Leonard Cohen (1993 Interview)

Shortly after the release of his 1992 album ‘The Future’ Leonard Cohen had a long chat with Dave Fanning. The interview was broadcast on the Dave’s RTE show on 21st January 1993. Leonard Cohen is of course playing four gigs at the Royal Hospital Kilmainham, this September 11th, 12th, 14th and 15th. Cohen is returning to the spot where he was reduced to tears four years earlier. The singer broke a 10-year hiatus from live shows when he performed in the grounds of the Irish Museum of Modern Art in 2008. Concert impresario Rob Hallett who persuaded the singer and poet out of retirement, said he used a show in Dublin two years earlier to win his argument. The promoter and life-long fan persuaded Cohen there was a massive audience waiting to see him on the back of a two-night tribute concert ‘Came So Far for Beauty‘ in The Point Theatre October 4th and 5th 2006.

Interview (1993)

Emperor of Ice Cream (1993 Session)

From Cork, Emperor of Ice Cream were John ‘Haggis’ Hegarty (vocals), Graham Finn (guitar), Edward Butt (bass) and John Lynch (drums). They released 3 singles and recorded one Fanning session in 1993. Thanks to Ian Wilson for digging this one out and to Dan Hegarty for featuring it in his classic session slot.

Ease It In (1993)

Scary Eire

I’ve been on the lookout for this session for a while but watching the fallout from RTE TV’s ‘Ireland’s Rappers‘ was the spur to look again, a comment on the Irish Times ‘On The Record’ blog by Stevie Grainger rang true:

“I’ll never forget the buzz i got listening to the “Truncheon Song” by Scary Eire on the Dave Fanning show in the early 90s”

One more search and there it was. The audio quality is not the best but I think you’ll get the picture. If anyone has the remaining two session tracks or indeed a higher quality version of please get in touch.

Formed in 1990 Scary Eire were a pioneering Irish hip hop outfit featuring Dada Sloosh, DJ Mek, Mr Browne and RiRa. In 2007 they released a compilation ‘The Scary Era’.

More reading: ‘Beats, Bodhráns and Bloody Mayhem – the story of Scary Éire‘ [state.ie]

Truncheon Song (1993)

On March 19th Dan Hegarty played two tracks from the 1993 Fanning session which he said was not easy to track down. Unfortunately I was not prepared so had to listen back to the show on the RTE player and only caught one track. Thankfully Ian Wilson has announced that Dan will rebroadcast the entire session on Easter Monday so tune in or check back here after that date.

Hold Yer Whisht (1993)

Into Paradise (acoustic)

Criminally overlooked by Tony Clayton-Lea in his recent (and very enjoyable) tome ‘101 Irish Records You Must Hear Before You Die‘ here is a 1993 performance and interview with Dave Long and James Eadie of Into Paradise formerly known as Backwards Into Paradise. Thank you to the kind reader who dug out this VHS.