Pop Mecanics
Pop Mecanics from; Ireland Active; 1981 – 1983
Style; New Wave
Line up;
Vocals & Guitar; Pat Dunne
Bass; Brian Coleman
Drums; Lester Dorman
Keyboards; Steve Kiltz
Bass; Ali Pentony Bass (June 1983) formerly with Demented, Electra Glide & Johnny Logan Band
Pat Fitzpatrick Keyboards (1983) formerly with Katmandu
Drums; Niall Power Drums (1983) formerly with Stepaside
The band toured the UK with Squeeze
First single “Soldier Boy”
Singed to Riva Records in 1983
Lester Dorman
Published on 10 Jul 2013
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‘Drowning’ was the second single recorded (but never released) by Irish New Wave group Pop Mecanics for Polydor Records at Windmill Lane Studio in Dublin. http://www.irishrock.org/irodb/bands/… This was the intended follow up to the hit ‘Soldier Boys’ that charted at #19 in Irish charts during the Summer of 1982, but ‘Drowning’ was never released as a single. The band broke up shortly after this October 1982 TV appearance in early 1983. The band’s biggest success was opening for Roxy Music on their 3 night Irish tour in August 1982 at the RDS in Dublin and Savoy Theatre in Limerick (http://www.songkick.com/images/156471). They also opened up for Echo and The Bunnymen when they visited Dublin’s McGonagles club in March 1982 (http://www.songkick.com/concerts/4081…). A month after this RTE appearance, on Nov 08 1982, they traveled to London to open up for Squeeze (with Jools Holland guest appearance) at the Hammersmith Palais in London (http://www.songkick.com/concerts/9690…). They played weekly residencies at the Baggott Inn (http://www.thebaggotinn.ie/) on Sunday nights supporting Katmandu, and with The Frames at The Magnet (now a SPAR supermarket on Pearse St on Tuesdays – http://comeheretome.com/2010/02/11/st…) in Dublin. On one memorable occasion at The Magnet, the drummer Lester Dorman poked a drumstick through his glasses and into his eye, was taken to hospital, and Eamonn Carr (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horslips) replaced him for the rest of the evening. Band members and web info: Pat Dunne: http://foot.ie/threads/36815-Please-r… Lester Dorman: www.linkedin.com/in/lesterdorman Stephen Klitz: son of accomplished artist Tony: http://www.klitzandsons.co.uk/ Brian Coleman: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-col…
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Lester Dorman3 years ago
@lioli I was that soldier who put the drumstick in his eye and Eamonn Carr took over for me. Who is this? I’m living in San Francisco past 30 years, but back in Dublin this Summer…we can meet for a pint and share the memory. Met up with Pat Dunne last Summer in his Studio in Temple Bar…first time in 20+ years we had talked. Also tried to meet Robbie Young in Bruxelles but just missed him.
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Brian Coleman3 years ago
@Lester Dorman That gig was in the Magnet in Pearse Street. Eamonn Carr stepped in and played out the rest of the set with Brian Coleman( me) on Bass, Steven Klitz on Keyboards and Pat on Guitar. An earlier incarnation of the band (The Fast) played a gig in the same venue and I recall an approach by Larry Mullins asking us to change our name so that friends of his in a band with the same name could benefit from a forthcoming interview with HotPress.We didn’t so he went off in a huff back to Lipton Village, a clique of U2/Virgin Prunes who had a hangout ( the front window seats in the newly opened McDonalds in Grafton St) Shit! The stuff you remember!
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Lester Dorman3 years ago
@Brian Coleman Hello Brian…been awhile. 20 years, no? Reunion this Summer @Bruxelles with Pat and Robbie…are you up for it? Old times revisited perhaps. Looking forward to it.
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Lester Dorman3 years ago
@Lester Dorman Did I say 20 years, nay exactly 30 years since the band broke up and I left for the you ess of eh.
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Brian Coleman3 years ago
Lester, of course I’m up for it. I keep in touch with Pat regularly.See you in Bruxelles.
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Lester Dorman3 years ago
lester.dorman@gmail.com
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greyfella5 years ago
thanks for the info kiera.the blueskies video was aired on sat 26th feb 1983.
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Kiera Dorman5 years ago
Contact RTE Archives, Tom Doyle. That’s where I got this, and he told me he also found a song on the Anything Goes program, which is probably the recording you’re talking about. However, that show was never digitized so it will cost about 300 euro to transfer it from film.
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greyfella5 years ago
only one member of katmandu on keys pat fitzpatrick.eamo doyle ex lookalikes on bass.niall power ex stepaside on drums and pat on guitar and vocals.recorded jan 1983.
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Lester Dorman5 years ago
I have that track too, but thought it was Katmandu backing band that did it, with Peter McKinley on drums.
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greyfella5 years ago
hi lester.i was the drummer in another version of pop mecanics with pat. we did a video in rte for a song called blueskies.i have the track but no video.robbie young still owes me a fiver for his taxi home.
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Lester Dorman5 years ago
Not at all. We got that all the time, plus Brian Ferry. We were always a better live band than anything we did in the studio. We did lots of New Wave covers that suited our style…Talking Heads, XTC, etc. It was great fun for about 5 years, but I always felt we lacked the X Factor, so not a big surprise that we didn’t really take off. There were so many really good bands around Dublin at that time…The Frames (not the folksie ones!), Katmandu, Golden Horde, Blades…a great era for sure.
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Kevin Breen5 years ago
Nice. You probably hate being told it reminds you of someone else but I’m reminded of Bowie here
Jonathon Singleton2 years ago (edited)
I had forgotten about this wonderful XTC styled song until recenty being reminded by the internet station, Gem FM New Wave… Hope the RTE footage gets uploaded — really looking forward to recapturing youthful memories:*)
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Sean Prendergast2 years ago
Absolutely loved that! Used to whistle it all the time. Great to hear it again.
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mikecat235 years ago
anyone can cut and paste that to their address bar and see what you linked
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mikecat235 years ago
Lester you can post the link if you do this… watch?v=UCJCaA2qPC0 …just cut the address at the top and drop the dot com bit. post from watch on. not a direct link but it works. You’d think you would know that and you working with computers lol
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Lester Dorman5 years ago
I just uploaded a video of my band Pop Mecanics performing our second single ‘Drowning’ (never released on vinyl) on NonStopPop in early 1983, just before the band broke up and we all went our separate ways. After many months of trying, I finally succeeded in getting a copy from the RTE Archives thanks to Tom Doyle. Unfortunately, Tom couldn’t find the earlier episode of NonStopPop featuring ‘Soldier Boys’, but great to have regardless, especially to see Gerry Ryan at the end of the clip.
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Tony Cantwell5 years ago
Wasn’t Pat Dunne with Pop Mechanics. Used to bump in to him and Colin in Litton Lane when we rehearsed there in the 80’s. Wen’t to a showcase gig at further up the lane one night when PM had bunch of UK A+R men. Great band.
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Lester Dorman5 years ago
I played drums and sang in Pop Mecanics. So glad that someone uploaded this and even posted the original artwork for the single too. I’m trying to get the original Non Stop Pop video from RTE Archives to I can post it. KathyAndEnda is right, we were hardly punks. Our biggest influences then were XTC, Talking Heads, David Bowie, Roxy Music and the like…more New Wave and Glam than punk, though we were big fans of Buzzcocks, The Jam, Elvis Costello, and other new wavers of the time.
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lastnoel6 years ago
great song,havent head it in years.
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europhilly6 years ago
They were hardly punks! Think they had a residency in The Magnet for a while. Were they The Double Agents for a while?
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https://www.youtube.com/embed/UCJCaA2qPC0?feature=oembed
https://www.youtube.com/embed/dMNZ14X21RE?feature=oembed
https://www.youtube.com/embed/dbxp9DraQ4I?feature=oembed
Jeff, my first time to see the Pop Mecanics was when they played support to Roxy Music at the RDS on 16th Aug 1982. Around that time everyone in the know was hanging out in Litton Lane rehearsal studios. I was MD for Johnny Logan and we rehearsed there and also rented PA from Litton.
Sometime in the later part of 82 I met Pat Dunne ( or Donne ) in Litton and he asked me to play on a song called Blue Skies, which we recorded in Jan 83 in Windmill Lane.
My then girlfriend Michelle sang backing vocals on it.
As I had access to various session musicians I drafted in Eamo Doyle on bass and Pat Fitzpatrick joined on keys, with Steven Klitz from the PM also on keys.
Steven left the band in 83. So that left Pat as the only original member of the Soldier Boys era.
Blue Skies was to be released as a single and we did a video in RTE for the Anything Goes Show. It was broadcast but I’ve never seen it and the single was never released.
I’m sure there’s a copy in the RTE archives somewhere.
There was also a Litton Lane – Pop Mecanics promo short which shows us recording a tune in Litton Lane studios. This video wasn’t recorded in the Litton Lane studio upstairs as it was too small, so we set up in one of the rehearsal rooms downstairs instead. Featured people are, Colin Boland engineer. Aonghus McAnally presenter. Eamo Doyle Bass. Steven Klitz Keys. Pat Donne guitar / vocals and myself. Video is up on RTE archives.
I picked several session musicians whenever we needed them to play on other demos.
Alain Pentony Bass. Tony Molloy Bass. Anto Drennan Guitar. Pat Fitzpatrick keys.
The live set was rehearsed in Litton Lane and we did several showcase gigs for A/R during the year, but didn’t get signed. There were a few live pub gigs as well. One gig we did supporting Stepaside in the Baggot Inn and I played with both bands that night.
Robbie Young was the manager during 83/84 . We never got any photos taken as the line up kept fluctuating.
By the summer of 84 it had fizzled out and in September I moved to London and joined Les Enfants.
I have the demos on cassettes and no facility to copy them.
I’ll send you another mail with Blue Skies which I have on my phone, and also the cassette covers with the details. Niall
Lester Dorman
8 years agoI just uploaded a video of my band Pop Mecanics performing our second single ‘Drowning’ (never released on vinyl) on NonStopPop in early 1983, just before the band broke up and we all went our separate ways. After many months of trying, I finally succeeded in getting a copy from the RTE Archives thanks to Tom Doyle. Unfortunately, Tom couldn’t find the earlier episode of NonStopPop featuring ‘Soldier Boys’, but great to have regardless, especially to see Gerry Ryan at the end of the clip.
Lester Dorman
8 years agoI played drums and sang in Pop Mecanics. So glad that someone uploaded this and even posted the original artwork for the single too. I’m trying to get the original Non Stop Pop video from RTE Archives to I can post it. KathyAndEnda is right, we were hardly punks. Our biggest influences then were XTC, Talking Heads, David Bowie, Roxy Music and the like…more New Wave and Glam than punk, though we were big fans of Buzzcocks, The Jam, Elvis Costello, and other new wavers of the time.