It’s A Tightrope

It’s A Tightrope were Kevin Jennings (guitar), Franck Jouneau (drums) and Jean-Pierre Fradet (bass). Maurice Czerniak (bass) was a founding member before emigrating to the U.S. This Bill Graham article from 1981 gives us some background on the band. It’s A Tightrope recorded a Fanning session for RTE on 17th August 1981. The tracks performed were:

1.Oh my darling
2.Murder on the TV
3.Soho 
4.So
5.Happy ever after

The band won a place in semi-finals of the 1982 Battle of the Bands which was held in London. They played a residency in the Parliament  Inn on Wednesdays and supported Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark at the National Stadium on 21st December 1981. If you have a copy of this or indeed any other unpublished sessions please get in touch.

Microdisney (1981 Session)

http://bubbyworld.com/microdisney/band.jpg

Formed in Cork before relocating to London, Microdisney were Cathal Coughlan (vocals), Sean O’Hagan (guitar), Mick Lynch (vocals), Jack Walsh (bass), Dave Galvin (drums). They recorded a Fanning session on 31st March 1981 featuring four tracks – ‘Cack Hand’, ‘Let’s Get Married’, ‘Mitchelstown’ and ‘Victory’. One track from this session and an interview have already appeared here and today we have two further tracks from the session. According to wikipedia the band played a one-off gig at Nick Allum’s 50th birthday party featuring Cathal Coughlan, Sean O’Hagan and Jon Fell (bass) with Fatima Mansions Nick Allum (drums) and High Llamas Rob Allum (drums/vocals).

Leper (1981)

Cack Hand (1981)

Rocky de Valera & The Rhythm Kings (1981 Session)

We originally featured Rocky de Valera and The Rhythm Kings eighteen months ago when we posted a track from the band’s 1981 Fanning session. Today we have two further tracks from that very session. The last we heard from Rocky or Ferdia MacAnna as you may know him a band was being assembled for at least one reunion gig. Further details remain elusive but as soon as we have them you’ll be the first to know, meanwhile why not check out Rocky De Valera and the Gravediggers over at u2theearlydayz.com.

’54-46′ (1981)

‘Ain’t Got No Home’ (1981)

No More Demos – In Dublin #140 (13/11/1981)

This article from In Dublin magazine offers some interesting background on the Fanning sessions. According to the piece ‘No More Demos’ by Gerard Siggins, when the new radio centre in Donnybrook was built “the two 16 track studios lay idle for eight years until Ian Wilson opened them (after much wrangling with Radio 1) to the cream of Ireland’s rock bands”. At the time of the article on 13th November 1981 the “Rock Show sessions” were a year old and the 41st visitors to Studio 8 were “a fine young band” from Waterford Neuro. The photo shows engineer Colm O’Rourke and a youthful Ian Wilson. For more retro scans be sure to check out brandnewretro. Incidentally Paul Butler of Neuro is currently active with Propellor Palms and was the subject of a recent interview in Hot Press.