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Bio:
Named after a Dublin suburb, Stepaside was formed in 1971 by Bob Bolton and
Bobby Kelly after the break up of the Chosen Few.
Bolton has previously been with Some People,
Uptown Band and The Stellas,
while Kelly had been with The Hootenannys and
The Greenbeats.
They recruited Basil Hendricks (steel guitar), Jimmy Faulkner (electric guitar), Chris Meehan (piano)
and Ritchie McCabe (drums) for the first lineup.
This original Stepaside was a country rock band active up until ca 1977.
Basil Hendricks AKA Henriques was a reknowned pedal steel player who'd played with showbands
(e.g. The Virginians). He recorded a solo LP of Hawaiian music in 1973, released on Tara Records in
Ireland. He left Stepaside to join another showband. This was during the country music boom in
the showband world. Ritchie McCabe was replaced by Robbie Brennan, who'd played with Bolton
in the Chosen Few.
When Jimmy Faulkner left to form Hotfoot, Brenny Bonass
(also ex Chosen Few) joined on guitar.
This lineup played boogie, blues and country rock. In a newspaper review from the period,
journalist Fachtna O'Kelly mentions many covers played during their set at Toner's pub in Dublin,
including "Just Another Tequila Sunrise", "Drift Away", "She's A Barmaid In The Honky-Tonk Downstairs",
"Great Balls of Fire" and the Doobie Brothers "Country Grove".
Chris Meehan left to become a barrister and was replaced by Dave MacAnaney (ex Rootzgroop, The Negatives) on piano. This is the lineup who toured with Kevin Johnson in 1976. By now the band was attracting record company attention, and they were approached by Solomon & Peres, the Belfast music business mogols who'd signed Van Morrison's Them. Wary of their fearsome reputation, Bob Bolton did not want to sign with them. After a live performance on BBC Northern Ireland in 1977, Solomon and Peres offered them a 3 year contract. All bar Bolton were eager to sign and his led to Bolton leaving Stepaside and joining the Swarbriggs band. Solomon & Pere withdrew their offer.
Bolton was replaced by Gerry O'Donavan. Bobby Kelly had left the band by this point too. Deke O'Brien joined during 1977 following the dissolution of his Nightbus band ( Brendan Bonass, Bobby Kelly, and Robbie Brennan had all played on the Nightbus LP the year before). Also in 1977, Gerry O'Donavan was replaced by Tommy Moore and then Paul Ashford. This lineup recorded the band's debut single "Good Morning Little Schoolgirl" released on Mulligan Records in April 1977. It's a rather tame effort and sold poorly. A second single on Mulligan was cancelled.
In June 1978 the band appeared on the bill at Macroom, supporting Rory Gallagher. In September 1978 the band's set was largely comprised of country rock mixed with pub rock, as is borne out by a live broadcast on Ken's Klub on RTE Radio that has survived on tape. Deke O'Brien left by the end of 1978 but may appear uncredited on later Stepaside recordings. The band continued with Mark Costigan on board. The music moved in a new wave / powerpop direction, as is evident by the self-released second single "We've Got You Surrounded", released in April 1979. A clever piece of new wave pop, this was far superior to the debut of two years earlier and bode well for the future.
By mid 1979 Stepaside were playing energetic, R'n'B infused powerpop/rock
which more-or-less fit the new
wave bill but which owed as much to Bob Seger as it did to Elvis Costello. They
weren't considered authentic new wave in some quarters though they'd have fit
into the Chiswick or Stiff roster easily enough. They completed recording their debut LP
by October 1979. The original title was "The Last Resort", but it was finally released
as "Sit Down And Relapse" a month or so later on their own Sidestep label.
It's a very good powerpop LP with some great tracks.
In January 1980 they signed a deal with Gale Records who released the
debut LP in the UK (anyone know anything about Gale?) in April 1980 while the
band was on a lengthy UK tour. It didn't sell very well. A few more single releases
followed, but none made any impact outside Ireland.
They made many TV appearances before
disbanding in late 1980 or early 1981.
Guitarist Brendan Bonass led a new lineup in 1981
with Mick O'Hagan (bass/vocals), Denis Woods (keyboards) and Niall Power (drums).
They were managed by boyband impresario/svengali Louis Walsh.
They did some very glam, heavy on the eyeliner publicity photos and recorded
a single for Spider Records which barely came out when the label crashed.
This single is now one of the harder to find Stepaside releases.
Singer/bassist Paul Ashford fronted The Sharks in 1981
and later released mediocre solo material. His backing band often included Brennan & Costigan.
Stepaside reformed for occasional gigs in the new millenium with the lineup
Ashford, Bonass, Brenna & Costigan. Paul Ashford passed away in January 2011.
Notes: Recorded before a live audience, the performance included a couple of interview segments with DJ Ken Stewart. The lineup was Deke O'Brien (guitar and lead vocals), Brendan Bonass (lead guitar), Dave MacAnaney (piano), Paul Ashford (bass, vocals) and Robbie Brennan (drums).
Some sources claim this was to be the second Stepaside single "Too Long On The Road" in which case it probably never existed as a Mulligan release as the band issued it themselves in April the following year; another theory put to me by someone close to the band is that it was a repress of the debut single given away with initial copies of the Nightbus LP, but as that came out in 1976 this seems very unlikely! See Deke O'Brien for more details.
Issued in a very fragile printed bag, like an LP inner sleeve, and very hard to find in good condition as a result. A few hundred copies pressed.
Notes:
Stepaside's debut LP was ready for release in October 1979 but it was a few months before
it came out. The original title was "The Last Resort". All CD reissues to date are on budget labels and sound it, so be warned! The
Break Music CD is reputedly awful - I haven't heard it, but if it sounds
anything as bad as the cassette edition, the people responsible need horse whipping. The
digitally remastered Chart Records issue doesn't sound right either in my opinion.
Whether its a remastering problem or a manufacturing defect I cannot say, but it
sounds tinny, thin and trebly, and gets worse with each track. It's particularly
noticeable on "Last Resort" which sounds diabolical IMO. It was re-mastered by
Robin Robbins of Bob Seeger's Silver Bullet Band in his studio and apparently
sounded terrific at the time, but it hasn't translated well to the finised CD
for some reason.
At time of writing (June 2008), there is no substitute for an original vinyl LP
pressing.
The blurb says: Two Great Irish Rock Albums In One Box. One disc is the Chart Records issue of Stepaside's Sit Down And Relapse album. The other disc is Brush Shiels "Fields Of Athenry" album.
New version of the A-side recorded at Windmill Lane by the 1981 lineup of Mick O'Hagan (vocals), Brendan Bonass, Dennis Woods (keyboards) and Niall Power (drums). 500 copies were pressed and were due for release when Spider Records went bust. The records were then dumped at the back of Warner Bros offices in Dublin, so it was never officially released. Copies are in circulation however, so it did go on sale. Even so it's a tough find these days.
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.