BONESHAKERS: DEMO, C.1985
Feb 9th, 2010 by Conor McCabe
The Boneshakers were fronted by Dave Finnegan and were probably Ireland’s first psychobilly band. They lasted less than a year, but in that time managed to play venues such as the Ivy Rooms and The Underground. They didn’t make any other recordings except this demo. The line-up was:
Dave Finnegan - Vocals
Willo O’Brien - Bass
Dermot Free** - Guitar
Maria Mulraney - drums
Dave Finnegan left the Boneshakers to form Sharkbait. The band continued on for a few months with Willo on vocals and Doyley on second guitar.
The demo does’t have a track listing, but the songs are: Jungle Fever, Love Bites, and Werewolf Boogie.*
Seán posted on psychobilly a few months back, the post is here, with contributions from Dave Finnegan.
Any further information gratefully received.
*See comment below from Dave Finnegan
** See comment below from Dermot.
Jungle Fever [3:04m]: Play Now | Play in Popup Love bites [3:21m]: Play Now | Play in Popup Werewolf Boogie [3:24m]: Play Now | Play in Popup
hi coner i just replyed earlier,its very strange listening to these , my first ever recording ,actually i was just outta school, everybody was listening to teddyboy music and old rockabilly at the time ,then when they stray cats came out it was more modern,and of course when i was introduced to the meteors pyschobilly was the one i had to do, from busking rockabilly on mary sreet and grafton street, we formed psychobilly band the boneshakers, irelands first, leading the way for shark bait, the klingonz, and spellbound. the songs are: Jungle Fever
Love Bites and werewolve boogie, old school pyschobilly was based on horror and 50’s sci fi with punk infand 50’s influences, as with rockabilly, cadillacs and dolls etc
Thanks for the info and comments Dave. I think there’s a great energy and freshness to the songs. and when you think of all the bands in Dublin at the time, all trying to sound like Bono and U2, it’s just great to hear a demo like this that points to another aspect of music in the city in the 1980s.
hi dave,good to hear from you,just realised i lost that demo when i threw out all my old cassettes{doh} ,anyway i m old enough to remember seeing you playing upstairs in the claredon with damian williams and johnny bonny? at a birthday bash? with crazy times/those handsome devils, think it was possibly first gig of “the killer pussies”, like your good self i even had enough hair to sport a quiff in those days. if you re planning any sort of reunion keeep us posted.
cheers
brendan
hi Brendan, actually the killer pussies, they were my first two gigs, i remember supporting the Gorehounds, in the claredon, i think we just played in paisley jocks and dock martins and Quiffs, i hear Jonnie bonnie is playing with the raidiators from space, just finished some recording with Shark Bait after 23 years ,sounding good, just waiting to be mixed, no quiffs any more this end, lol good to hear from you brendan, take care talk soon…
Just put up the MySpace links for Dave Finnegan / Sharkbait again :
http://www.myspace.com/davefinnegan
http://www.myspace.com/yoursharkbait
Good to hear from you again Dave - keep us posted if that Sharkbait reunion comes together.
That Rockabilly/Psychobilly post has been a bit of a slowburner. A lot of quiff (& Paisley jocks) nostalgists out there, it would seem.
Great work in digging out the demo it all started on Conor. Female drummer an’ all - unusual that. The only other one I remember in all me time in Dublin was the lass was with Engine Alley.
Is that the same Dave Kelly that worked with you in the homebrew section of the Dept. of Social Welfare (according to a comment a few weeks back) ??
The very one. Dave Kelly’s the person to thank for the tapes. I just digitized them, that’s all.
i actually was the Boneshakers Drummer, we had a scotish singer he went and that was my chance to be a front man, Maria Mulraney,replaced me on drums and i took over vocals, or swallowing mics, which i used to do before the film, i think Alan Parker seen me do it somewhere, we seen Maria with another band, and thought it was a good idea,so we nicked her,lol.
Was Maria the drummer after the ‘paisley jocks and quiffs’ gig, Dave ?? Otherwise I’m sure we would’ve heard about that sort of thing in the Sunday World if she’d played in that get-up
that paisley jocks gig was the killer pussies gig i think
Hi Conor stumbled across this site last surfing the web as you do. I’d forgotten how raw those track where. Sounds great though brings back some great memories. Good to hear that Dave’s back doing the Psychobilly stuff with Sharkbait. Just thought I throw in my two pence worth but the guitarist with the Boneshakers was called Dermot Free. The Scottish singer Dave mentions was a guy named Chris for wee Glasgow, he’d a great voice for singing rockabilly if memory serves me. The original line up was Dave on drums, Willo on bass, Dermot on guitar and Chris on vocals. Although that all changed after we’d seen the killer pussies and Dave’s performance on vocals. That’s when Dave moved to vocals and Marie came. I think there was a video done to go along with the demo. Does anyone know where I’d get a copy of that.
Dermot Free and Chris, trying to think of there names for the last, few days, cheers Dermot, i still have photo’s of us busking, might have some boneshakers,dont remmeber a video though.
Hi Dave, Good to hear from you again man. I remember us doing a vid in the crumlin church one sat afternoon, good craic. Must try and get photos from ye.
Mad hearing all those tracks again i’ve been looking for them for ages. and if anyone wants them i’ve got some photos from back in the day.
Brilliant! Delighted to have stumbled across this after all those years. Saw the original Boneshakers in some old furniture warehouse I think it was in Abbey Street in ‘85 with Dave on drums. Think they were supporting The Gorehounds (anyone remember BaseX then Comet records?). Saw Shark Bait one time in the Underground when they railroaded a band called ‘Cold’ ( a would be Joy Division ), Shark Bait used Colds’ gear that night. Dave started the gig with ‘good evening, we’re joy division! Howsit goin?’. They blew everyone away.
Hangyerb****x on it!
I was at that gig in the Underground (mental, sweat dripping from the ceiling, couldn’t take pictures as the lens kept steaming over) and think that this was where I picked up the demo from Dave Finnegan. Cheers Dave. And then kept it safe for 25 years +. So the circle is complete. Or something.
And I remember Cold. Legendary. Singer used to sing with his back to the audience, liked Joy Division.
A lot.
Anyway, an old mate of mine Ronan Collins (no not that one) was the drummer though and went on to form the Outpatients: http://dublinopinion.com/2010/02/09/the-outpatients-demo-1988/
not a psychobilly or rockabilly fan more oi,ska,and punk but good to see old memories revisited.does nanybody remember the band cold novembre,were they the cold band yez mentioned or different?