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Bio:
Jil Turner, Dave McGinley & Gerry Forde all ex Fugitive; Derek Ennis &
Martin Murphy previously in a jazzrock outfit called Foul Play.
Eugene were a promising band who played a lot around Dublin in 1982-83. They appeared on Non Stop
Pop on RTE on 20.2.82; supported New Order at the SFX on 5.3.82 (debut live gig!); played the 2nd
Occasion at the Castle in Castlebar on 1.8.82 supporting the Boomtown Rats (who had top billing!)
and Thin Lizzy; and the Hot Press 5th anniversary benefit gig at Punchestown Racecourse
a couple of weeks earlier on 18.7.82 with Rory Gallagher, Simple Minds, U2,
Big Self and opening act The Alsatians.
Eugene won the very first Stag/Hot Press Best Unrecorded Act Award in early 1982,
the prize for which was supposed to be a Phil Lynott produced single. This was
announced in the pages of Hot Press as "I Dream In Red" / "Eire Nua". Not for the
last time in the Stag/Hot Press (later Carling/Hot Press) awards, no such single ever emerged.
Phil Lynott did invite the band as special guests on the first Irish date of his Solo In Soho
tour at the TV Club (exact details unknown; this tour included Lisdoonvarna, where some members of
the audience bottled Lynott, though nothing like the avalanche that greeted Classics Nouveaux).
The bands debut single finally emerged the following
year with no Lynott connection.
Many demos were recorded including "Oceanside" and "The Art Of Conversation" but
nothing further was released.
Derek Ennis was replaced by Paul Hallion and the band moved to London around 1986 but
further success eluded them and they returned to Dublin a year later and split up.
Jil Turner & Dave McGinley later formed East of Eden
who were joined in the studio on occasion by Derek Ennis (and Martin Murphy?).
Dave McGinley was later in Precious Stones.
Martin Murphy joined An Emotional Fish.
Gerry Forde works in the equipment supply side of the music business.
Paul Hallion is now a photographer.
Update: Dave McGinley (guitar), Jil Turner (bass/vocals), Pat Fitzpatrick (ex
Katmandu) (keyboards) and Paul Byrne
(ex In Tua Nua) (drums) appeared on the
Late Late Show in 2007 backing Debbie Harry.
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.