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Bio:
Spud were a four piece electric folk outfit active in the 70s who never achieved
the recognition they deserved outside Ireland. Less rock oriented than Horslips,
less trad than Planxty, Spud's chief influence was Steeleye Span but they
developed their own style, drawing on Irish and English traditional folk music
as well as American country and bluegrass. Their set was a mixture of covers,
traditional tunes and original material.
Spud were Dermot O'Connor (vocals, guitars), Austin Kenny (guitars), Don Knox
(fiddle) and Michael Smith (bass). They made a big impact on the Irish scene
right from their inception and were heavily plugged by Pat Egan in his column
in Spotlight. They supported Steeleye Span at the State Cinema in July 1973.
They signed to Philips in 1974 and released
their debut album A Silk Purse in December. It was produced by Donal Lunny. The
sound is of crisply recorded electric and acoustic stringed instruments playing
riff-laden folk tunes with all members supplying vocals in unison. The most
Horslips-like track was a riff-heavy version of Brian Boru's March. It suffers
slightly from a lack of diversity but is a very useful addition to the irish
electric folk idiom. It was preceeded by a single, the somewhat unrepresentative
"The Wind in the Willows" which was an Irish chart hit in 1974.
The band toured Ireland, the UK and Europe in 1974 and 1975, building a strong
live reputation. They appeared at the Cambridge Folk Festival in 1975 and toured
the UK the same year supporting Richard and Linda Thompson. Their second album
"The Happy Handful" came out in 1975. It was produced by Simon Nicol, most famous
for his work with Fairport Convention. It builds on the debut without offering
any dramatic new departures.
The band parted company with their label in 1976 for reasons unknown, presumably
lack of success. Don O'Connor left to form The Permanent Cure in 1976. He was
replaced by two musicians, multi-instrumentalist / lead guitarist Ken Wilson and
drummer Dave Gaynor. The addition of a drummer signalled the bands decision to
pursue a full folk-rock direction.
Don Knox then invited Paul McGuinness, who he'd known at Trinity College, to
manage the band. McGuinness had been taking notes on how Horslips had gone about
managing their career and was looking for a band to manage at the time. So he
became Spud's manager for a year during 1976-77. He organised the self-released
single "Kitty", got the band good publicity in Scene magazine through journalist
Bill Graham, and landed an album contract with Sonet Records.
Spuds third and final album "Smoking On The Bog" was released in the Autumn of
1977. Recorded at Sawmills Studios in Cornwall in May/June 1977, it was produced
by Tony Cox, producer of the Trees acid-folk classic "On The Shore", and
engineered by Gerry Boys who'd earlier worked with Steeleye Span.
"Smoking On The Bog" is a far rowdier and far more rockin' album than the first
two. It features great lead guitar playing throughout by Ken Wilson and a
excellent cover of Richard Thompson's "Shame Of Doing Wrong". Some consider it
their best album. Internal disagreements over the bands direction led Paul
McGuinness to quit. He later found a new young band to manage named U2.
Spud's final release was a fine single recorded by a revamped lineup for
Mulligan Records in 1979. Don Knox and Michael Smith were joined by Bal Kennedy
(mandolin, autoharp, vocals), Jimmy Gibson (guitars, vocals) and Don Harris
(druims, vocals). The band split soon after it's release. Knox and Kennedy
contined as Bloom, who released a single in 1980.
The UK specialist reissue label Kissing Spell announced CD editions of all three
albums in 2007.
Notes: All tracks Trad. arr. Spud except "For The Love Of Sarah" (O'Connor/Kenny), "Wind In The Willows" (Bell), "Crow On The Cradle" (Carter) and "Nancy Brown" (O'Connor/Higgins). Producer Donal Lunny added bodhrán and moog.
• Happy Handful
Notes: First self-released single after the band was dropped by Philips. Non-LP A-side, but the B-side later turned up on the third LP.
Notes: non-LP single.
Bio:
Don Knox had earlier been in Spud. Bal Kennedy was in the final line-up of Spud
that recorded a single for Mulligan in 1979. Bloom released at least one single
and were active on the live circuit for a couple of years.
Help!: We need your help to complete this entry. If you can tell us more about this band then please do! We welcome any corrections, missing details, connections to other bands, where are they now, etc. We also need photos, scans, copies of releases or live or demo recordings, and any other memorabilia gathering dust in the attic.