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The following is a list of bands I need much more information about in order to create an entry in the database. I still need help with most of the existing band entries too, of course, as many need correcting and expanding, but the bands listed below have no entry at all at the moment, or only a skeletal one. I need basic bio info about these bands. If you remember anything about any of them, then please get in touch.
Bio: With 14 year old Paul Brown (b.1961) AKA Jack Dublin, later in Rocky DeValera & Gravediggers, In Tua Nua, etc. Other members include Mick Shannon and Colm O'Hare. Sole gig at Sutton community centre.
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Bio: Rock and blues covers band (Deep Purple, Wishbone Ash, Ten Years After, Free, etc) who toured round the country and occasionally played in the Baggot Inn, Dublin. With Seamus Mallen (drums).
Bio: Reputedly psychedelic, using distortion and free playing. No recordings. Is this in fact Andwella? Or should it be Mandala? There was a US hippie band called Mandala active in Dublin in the early 70s. They had a van they practically lived in.
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Bio: Later with Dick Lynott & Kieran Dykes. More details please.
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Dublin rock band active for at least three years in the early/mid 70s, who had a regular
Saturday night residency in Kelly's pub on Dublin's south quays. Gorman, Elliot and Hanna were
from Cabra, Andrews and Fitzsimons from Donnycarney.
Aton played covers (Hendrex/Zeppelin/Free) as well as their own material.
They received some press attention and
recorded two tracks which were never released.
Eamon O'Sullivan (bass) joined from The Trench Band in 1973.
He recalls rehearsing on Winetavern Street and finishing 2nd in the Pepsi Supergroup competition
in the Zero Zero club in Dublin some time in 1973.
Andrews & Fitzsimons later played in the Norman Teeling Band, appearing on his unreleased first LP.
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Bio: Rock band who appeared at the Ballyvaughan Peace Festival in 1971. (Probably) named after Deep Purple song.
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Bio: Featuring Kenny McDowell on vocals ( ex Them, Mad Lads and College Boys). Reputedly brilliant band who never got the recognition they deserved. Bronco merged with Light to form SK'BOO.
Bio: Brotherly Love appeared on 'Aimen High' (RTE TV) on 12 April 1975 and I'm afraid that's all I know about them. The still in the RTE archive shows a singer, guitaist, bassist and keyboards player - presumably the drummer was out of shot.
Bio: This band was around for a number of years but no-one seems to remember them. Lead singer John Caine. Released a single on Columbia (IDB 776, That Wonderful Mother Of Mine / Mamma's Waiting) in 1971.
Bio: Quartet singer Eric Murray (ex Blue) and guitarist Jimmy Marshall. This band was sponsored by Jacob's to promote their Club Milk bar in a TV advert in 1971.
Bio: Played the Foxrock Folk Club, where gigs were regularly recorded on reel-to-reel, on 15 May 1972.
Bio: Quintet formed in Dublin in 1973 from ex members of Blackbird and Railroad.
Bio: Short-lived beat group who made little impact.
Bio: Heavy rock band who played the clubs regularly in 1971-73. Some members left in 1973 to form Zebedee
Bio: Played the Foxrock Folk Club, where gigs were regularly recorded on reel-to-reel, on 25 May 1969.
Bio: Galway folk trio signed to Polydor Records in 1973 following their appearance at the fifth Letterkenny International Folk Festival. But did they record anything?
Bio: Played the Foxrock Folk Club, where gigs were regularly recorded on reel-to-reel, twice, on 26 April 1970 and 5 December 1971.
Bio: Acoustic blues outfit feat Johnny Norris. With Declan McNeilis (bass).
Bio: Trio with Joe Creighton (bass). Named after the 1968 Family album?
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Bio: Acoustic outfit
Bio: Joe O'Donnell (lead guitar) and Jack Costelloe (bass), both of whom left to join The Intentions, Don O'Connor (later in The Reform and Willie O'Connor.
Bio: A short lived band consisting of Ed Deane (guitar), Jim McCarthy(?) (sometime Blueshouse bassist?), Paul Mahon (keyboards), and 'Little Pete' (percussion). Their only notable gig was UCD in 1972 or 1973 where they stole the show. There are no recordings.
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Bio: Late 60s quartet about whom I know nothing.
Bio: progressive band
Bio: Began as a beat group formed at Methodist College in Belfast in 1965, developed into an out-and-out blues band. Supported Fleetwood Mac at the Ulster Hall? Terry Lendrum, Brian Russell (RIP), Alan Wheeler, Greg Wheeler, Peter Galbraith. Donie Ryan was also in the band and moved to South Africa when they split.
Bio: Quintet active in the early/mid 60s in the Kilkenny area.
Bio: Dublin group the Fire Brigade later added a horn section and became The Clouds Showband, but what was the original band like? Lead singer Austin Smith.
Bio: Trio with Eddie Creighton
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Bio: Mitch Mahon's band before or after The Editions. By 1973 The Fugitives were fronted by a female singer named Cathy.
Bio: Supported Thin Lizzy at Summerhill College on 23rd October 1971
Bio: On the bill of the Open Air Festival held at Richmond Park in Dublin on 4 September 1970.
Bio: With Mike O'Brien (vocals), later in the Real McCoy; Robbie Brennan (drums), later in various bands; Donie Devaney; a.o.
Bio: Lead singer Mick O'Brien later in The Real McCoy.
Bio: Monday night residency at TV CLub.
Bio: AKA The Hat Gang. Supported headliners Alice at the Indoor Pop Festival at Alice's Restaurant, Wolfe Tone Street, Dublin on 21 August 1971.
Bio: Ray Dolan, James Connolly, Tony Boland, George Brady, Terry Hanlon.
Bio: Described as an uptempo beat/mod combo. Played Christmas '68 at a Variety Concert in the 1969 Marist College Annual in Athlone.
Bio: Eric Murray was also in The Strangers and The Sands.
Bio: Played the Foxrock Folk Club, where gigs were regularly recorded on reel-to-reel, on 27 April 1969.
Bio: Short-lived ballad folk group. Their second Pye A-side was a parody of the ballad boom. Both sides written by Carroll and produced by Frank Smyth at Eamonn Andrews Studios.
Bio: Short-lived rock band formed from the remains of Adolf J Rag and The Urge. Played the Dublin club scene but progress was halted mid-1973 by 2 members being lured away to join The Gentry who were by then a pop showband.
Bio: One of the handful of jazz bands active during the 1970s. With Dara O'Lochlainn (vocals), Joey McIntyre (trumpet & flugel horn), Tony Drennan (piano) and Gerry Ryan (drums). They backed Roy Williams ('Europe's Foremost Trombonist') on his live album recorded at The Shelbourne hotel in 1978 which also featured Rock Fox (sax), Neil McMahon (clarinet, tenor sax, flute), Dougie O'Brien (trombone) and Dave Fleming (bass). They played a regular Thursday night gig at the Crofton Airport Hotel in February 1979. According to a contemporary review, their set at the Killiney Court Hotel in May 1979 opened with New Orleans style jazz. Dara O'Lochlainn was jazz correspondent for In Dublin magazine a.o.
Bio: Late 60s trio. Most memorable gig was supporting Taste and Cheese. Tom Teegan later in Night Prowler and No Smokin'. Jack Hill & Tom Teegan later in late 70s/early '80s band Val & Vendetta with Val (vocals) and Ray McCullough (bass & vocals)
Bio: Led by Francis O'Donnell, younger brother of Joe O'Donnell, and managed by another sibling, sister Kay. Is this the same Pat Buckley who later fronted The Media during the 1980s?
Bio: Limerick beat group.
Bio: Heavy trio whose set in 1973 was 50% covers, 50% band originals. Made waves locally.
Bio: With the three Kiely brothers. Michael Kiely later in Cromwell and The Establishment. Described as a "horrible little pop band" by original Cromwell vocalist Mick O'Hagan.
Bio: Six piece pop group from Whitehall in Dublin, formed in 1972. Played anything from country to rock.
Bio: Played the Foxrock Folk Club, where gigs were regularly recorded on reel-to-reel, on 24 October 1971.
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Bio: Several bands used this name (with the first word spelt 'Lovin' or 'Luvin') so I'm not sure who this outfit were exactly, except that they were most probably from the north and favoured a poppy, bubblegum sound. Needless to say, the A-side is NOT a Zeppelin cover! Any more details greatly appreciated.
Bio: Supported Taste and The Plattermen.
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Bio: With 15 year old drummer Paul Byrne, later in Sounds Unreel/Deaf Actor/In Tua Nua. Played the 1976(?) Peace Concert organised by Legalise Cannabis activist Ubi Dwyer in the Phoenix Park. Mercury continued into the 80s as a hard rock/metal act playing all original material plus the odd AC/DC cover, with Mick O'Leary on guitar.
Bio: Not sure about this one. There was an Irish band called Monopoly in the late 60s described as "garage beat", but is this the same band who made a single for Pye in 1970. The A-side is forgettable pop but the B-side sounds earlier and is credited to Terry Fahy, so this could be the Irish band. Anyone know any more about this? Produced by Barry Ainsworth. A Marathon Production. Nothing to do with Raymond Froggatt's Monopoly who recorded for Polydor.
Bio: Main protagonists Dave Sweeny (or Swenny, guitar) and Tony (Anto) Kelly (drums). Fran Leonard played guitar during 1973-74. Dave Sweeny and Tony Kelly later in Room Service. Kelly was also later in The Shy and Frame of Mind. More details appreciated.
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Bio: One of the handful of jazz bands active during the 1970s. Reputedly raucous sax player.
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Dates back to the late 60s folk & blues scene. Red Peters was a blues singer
in Chicago Blues style.
Declan McNeilis was in the Dirty Dozen who split in 1972.
Red Peters was also in the Medium Wave Band (ca 1974).
The Red Peters Band became the Mystery Train in 1978. Red Peters
And His Blues Band returned in 1986 with Jimmy Faulkner (guitar), Dave
McHale (alto sax), Chris Meehan (keyboards), Smitty (bass) and Fran Breen (drums).
In 2014, Blue Navigator released a 2xCD set titled 'Red Peters: Rare Recordings 1968 -1989',
consisting of live and radio recordings.
Bio: One of the handful of jazz bands active during the 1970s.
Bio: The Pickford Set went on to become Freewheel and later Jason and Chateau (and possibly Cable), active circa 1969-71. All these bands were managed by Dick Merrigan.
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Bio: Played the Foxrock Folk Club, where gigs were regularly recorded on reel-to-reel, on 9 January 1972.
Bio: Initially a four-piece rock group formed by ex members of Slowcoach, another local (Co.Tipperary) band who went showband. Influenced by Hawkwind, who they met during their 1972 tour, but described by the time they were a quintet as Santana-esque, with lots of original material.
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Bio: Single on Polydor in 1972 . . . This is not the same Rising Sons who recorded for Pye in 1968 ("Just A Little While Longer") or the South African band active in the late 60s and early 70s who also recorded for Polydor and had singles releases in Europe.
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Bio: Quartet with Patrick 'Ditch' Cassidy who played in the bill at Sound City on opening night supporting The Greenbeats and Bluesville. Ditch was recruited to join The Kingbees.
Bio: All I know about this outfit is they released a single in 1976 titled 'Long Time Blues' on their own Shaft label (ST 001). The A-side is credited to Kelly. The B-side is unknown to me. There's a photo of Shaft on irish-showbands.com showing 8 musicians, two of whom look familiar but I can't place them. Managed by Brian Maguire, represented by Tommy Hayden Enterprises. Categorised as a pop showband on that site, and described as sounding "kind of bubblegum style" by an ebay seller, both descriptions somewhat at odds with a title like 'Long Time Blues'. So who knows?
Bio: Rock band with singer Pat Ward, noted for his Bowie-esque image. The band made a big impact when they first emerged in 1973 (aided by a clever 'Support Your Local Sheriff' poster campaign), and played the Phoenix Park free concert on July 1st. But they lost impact, and Ward was replaced after a few months by Benny White, ex Elmer Fudd, in the autumn of 1973, who in turn made way for Davy Hall by the end of the year.
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Bio: Reputedly a rock group, but the record label and song titles of their lone single suggest otherwise.
Bio: Named after Isak Dinesen's cheery tome, though the band was also called Pultz, The Purple People, and the Cyder-Pultz Blues Band at different times. They played heavy blues rock, mixing covers and originals. Conor Wilkinson was related to Colm Wilkinson (possibly his brother?).
Bio: Big soul band with guitar-bass-drums and three saxophones. Sam Mahood joined in October 1967. He was a wild singer full of raw energy. Billy McCoy and Mervyn Crawford were also ex Just Five. Ditch Cassidy sang with the band when Mahood left. Frankie Connolly was his permanent replacement.
Bio: Spectroscope were an instrumental band who played some memorable gigs in the Elphin Hotel, including lengthy drum solos. Ray and Conor were from Sallynoggin. Conor now teaches music in Newpark.
Bio:
Gary Nagle is the brother of Doish Nagle of the Bogey Boys. There was
another drummer who later played in a circus band!
Joe O'Reilly played rhythm guitar with the band for a while.
Active during 1970-72, Stoney Road played the School Hall circuit in North Dublin
as well as various charity gigs, including a benefit for the Central Remedial Clinic in Clontarf
(following the sponsored walk by the now disgraced DJ Jimmy Saville) and the Peace Parties
in Sleepy Hollow, Phoenix Park organised by Ubi Dwyer.
Bio: Billy and Freddie White are brothers (Freddy is not the Cork singer/songwriter). Benny White is no relation of either. Benny and Billy were later in the Soul Agents. Benny later joined Elmer Fudd, Sheriff, The Times, etc. Billy White is alive and well (apologies for the earlier error).
Bio: From Cork, with Eric Kitteringham (of the original Taste lineup), on bass. Opened Macroom '76, headlined by Rory Gallagher, and to quote Niall Stokes in Hot Press, "...while hazarding nothing spectacular, they were no downer."
Bio: Based in Dublin and managed by Ollie Byrne. Switch played progressive, heavy rock music. Tully and Lundy later joined Some People.
Bio: Quintet with a female singer active on the Dublin club scene circa 1973.
Bio: Waterford band, unrelated to the band from Ballymena who appeared on the Paddy Is Dead compilation in 1969. Emer Powell of the Dave Prim Band sang with them at one point.
Bio: Early beat group from the South West.
Bio: All girl group who played the Dublin clubs in 1971. In Pat Egan's Heavy Sounds column in Spotlight in 1973 they were reported to have reformed as a fourpiece in Hamburg and were touring in Sweden, Germany and Holland. Anyone ever heard of them? No relation to the band who released a couple of LPs on Epic Records in the mid-1970s.
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Bio: Dublin close harmony group, they won the Star Trek '72 talent contest and released a single on Pye in the summer of 1972.
Bio: Dayo Ingoldsby is the younger brother of Pat Ingoldsby. All (or most) band members emigrated to Canada in 1969 except Roger Doyle.
Bio: I have no info about this band, possibly called Rip Van Winkle. Thanks to the evocative photo below, we can say they were a twin guitar rock band probably active in the mid-to-late 70s, but does anyone know any more about them? What does the backdrop say below 'Van Winkle'? Anyone recognise the venue?
Bio: Acoustic Duo from Dublin who played the Dublin folk clubs (Coffee Kitchen, Universal, Foxrock Folk Club) in the early seventies.
Bio: Singer-guitarist a la Cat Stevens, Roy Harper, etc., active in the early 1970s. Supported Bees Make Honey at Liberty Hall circa 1973; Steeleye Span at State Cinema in June 1973.
Bio: tbd
Bio: folk? bluegrass? More details please!
Jesse and Paul Kelly were brothers; they and Maria Dowdall (from Clontarf?) were the core of the band.
Singer Ivan Reilly (previously incorrectly identified as Ivan Corcoran) was from Donabate.
Lots of Rolling Stones covers in their set.
Bio: Heavy rock/blues rock.
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