Resistors The

Resistors from; Ireland Active; 1979 – 1983
Style; Rock
Line up;
Vocals; Peter McEvoy Vocals
Guitar; Paul O’Reilly
Keyboards; Tim McStay
Bass; Valentine
Drums; Brian Curran (Bun)

The Resistors in 1982 Tim McStay and Paul O’Reilly We had just released a single “Steal My Love” produced by the one and only Phil Lynott – a special few days in Lombard Studios He mixed it in Abbey Road afterwards

06/10/1979 Dandelion Market, Dublin
20/10/1979 Dandelion Market, Dublin
07/01/1980 Toners, Dublin
10/01/1980 Junior Common Room, Trinity College, Dublin lunchtime
14/01/1980 Toners, Dubl
Joey Mahers, Drogheda late Feb early March
The Resistors arrived in the luxurious surroundings of downtown Drogheda for the first time in their tiring touring existence, and made damn sure that it wouldn’t be the last. To the majority of people they were totally unknown quantity – with the exception, perhaps, of the “Just For Kicks” track, and then that was slightly dubious – but that didn’t prohibit them from applying, with consummate ease, the releasing fluid to rusted knee joints and ankle bones. But it was a touch and go situation.

To begin with amiable Peter McEvoy pranced about like a surrogate Bob Geldof, annoying people with his mid song raps concerning teenage love, fear and loathing in London etc. He gradually overcame this by stamping his own particular jocular brand of personality on proceedings. His singing was at times flat, and the lyrics he sung even flatter, but as time, songs, and drink literally passed, it didn’t really matter.

The rest of the band – Tim McStay (keyboards), Paul O’Raghallaigh (guitar), Valentine (bass) Curran (drums) – were crisp, competent and clean, with no dirty edges, and the songs were short, sharp, sometimes sweet, sometimes sour, but never the same. No non originals were featured, which in itself is a healthy sign of self – confidence, all songs being in the alluring pop/bop/rock area, which just begs comparisons with others. But although Rats and Costello over and undertones appear, they do have something verified by “Takeaway Love”, and “Standing In The Shoes That I Once Wore” in particular.

The Resistors, on first impressions, are a good, but not exceptional band. Whether they will ever attain that standard is debatable, (I think June would disagree), but it would be one argument I’d be prepared to lose quite gracefully.

Hot Press Review Tony Clayton Lea

The resistors project june 80? Neil McCormack Irelands answer to the Lookalikes?
The Resistors are a modern pop group, one of the new dance bands that appeal to the ear and the feet through a melodic reference of sixties beat groups, 70’s glamour and the Costello/Jackson/nameless hordes of reggae tinged new wave pop. They aren’t trying to take any worlds apart, their musical hopes are pinned firmly on the bedroom walls of teenage girls.

This is no contrived exhibition of manipulation, however. The Resistors are still experiencing growing pains, still pumping away with the pizzaz and good humour of the true believer trying to get it right. My ears were buzzing painfully at first, the music vastly over loud, the vocals splitting my head, but even from the beginning the melodies managed to somehow cut through. Several songs into the set the sound balanced out and a couple of semi reggae songs “Take Me Away” and “End Of The Line” pointed the group in the right direction. The greater spaciousness allowed the individual instruments to show through, highlighting a sometimes particularly poppy organ and a sharp disjointed guitar.

Peter McEvoy’s vocals are sometimes uncomfortably reminiscent of Geldof’s nasal whine. He cuts a strange figure dressed in Hollywood pop star pink straights and white jacket, his movements effeminate, somehow sly and lizard like, studiedly the centre of attention, but his undoubted stage presence clashes with his gauche “Er Ya Dancin”? comments.

The Resistors may aim to become radio sweethearts, but right now they are a friendly semi professional dance band, a night out on the town dressed in hook lines and harmonies, not quite addictive but very catchy.

Would that the Resistors were a quintet of power – lusting, egotistical Dubliners intent on inflicting their talentless personages on a jaundiced business and a passive yielding audience. Then I could – bitch that I am – quite happily unsheathe my biro and plant it deeply in their pox –ridden  side (the pen is mightier than the Doc Marten).

But the Resistors do not qualify. They are different. They are perhaps the only Irish band about whom I have herd no bitching, who are known, respected, and liked as individuals throughout the music scene. The proverbial nice guys. No, the archetypal nice guys.

But if you sat down to list Ireland’s “high profile” Rock bands – the ones fulfilling Herculean gig schedules, releasing records, and utilizing a distinctive and cohesive logo/poster campaign, I’d give odds your list wouldn’t include the Resistors. They have remained puzzlingly faceless during their ten odd months as a band, despite near – constant gigging, inclusion on Charlie McNally’s “Just For Kicks” compilation, a demo tape featured frequently on both RTE and Pirate Radio, and a self issued maxi single. They are a band people know about without truly knowing.

Perhaps it is a bad time to try and redress that balance. The Resistors are off the road rehearsing a new drummer, gathering new material, and thinking about the future. The sales of “Jeannie”, their single, have run their course. With no tour or record to plug, there is no obvious hook to hang this piece on. Barring, of course, their sheer likeability (that word is meant in total sincerity), and the twists in their own attitude which lurk on the periphery of it.

Initially the Resistors were overwhelmed by the novelty of being in a band – for some of them it was/is their first properly functioning outfit – and their adrenalin flowed from the ease with which they met, united and still interrelate. Volcalist Peter McEvoy recounts; We sort of rushed into it, we were so delighted with what we had. It all just came out. We had ideas for songs and we wanted to get as much out initially as we could, and we didn’t think that much about image or anything like that. We’ve rethought since then and we’re planning on approaching it in a different way, to put on a better show.

That initial burst of energy, the “queue of songs” Peter later describes, was largely responsible for the vagueness of the Resistors’ general position. Their abundant enthusiasm carried them through their myriad live performances, making them musically infectious, but it was too diversely deployed.

My own personal criticism of the band centred on their lyrics, primarily composed up to now by keyboards player Tim McStay. I found them somehow too mannered and self – conscious, tripping up the vitality of their music, especially framed by the coldness and formality of their studio recordings to date. Tim took my critique graciously, and without aggravation; “If there’s a dispute about the lyrics, I think it probably revolves around not the individual construction of songs, but about the fact that we range from Teenage Dream songs to semi – political stuff. At this stage I’ll accept if you don’t think that the lyrics are all they should be, if that’s what you think. But they’re all part of our cleaning out process now”.

The revamp/rethink both Tim and Peter referred to has been going on since the departure of drummer Brian Curran forced them off the road a month or so ago. “We didn’t get a chance to be self critical before. We were churning out songs and we bombarded the city with gigs” Peter notes, and the Resistors have thus used their layoff for self assessment with the same vigor they previously used exclusively for writing songs and bashing them out on stage and on tape. Both liken the changeover to a shedding process, beginning with your own skin and winding up with your own skin, albeit a wholly different one.

“We have 110% confidence in our music, we don’t worry about that”, Tim says without boasting. “As far as we’re concerned we’ve already dropped ten or twelve songs that other bands would be proud to have in their sets. Whether that’s right or wrong is up to other people to react to”.

The addition of Eugene Levins to the rhythm section has added further creative energy to the Resistors, but this time the energies are being channelled and directed, and Peter reckons that “We’re just beginning to find the Resistors sound now”.

As both Peter and Tim refused to be drawn into a description of their new sound/direction (“It’ll be a surprise)”. I wondered how they envisaged the band fitting into the local scene in the future. “I don’t know if were even going to stay in the local scene, “Peter replies, “We don’t just want to make a name for ourselves in Dublin. As soon as possible we want to get out there, but not in any big scene to get a contract”. His words are not bloated with the vision of fast, big bucks that still seem to taint bands in post Rats Ireland. When Britain, the Continent and even America crop up as possible future touchdown points, they are mentioned solely as fun and challenging goals, and are not connected to the established ways of “making it abroad” for young Irish bands.

The Resistors are relatively free from the money/contract scrambles because they have established their own record label and publishing company, though they are aware of the need for a large cash injection before they could become big in any international sense. But Tim states, “We don’t think of it as a big deal” and Peter adds, “It would help us a lot if we could get the sort of deal that would give us the money to finance our ideas..”

The fact that the Resistors have been functioning outside the established environs of the local scene has given them a special security of sorts. “I’ll tell you this”, Tim grins, “the scene here could drive you to petty crime! If we weren’t so happy playing music – it really is a joy for us – you could be side tracked very easily. Because the actual financial rewards are zilch.

“Also, I don’t find this country supportive. Like, we know we’re a good band. But we don’t have a huge following in Dublin because we haven’t given people an orientation, something to latch onto”.

A very large part of the Resistors “rethink” involves the presentation of their material, and in finding ways to communicate it to new, untapped audiences. Above all else the Resistors have tempered their enthusiasm with realism; “People generally don’t want go out at night and be galvanized into action. They don’t want to be pushed into too much of a reaction, they like bands to be nice and accessible. But with us, as far as we’re concerned, we do want people to think” Tim outlines. “But maybe they should only think if they put on our albums with a pair of headphones. If they come and see us then we should entertain them. We want them to dance, to have fun”.

Where the tape of our conversation began with the Resistors plans to “give the punter a show, to give ‘em more value for money”, it ends with a discussion of subversive messages shrouded in fun Pop music.  Hot Press Karl Tsigdinos14/07/1980 Jonah’s