Purple Haze
Purple Haze From; New Ross Active; July 1980 – 1985
Style; Hard Rock
Vocals;
Guitar; John Fleming
Bass; Jim Ryan
Drums & Vocals; Ray Mullins
Starting life as a trio Purple Haze played in pubs and halls for four months, building up a strong reputation as a good live act. By September ’80 they had brought in Martin Quigley on vocals & scored a support slot on the Bogey Boys Tour, playing the likes of the Downtown Kampus in Cork.
New Line Up
June ’81 line up Martin Quigley Vocals, Ray Callaghan lead guitar, John Drinan bass, Barry Mullin Drums, all are 19 years old. Auditioned for RTE in May ’81 and will be playing at the Dublin International Festival of Music. Also working on a demo tape at this time.
July ’81 the band had a residencies at the Gatsby Nite club Country Club in Cork & Trayers Lounge in Waterford. Purple Haze also headline an open air concert in Fitzgeralds Park on the 19th, raising over £200 for a local charity.
In September ’82 Purple Haze headline a CND concert at the Showboat in Waterford.
Cassette Single
After a brief trip to London in September the band announce their new line up in October;
Vocals; Paul Purcell
Lead Guitar; John Flemming
Bass; Stephen Roache
Drums; Ray Mullins
Road Manager; Martin Quigley
In June ’83, this line up will record there first demo tape, which will feature 4 of their own songs. Two tracks “Cheated” & “Silhouettes” are available as a cassette single selling for £1.99 from Patsy’s Records in New Ross. After the success of the tape the band leave for a 3 week promotional tour of London.
Talent Contest
Purple Haze entered and won the No Name Club talent contest, held at the Tower Hotel.
They will return to the road in November for their “We’re Only Here For The Beer Tour”, taking in dates all over the South East of Ireland. After taking a short break for Christmas the tour continues in the new year with dates in Dublin, Cork, Wexford & Kilkenny. After the tour the band return to the studio to record some new material.
August ’84 Paul Purcell leaves the band. The rest of the band are working on a new stage show and new material for their next tour which kicks off in October. Paul agrees to join the band for one more show, the Waterford “People’s Festival”. All the bands are local groups and everyone plays for free, entry to the concert is also free.
Single Release
In June 1985 the band release their only single on SRS Records. Hear It On The Radio/Forever Lost SRS06. The line up for the single is Stee-V Bass & Vocals, Jon Flemming guitar & Vocals and Ray Mullins Drums & Vocals. It’s recorded at Slane studios and cut at Abbey Road studio in London. The single becomes the biggest selling “Rock” single in the Waterford area. The band are also lined up to record a session BBC Radio 1 DJ Tony Vance. The single also lead to appearances on RTE, Hot Press, Sounds & Kerrang.
Purcell/Femming Project
Jan 4th/5th 1986 Paul Purcell vocals, Jon Flemming guitar, Ray Mullins drums (all Purple Haze), Robbie Dunphy bass (Force 10) & Paul O’Neill backing vocals record two tracks at Slane Studio’s. The two tracks Fly Away & Whisper On The Wind will be release as a cassette single under the Purple Haze name. By this time the band had folded. The group also played a one off Christmas concert. Both tracks were written by Purcell & Flemming.
Stee-V would later tour with Ballaghadreen Ceill Band, In 1986 he joined The Mellow Tones.
Paul Bolger would later be in Wishful Thinking