Bach Street Kids

Bach Street Kids

Bach Street Kids From; Ireland Active; 1978
Style; tbc
Vocals; Tom Mathews
Guitar; Frank Issacson
Guitar; Justin McCarthy
Bass; Brian O’Grady
Drums; Declan Morrison
Sax; Mike Moloney

Justin worked in the kitchen of “Captain America” on Grafton Street, flipping burgers with Charlie Hallinan (School Kids) & Anthony Kennedy “AK” of (Sacre Bleu). Justin went on to join High Society.
Mike would go on to become a late night DJ, “Moloney after midnight” on radio Nova. Mike is the brother of The Vipers drummer Dave.

The Arts

Tom was later in an experimental band called Operating Theatre (1980 – ’82). He has had a very successful career in the arts ever since. After working for a time in advertising he studied Fine Art at the National College of Art and Design in Dublin, since leaving which in 1974 he has worked as freelance writer, critic (theatre, books, rock music), and cartoonist. His cartoons appears weekly in The Irish Times and the Sunday Independent as well as in Cara Magazine, Hot Press, The Yellow Press and other publications. He has had thirty one-man shows to date including three exhibitions of paintings in the Living Art, the National Portrait Show and the RHA.

Sharing the bill with U2

The band only played a dozen or so gigs, mainly lunchtime at L theatre Belfield UCD. They also played the Phoenix Park Peace Festival.

14/05/1978 Finglas West, Dublin with U2, Virgin Prunes, The School Kids.
Justin McCarthy It was somewhere in Finglas…a community center as far as I remember…I remember it ’cause I’d never heard of U2 and all these bored teenagers kept on waving their U2 badges at us while we were playing….when we finished Bono walked on and said …’anyone here like the Boomtown Rats and did a Rats cover…I can’t remember the song though..
Tom Mathews We probably only played 10 gigs, a max of 15, and were used to playing in front of about 8 people. This promoter rang Justin & I, wanting 4 bands to play a charity concert for 300 people. The line up was to be the Virgin Prunes, (their first gig), the School Kids, a band that wore school uniforms on stage, and to my amazement U2.

U2?

I say this because at the time I had never herd of them. We had only played 3 songs and the crowd kept shouting for U2. I said to Justin lets do that song we have been rehearsing (I can’t remember the name of it). I said to the crowd, look we have played 3 songs for you, I won’t you to do something for us. I’m going to count down from 10, when I get to 5, I want you to shout 4, 3, 2, 1, to my amazement they did it. Later as U2 took to the stage, this fabled Bono said to how did you get the crowd to react like that. I said you’ll figure it out man.