New radio documentary on The Sultans of Ping will premiere next month

Dancing in the Disco is an upcoming radio documentary telling the story of the rise of The Sultans of Ping. From the band's modest start in Cork, to topping the Indie Chart in the UK, the Irish group went on to tour the globe, release three albums, and share the stage with punk rock legends, The Ramones.

Their debut single, ‘Where’s Me Jumper?’ has become one of the most instantly recognisable Irish songs, defying genres, ages, borders and scenes, cementing itself firmly within the country's pop culture canon. It has featured on The Young Offenders film soundtrack, and TV shows such as Moone Boy, Graham Norton’s Holding, and The Masked Singer, transcending the band itself. The documentary includes special contributions from band members, industry insiders and friends, fans and critics.

The Sultans of Ping were invited to close the Cork Rock festival in June 1991. It was there that they were accidentally spotted by Martin Heath, founder of Rhythm King Records, and offered a record deal. ‘Where’s Me Jumper?’ was released in January 1992 and instantly became a cult classic as the biggest selling single of that year, beating off Bryan Adams’ massive ‘Everything I Do’.

This ignited a rollercoaster couple of years for the band, where they played a few hundred gigs each year, from the Shetland Islands to Hiroshima. ‘You Talk Too Much’ was the group’s fourth single from their debut record, Casual Sex in the Cineplex, which breached the UK Top 30, placing at no.26. Their memorable gig on Top of the Pops occurred on the same episode that fellow Cork natives, The Frank & Walters appeared on.

As the band’s sound developed, transforming into a harder sound, ‘Where’s Me Jumper?’ was swiftly dropped from their set- The Sultans having been overshadowed by their massive hit.

With two more albums, and a ton of touring, The band went on to support the Sex Pistols in Paris, and the Ramones on their final European tour, before breaking up in 1997 where the band members returned to domestic life, college and sensible careers. It was an online fan community that kept the embers of the former punk band alive, fanning the flames until they managed to coax them out of retirement in 2005.

Since then, they've performed periodically, attracting fans far and wide, their debut cult classic welcomed back to the arms of their set.

The RTÉ 2XM documentary is produced by Paul McDermott for Learn & Sing
Productions. McDermott has previously produced documentaries about DJ Andrew Weatherall (Fail We May, Sail We Must), experimental musician Michael O’Shea (No Journeys End), and a Cork music trilogy: Get That Monster Off the Stage – the story of Finbarr Donnelly, Lights! Camel! Action! — the story of Stump and Iron Fist in Velvet Glove – the story of Microdisney. The critically acclaimed podcast, To Here Knows When – Great Irish Albums Revisited, is also produced by the award-winning producer.

The Sultans’ drummer Morty McCarthy, speaking on the upcoming documentary said, “If there’s one person you want doing a documentary on your band it’s Paul McDermott. We have listened to his fantastic detail-filled documentaries over the years and they never disappoint. Paul shines a light on parts of Irish music that are often hidden and he brings the past to life with his attention to detail. The Sultans of Ping were thrilled when Paul contacted us about doing a documentary and we are delighted to see him tell our story - warts and all.”

The documentary, will air on February 6th at 6pm on RTÉ2XM, before being repeated again on February 11th at 3pm.