The Donnelly Brothers (1987 Session)
Hailing from Belfast and earning but a cryptic entry on the Help Wanted page of the Irish Punk & New Wave Discography. The music however speaks for itself. From a Fanning Session I think Dave decided..
The Donnelly Brothers have a MySpace page and here’s the bio:
The Donnelly Brothers were an indie band from West Belfast who existed between 1985 and 1989. The first line-up was Martin Burns (vocals), Bap McGreevy (lead guitar), Stephen ‘Punker’ McGreevy (bass), Paddy O’Neill (guitar) and Barney Carson (drums). The band played a few gigs around Belfast and made a few demos. Barney and Paddy left after a year to form their own band. A 14-year-old drummer named Ali Donnelly joined along with rhythm guitarist Nick Sadlier. The line-up of Burns, Bap, Punker, Nick and Ali played a few gigs, did a few demos, supported The Wedding Present on tour, played with The Jazz Butcher, The Prisoners and The Charlatans. The band recorded a session for the Dave Fanning Show on RTE in June 1987. It was broadcast twice on the radio station and led to a 2FM tour. The recordings on this page are from that Fanning session. Track three, Clawing at the Sky, is from the first demo in 1986.
Photo courtesy irishrock.org who now have a dedicated page for the band.
Mystery Machine
The Fanning Sessions Archive 
February 22, 2010 at 3:13 pm
Updated following discovery of the MySpace page.
July 10, 2010 at 12:17 pm
the donnelly brothers played in the Republic of Ireland a handful of times. They did a Trinity Ball, played McGonagle’s Dublin, Sir Henry’s, Cork, Galway, Belfast and Derry with The Wedding Present. Also gigs in Dundalk, Limerick and at The Underground in Dame Street, If anyone saw them play or has any pictures please contact me as I’m putting together a website, cheers
February 16, 2012 at 2:54 pm
Since upgraded to full entry on IrishRock http://www.irishrock.org/irodb/bands/donnellybros.html
April 3, 2017 at 7:51 pm
[…] The other item in their discography, even though it is not a proper release, is their appearance in the Dave Fanning Show for a Session in June 1987. The tracks they recorded for it were: “The Breadwinner”, “Mr. Debussy”, “The Tomorrow People” and “Mystery Machine”. Alright, we do know our friends from the blog The Fanning Session Archive. Time to look there. […]