SCHTUM

THE CONTRIBUTION of the city of Derry to the glorious tapestry which is Irish rock ’n’ roll shouldn’t be underestimated. Not only did Dana represent the coming of age of contemporary Irish Pop by cooing her way to the top of the charts back in 1970 with ‘All Kinds Of Everything’ but before the decade was out there emerged from the city the band who have more than their fair share of acolytes willing to dub them the greatest band every to have emerged from this island: The Undertones. Throw a hat-trick of UK Number Ones into the pot – Feargal Sharkey, Briana Corrigan of The Beautiful South and Peter Cunnah of D:Ream – and hey, who needs Cork or Belfast!

“The city’s been pretty much a barren place for bands since The Undertones,” says Christian McNeill, lead singer with the latest Derry heirs Schtum. “Even though four-fifths of That Petrol Emotion were from here they still had to do everything in London and we really didn’t want to go down that particular road. Almost every other town or city has their own label or live scene going, we kinda felt ‘Well, why shouldn’t the same be true for Derry?’ and now that it’s happened I think that can only act as a spur for other local musicians.”