The tearjerkers
Encyclopedia
The Tearjerkers a five piece power pop
band from Northern Ireland
. Formed at the height of the punk rock
boom in Ulster in the late 1970s, the band were composed of members from other Northern Irish groups namely Cobra, Midnight Cruiser and The Detonators.
Paul McIlwaine (guitars)
Brian Rawson (guitars, backing vocals)
Howard Ingram (bass guitar, backing vocal and occasional lead vocal)
Nigel Hamilton (drums)
was issued on Terry Hooley's Belfast punk record label
, Good Vibrations. Drummer/manager, Nigel Hamilton, along with his partner, Elizabeth McCann, organised a tour for the Good Vibrations label, which took other leading punk bands Rudi
and The Outcasts on tour with the Tearjerkers all over Northern Ireland. The Tearjerkers were offered a recording contract
with Phonogram
's Back Door label, and issued their second single, "Murder Mystery" produced by John Astley (producer of The Who and Pete Townshend's then brother in law) and Phil Chapman. This single scored minor hit status in Belgium, France
and Sweden
as well as reaching No.74 in the UK charts. The Tearjerkers recorded two sessions for BBC Radio One's John Peel
Show, and also received extensive airplay
on Belfast's Downtown Radio and RTE's Dave Fanning
show.
With the death of the entertainment industry following the Miami Showband massacre, the Tearjerkers became prime movers in re-opening several concert venues and almost single-handedly creating the late 70s/early 80s contemporary band touring circuit within Northern Ireland.
The band travelled to England to start recording their follow up single, and recorded "Comic Book Heroes", "Fingers" and "Can't You See" with Chris "Merrick" Hughes (Adam and the Ants drummer) and Hugh Jones (Echo and the Bunnymen producer). These tracks were issued on the Mercury
record label in the United States
on the compilation album
, Thru The Back Door. The Tearjerkers also record another three tracks with Laurence Juber
at Radio Luxembourg
's London Studios before returning to Northern Ireland where further tracks, some self-produced, were readied for their debut album (provisionally entitled 'The Grey Album')
'We'd always been influenced by black music, incredibly so, much more than we were influenced by punk rock. Its influence is like dirty great fingerprints all over our recordings if you listen for them. Fontella Bass, Motown...we'd spend hours trying to get that Stax snare sound. When it came to the album, it wasn't a purely 'white' album and definitely not a 'black' album, although heavily influenced by black acts. I suppose we were pitching it as The Temptations on amphetamines'. So that's how it got the working title' (Howard Ingram)
The Tearjerkers continued to tour relentlessly across Ireland and England on their own, or as a support act to others including Thin Lizzy
, Dexys Midnight Runners
, Doll by Doll
and Rachel Sweet
. They were ably assisted by their Roadie/Manager, Malcolm Ostermeyer
Following an incident at a press reception in Kilkenny
for Thin Lizzy, it was decided that it was in the band's best interests if manager/drummer Nigel Hamilton left immediately following the tour. His replacement was Johnny Lee (ex-Blue Steam).The band recorded more demos
at the behest of the label, and travelled to London to play a series of dates and headline a night in London
's Venue nightclub
, sponsored by the Irish Tourist Board. This tour was captured on tape, and has been released as a free mini album on the band's website. Shortly after playing one of their biggest gigs in Bundoran
, County Donegal
the band split up, with Paul McIlwaine, Greg Lindsay and Paul Maxwell forming a new band, Etc. Etc.
Brian Rawson went to London to join Jim Lyttle
(Pretty Boy Floyd
, Rogue Male
) in his new band, and they recorded a three track demo in Alvic Studios with Jimmy Bain
(Rainbow
, Dio
) producing
and playing bass guitar
on the track, "Rough, Tough and Pretty Too". Rawson also spent some time with Brian Connolly's new incarnation of Sweet, prior to emigrating to the United States for several years.
Howard Ingram would found the Blue Rhythm Audio record label, releasing numerous projects by second wave Northern Irish bands, including the Vedettes, Sample and Hold and Shock Treatment, as well as solo recordings. Blue Rhythm operated between 1981-1983. He subsequently founded another record label that specialised in electronic music and it continues to exist today, albeit in a somewhat haphazard manner. One of Blue Rhythm's releases was the posthumous Tearjerkers single, issued under the name Paul West and His Mood (due to contractual issues), the Ingram/Maxwell penned 'Where's Julie?'
Hamilton would subsequently revive The Tearjerkers name to release the single "Fool" and "Comic Book Heroes" as a double A-sided single in 1982, for Dublin's Vixen label, with Brian Rawson guesting on guitar and Janine Mullally on lead vocals.
In recent years there has been a revival of interest in the band's work, with Japanese pop bands covering their music, and several invitations to tour Japan having been offered (and rejected), as well as offers to play the UK's premier punk festival, Rebellion. 'I think, fortunately, we're all in a place where we don't need or want that. It's different people living a previous life. It would require an awful lot of zeroes on the end to tempt me to pick up a posing pole again. I've no interest. I think there's something a bit sad about blokes from that era reviving their hits. Receding hairlines and expanding waistlines and some grim effort to recapture their youth. No, I've definitely no interest in strapping on a bass ever again' (Howard Ingram)
Several officially sanctioned albums have been released (in Japan) as well as a slew of top quality live bootlegs.
Power pop
Power pop is a popular musical genre that draws its inspiration from 1960s British and American pop and rock music. It typically incorporates a combination of musical devices such as strong melodies, crisp vocal harmonies, economical arrangements, and prominent guitar riffs. Instrumental solos are...
band from Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
. Formed at the height of the punk rock
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
boom in Ulster in the late 1970s, the band were composed of members from other Northern Irish groups namely Cobra, Midnight Cruiser and The Detonators.
Personnel
Paul Maxwell (lead vocal)Paul McIlwaine (guitars)
Brian Rawson (guitars, backing vocals)
Howard Ingram (bass guitar, backing vocal and occasional lead vocal)
Nigel Hamilton (drums)
Career
Their first singleSingle (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
was issued on Terry Hooley's Belfast punk record label
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
, Good Vibrations. Drummer/manager, Nigel Hamilton, along with his partner, Elizabeth McCann, organised a tour for the Good Vibrations label, which took other leading punk bands Rudi
Rudi
Rudi were a punk rock/power pop band from Belfast, Northern Ireland formed in 1975.-History:Rudi formed in 1975 as a covers band with members Brian Young, Ronnie Matthews, Graham Marshall, Leigh Carson and Gordon Blair, playing rock 'n' roll and glam rock hits. The band's name was taken from a...
and The Outcasts on tour with the Tearjerkers all over Northern Ireland. The Tearjerkers were offered a recording contract
Recording contract
A recording contract is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording artist , where the artist makes a record for the label to sell and promote...
with Phonogram
Phonogram
Phonogram may refer to:* Phonogram , a comic book by Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie* Phonogram , a grapheme which represents a phoneme or a combination of phonemes...
's Back Door label, and issued their second single, "Murder Mystery" produced by John Astley (producer of The Who and Pete Townshend's then brother in law) and Phil Chapman. This single scored minor hit status in Belgium, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
as well as reaching No.74 in the UK charts. The Tearjerkers recorded two sessions for BBC Radio One's John Peel
John Peel
John Robert Parker Ravenscroft, OBE , known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey, radio presenter, record producer and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly from 1967 until his death in 2004...
Show, and also received extensive airplay
Airplay
* Airplay is the amount of time a song is played on the radio.It may also refer to:* AirPlay, an audio & video streaming technology from Apple Inc.* Airplay , Foster & Graydon music project from 1980* Citroën C1, Citroën C1 Airplay...
on Belfast's Downtown Radio and RTE's Dave Fanning
Dave Fanning
Dave Fanning is an Irish rock journalist, DJ, retired film critic and veteran broadcaster. He currently hosts The 11th Hour on RTÉ Two and two radio shows: Drivetime with Dave on RTÉ Radio 1 and The Dave Fanning Show on RTÉ 2fm. He also fills in for other presenters on RTÉ Radio, including acting...
show.
With the death of the entertainment industry following the Miami Showband massacre, the Tearjerkers became prime movers in re-opening several concert venues and almost single-handedly creating the late 70s/early 80s contemporary band touring circuit within Northern Ireland.
The band travelled to England to start recording their follow up single, and recorded "Comic Book Heroes", "Fingers" and "Can't You See" with Chris "Merrick" Hughes (Adam and the Ants drummer) and Hugh Jones (Echo and the Bunnymen producer). These tracks were issued on the Mercury
Mercury Records
Mercury Records is a record label operating as a standalone company in the UK and as part of the Island Def Jam Motown Music Group in the US; both are subsidiaries of Universal Music Group. There is also a Mercury Records in Australia, which is a local artist and repertoire division of Universal...
record label in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
on the compilation album
Compilation album
A compilation album is an album featuring tracks from one or more performers, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, genre, source or subject matter...
, Thru The Back Door. The Tearjerkers also record another three tracks with Laurence Juber
Laurence Juber
Laurence Juber is an English-born guitarist who currently lives in California. Born 12 November 1952 in Stepney, East London, he was raised and went to school in North London...
at Radio Luxembourg
Radio Luxembourg
Radio Luxembourg may refer to:*Radio Luxembourg , a Long Wave commercial radio station that began broadcasting from the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg in 1933...
's London Studios before returning to Northern Ireland where further tracks, some self-produced, were readied for their debut album (provisionally entitled 'The Grey Album')
'We'd always been influenced by black music, incredibly so, much more than we were influenced by punk rock. Its influence is like dirty great fingerprints all over our recordings if you listen for them. Fontella Bass, Motown...we'd spend hours trying to get that Stax snare sound. When it came to the album, it wasn't a purely 'white' album and definitely not a 'black' album, although heavily influenced by black acts. I suppose we were pitching it as The Temptations on amphetamines'. So that's how it got the working title' (Howard Ingram)
The Tearjerkers continued to tour relentlessly across Ireland and England on their own, or as a support act to others including Thin Lizzy
Thin Lizzy
Thin Lizzy are an Irish hard rock band formed in Dublin in 1969. Two of the founding members, drummer Brian Downey and bass guitarist/vocalist Phil Lynott met while still in school. Lynott assumed the role of frontman and led them throughout their recording career of thirteen studio albums...
, Dexys Midnight Runners
Dexys Midnight Runners
Dexys Midnight Runners are a British pop group with soul influences, who achieved their major success in the early to mid 1980s. They are best known for their songs "Come On Eileen" and "Geno", both of which went No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart....
, Doll by Doll
Doll by Doll
Doll by Doll were a London based rock band formed by Jackie Leven in 1975. They came to prominence during the New Wave period but were largely ignored by the music press of the time - their emotional, psychedelic-tinged music was judged out of step with other bands of the time .The original line up...
and Rachel Sweet
Rachel Sweet
Rachel Sweet is an American singer, television writer and actress.-Biography:After beginning her singing career at the age of three, when she won an electric garage door opener in a singing contest, she began recording commercials at the age of six, toured with Mickey Rooney, and performed in Las...
. They were ably assisted by their Roadie/Manager, Malcolm Ostermeyer
Following an incident at a press reception in Kilkenny
Kilkenny
Kilkenny is a city and is the county town of the eponymous County Kilkenny in Ireland. It is situated on both banks of the River Nore in the province of Leinster, in the south-east of Ireland...
for Thin Lizzy, it was decided that it was in the band's best interests if manager/drummer Nigel Hamilton left immediately following the tour. His replacement was Johnny Lee (ex-Blue Steam).The band recorded more demos
Demo (music)
A demo version or demo of a song is one recorded for reference rather than for release. A demo is a way for a musician to approximate their ideas on tape or disc, and provide an example of those ideas to record labels, producers or other artists...
at the behest of the label, and travelled to London to play a series of dates and headline a night in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
's Venue nightclub
Nightclub
A nightclub is an entertainment venue which usually operates late into the night...
, sponsored by the Irish Tourist Board. This tour was captured on tape, and has been released as a free mini album on the band's website. Shortly after playing one of their biggest gigs in Bundoran
Bundoran
Bundoran is a town in County Donegal, part of the Province of Ulster in the north of Ireland. The town is located on the N15 road near Ballyshannon, 3 hours drive from Dublin and around two and a quarter hours drive from Belfast...
, County Donegal
County Donegal
County Donegal is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Border Region and is also located in the province of Ulster. It is named after the town of Donegal. Donegal County Council is the local authority for the county...
the band split up, with Paul McIlwaine, Greg Lindsay and Paul Maxwell forming a new band, Etc. Etc.
Brian Rawson went to London to join Jim Lyttle
Jim Lyttle
James Lawrence Lyttle Jr. is a former major league baseball player from Hamilton, Ohio. He played as an outfielder for the New York Yankees, Chicago White Sox, Montreal Expos, and Los Angeles Dodgers...
(Pretty Boy Floyd
Pretty Boy Floyd
Charles Arthur "Pretty Boy" Floyd was an American bank robber. He operated in the West South Central States, and his criminal exploits gained heavy press coverage in the 1930s. Like most other prominent outlaws of that era, he was killed by law enforcement officers...
, Rogue Male
Rogue Male (band)
-1980s:Rogue Male was the brainchild of Northern Ireland born singer/guitarist Jim Lyttle, who had previously been in the seminal Northern Irish punk band Pretty Boy Floyd and The Gems. Moving to London in the early 1980s he decided to put together a band that would mix punk styles and aggression...
) in his new band, and they recorded a three track demo in Alvic Studios with Jimmy Bain
Jimmy Bain
James Stewart 'Jimmy' Bain is a Scottish bassist most famous for playing in the bands Rainbow and Dio with Ronnie James Dio. He has worked with Thin Lizzy frontman Phil Lynott, co-writing on his solo albums....
(Rainbow
Rainbow (band)
Rainbow were an English rock band, controlled by guitarist Ritchie Blackmore from 1975 to 1984 and 1994 to 1997. It was originally established with American rock band Elf's members, though over the years Rainbow went through many line-up changes with no two studio albums featuring the same line-up...
, Dio
Dio (band)
Dio was an American heavy metal band from Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Formed in 1982 and led by vocalist Ronnie James Dio, after he left Black Sabbath with intentions to form a new band with fellow former Black Sabbath member, drummer Vinny Appice. Naming the band Dio made sense from a commercial...
) producing
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
and playing bass guitar
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
on the track, "Rough, Tough and Pretty Too". Rawson also spent some time with Brian Connolly's new incarnation of Sweet, prior to emigrating to the United States for several years.
Howard Ingram would found the Blue Rhythm Audio record label, releasing numerous projects by second wave Northern Irish bands, including the Vedettes, Sample and Hold and Shock Treatment, as well as solo recordings. Blue Rhythm operated between 1981-1983. He subsequently founded another record label that specialised in electronic music and it continues to exist today, albeit in a somewhat haphazard manner. One of Blue Rhythm's releases was the posthumous Tearjerkers single, issued under the name Paul West and His Mood (due to contractual issues), the Ingram/Maxwell penned 'Where's Julie?'
Hamilton would subsequently revive The Tearjerkers name to release the single "Fool" and "Comic Book Heroes" as a double A-sided single in 1982, for Dublin's Vixen label, with Brian Rawson guesting on guitar and Janine Mullally on lead vocals.
In recent years there has been a revival of interest in the band's work, with Japanese pop bands covering their music, and several invitations to tour Japan having been offered (and rejected), as well as offers to play the UK's premier punk festival, Rebellion. 'I think, fortunately, we're all in a place where we don't need or want that. It's different people living a previous life. It would require an awful lot of zeroes on the end to tempt me to pick up a posing pole again. I've no interest. I think there's something a bit sad about blokes from that era reviving their hits. Receding hairlines and expanding waistlines and some grim effort to recapture their youth. No, I've definitely no interest in strapping on a bass ever again' (Howard Ingram)
Several officially sanctioned albums have been released (in Japan) as well as a slew of top quality live bootlegs.