Would Be's

• Julie McDonnell - vocals
• Mattie Finnegan - guitar
• Paul Finnegan - guitar
• Eamonn Finnegan - bass
• Pascal Smith - drums
• Aideen O'Reilly - trombone/sax/violin

Bio:

Wonderful indie pop band formed in early 1989 by the three Finnegan brothers, evolving from an their earlier band called The Nobody's. Another brother James Finnegan managed them and footed the bill for the recording and the first pressing of 250 copies of their debut single, released through Danceline Records. This single was famously championed by John Peel. It is more easily found as the UK pressing on Decoy. "I'm Hardly Ever Wrong" is one of the finest indie pop singles ever recorded.

The band became very hot property following the single's release, with A&R men coming from all over the world to sign them, yet inexplicably they chose to sign to a small indie label with no money: Decoy Records. 17 year old singer Julie McDonnell left the band shortly afterwards, choosing to stay at school, and she was replaced by Eileen Gogan, who debuted on the second EP "Silly Songs for Cynical People". Without proper financial backing, the band failed to capitalise on their early success and seeemd to disappear after a third EP in 1991. There was no debut album and the band split the same year.

The Would Be's returned in 2000 with a new singer Karen Cunningham. Eileen Gogan performs as Melba.

Before Julie McDonnell there were two earlier singers who appeared on the first two demos: Rosie Finnegan (no relation to the band) sang on the first demo tape, two tracks from which appear on the Comet Tape #3 sampler in 1988, while Patricia Cullen sang on the second demo, from which one track was extracted for Comet Tape #4 (1989).

tracks:
Addicted To The Predictable
I Want To Say What Goes Without Saying

track: Must It Be

 

side one:
I'm Hardly Ever Wrong
Great Expectations

side two:
I Want To Say What Goes Without Saying
There Is There Are That's All

tracks:
All This Rubbish Is True
Must It Be
Funny Ha Ha
My Radio Sounds Different In The Dark

   

side one:
Funny Haha
Cynical Song

side two:
All This Rubbish Is True
Logic Makes No Sense To Me

Notes:
"Logic Makes No Sense To Me" was previously recorded in a faster version by The Nobodys

side one ( Silly Songs For Cynical People EP ):
Funny Ha Ha
Cynical Song
All This Rubbish Is True
Logic Makes No Sense To Me

side two ( I'm Hardly Ever Wrong ):
I'm Hardly Ever Wrong
Great Expectations
I Want To Say What Goes Without Saying
There Is There Are That's All

Japanese CD bonus tracks (The Wonderful EP ):
My Radio Sounds Different In The Dark
Would Be Song
Damn Mistake

Notes:
The Decoy compilation collects the 1st and 2nd EPs. Why Decoy chose to release it with the same title as one of those EPs escapes me! There are no CD bonus tracks on the Decoy edition. Toy Factory in Japan added the 3rd EP (DYT26) to their CD release.

side one:
My Radio Sounds Different in the Dark

side two:
Would Be Song
Damn Mistake

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.