Sounds Unreel

Sounds Unreel from; Howth Active; 1978 – 1980
Style; tbc
Line up;
Vocals; Conor Kelly
Guitar; Conor Brady
Bass; John McGlue
Drums; Paul Byrne
Keyboards; Declan O’Sullivan

Sounds Unreel’s first gig was as support to Rocky DeValera & The Gravediggers at the Howth Community Center.
John McGlue played with The Modulators before joining Sounds Unreel.
Paul would also stand in as the drummer for Ivan & Neil McCormick’s band The Modulators, when they supported U2 at the Howth Community Centre.
Sounds Unreel would become Deaf Actor when Jack Dublin replaced John McGlue on bass.

The memories of Paul Bryne

Paul Byrne I was with Sounds Unreel/Deaf Actor from start to finish..’79-82.
Paul Byrne When we supported the Bunnymen, Pete De Freitas watched our sound check and loved the band. He noticed that I had Syndrum (early electronic drum) and asked if he could borrow it for the explosive snare sounds he used in ‘Zimbo’. I met him years later with In Tua Nua in Holland when we did Pink Pop and he invited me on stage to watch him up close. I was in LA recording the last ITN album when he died. The news came as I was having a drink with Mark Sheppard (ex Light A Big Fire drummer, now a big Hollywood Actor). Sarge and I are in Shane McGowan and The Shane Gang with Jack Dublin (Deaf Actor, In Tua Nua, Gravediggers) and Johnny Daly. We also have a rock covers band called The Guilty Party to keep ourselves busy when Shane’s not around.

Paul Byrne Carnsore 2 must have been 79 so maybe we were still called Sounds Unreel. We went on second last before Tokyo Olympics. We rented the Spies’ tour bus because their guitarist Gerry Leonard
drove and id sound.. he is now Bowie’s MD. Our keyboard player ‘Chiefy’ stayed over and fell asleep outside, He woke up late in the sunshine but had slept on one side…so he arrived back half red and half white! The gig was in a big tent and most people were sitting on the floor chilling.

From 06/02/1980 to 28/05/1980 Sounds Unreel had a residency at the Summit Inn, Howth with the Fast Skirts

19/03/1980 Summit Inn, Howth with Fast Skirts Hot Press review Neil McCormick This was a double bill of unlikely bedfellows, two new bands sharing little more than anonymity and a stage. First on this evening, to face a small and not very enthusiastic crowd (it’s a long, cold walk up Howth hill), were Sounds Unreel, 5 boys who know and love their instruments, trading a dense boogie with metal overtones that owes a lot to Talking Heads and the Doors, both of whom the cover.
Their set is split about 50/50 between originals/covers, the originals providing both the best (an untitled song which plays on disharmonics and estranged organ/guitar to give a strange and threatening mood) and the worst (a flabby, acoustic sounding, lyrically dated piece called “Land Of Air”) moments.
Their sound was too heavy set, burying the gruff vocals and not allowing the more subtle elements of their playing to come forward. But a lot of their strength lies in the solidity of that sound; it is strong and danceable, and when guitarist Conor O’Farrell jumped down to dance on the floor a number of girls got up to step it out with him (though scurrilous suggestions were made that they were all his cousins).
Sounds Unreel play their music well, though rarely using it with the effect that they occasionally show is within their grasp. Perhaps they need to understand better exactly what they are doing, what they want to achieve.
02/05/1980 Mansion House, Dublin Anti Nuclear benefit with Rogue Angel, Vatikan III
10/05/1980 Project Arts Centre, Dublin with The Atrix. Sounds Unreel had a guitar stolen after this concert