Guernica

• Joe Rooney - vocals
• Derek Turner - guitar
• Ray McCarthy - keyboards
• Derek Lee - bass
• Dara Broe - drums

L-R: Dara Broe, Derek Lee, Joe Rooney,
Ray McCarthy, Derek Turner

Bio:

Dublin band formed in mid 1984: "We were a New Order type band that ended up going rockabilly. We were a depressing soul-searching rockabilly band, if you can imagine that. We came up with a new type of music in fact, but we broke up after that. The keyboard player found God and he started playing keyboards at a Born Again Christian church. The bass player joined the band Sack and then he left us. Another guy has a studio near Dundalk and the drummer just got loads of girls pregnant!"--Joe Rooney, from a 2004 interview in the Galway Observer

Guernica took a heavy New Order/Joy Division influence and mixed it with indie/C86/jangle-pop sounds. They also incorporated lighter, rockabilly touches to fantastic effect. After a debut single on Solid, they signed to Idol Records in London and released some acclaimed singles. They appeared on TV several times including MT USA (performing "Americano"), TV Ga Ga ("Americano"), Anything Goes ("New Boy"), Borderline ("Deep Sea Diving"), Megamix ("Homing") and Visual Eyes (on 13 Aug 1986). Fanning session in April 1986. There are many unreleased songs/recordings including "Collapsable Man", "Auditorium", "Dodge City", "Sweet Genius" and "Inclination of Her Step" among many others. Many are on good quality demo tapes and are crying out for CD release (if I win the lottery, I'll do it).

Guernica's records are particularly popular in Spain, where "Red And Orange" has been included on a number of Spanish compilation CDs. Here is Hugo's explanation for the band's popularity in Spain:

"During the mid 80's there was a Belgian DJ called Frank Lenaers that lived in Valencia and played at a very famous club called Spook. He made Orange and Red "very popular" (considering that was a reduced circle of people). He was a true legend on the decks, he developed an unique style of mixing using early EBM's, electro, house and industrial minimal tunes as a base for Indie pop, brit pop & rock songs like Guernica's. Those years of good music, memories & "unhealty life" -the explosion of mescalin and xtc- are still present for some of us..."

 

 

 

side one:
Orange and Red

side two:
The Queen of Our County
Missionary

Notes: "Guernica" is mispelled (red lettering below image):

Thanks to Hugo for the scans.

 

side one:
Humming of the Engine

side two:
Summerville
Veil of Tears

tracks:
Deep Sea Diving

notes: indie compilation with tracks by Severed Heads, Underworld, A Popular History of Signs, New Order, Wall of Voodoo, etc.

notes: compilation of '80s indie/C86 maxi-single tracks by the likes of The Alarm, The Mission, The Creepers, and James.

notes: Another Spanish compilation of 8s0/90s maxi-singles, including Grauzone (the immortal "Eisbar"), The Bolshoi, the Pixies, The Essence, Joolz, etc.

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.