The Goo 1
Regular PAUL MCDERMOTT (@LEARNANDSING) TO HERE KN
OWS WHEN - GREAT IRISH ALBUMS REVISITED Kaught at the Kampus – by Various Artists Elvera Butler ran the Downtown Kampus in Cork’s Arcadia ballroom with her late partner Andy Foster. Between 1977 and 1981 they promoted gigs by some of the biggest touring UK and Irish bands including: The Cure, The Specials, The Beat, The Fall, The Only Ones, XTC, The Cimarons, The Damned, Virgin Prunes, U2, The Radiators, UB40 and many others. For any local music scene to flourish you need a good venue and soon bands formed and were offered supports slots. Local bands Nun Attax, Microdisney, Urban Blitz and Mean Features were regularly playing in front of crowds of almost 2,000 people. The cost of recording a demo tape was beyond the means for these bands so Elvera concocted a plan to record a live gig of just local bands, ostensibly to be able to provide The origins of those records can be traced all the way back to a gig of Cork bands in 1980. Donnelly, Mick and Cathal: that a music scene in Ireland’s second city, away from the prying eyes of Dublin, during a time of deep economic recession could produce three of the country’s most charismatic frontmen ever is just phenomenal. THREE YOUNG BANDS WITH VERY SIGNIFICANT SINGERS AND THEY ALL WENT ON TO DO SOMETHING IN ENGLAND, WHAT ARE THE ODDS OF THAT? the bands with a recording that they could send to Dave Fanning in Dublin for airplay. The gig was recorded on the 30th August 1980 and an EP was released a few months later. Kaught at the Kampus was the first release on Reekus Records. The bands got some airplay on national radio – Nun Attax and Microdisney went on to record sessions for the Fanning show. The Arc closed in May 1981, Cork was beset by unemployment and a whole generation emigrated. Cathal Coughlan and Sean O’Hagan of Microdisney left for London. Finbarr Donnelly’s Nun Attax morphed into Five Go Down To the Sea? and followed them. Mick Lynch from Mean Features also followed suit and would later front Stump. These three bands would record some extraordinary records. The Glee Club, Quirk Out and The Clock Comes Down the Stairs belong in every record collection. Reekus went on to release music by The Blades, Aslan, Big Self and many others but Elvera is justly very proud of the label’s first record. “It captured a piece of history really, it’s amazing that at that one time there were three young bands with very significant singers, they were all big characters and they all went on to do something in England, well what are the odds of that?” asks Elvera. “More came out of that scene than probably came out of Dublin, obviously U2 came out of Dublin and there were a few bands that got signed on the back of U2, but whether they’re remembered in quite the same way is something else.” Kaught at the Kampus is out now on Reekus Records, the original EP is expanded with four Microdisney tracks and two Nun Attax tracks. The LP comes with a CD and a 16-page A4 fanzine. Elvera Butler revisits Kaught at the Kampus on To Here Knows When – Great Irish Albums Revisited, available on all podcast platforms. Episode notes and further information: https://www.paulmcdermott.ie/ PAGE 44