The most recent addition to our Christmas wish list is a compilation from Reekus Records entitled ‘Too Late To Stop Now’. Celebrating 30 years in business Reekus Records first release was the seminal ‘Kaught at the Kampus‘ featuring Nun Attax, Micro-Disney, Mean Features and Urban Blitz recorded live in August 1980 at The Downtown Kampus Cork (incidentally recently re-released on CD). Reekus Records takes up the story..
The birth of Reekus in 1981 came about through Kaught at the Kampus, a vehicle for four Cork bands who featured regularly in support slots at the Downtown Kampus, a regular club night in the Cork Arcadia ballroom, which was a pivotal gig in the Irish rock scene, and run by Reekus founder Elvera Butler. Regularly hosting top bands of the time such as The Cure, The Stranglers, The Specials, The Beat, UB40, Rory Gallagher, The Undertones, and up-and-coming Irish acts such as U2 and Stiff Little Fingers, the policy was to encourage local bands by giving them support slots to the bigger names, and this gave rise to a dynamic music scene, some of which was captured at an exclusively Cork live show on August 31st 1980. The resultant 12” vinyl mini-album, Kaught at the Kampus, was the first Reekus release, and featured Microdisney, Nun Attax, Mean Features and Urban Blitz, three of whom went on to different levels of success abroad; Microdisney signed to Rough Trade and then Virgin, and later became Fatima Mansions, and members Sean O Hagan then formed the High Llamas, while Cathal Coughlan continues to have a successful solo career. Mean Features vocalist Mick Lynch went on to front Stump in the UK, while Nun Attax changed their name to 5 Go Down to the Sea, and later Beethoven ****Beethoven, with releases on both Setanta and the fledgling Creation Records. During the 80s, with offices in both Dublin and London, Reekus continued to support Irish music, with releases that included The Blades, Big Self, and Aslan among others. The millenium brought new energy with the release of the Blades albums on CD, followed by a new album from Blades’ mainman Paul Cleary, and these were quickly followed by several new signings.
To celebrate their 30th birthday Reekus Records are releasing a 40 track compilation featuring 20 tracks from the vaults available on CD for the first time on CD and featuring unreleased tracks from The Blades and Micro-Disney (later Microdisney). If you check out the Reekus page you can listen to a 1986 Aslan B-side ‘Been So Long’ and the full tracklisting. The CD can be bought online from Dec 12th and will be in the shops on the 16th.
CD1
The Blades – Downmarket (1983)
Paul Cleary/The Blades – Stand By Me Now (1985)
The Blades – Sadlands
The Blades – Truth Don’t Hurt (1986)
The Blades – Building A Wasteland (1983) unreleased
Paul Cleary- Stumble Into Love (1983) unreleased
Big Self – Surprise, Surprise (1981)
Big Self – Don’t Turn Around (1982)
Big Self – Reason Smiles (1984)
Aslan – This Is (1986)
Aslan – Please Don’t Stop
Aslan – Been So Long (1986)
Some Kind Of Wonderful – D’You Read My Letter (1982)
Micro-Disney – Victory (1981) unreleased
Micro-Disney – 12 Novembers (1981) unreleased
Nun Attax – Eyeballs (1980)
The Camino Organisation – Human Voices (1982)
Nigel Rolfe – African Flower (1986)
Montage – Who Will Stop The Rain (1987)
Barry Warner – Dancing Without You (1986)
and on CD2:
Paul Cleary – The Queen of Indecision (2002)
From Dublin, Bunny Hoover were Niall Meagher (vocals & guitar), James Guinevan (guitar & vocals), Martin Arthur (bass & vocals) and Ronan McDonnell (drums). James, Niall and Martin were previously in 
The Fanning Sessions Archive 