiers, Naz Nomad & The Nightmares,
Tenpole Tudor) and done session work with Marc Almond and Peter Perrett a.o.
Pat Thorpe is currently in the Ultra Montanes.
Gipo was later in Stigmata Martyr and The Dubtones.
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.