Best Irish groups who never made it

Mr E · 29-01-2011 05:00PM

yeahme wrote:

4 pages gone and not one mention of
The 4 of us.
for shame...

I loved Songs for the Tempted and Man Alive, but they completely lost if after that. They bottled it before releasing Amplifier, released an acoustic snorefest instead and the albums after that went down the same track.

When you see those guys live playing 10 minute full electric versions of songs like Drag My Bad Name Down and Bus Load of Faith, it boggles the mind that they insist on releasing dull radio-friendly shite.

Unrealistic · 29-01-2011 05:16PM

fenris wrote: »

Toasted Heretics - for some of the dodgiest lyrics, even by todays standards!

Golden Horde - the were great and then just vanished

Second on The Golden Horde and Toasted Heretic although I think the a lot of the lyrics are pure genius. Julian Gough released a book of poetry recently and half of the book is made of the the complete Toasted Heretic's lyrics.

Light A Big Fire also deserve a mention. The lead singer, Tom McLaughlin, I think went on to write episodes of Fair City.
http://fanningsessions.wordpress.com/2009/06/02/light-a-big-fire/

yeahme · 29-01-2011 05:21PM

Mr E wrote: »

I loved Songs for the Tempted and Man Alive, but they completely lost if after that. They bottled it before releasing Amplifier, released an acoustic snorefest instead and the albums after that went down the same track.

When you see those guys live playing 10 minute full electric versions of songs like Drag My Bad Name Down and Bus Load of Faith, it boggles the mind that they insist on releasing dull radio-friendly shite.

Agree
i saw them live around 94 95 i think , and remember they were class, everybody was hopping along to the music,
sad to see they went off the ball

phelixoflaherty · 29-01-2011 05:32PM

Rollerskate skinny. Particularly the album Horsedrawn Wishes.
Singer boy has an album out with a gang of new yorkers.

http://soundcloud.com/favouritesons/sets/favourite-sons-the-great-deal-of-love/s-JSV8v

Hippo · 29-01-2011 05:50PM

Plenty of Irish bands didn't make it internationally because they just weren't good enough. The occasional decent song or performance isn't enough, and often bands were maybe lulled into a sense of complacency after achieving some success domestically. There's a whole other level to be reached after that, and it takes some really serious work. U2, who I can't stand, had the combination of what was at the time a slightly different sound and an incredible work ethic.

I'm not knocking any of the bands mentioned in the thread (I was in one of them) but I'm always a little sceptical when people say such and such a band deserved to make it but were criminally ignored for whatever reason. Usually if you're good enough you'll achieve some success, and equally if you don't make it there's probably a pretty good reason. My personal favourites, The Blades (not an Irish version of The Jam, as was suggested above!) never did anything outside Ireland despite having a great singer/songwriter in Paul Cleary because they were completely out of step with where music had gone by the time they were getting any real exposure abroad. Anyhow, it's an interesting thread, brings back lots of memories.

yeahme · 29-01-2011 06:57PM

Its like anything else so, the harder you work the luckier your chances will be of getting picked up by a record company??,
some great memories there and I will be trawling thru you tube to find for the rest of the night, any one remember stocktings wings, more great music to go and search for, jaysis I'll still be searching this time tomorrow

Also dont really like U2, but the amount of work they had to put in to get where they are has to be admired and respected, still dont like the tax dodging money grabbers, but hey if it was me, I'd do the same thing...

Rented Mule · 29-01-2011 07:00PM

I've always been a big fan of Brian Meakin. He was named the Best Blues Guitar Player in Ireland in 2005, filmed a DVD at The Mermaid, but nothing really became of it.

Hopefully, we can see some original music from him in the very near future.

KeanSeenan · 29-01-2011 07:04PM

Turlough O Carolan released some great albums and a stunning ep, but I'm not sure his live show translated well across the water.

Hippo · 29-01-2011 08:42PM

yeahme wrote: »

Its like anything else so, the harder you work the luckier your chances will be of getting picked up by a record company??,

Takes a little more than that, plenty of those bands were picked up by record companies.

Nolanger · 29-01-2011 09:38PM

Who was the band (like The Cranberries) who had a single called Cradle?
That was a great song.

30txsbzmcu2k9w · 29-01-2011 09:42PM

fenris wrote: »

Fat Lady Sings were always great live, Arclight was a great song

Toasted Heretics - for some of the dodgiest lyrics, even by todays standards!

A House - a fantastic live band that didn't sound like they were trying to be someone else

Engine Alley - not just because they had a female drummer in the 90's

Golden Horde - the were great and then just vanished

Stump - I have vague memories of moshing and trying to avoid the barbed wire around the stage in Katie Reillys (Waterford) they had one of the first videos played on MTV - "Charlton Heston put his vest on"

Paranoid Visions - for the pure carnage!

Someone told me recently that she's only 32 NOW! means she must have only been 14 or 15 when she was in Engine Alley

.
Love this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKCR3s4cBN0

JonnyRichard · 29-01-2011 09:47PM

I'm sure one of The Chicks was Isabelle Reyes- Feeney, she sang on a few songs with Republic of Loose.

Indian were a great band from Sligo, they had some brilliant tunes.

Lir were quite promising but never really broke through..I remember their song "There Are More Things" from I Went Down.

30txsbzmcu2k9w · 29-01-2011 09:53PM

JonnyRichard wrote: »

I'm sure one of The Chicks was Isabelle Reyes- Feeney, she sang on a few songs with Republic of Loose.

Indian were a great band from Sligo, they had some brilliant tunes.

Lir were quite promising but never really broke through..I remember their song "There Are More Things" from I Went Down.

I watched I went Down again recently and forgot how much great music is on it - Revelino's Dont Lead me Down and a Mexican Pets Subside (I think) were two others that come to mind. Great bands around in the era. Good film too.

Miguel_Sanchez · 29-01-2011 10:10PM

Lir are playing The Workman's soon:

http://www.hotpress.com/news/7420565.html

30txsbzmcu2k9w · 29-01-2011 10:31PM

Nolanger wrote: »

Who was the band (like The Cranberries) who had a single called Cradle?
That was a great song.

Nuther band from Kilkenny, Kaydee. Singer was a bit of alright too

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5kaXWJRHio

Just reminded me of this band aswell, Scheer. Great tunes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFSIbqccJms

loyatemu · 29-01-2011 11:38PM

Hippo wrote: »

Plenty of Irish bands didn't make it internationally because they just weren't good enough. The occasional decent song or performance isn't enough, and often bands were maybe lulled into a sense of complacency after achieving some success domestically. There's a whole other level to be reached after that, and it takes some really serious work. U2, who I can't stand, had the combination of what was at the time a slightly different sound and an incredible work ethic.

this is right on the money - plenty of Irish bands came through in the last 20 years with a handful of good songs, but very few of them managed to maintain a consistently high level. The main reason they didn't make it is because there were a lot of better bands from elsewhere.

A good example is The Franks and Walters - their first 3 singles all got single of the week in NME, and this was back when NME was a serious launching pad for bands. Suede managed the same thing with their first 3 singles and went on to huge success - the difference was that Suede put out 2 albums that were consistently good, whereas the Franks debut was patchy as hell and they subsequently fell away.

although I suppose the title of this thread is "best Irish groups who never made it", not "best Irish groups who should have made it but didn't"

Mr E · 30-01-2011 12:21AM

Douglas Plump Doughnut wrote: »

Nuther band from Kilkenny, Kaydee. Singer was a bit of alright too

Tara Blaise. She released a pretty solo decent album about 5 years ago too.

S.M.B. · 30-01-2011 12:30AM

Love Sheer.

Demon might be my favourite song by an Irish band.

syd barrett · 30-01-2011 03:17AM

julio_iglayzis wrote: »

Really? I thought they had signed to a fairly big label after Shoulder Voices, but I'm probably wrong. Actually, you're dead right, now that I think of it, I remember picking up Horsedrawn Wishes for 2 dollars in Boston in 1996 - I couldn't find it anywhere else.

I think they played Lollapalooza too, I can't imagine them going down too well with American Beavis and Butthead skate shorts brigade.

I still have their first few EPs on 10 inch vinyl, they're brilliant.

Im sorry but Rollerskate Skinny are by far the best band from Dublin in last 15 years, Horsedrawn Wishes is unreal, it's cool to like Whipping Boy. Heartworm gets boring as **** for most of the second half of the album, Whenever I go back to Horsedrawn Wishes Im hearing new sounds all the time,Jimi Shields band Lotus Crown released one album that was good, and Ken went on to from Kid Silver which is pretty decent, i got the 3 ten inch eps off ebay for 8 quid 2 weeks ago, i really would give anything to have been old enough to have known them, but whipping boy, some self indulgent prick who thinks hes bono who believed their own hype and ****ed up, i seen them when they reformed, heartworm for me sounds dated now

30txsbzmcu2k9w · 30-01-2011 03:29AM

syd barrett wrote: »

Im sorry but Rollerskate Skinny are by far the best band from Dublin in last 15 years, Horsedrawn Wishes is unreal, it's cool to like Whipping Boy. Heartworm gets boring as **** for most of the second half of the album, Whenever I go back to Horsedrawn Wishes Im hearing new sounds all the time,Jimi Shields band Lotus Crown released one album that was good, and Ken went on to from Kid Silver which is pretty decent, i got the 3 ten inch eps off ebay for 8 quid 2 weeks ago, i really would give anything to have been old enough to have known them, but whipping boy, some self indulgent prick who thinks hes bono who believed their own hype and ****ed up, i seen them when they reformed, heartworm for me sounds dated now

Jimi never played on Horsedrawn wishes, he had left the band at that stage. Always prefered Shoulder Voices myself. One thing that bugged me about Horsedrawn Wishes is that the lyrics were, and still are, dreadful.

By the way Fearghal Mckee rallyed against everything that was Bono. "They built portholes for Bono" is a reference to Bono's Dalkey house where he had windows put in the jacks to look out the bay. Mckee is one of the greatest frontmen/lyricists to come out of this country bar none.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLZA2o1X5Wo

syd barrett · 30-01-2011 03:33AM

phelixoflaherty wrote: »

Rollerskate skinny. Particularly the album Horsedrawn Wishes.
Singer boy has an album out with a gang of new yorkers.

http://soundcloud.com/favouritesons/sets/favourite-sons-the-great-deal-of-love/s-JSV8v

I really have tried to like favourite sons but cant stand them, gers stuff is ver horsedrawn wishes on his myspace, the kid silver stuff that ken did is well worth checkin out, i got the album off amazon for next to nothin

syd barrett · 30-01-2011 03:35AM

Douglas Plump Doughnut wrote: »

Jimi never played on Horsedrawn wishes, he had left the band at that stage. Always prefered Shoulder Voices myself. One thing that bugged me about Horsedrawn Wishes is that the lyrics were, and still are, dreadful.

By the way Fearghal Mckee rallyed against everything that was Bono. "They built portholes for Bono" is a reference to Bono's Dalkey house where he had windows put in the jacks to look out the bay. Mckee is one of the greatest frontmen/lyricists to come out of this country bar none.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLZA2o1X5Wo

ah yea, i know jimi didnt play on horsedrawn wishes, i really do just love that album, had to get meself a pitch shifter pedal because of it, tho one band i really liked from that time were sunbear, yer man martin went on to form ruby taillights

Danelectro · 30-01-2011 02:09PM

No love for Revelino? Went to see them a few times and thought they produced one of the best debut albums by an Irish band.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBfMeXKPtJs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uw0xyF9cTpY&feature=related

Sinfonia · 30-01-2011 02:28PM

Loved Turn, up to and including Forward, after that I wasn't impressed at all.
I remember one of the many shows I went to of theirs in TBMC, the same night The White Stripes were playing Dublin Castle, and somebody in the audience threw an unused White Stripes ticket up to Ollie Cole, who exclaimed "That's dedication!".. Must've been a nice feeling for them, although I did think "Christ, even if you don't really like the White Stripes you might as well go, you can see Turn in about 3 weeks time for a fiver..!"

Really liked Bran'do too, was disappointed at the lack of recorded output and the split..
Another band was The Crayonz, who obviously just didn't get a following going, I think the only time I saw them headline a gig was in The Shelter (which was actually a nice little venue I thought, now it's just additional bar space in Vicar St. afaik), and my friend and I were pretty much the audience..

Honourable mention to Wilt, Melaton and Bunny

Amazotheamazing · 30-01-2011 02:50PM

Speaking of Irish bands who had one great song, anyone remember a song that's chorus was something like "I still prefer the sound that comes from Vinyl"?

I've a vague feeling it was a UCD charity song of some sort. Dave Fanning used to always play it on his Sunday morning TV show.

Nolanger · 30-01-2011 07:40PM

Anyone remember It's a secret? They had one of the best singles ever by an Irish band:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBfvkB7UouU

nlgbbbblth · 30-01-2011 09:35PM

syd barrett wrote: »

some self indulgent prick who thinks hes bono who believed their own hype and ****ed up,

you talking about Ken Griffin ?

roc_racer · 30-01-2011 09:45PM

Jayz, so many but the most hard done by IMHO;

* The Blades
* The Radiators
* Revelino
* Stars of Heaven/Revenants
* Golden Horde

Others... Auto Da Fe, Would Be's,

nlgbbbblth · 30-01-2011 09:47PM

Would Be's definitely

Three 12" singles - 11 tracks. Amazing.

Miguel_Sanchez · 31-01-2011 01:40AM

I can't believe I forgot MicroDisney.

Absolutely fantastic band.

Best Irish groups who never made it

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