The Hiberno-Welsh Sound System, Anybody?

When top international music industry contacts ask me what is the hardest part of compiling this column every fortnight, without hesitation I have to admit it’s the effort of trying to wade through the hundreds of demos that pour in relentlessly, day after day, decade after decade. Even to listen to three songs once takes an average of ten minutes, and if I listened to everything I’d have no time to write this column!

That backlog explains why I’m only now getting around to listening to the second demo from the teenage Dublin boy band The Hype whose name, apparently, is a Welsh acronym for “The Hiberno Welsh Sound System”.

The Hype are one of countless brave bands struggling to make headway with no money to spend on recording and saddled with a manager in a similar plight, to judge by the badly typed and almost illegible letter received from their erstwhile manager Paud McGuinness.

Paud boasts that “his boys” are “a new wave, power pop, post- punk, pre-modernist” outfit made up of Irish and Welsh members and that they’re determined to become the biggest rock’n’roll band in the world without ever leaving the safety of the North Dublin suburb of Ballymun. (Sure, Paud, no bother, and Ireland will have a female President, right?). His own dubious track record includes managing a Dublin band called Splod (Splud?) who are big in The Sudan, or maybe it’s Sweden. Allegedly. He also admits that The Hype are considering a name change to U2 in honour of that Russian spy plane incident (are these guys Commies or what?). But more about that later. What he doesn’t mention is that Brush Shields has taught “his boys” everything they know, and on the evidence of this demo he still has work to do.

The Hype’s rather contrived sound is dominated by a bloke with the daftly named The Edge. (The Limit would be more appropriate). He has managed to master two notes on his guitar which he repeats ad nauseam and then repeats again in reverse order (Thanks, Brush). Only on ‘Street Mission’ does The Limit, er, Edge get to express himself and turns in a solo worthy of the great Johnny Fean from Horslips. With a full set of strings he just might become a contender, but it won’t be easy.

The other dominant figure in The Hype is the singer who’s name, I guess, is Bobo Fox. What Bobo lacks in style and ability he more than makes up for with boyish enthusiasm and his determination to save the world and free Nicky Kelly. He writes the lyrics, and I was particularly taken with his admission in ‘Shadows And Tall Trees’ that he’s tempted to sell his complete collection of Luke Kelly albums to help feed the starving people of Drumcondra (or is it Rwanda?

But, most heinous of all, drummer Larry “Mullen” Jr let’s the side down throughout with very clumsy percussion work, his assault on his kit bearing all the rhythmic precision of a mis-firing Harley-Davidson. As I can’t find any Jrs in the Irish phone book he’s obviously one of the Welsh members.

And so we come to the real hero here, Adam Clinton. Clinton’s bass guitar work is a real treat, especially on ‘The Fool”, where his fast swooping runs are eerily reminiscent of the cool, clinical, analytical approach of the legendary Charlie Mingus during his stint with Red Norvo’s band in the early fifties. Don’t be surprised if Clinton takes off on a solo career soon or gets snapped up by some real pros like Miles Davis or the Jimi Slevin Band.

Meanwhile, Hype people (and Brush), there’s a lot of serious thinking ahead. Firstly, you have to accept that McGuinness is not good for you. What you need is a hot-shot manager like Louis Walsh who can make up lurid scams for the tabloids and tie down a few sponsorship deals with top companies like Windsor Car Auctions and the Oola Iron Foundry. After that, scoring Val Joyce’s single of the week should be a formality and then you’ll be set up for tours of places like East Timor, Cambodia, Chechnya and Baghdad where all the wimpy PC rock acts refuse to play.

But as for the proposed name change, neither The Hype nor U2 really cut it. Bowie has already used the former, and Irish DJs will find it hard to pronounce U2. (Is it two words or one word? I’m even confused myself.) My advice would be for you to go back to your original and far less pretentious name, The Hiberno Welsh Sound System, and wait for someone to invent world music.