A couple of weeks ago we stumbled across a session track from Dark Room Notes for Alison Curtis of TodayFM. Now a kind reader has sent in another track this time a cover of ‘Heartbeat City’ recorded in session for Jenny Huston of 2fm in March 2009. Dark Room Notes were Ronan Gaughan, Ruairi Ferrie, Arran Murphy and Darragh Shanahan (drums).
Heartbeat City (2009)
From Malahide in Dublin, Gavin Is God were Deirdre O’Neill (vocals), Rory Carlisle (guitar), Neil Higgins (keyboards/vocals), Graham Darcy (bass) and Anthony D’Arcy (drums). Deirdre, Graham and Anthony later became The Joys.
I Wish You Were Famous
From Dublin, Saville were Ken O’Duffy (vocals / guitar), Tosh Flood (electric guitar / moog / piano / backing vocals), Vin Duffy (bass guitar / backing vocals) and Joe Fitzgerald (drums). They recorded their first session for Dave Fanning in 1995 and this second session in June 2000. Engineer on the session was Philip Cooke and mixing was by Paddy McBreen. Photo by Joe Fitzgerald. The missing fourth track is ‘I’ve Lost Touch With The World’. Ken has just released a new single ‘Calypso‘ on Bandcamp.
Friday Night Song (2000)
There’s No Getting Over You (2000)
Somnambular Ballad (2000)
A big thank you to Kieran McGuinness of Delorentos for the recent interview and very generous words on his Nova Guestlist show. Catch Kieran every Sunday from 6-9pm on Radio Nova or check out his latest project Driven Snow with Emily of Republic Of Loose who have a debut album on the way very soon.
Colin Murray narrates a new BBC Radio Ulster documentary highlighting some of the Northern Irish musicians whose careers were aided by the support of BBC Radio 1 DJ John Peel. ‘Alternative Ulster – John Peel’s Favourite Music Scene?‘ features interviews with members of Stiff Little Fingers, The Undertones, Therapy?, Ash, Tunic, Boys of The Lough and Joyrider as they start their John Peel journey as listeners, then hearing their records played on his show and once on his radar, securing that all important Peel session. Episode 1 of the two part series is available on the BBC Sounds website. We have a recording of Episode 2 so drop a line if you can’t track it down. We’d love a documentary featuring artists from the other half of the island and of course why not something on the Fanning sessions..
John Peel
From Dublin, Saville were Ken O’Duffy (vocals / guitar), Tosh Flood (electric guitar / moog / piano / backing vocals), Vin Duffy (bass guitar / backing vocals) and Joe Fitzgerald (drums). The band was originally called Nijinsky. Ken was previously a member of The Experiment and The Believers and is currently a solo artist and has just released a new single’Calypso’. Tosh is a member of The Divine Comedy. Joe Fitzgerald manages among others The Pale and Sack. Engineer on this April 1995 Fanning session was Anto Timini. Saville released three albums; ‘Is Anybody Happier Today?’ (2000), ‘Somnambular Ballads’ (2003) and Nostalgia (2000). The two latter albums were released on Reekus records. The photo is by Tom Lynch.
Dull Empty Nothings (1995)
Love Is A Heracletian Fire (1995)
Piece Of Glass (1995)
Two Junes (1995)
Dark Room Notes hailed originally from Galway and featured Ronan Gaughan, Ruairi Ferrie and Ruairi Cavanagh (drums). They were joined by Arran Murphy from Wicklow and Darragh Shanahan (drums) from Dublin. This session for Alison Curtis ‘Last Splash’ show on TodayFM was recorded in 2007. They released two albums ‘We Love You Dark Matter’ in 2009 and ‘Dark Room Notes’ in 2012. The band is no more but there is a nice Austrian fansite here. The photo is courtesy Sean McCormack.
Lovesong (2007)
In recognition of the first Irish national holiday in honour of a woman, Brigid, we thought it fitting that we mark the occasion. The following is a compilation featuring some of the female voices featured on this site. To the best of our knowledge all these songs are sessions recorded for Dave Fanning or demos played on his show. The In Tua Nua track is a live recording performed in the studio. If we have made any oversights, our apologies in advance, please do let us know. Thank you to Kieran McGuinness for a recent callout for iconic Irish female voices on twitter and to Mike McGrath-Bryan who asked a similar question a number of years earlier. All these posts and many more can be found using the #iwd (International Women’s Day) tag. The artwork is from Féile na mBan a new festival this weekend in Bundoran of women-led artistry, discussion and celebration.
geiro – bewithered
the swinging swine – poisoned by love
the wild herrings – buy me a drink
the skips – forever free
the screech owls – hey toreador
the joys – cheshire cat
the chapter house – possessed
the 3355409s – barbarous
scheer – wish you were dead
porcelyn tears – heaven knows
kaydee – seven days
in tua nua – jealous knife
giant – promised land
the would bes – so this is not the end of the world
Postscript: Of course there were glaring admissions, no sooner had we put the feet up than the names started coming to us.. Cuba Dares, Mary Stokes Band, Auto Da Fe, Forget Me Nots, Rare, Malfunctions , Gavin is God, Junkster, Glee Club.. To be continued as they say.. feel free to help out.
 | phil rock on Tears Of Lost Children (1989… |
 | Fanning Sessions on The Partisans |
 | Lewis on The Partisans |
| Fanning Sessions on Visual Eyes (1986 –… |
 | appian1952 on Visual Eyes (1986 –… |
In the absence of an official RTE Fanning Session archive consider this blog a humble starting point. Any musical submissions would be gratefully accepted as are any corrections or recollections... click on the pic to send an email or even better comment on the post in question. We are interested in anything recorded from irish radio or TV in the 1980s and 90s.
The Fanning Sessions Archive 