JOHN WILSON (TASTE)
John Wilson was the drummer with the immortal Taste, but he also played with Them and Stud.
“I’ve been a musician all my life and I can’t think of doing anything else. I live in Belfast and do sessions with the likes of trumpeter Linley Hamilton, singer Jackie Dankworth and Taste. The new version of Taste includes the original member Charlie McCracken on bass and a wonderful guitarist, Sam Davidson. He doesn’t try to ape Rory, but does his own thing. The great thing is that every night we play all that great Taste music, Rory’s up there on the stage with us. We open the set with ‘What’s Going On’.
“There was some horrible stuff going around about the way we broke up. But it was all a management problem. They got all the money. Rory got none, and we got none. We always had great admiration for each other, even afterwards. I met Rory later when he gigged in Belfast during the Troubles, and we had talked about playing together again. He did a peace concert in the late eighties before he went into hospital for his transplant.
“But some of my best memories are playing with Brush Shields in the seventies. I was in Stud at the time, but that whole blues-based style was on the wane and it was now all prog-rock, showing-off stuff. Jim Cregan, our guitarist, joined Cockney Rebel and I was running the band and dealing with all the hassle, Then Brush came to me at a gig, said he was on the same bill but had no band and would I play with him! It was a great change for me not to have to do all the worrying, and concentrate on just playing music again.
“I also work with the Making Music Workshop, helping young people with their music and their careers. I’m 60 now, so I’m too old to be worrying about record deals and the like. But who needs them when you’re happy making the music you love?”

GERRY COTT (BOOMTOWN RATS)
After the sonic and verbal assaults bequeathed to the nation by the Boomtown Rats, Ireland was never the same again. Gerry Cott was the band’s original lead guitarist.
“I started my company A-Z Animals Limited in the UK in 1983, and have become an acknowledged expert on animal behaviour and animal training for films, TV commercials and photography. My title would be “animal action supervisor” or “trainer”. It’s my job to carefully examine a shooting script and suggest to the director how all the “animal action” should be prepared for, and then how it will be achieved on film. My recent film projects include The Queen, The Adventures of Greyfriars Bobby, 28 Days Later. Previous projects include Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, Remains Of The Day and Babe One. I’ve worked on TV commercials for Kerrygold Cows and Glenfiddich Whisky. It’s a neat job – I invented it myself! Recently I presented a 30-minute documentary for Animal Planet.
“So how did I become so comfortable around animals? Simple, I was in the Boomtown Rats! But seriously, my mother’s side of the family are West Wicklow farmers. As a kid I used to spend part of my summer hols on their farms, helping with the cattle, making hay etc, – a long way from rock & roll, but something I came back to. The real highlight of my time with the Rats was playing Moran’s for Smiley Bolger! Also, ‘Rat Trap’ getting to No 1 and that first appearance on Top Of The Pops (big stuff back then). Working with producer Mutt Lange – god, he was good. Visiting the Japanese Alps as an honoured guest of the guitar company who built and serviced my guitars - and, of course, playing solo for the workforce in the canteen.
“I left the Rats in 1981. The Rats made a little money in 1979/80 and while the rest of the guys were rocking and rolling in London, Cathy (my wife) and I indulged our love of the country and had horses and dogs in Surrey (where we still live). Then an art director friend at an ad agency asked would I be interested in doing some filming for a TV commercial with my Collie dog called Marley (after another Bob). The commercial turned out very well – and more work followed. What wealth and financial security I have today comes from my second business – not the Rats. It was a bit strange to see them on Live Aid in 1985 but that was Bob’s thing and nothing to do with the band. I still play guitar and have an array of beautiful acoustic guitars which I play every day.”

TONY LAMBERT (THE SAW DOCTORS)
Tony Lambert played with The Saw Doctors until he won €1 million in the national lottery in 1993.
“I think the high point of my time with the Docs was the gig in Tuam. Nothing could get close to the vibe we had that day. It was like the boys were coming home. Why did I leave? I wasn’t wanted anymore. I was never a member of the band. I was just paid to play the keyboard parts. When I was asked to play “off stage” by the manager, I realised I wasn’t needed any more. They, or he, had had enough of my ill-earned fame. I understand completely. Can you imagine a really great band suddenly getting famous because their session keyboard player has won the lotto? It’s a nightmare for them. But it was just stuff that happened and there was nothing I could do to stop it.
“So what I am doing to earn a living? I won the lotto! It wasn’t a large win but it was enough for me. I bought some houses and made some profit. I live in a country house that has tiny overheads. I have a studio in my home and I keep writing and jamming with the local stars. I have a great life.
“I had a great time playing great gigs with the Saw Doctors and recording great albums. I will never forget those times and I wish them the best of luck. I hope that they can remember our good times together. And you too.”

FERGAL ANDREWS (CACTUS WORLD NEWS)
For a while in the mid-‘80s, Cactus World News were Ireland’s next big thing. They enjoyed three UK chart placings and an album hit with their debut Urban Beaches.
“I joined the band on bass when I was 19. Looking back it was an amazing experience. The highlight was probably playing Self-Aid in 1986. We were used to playing gigs with 2,000 people but it was scary that day playing to 40,000. Most of my fondest memories are from early on because, as things develop, you get a bit numbed to what’s happening around you. Working with Bono when he produced our first single ‘The Bridge’ was fantastic. I saw him in a totally different light. He was a clever creative force in the studio. But we reached a point where myself and Wayne Sheehy the drummer wanted to go in one direction, and Frank and Eoin in another, so we left. At 25, I had to learn to deal with the normal world. I did some music for theatres, a bit of sound engineering and played with a few bands. I got into website design by helping bands with their websites, and I’ve been doing it full-time for four years for an advertising agency in London.”

LOUISE LOUGHMAN (CHILL)
Loughman was a member of Chill, an all-girl Irish band bound for pop stardom in the early days of the boy and/girl band era, until fate decided otherwise.
“I had a great time while it lasted. I particularly enjoyed doing the Smash Hits Roadshow, sharing a stage with Boyzone and recording in Metropolis Studio in London where Queen recorded. I realised it was all over for us after the Spice Girls and then All Saints broke through but it wasn’t happening for us. The A&R guy that signed us was moved to head of the company, and the new guy didn’t have the same interest. Our contract wasn’t going to be renewed, so the decision was taken out of our hands. It had taken three years of our lives. I was 21 when Chill finished and it wasn’t easy to accept, especially for some of the other girls who were a couple of years younger. But we got over it.
“I then did a journalism course and got a placement in the Star newspaper and then moved to TV. I’m now doing research and presenting programmes for the Film 24 TV channel. I’ve interviewed people like Hugh Hefner and members of the casts of 24, Lost, Desperate Housewives and so on. I worked for five years with RTÉ and BBC as well as presenting I’m A Celebrity... for ITV 2. I’m perfectly happy with what I’m doing now, and although I enjoyed the Chill experience I have no plans to try it again!”

VINNIE DOYLE (CRY BEFORE DAWN)
Cry Before Dawn emerged from Wexford in the late ‘80s, scored a deal with Epic Records and were bright lights on the scene for a while, scoring a UK hit single with ‘Witness For The World’ in 1989.
“Before I joined Cry Before Dawn I’d worked in the motor trade and I eventually returned to that business after the band broke up, apart from a spell in the fishing industry. I have fond memories of my time with the band, the most exciting of which would include the release of our very first record, playing to audiences in New York and Boston and hearing our music on the radio. But perhaps the biggest buzz was playing Feile, the Trip To Tipp. After the deal with Epic ended, we soldiered on on our own and released one single. But it wasn’t really going anywhere, so we packed it in. I’m now working with the firm Lexus Doyle just outside Wexford town.”

DEIRDRE O’NEILL (JUNKSTER)
Lead by their charismatic singer and songwriter Deirdre O’Neill, Junkster released a superb album in 1997 through RCA in the USA. But the essential big hit single never materialized and that was it.
“I got pregnant towards the end of our deal with RCA, and was more or less told that there was no place in the music business for a woman trying to make it while in the family way. When the band broke up people told me I’d get a job in the music industry no problem, but there were no jobs going at the time. Or maybe I was just unemployable! So I reckoned that the only things I was good at was making music and making babies, and I noticed that there were a lot of pop stars like the Spice Girls and All Saints getting pregnant and showing off their bellies on TV. I saw a gap in the market in Ireland to cater for pregnant women. I opened the Pregnancy Store in Dawson Street in Dublin, and I’ve been doing this for seven years since the deal ended and for as long as I was in the band. It was hard at the start, having to learn everything from scratch and not being part of a franchise. Retail business is really hard, but we manufacture our own clothes and we’re into things like pilates, yoga and so on, everything for the pregnant mum. I’ve got three of my own now, so I can learn from that too. I have a few music projects I want to get back into when I get the time. I miss singing, but I can’t think of anything worse than reforming the band. I see Engine Alley are back. What’s that all about? I’ve no interest in going back.”

JACK DUBLIN (IN TUA NUA)
In Tua Nua not only struck the major record label deal, but they did it twice, toured the world and played with some of the legendary acts of all time.
“I did a bit of painting and decorating in my teens before I got into music. But I was a big music fan. A mate of mine camped out to see the Rolling Stones at Slane. In fact he slagged me, saying that maybe some day I’d be up there on that stage. Little did I know then that with In Tua Nua I would do exactly that, when we supported Bob Dylan in 1984.
“The highlights were, first of all, getting signed initially by Mother Records. Bono was a big fan, and then we got a deal with Island. When they dropped us we were broken-hearted, but then we got a deal with Virgin. Playing with Dylan was obviously a huge thing, but doing Croke Park with U2 was also fantastic. The birth of my two girls is another huge experience, especially since one’s a bass player and the other plays guitar, so I’m raising the next generation of Irish musicians!
“When the band broke up, it was a bit of a wake-up call. I taught guitar for a while, and managed a band called Christina Calls and did some production work as well. But then I went back to painting and decorating and I’m now a full-time interior designer, totally self-employed for the last 10 years. I rejoined The Gravediggers, just for the fun. It’s great not to have the pressures that depending on music for your livelihood brings.”

LUCY CLARKE (THE CHICKS)
For a while it looked as if The Chicks were right there on the edge, about to crack the big time any minute. But the vagaries of the business they call show meant it wasn’t to be.
“I’m now working as a staff photographer with JMI, the Journal Of Music In Ireland. I’m also working on several projects connected to music, and studying graphic design so that I’ll have some extra qualifications. I only play music, irregularly, with The Wrath Of The Shining Path which includes Annie from The Chicks and Mick from The Republic Of Loose. I’m also in Dogs With No Collars with Dave from ROL.
“The highlight from my time with The Chicks was recording our album during six weeks in Philadelphia and working with Royal Trux. It was great to see the city not just as a tourist but working there. It was great being abroad together, because we were all friends from school.
“We knew it was all over when our American label Dreamworks became difficult to contact. We had stopped writing and were trying to get the recordings released. It was a shock really, because we’d been together since I was 13, but I then went back to college. I’m not sure if I’d want to do it all over again. I certainly would talk about it, but we’re all in different places now and still great friends.”

PAUL BURGESS (RUEFREX)
While down south punk was often a mix of fun, rebellion and mock anger, in the north it often took on a far serious mien. Ruefrex, for whom Paul Burgess drummed and wrote lyrics, articulated a Protestant working-class perspective like no other.
“One of my most abiding memories is a gig we did at the Mansion House in Dublin with Stiff Little Fingers. The Black Catholics turned up and it got as close to anarchy as it can get. That’s one gig I won’t forget! It was also exciting putting out the ‘One By One’ record on Good Vibrations, and then we did a satirical version of ‘The Wild Colonial Boy’. It hit out at people in America supporting the IRA, and it did very well across the water and brought us to Stiff Records. At a gig we did in the Dandelion Market I got talking to Bono, without quite knowing who he was, and was pleased to know that he was a fan of the band anyway.
“When the band was falling to bits, I got a scholarship to Oxford University. When I went there, I thought they’d be really impressed by this poor wee bloke from the Shankill studying at Oxford, but what really impressed them were photos of the band on the cover of NME and Melody Maker that it put on the wall. So I followed the academic route from there on. I’ve been in UCC for the last 15 years, and am currently in the department of Applied Social Studies. I don’t do much with music, although I’m collaborating on a project in which I do readings, poetry and so on.”

SID RAINEY
Bassist Sid Rainey, alongside U2 and Snow Patrol producer Garret Lee and singer Josephmary, was part of Compulsion, the Irish punk band who took on the world and only lost on points. Sid is now a tv programme producer/director, best know for the cartoon series Underground Ernie, due back on BBC TV in early July.
“Even when I was with my mates in Compulsion, I was always into visual stuff. On tour buses we often passed the time by drawing cartoons of each other, slagging each other off. It was better than being abusive! I have really fond memories of the band, but then they were and are my best mates. When we were Thee Amazing Colossal Men, we took Virgin Records to court for breach of contract and won. The highlight of Compulsion was probably playing in the Viper Room in LA on the same bill as Johnny Depp’s band. He was a big fan. One night we had a visit from Gene Simmons. He told us he liked the way me on bass and Garret on guitar worked against each other. If we did, it was just a mistake. He thought it was intentional!
“I remember being in Philadelphia in a hotel, and me and Joey had €5 between us. We bought two coffees and a muffin for €2.70 and then waited for hours before we could spend the rest. We once did a tour all over America with 50 gigs in 52 days. We had some success with our album Comforter (number 59 for one week in ’99). We made that album for €600! But we were later signed to One Little Indian, and when things got really tight with them, we reckoned it was time to move on.
“I started to write for films and TV sitcoms and met film director John Deery and formed a television production company called Joella Productions. We created and produced the popular computer-animated children’s series, Underground Ernie, and have another 26 programmes about to start on BBC TV. In fact, we hope to do 52. BBC are really behind it, and we’ve done lots of licensing deals. We got Gary Lineker to do the voice. Our thinking was that he, having a natural delivery, would help the character stand-out. He was a bit nervous at first, but then he got really into it and he’s been terrific to work with. Through Joella we have several other productions in hand, but I still work as a creative musician. For example, I wrote the theme for Underground Ernie with Miles Hunt from the Wonder Stuff.
But would I go back to Compulsion? If somebody seriously suggested it, I really would consider it. We’re still best mates and we had great times together.”