Off The Record

I recently stumbled across this short film by Niall Farrell which features three personalities who are no strangers to this blog. Gibb Cassidy worked in Dublin’s Road records and recently opened his own independent record outlet Elastic Witch. Darren McCreesh is the man behind the upcoming ‘Strange Passion‘ compilation with radio show of the same name on PowerFM. Last but not least Brian O’Kelly was a member of The Gorehounds and founder of the Comet Records shop and label (their Comet compilations have featured regularly in these pages). Comet Records closed in 2011 and Brian is currently active with Irish Record Fairs touring the land with his hoards of vintage Irish vinyl.

Shark Bait

From Dublin Shark Bait were Dave Finnegan (guitar & vocals), Feargal Heapes (guitar), Simon Farrell (bass) and Martin Farrell (drums). These two tracks appeared on the 1988 Comet Tape 3 compilation.

Cemetary Rock (1988)

Problem Child (1988)

The 3355409′s

Another Cork act to feature on the Comet LP Two compilation were The 3355409′s. According to ‘Cork Rock‘ the original lineup comprised David O’Connell (guitar), Jerry Buckley (bass), Stephanie Vink, Ruth Beecher (vocals) and Anne O’Halloran (drums) and were active 1987-1988, Caroline O’Connell (bass) was also a member from 1986 – 1988 (see comments below). IrishRock.org however lists Paul Prior (drums) and the start date as 1984. Both agree that Morty McCarthy (drums) also featured. Paul Linehan (bass) came to one rehearsal but as David explains in a comment below decided not to join. Check out some of the band in the comments to this Dublin Opinion article on 80s Irish psychobilly.

Barbarous (1987)

Idol Joy

From Cork, Idol Joy were Ian Jack (vocals), Joe Cherry (guitar), Eddie Mulhare (guitar), John McGuire (bass/vocals) and Fionn Blake (drums). According to ‘Cork Rock’ by Mark McAvoy they were formed in October 1985 they made their live debut in Cork Opera House in February 1986. They recorded a demo in Elm Tree Studios in Cork featuring tracks ‘JFK’ and ‘Eli’. That was also where they recorded today’s track ‘Paradise Days’ which appeared on the Comet LP Two compilation.

‘Paradise Days‘ (1987)