Remember this Irish band?

musician.ie

By any chance does anybody remember an Irish (Dublin?) band from the late 80s/early nineties called "The garden hasn't changed much"? looking for biog/discog/where are they now type information.

Thanks.

yester year

Just listened to a tape of theirs from '90 (called Heads) after hearing the lead singer of the Stone Roses on Jonathan Ross and it reminded me of them. Am very interested in knowing if they ever went somewhere...

What do you know of their lead singer, Mark Bourke?

dregin

Was that not Noel Gallagher from Oasis on jonathan Ross? Or was Ian Brown on there too?

musician.ie

Yeah, I think heads is the tape I have too. In my opinion it's one of the best pieces of Irish rock of all time. I don't think they ever went anywhere which sucks.

McGonagles

musician.ie wrote:

Yeah, I think heads is the tape I have too. In my opinion it's one of the best pieces of Irish rock of all time. I don't think they ever went anywhere which sucks.

Here's the full tracklisting:

SIDE ONE:

Side Of Me
Can you Feel It?
She Gets Under My Feet
Nightnurse
Red Car
Dyed In The Wool
All There Is...

SIDE TWO:

Let It Pour
Facts
Johnny
Raincoat
Standing In The Light
Dr. Trowbridge


(c) The Garden Hasn't Changed Much 1990

VOCALS: Mark Bourke
BASS & GUITARS: Colin Murray
GUITAR: Mark Loughran
DRUMS: Oisin Kelly


This was a self-published, cassette-only release, and it was IRP 2.50 from all the usual
indie record shops. And they had t-shirts, for a fiver each.

They also had a demo tape with 4 of the above songs, but it was the same recording sessions.
They played in The Underground a lot, and I haven't heard of any of them doing anything since.

musician.ie

That's the one. I have to pull out the tape, digitise it, clean it up and encode it to mp3. Maybe I'll set up a fan site

Thanks for the extra info by the way. It's good to know that the band struck a chord with some other people too. I bought the tape from a mate who had seen the band in De Lacy House, a now defunct venue in Cork. It blew me away and I had to have it. "Raincoat" still sends a shiver down my spine.

Ah the underground....
Brings back memories...

McGonagles

musician.ie wrote:

That's the one. I have to pull out the tape, digitise it, clean it up and encode it to mp3. Maybe I'll set up a fan site

I'll be cleaning it up, digitising it, and burning it to CD!

Raincoat was also on their 4-song demo tape, released about a year before "Heads" was,
but I think it was the same recordings. I saw them live a few times, definitely The Underground,
and they played McGonagles (supporting The Foremen) in December 1987.

No idea what any of them are at now...

Sad thing is, the original multi's probably got erased the week after they mixed it,
so (even if there is enough interest) there might never be a remaster or reissue, and
this might be the best we'll ever get to hear it.

I've heard horror stories about classic 80's punk/new wave singles and albums getting
taped over, or put in a skip outside the studio, because "nobody's ever gonna wanna
listen to that lot again".

musician.ie

I always regretted that we didn't buy the master tapes for our old recordings. We still have DAT copies though.

On the subject of lost classics, I've been buying up obscure vinyl from Irish 80s bands for a while now - light a big fire, the fountainhead, golden horde, fatima mansions, mama's boys, etc. A lot of the good stuff never came out on CD, and in another 10 years you won't be able to buy them at all.

McGonagles

musician.ie wrote:

I always regretted that we didn't buy the master tapes for our old recordings. We still have DAT copies though.

On the subject of lost classics, I've been buying up obscure vinyl from Irish 80s bands for a while now - light a big fire, the fountainhead, golden horde, fatima mansions, mama's boys, etc. A lot of the good stuff never came out on CD, and in another 10 years you won't be able to buy them at all.

What was your band called?

Careful of yon DATs - the tape in them can be very prone to damage, especially
if they're being played back in a dirty DAT player. Transfer them to CD if you can!


A lot of the bands that I really loved never even got as far as vinyl, so I used to tape
their gigs. i always asked for permission first, and the answer was either "Yeah, cool",
or "What? You're mad enough to waste batteries and blank tape on us?". Tapes are all
mono, audience recordings, so quality won't be the best...

Or those that made vinyl either had a self-release 7", or signed to a major and got
dropped when marketing analysis of initial sales revealed that they were in fact NOT
the next U2, as some clueless ponytail in A&R had imagined.

It'd be great to see all those bands getting CD reissues, but it's not going to happen
for the more obscure acts, or where the members are just not interested.


I'll be posting a full list of the 1987/88 McGonagles saturday afternoon gigs on
the iegoth Yahoo group - it's faster using that through email than posting to boards.
No offence to boards.ie - but when the server is busy (and when is it ever not busy?)
it can get slow...

musician.ie

The band I was referring to was called Transition. I'd be amazed if you heard of us. We never played outside County Cork.

I signed up to iegoth to read that list of gigs - brough a big smile to my face. Shimpu zig zag, cypress mine, the golden horde - happy memories of seeing them live.

aurnia

musician.ie wrote:

The band I was referring to was called Transition. I'd be amazed if you heard of us. We never played outside County Cork.

I signed up to iegoth to read that list of gigs - brough a big smile to my face. Shimpu zig zag, cypress mine, the golden horde - happy memories of seeing them live.

Excellent.
Did Dec (McGonagles) tell you that I'm trying to get info on old goth bands and clubs that existed through out the 80's and 90's, and in particular of bands and clubs outside of Dublin?

Btw to properly introduce myself. I'm Orla, a dj in Dominion http://dominion.gothic.ie and I'm also on iegoth.

Anyhow if anyone here, who isn't on Thumped (sorry if there's a few here that are reading cross boards) I'm looking for pics, flyers, info on dj's, clubs, bands.. basically anything. The reason why I'm looking for it, is to in time build a website dedicated to old forgotten Irish goth..

Rather then repeating everything I've posted on thumped you can follow the thread that I started at -
http://www.thumped.com/bbs/showthread.php?t=21246

Thanks
Orla

magpie

They were originally called 'The Garden', then became 'The Garden Hasn't Changed Much' after they kept going after their (?) singer left.

If anyone puts together a CD of their stuff let me know, I'd be interested to hear it again.

Ah the underground....
Brings back memories...

Indeed. And now its a lap dancing club.

musician.ie

They were originally called 'The Garden', then became 'The Garden Hasn't Changed Much' after they kept going after their (?) singer left.

I never knew that. I always thought 'The Garden Hasn't Changed Much' was a reference to some really cerebral work of literature

magpie

I've got an enormous 'the garden hasn't changed much' poster kicking around at home somewhere. An eyeball in a policeman's uniform.

McGonagles

aurnia wrote:

Did Dec (McGonagles) tell you that I'm trying to get info on old goth bands and clubs that existed through out the 80's and 90's, and in particular of bands and clubs outside of Dublin?

Umm, no, Orla, he didn't :-)

Because (like you) he also has a life, and can't always be waiting for web pages to load up...

But musician.ie should have seen your post by now...

nlgbbbblth

musician.ie wrote:

I always regretted that we didn't buy the master tapes for our old recordings. We still have DAT copies though.

On the subject of lost classics, I've been buying up obscure vinyl from Irish 80s bands for a while now - light a big fire, the fountainhead, golden horde, fatima mansions, mama's boys, etc. A lot of the good stuff never came out on CD, and in another 10 years you won't be able to buy them at all.

I was a huge Fatima Mansions fan from Against Nature up to Valhalla Avenue. Bought all the LPs and 12"s
As far as I remember all the albums came out on LP and CD
and the singles with the exception of Only Losers Take The Bus and Hive (both 12" only) came out on 12" and CD

aurnia

McGonagles wrote:

Umm, no, Orla, he didn't :-)

Because (like you) he also has a life, and can't always be waiting for web pages to load up...

But musician.ie should have seen your post by now...

Smart ass! Anyway this is where broadband is the bees knees.

And yeah I do have a life, infact a very busy life.

O

musician.ie

Hi Aurnia - saw your post. Anybody see Reverb on last night? Some interesting footage.

nlgbbbblth

musician.ie wrote:

Anybody see Reverb on last night? Some interesting footage.

I watched it; was pretty good. Nice to see Anything Goes footage again.
Kevin Gildea came across as his usual creepy self. I don't remember The Smiths playing in Trinity like he said; I do recall two sets of SFX gigs in May and November 1984. Neither of which I was allowed attend. Must check www.passionsjustlikemine.com when it's up again.

Exciting choice of interviewed people; Arthur "One t" Mathews and Paul "One l" Woodful both having a lot of interesting memories.

aurnia

musician.ie wrote:

Hi Aurnia - saw your post. Anybody see Reverb on last night? Some interesting footage.

Ta. Any thoughts on the thread, ideas, info that might help the cause?

No didn't see Reverb, god damn didn't know it was on tv, I was watching er Hell's Kitchen and I've just checked the listings for yesteday. God damnit. As I'm not normally at home at that hour on a Tues, I didn't even think to check the tv pages.

Do ya think it will be repeated? Did anyone living in the vacinity of Dublin tape it and if they could do up a copy and drop into me at the club on Sat night?? Dec??

I'll ya a pint or two in return.

I though did manage to catch and watch part of the Tom Dunne interview with Nick Cave late last night but didn't tape it. Good 'ole Nick. Can't make Cork but I'm there for Laois with bells on.

Orla

musician.ie

I did tape it, but I'm in Cork (like).

As regards your quest. I know some of the old fogeys from 80s bands have been known to post on the musician.ie forum. Owen Conroy from Light a Big Fire, I think someone from The Walls (ex stunning), someone from The Pale. It might be worth your while posting there and see what happens. If you get a firm agenda in place, we can print a press release thingy in the news area for you.

aurnia

musician.ie wrote:

I did tape it, but I'm in Cork (like).

As regards your quest. I know some of the old fogeys from 80s bands have been known to post on the musician.ie forum. Owen Conroy from Light a Big Fire, I think someone from The Walls (ex stunning), someone from The Pale. It might be worth your while posting there and see what happens. If you get a firm agenda in place, we can print a press release thingy in the news area for you.

Ah well, not to worry about the prog. I'll defo post my message there tonight then, but I might refer it back to Thumped as I hate repeating myself and others giving me the same stuff.

Orla

yester year

Actually it was Ian Brown... and I may have remembered this story wrong but the band name came from one of their grandfathers who used to look out the kitchen window and say this phrase (hmm the garden hasn't changed much) all of the time. Now mind you, I was 19 and a bit drunk at the time but I swear that was the story. Anyway , I agree, the tape is timeless. I think I'll hang on to it and hope that one of you lot manage to generate some more publicity for how good they were!

yester year.

aurnia

Please pass on. I know it's not exactly on topic and perhaps it's already been posted elsewhere but er forgive me. I've enough things to be doing. No I've nothing to do with the band other than I know some of the members.

Ta
O

---

The Music Of Joy Division
Tribute to Ian Curtis and Joy Division

Date: 20 May 2005
Time: 8.00pm (though on the Crawdaddy website it says 11pm but I'd say
it is 8-9pm)
Website: http://www.joydivision.info (current)
http://homepage.eircom.net/~joydiv2k/jd2000/frame.htm (old with some info and background)

Price: 12 Euro payable on the door or in advance from City Disks Ph 6330066

Venue Details
CrawDaddy
Old Harcourt St Station
Dublin 2
Phone: +353 1 478 0225
Fax: +353 1 478 0210
Email: info@pod.ie
Website: http://www.pod.ie
http://www.pod.ie/list_cdaddy.php

The set will be close to 2 hrs long.

Also playing at -

27 May 2005 9.00pm Cyprus Ave Cork
10 June 2005 8.00pm Roisin Dubh Galway
07 July 2005 9.00pm Empire Music Hall Antrim

And yes it's the same crowd that played a few years ago in the Temple Bar Music Centre - Phil Cooper is the drummer and brother of Brian (ex House Of Byron)

whytek

did anything come of various promises to digitise and clean up stuff on this thread? do post a copy, thanks.

McGonagles

whytek wrote: »

did anything come of various promises to digitise and clean up stuff on this thread? do post a copy, thanks.

Not yet, too busy with other things.
I'd love to be able to do this with the permission and/or blessing of the bands involved.
Just incase any of them are planning to do an official reissue.

I listened back to the 4-song The Garden Hasn't Changed Much demo, and it's not the same recordings as the Heads tape, and one of the songs wasn't on Heads at all.

Mrgriply

I was the drummer for the Garden for years. Mark the singer has recently put up a MySpace site for the band. http://www.myspace.com/thegardenhasntchangedmuch

Leinster13

The Garden Hasn't Changed Much now has a Facebook page too.

Ryaller

Holy zombie thread Batman...

Indeed they do. http://www.facebook.com/TheGardenHasntChangedMuch

Mrgriply

Check out their YouTube page
http://m.youtube.com/#/results?q=TGHCM&oq=TGHCM&gs_l=youtube-reduced.3...651.11445.0.11846.8.7.0.0.0.0.520.1346.0j3j2j5-1.6.0....0...1ac.1.23.youtube-reduced..3.5.1232.0u5n02LjcM8