The Screams

The Story of The Screams 

In the Beginning....

"Dollo & Raddy sat in Raddy's kitchen,willy nilly,having their tea and toast,as was their wont while spending their days unemployed in the Empty Eighties.
There was thence a bolt of lightning which appeared to awaken the duo who promptly decided to write songs, instead of humming along to their favourites (The Stranglers,The Clash,The Specials etc.) and offering their critiques on the latest tripe to slop out in that pile of dung known as 'The Charts'!!

The first offering was a song called 'Stop', it was terrible,but nobody had the heart to tell us that for quite some time.  Other sacrificial lambs included, 'Daddys Home','Waiting on a Train' and 'Mexico'.  These ditties were our militant melodic message against such terrifying tunes as 'Clouds Across the Moon' by the Rah Band which typified the horror of the musical age that we lived in during the Eighties. Our songs were awful but blandness was worse, and it filled the Eighties at each and every turn.

Dollo & Raddy went on stage with a mate called John Henderson, under the name of 'The Sullivans' in the Tudor Rooms and recited/sang some T.V. adverts that were popular at that time,'The Fire Prevention Song' was a particular favourite. They were then joined by Tommy Byrne on Drums and Daragh Mc Carthy on Bass Guitar for their first real rehearsal together in Temple Bar studios.  This line-up, while an improvement on previous efforts, was alas shortlived, with Daragh McCarthy destined for another band,'The Babysnakes' and an appearance in the film 'The Commitments'.

The band continued on under various titles,The Suits, Sindy Shot the Widda Clancy, The Pariah, The Snorkel Choir but ultimately achieved infamy as 'The AntHill Mob'. The name  recently had to be altered when it was discovered that some mega-monsters of rock among our celtic cousins in Wales had purloined our title while we had lolled about on a 10-12 year sojourn, but I digress...

The Terrible Threesome (Dollo Raddy & Tommy) soldiered on, playing such amazing Rock Extravaganzas as The Ivy Rooms Battle of the Bad Bands, The Anglers Rest and numerous other armpits of apathy.  We acquired another Bass Guitarist,Barry Mc Caul and rehearsed and played a few Gigs,most notably in the Powerscourt Townhouse Centre but Barry went off to concentrate on his Photo Journalism and the band wandered in search of A.n.Other.  'Twas then that Kevin Sheedy lookalike (aka Dave Kelly - that rare animal, a Q.P.R. fan) joined our merry band and musical merriment and madness ensued.  The line remained unchanged over the next couple of years as we  floated off in a bubble of beer until we were revived by the arrival of Stephen O'Brien and Tod (Tom O'Donnell).

Things changed dramatically for the Mob as the 'New Boys', weren't really that eager to hang around just to make up the numbers and play old songs.  A lot more fresh material, rehearsals and gigs ensued,The Baggot Inn,The White Horse and The Rock Garden being favourite venues.  Obviously,the standard of playing improved as they spent more time in The City Arts Centre than Ned Scanlans pub,(although they missed his cheese and crackers,and Ned himself R.I.P.).

As the band operated under the title 'The Ant Hill Mob' and increased their amount of gigs in The Baggot Inn,it became apparent that people in the Mob didn't see the band moving along the same path and another fine bass player in Stephen O'Brien left for pastures new.  It was then that Dave Radford (Raddy),took up the Bass and learned to finger the fretboard with delightful dexterity.

The Mobsters were also Lucky enough to fall upon a Kaiser of the Keys in Soc who delighted the audience with weird and wonderful electronic flourishes and amazing arpeggios.  This was perhaps the bands best period to date.  Momentum was building and a regular following began to turn up at gigs which we were playing more and more frequently.  It was all going suspiciously well and sure enough a cruel cocktail of work/home committments and general apathy at the state of the nation sent Tommy off to play with another bunch of minstrels and Dollo & Todd to do likewise... unsuccessfully.

Years past,Ten in fact,and the Tumbleweed blew down through the history of the band.Then,one day,Dollo and Tod spoke on the phone and arranged to meet to discuss taping the songs acoustically.  After a few beers Tod revealed that he'd met Tommy and that he was interested in taking part in their little soiree. Dollo said that he'd try to get in touch with Shane and Tod could get in touch with Raddy and maybe they could tape as a band again.  Soc was into it and then Dollo got the phone call....Raddy was seriously ill in hospital and unknown to the others in the band would get worse.  The Group didn't know what to do and had a meeting to decide.  At this stage Raddy had slipped into a Coma and Dollo said that They should continue,(not knowing how),that Raddy would Like it that way.  Happily Raddy recovered in time and the band were in rehearsals by November 2003!!! WHAT A COMEBACK !!! I hear you cry...but no, the first rehearsal was terrible,the cobwebs had formed on the guitar strings, dust on the drums and cracks on the keys. They renamed the band "The Screams" and soon realised that a lot of work was required to bring the music up to scratch and make it current.  Songs were stripped to their bare bones and renovated with the tender love and care they deserved, with what were (in our opinion anyhow) fine results.  

Some demo recordings ensued which can be found elsewhere on the website and new tunes are being penned at a rapid rate.  It was supposed to be a last hurrah to get the songs recorded for posterity.  But who knows ..... our wives and friends are saying they want more ...... they want a gig ........ they want to be able to worship at our feet and recklessly fling their bras and panties at us  .......just like the ladies used to in the old days ..... sort of.  By the end of 2006 we hope to have an albums worth of tracks down and start getting a small number of CD's pressed for family and friends and the odd misguided fan.  A humble legacy no doubt, but it's better than sitting on your arse, growing old and fat and watching chewing gum for the eyeballs on TV.  

The cogs of this band are turning as I type, but remember....  save the last dance for me...