Non Irish Bands

Anyone can make a mistake and this website is no exception.

Several bands were incorrectly listed as Irish on this site in the past, in most cases because they were described as such in some other source. The purpose of this page is to correct such errors. I'm also including bands who are regularly incorrectly described as Irish for various reasons.

Of course there is a very large grey area, with so many Irish musicians joining or forming bands in the UK. The (loose) criteria I use is that the band must have been initially based in Ireland or is comprised of all Irish emigres. I realise this excludes the Gogan sisters (The Passions, Prag Vec) and a good case can be made for both, but I can't justify their inclusion (yet!). Besides both bands already have excellent websites.

Please remember I am not trying to make some nationalistic point here, it really doesn't matter! I started this site to document bands because they were not being documented elsewhere, not because of their origin. Their origin is simply the theme.

Indie punk.

Previously suspected as and now confirmed as a US release. The band name is actually Ko, not Ako, and they were probably from Kentucky. One review compares them to the Weirdos.

At one time Albania was reported as a Portrush based band with one Dougie Gough (pre Mighty Shamrocks) on guitar.

According to an old Bill Graham piece in Hot Press, Albania are the descendents of Rodeo, Errol Walsh's mid-70s country rock band, who emigrated to Scotland. Its certainly not unusual for N.IRL bands to have Scottish links but the story is more complicated than that.

The lineup on Albania's sole LP is listed as K.Y. McKay (vocals, guitar), Nick C.Ash (keyboards/guitar), Andy Hamilton (saxes), Dusty AKA Dusty McSheffrey (bass) and Jonnie Kilometer AKA John Miles (drums). Dusty and Jonnie came out of a Glasgow band called the Kelvinators and played in Rodeo circa 1977 with guitarist Dougie Gough (pre Mighty Shamrocks) and singer/band leader Errol Walsh. Hamilton, Dusty & Jonnie were also in another Glasgow band called Croppa (a corruption of Steve Cropper). All these bands were familiar to K.Y. McKay from their live shows in Glasgow. He formed Albania in 1978, enlisting the services of these ex Croppa/Kelvinators/Rodeo players.

Albania were signed in London in 1978 but didn't release anything until 1981, by which time Dougie was in the Mighty Shamrocks. However, he is credited with rhythm guitar on 5 of the albums tracks. Also among the guest credits are Nicola Kerr (New Seekers and Chips) and Ed Deane (Woods Band, etc). A best of CD was released a few years ago (the amusingly titled Life After Death Is On The Phone: The Best Of Albania). If anyone's read the liner notes, do they say any more about Albania's pre-history and it's Irish roots?

The producer is listed as Robert Ash. Andy Hamilton went on to play sax for the Boomtown Rats, Duran Duran, Dexys, Wham, etc

PS KY McKay sent me a cryptic/enigmatic/slightly scarey email in 2010 confirming most of the above (I think) and adding that John Miles now lives in New York and Dusty McSheffrey somewhere near Sydney. McKay is still writing and recording material.

Post-punk with female singer, a sought after single these days. I've seen this listed as N.IRL punk, but this is incorrect. The band came from Moss Side in Manchester.

Sixties-styled mod/R&B band.

The Bears were on Good Vibrations International series, which many don't realise was specifically set up for non Northern Ireland bands.

Mod revival band, though I'm not sure if both singles listed here are by the same band.

Poppy new wave with keyboards

English pop wave/synth-pop/dance-funk outfit on Magnet Records, undoubtedly an inspiration for Kajagoogoo.
Active: 1980-85

Reggae band formed in 1982 in Coventry with Charley Anderson ex The Selector. The band members come from the West Indies (Jamaica, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Antigua). They recorded a reggae version of the "The Fields Of Athenry" which was a hit in Ireland and they have been popular in ireland ever since and tour there to this day.

A different outfit to either the band from Omagh or the pre-Coletranes band from Dublin, but I don't know any more details about them, except that they are a duo from Coventry. There was yet another Crocodile Tears active in the early 1980s based in the USA.

Pressed in Ireland, but Flasher were a UK band. Great packaging but fairly uninteresting music (rock/pub rock/funky rock).

A new wave "ethno forgery" release

Different band to the above.

The Gas are a relatively well known UK band who released several snappy powerpop records on Polydor and on their own Good Vibrations label, though the band was associated with the legendary Belfast label. This is undoubtedly the source of the confusion which leads to them being described as an "Irish mod band". The Gas manager in 1981 was Bob Johnston who also manged The Ruts and who helped organise gigs in England for Belfast band the Bank Robbers in September 1981; when Good Vibrations relaunched the following year, it released the Bank Robbers debut single which had been awaiting release since mid-1981. The Gas were probably considered by Good Vibes, but the label had gone under again by the time these 1983 releases came about.
Polydor singles: "Ignore Me" (1981), "Treatment" (1981), "The Finger" (1982) and "Breathless" (Polydor, 1982). LP "Emotional Warfare" (1982)
Lineup: Dell Vickers (bass/vocals), Donnie Burke (guitar/vocals), Les Sampson (drums).

This garage band used a jug (like the 13th Floor Elevators) and released the "Halloween Everywhere" LP plus a single. Their website is here.

A late 80s/early 90s Italian pop duo who recorded for RCA. There were also Spanish and Japanese bands using this name, and most recently what looks like some underground metal variation reminiscent (in packaging at least) of Neurosis.

A Japanese synth band a la YMO with striking cover artwork.

This was post Hudson-Ford band, like the Monks ("Nice Legs, Shame About The Face"). They released two singles ("I Never Go Out In The Rain" and "Gotta Get Out Of This Rut") on Eagle Records in 1980-81 and a self-titled LP on Stately Home in 1984. Check the related groups section of the official Strawbs website.

Sometimes offered as "minimal synth" and described as Irish, David Ireland was in fact English and was probably based in Holland in the late 70s. He co-wrote a song on dutch progressive pop-rock band Kayak's Starlight Dancer album in 1977. Kayak mainman Ton Scherpenzeel produced this single the following year. I'm sure I've seen a self-released dutch-press solo LP from around the same time (I should've nabbed it and stuck it on ebay, eh?)

The band who recorded this fantastic single for CBS was NOT the Paul Brady outfit from Dublin -- see their entry for more about this confusion. More details of the UK band are emerging all the time thanks to the efforts of various ethno/cultural archeologists. Check youtube for recordings taken off acetates, etc.

My current guess is this band was from Liverpool. Anyone know better? The Lower Pool had two two tracks ("Minus A Nickel", "The Tune Of It") on the Guru Weirdbrain LP (1985) which couldn't be more different. "Minus A Nickel" is pure honky tonk country+western and pretty awful. "The Tune Of It" is lo-fi bedroom tunelessness which evokes the spirit of Daniel Johnston. Both tracks are credited to F.Maher, one Frank Maher. That was all I knew about him until a single turned up on ebay credited to the Lower Pool Band, both sides by Maher, and sporting a (p) 1979. On Made To Measure Records with no other clues as to its date or origin. It's poorly recorded sub-Lou Reed.
A second single on Made To Measure appeared in 1980, credited to Frank Maher. It carries the credit "Production Marita & Frank at Keystone". Maher issued more solo material during the 1980s.

An obscure NWOBHM trio who single was well received but the band petered out. Guitarist Jeremy Nagle was from Cork. He left in 1980 for London where he joined Megaton. He later returned to Cork in 1982-83 to join Driveshaft. Other members of Megaton were: Torvak, J. Gartland

Lineup: David Gough, Ian Irvine, Paddy Colohan, Tony Dolman (drums)

Canadian synth-pop duo 1982-86, comparable to Midge Ure-era Ultravox.

Pub rock/punk. Often listed on eBay as an Irish band (and in Henrik Beck Poulsen's book "77: The Year of Punk and New Wave") because the single was pressed in Ireland but the band was most probably from Liverpool, the home of their label Far In Records, which was distributed by Lightning Records. Some copies include this label flyer insert.
Lineup: Phil Roberts (v/g), Colin Pritchard (g), Ian Mallett (b), Micky 'Smiffy' McAlinsky (d)

Famous for recording the original version of "Hanging On The Telephone" later covered by Blondie.

An unknown band who self-released a 12-inch circa 1983. This may be an Irish release but there is no information on the cover. See the Help Needed section for more details.

Though guitarist Brian Willoughby was from Northern Ireland, this band is listed here. Brian had been playing in the same London folk clubs as Dave Cousins (pre Strawbs) and had already toured the world as guitarist for Mary Hopkins before becoming involved in No Sweat, who recorded one single for Pete Townshend's Eel Pie label. Brian then joined the Strawbs in 1979 and has been involved with them ever since. See www.strawbsweb.co.uk for more details.

A UK band from Hackney, East London who played in Belfast several times and are often mistaken for a Belfast band. They were included in It Makes You Want To Spit! as a joke. "Dirty Harry on the Falls Road" is a great song title! And of course there was a Northern band called Music For The Deaf . . .

Powerpop.

Probably toured in Ireland, resulting in the single on Release. They followed this up with an LP which featured the Kick Horns horn-section-for-hire.

Lead singer Sean from that den of fish-stockinged & eyelinered vice, Clonmel.

Black Maria re-christened for an EP of Lennon/McCartney covers.

See Steve LDK's excellent blog for details.

Lineup: Steve Alcoran, Nick Miller, Trevor McBride, Josh Kirby

This band's second single was released on Good Vibrations in the main GOT series instead of the GVI series usually used for 'international' bands (i.e. from outside Northern Ireland).

Detroit garage band.

Mistakenly identified as Irish by this website, Speed Limit were American and their lone single, produced by Mark Stewart (ex Pop Group, On-U-Sound) was released in 1981 on Play Records through Red Light Productions. The latter had an address in LA. The EP is synth based and has been variously labelled synth-pop and post punk, and described as "mixing elements of dub and popPunk" and sounding "like house-remixes of GIRLS AT OUR BEST or DOLLY MIXTURE at times." It has surfaced in the Hyped2Death reissue series.

LP on Dreamland Records. Different band to the Belfast Spider.

NWOBHM band with releases on Alien Records, Nik Records and RCA. Different band to the Belfast Spider.

this is incorrectly listed as being by Spider in several sources and is often attributed to the Belfast band. The picture is from an ebay auction and confirms that this is not the case.

Danish band who had a single released on Scoff Records, licensed from TIR. This came about probably through John Borrowman, who moved to Copenhagen after The Atrix split for the first time. Stalin Staccato toured Ireland in June-July 1988. The Atrix had a single released on TIR Records in Denmark under the name Afghan Trucks.
Lineup: Kenneth (v/g), Michael (g), Lars (b), Gert (d).

Alt/hard rock band.

Early 80s band featuring well known music journalist Nick Kent

Mod band from Birmingham.

A later incarnation of The Jets (UK). This is the second 'international' single (after The Shapes) to be released on Good Vibrations in the main GOT series.

This Boston band released three singles on Scoff Records circa 1985-86. The lineup included guitarist Paul Lebel (ex Museum Directors), whose website states that the first two A-sides were recorded at Normandy Sound studio in Rhode Island and were produced by Deke O'Brien. The lineup may also have included Irishman John Farrell. Further details to clarify the catalogue numbers appreciated but I am not holding my breath.

Reputedly fine mod/powerpop from France.

Mike Scott (ex Another Pretty Face) formed the Waterboys in the early 80s. After a number of acclaimed records, he recorded a more roots-based LP in Ireland called "Fisherman's Blues". This album was a paradigm of fake nostalgia, full of ludicrous lyrics about standing on windswept clifftops and sailing the seven seas and all the rest of it. Utterly fake in my opinion (can you tell I didn't like it?) but very influential in Ireland, spawning the so-called raggle-taggle bands and rotting the impressionable minds of many of my contemporaries.

C86 band from Glasgow circa 1986-1992 who recorded for Head and Sub Aqua Records and have appeared on the Leamington Spa compilations.

Mid-80s electro pop band who released just one single. It sounds exactly as you'd expect: busy, overproduced, cluttered, synth heavy pop music. Ingmar Kiang (ex Max, New Versions) plays bass.

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