The Vultures From; Ireland Active; 1978 – 1980
Style; R n B
Line Up;
Guitar; Phil Fahy
Bass & Vocals; Willie O’Sullivan
Drums; Pat Rooney Drums
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Phil had formerly been a member of The Gamblers & would later join (1980) the Soul Survivors. By all accounts they were a very tight RnB outfit doing covers of the likes of Dr Feelgood.
The band split up mid ’79 and returned with a new line up in early 1980, the new line was Willy O’Sullivan (vocals, guitar, harmonica), Davy Kinsella (bass & backing vocals), and Christy Donegan (drums & backing vocals). The new line played there own material (“Break Your Heart”, “Forget It”, Just Too Tired To Run”, and “Keep It Shut”) as well as Dr Feelgood covers. Break your heart was due to be released as a single.
The Vultures had residencies at the Holyrood Hotel (Thursday) in Bray from January – March 1979, a Sunday afternoon slot at Tones from February – April 1979 & the Magnet Bar (Sunday night) from April – May 1980.
Irish Times Review
16-17/02/1979 Project Arts Centre, Dublin “24 Hour Dark Space Festival” with The Mekons, Rudi, Berlin, Virgin Prunes, D.C. Nien, The Atrix, New Versions, Boy Scoutz, U2, The Letters, Zebra, Revolver, Rocky DeValera & The Gravediggers. Irish Times Review by Joe Breen In the wake of the euphoria surrounding Van Morrison’s concerts in Ireland last week the success of the Project’s Art Centre 24 hour “Dark Space” festival may be overlooked.
In fact, it was a 26 hour event as the music continued until midnight last Saturday week. Aside from the more controversial aspects of the festival, such as the strip tease act, the music, played entirely by leading young Irish bands (with the exception of The Mekons from Britain), was of an unexpectedly high standard. maybe it was the appearance of Britain’s leading rock DJ, John Peel, which prompted the energetic performances & it is reasonable to assume he was accordingly impressed.
Fearing The Worst
Prior to the venture, many people feared the worst. The festival idea has strong hippy connotations & it was felt that possibly the New Wave fans & bands would find it all too boring. Allied to that the disappointment over the non appearance of Johnny Lydon & his PIL band & the confusion over whether some Irish bands would play added to the pessimistic view.
Non Appearance
However, as events showed, it was probably better that Lydon did not appear as Public Image’s star appeal might have detracted from the impact of the local bands. I caught The Atrix, The Mekons, The Virgin Prunes, U2 & many more. They were all enjoyable but I was particularly impressed by U2, who have made great progress in the last few months, & the very promising, The Atrix. The Virgin Prunes very theatrical act was highly entertaining, but the limitations of the music & playing are too severe.
The crowd, John Stephenson of the Project told me, totalled about 800 over the 26 hours, but at the reduced price of £4 a head (owing to the non appearance of John Lydon & Throbbing Gristle) he said that the festival would lose a lot of money. Invariably, there were many small problems, such as the sound not always being correct or the music drowning out the soundtracks of the films which were shown throughout the festival. But these minor cribs amount to little when compared to the peace, the good music & the general good atmosphere which permeated the East Essex Street building. Even the Project workers remained in good spirits at the snacks counter though they were there for 12 hour shifts.
Long Hours For The Staff
Unfortunately, along with the many unusually dressed people there were (including one fan with a Mohican hair style) I noticed two people wearing Nazi insignia, a despicable trait that I thought the New Wave had dispensed with. They is nothing funny about fascism, as many people of different races & colours have found out, & are still finding out to day.
Dark Space
Incidentally, I tried to find out the meaning of the title, “Dark Space”, but nobody seemed able solve the mystery. However at 7am on a Saturday morning “Dark Space”, adequately summed up the the state of my head, so maybe that’s what the organisers meant.
Hot Press Review
Bill Graham Hot Press It may have been the most significant Dublin rock event since the Rats left town. Certainly Project’s “Dark Space” momentarily took capital rock out of the doldrums it’s been fighting for the last two years. Van Morrison can provide the motto – it surely is too late to stop now.
In fact, the non appearance of Public Image was a boon. Bereft of their presence and the weekend punks they would have attracted, the flow wasn’t distorted nor energies distracted by that overriding event, instead, but for the presence of The Mekons. “Dark Space” was a completely local event, allowing the bands to sow the seeds of self-conscious community.
Rudi
It wasn’t just Dublin. The Belfast contingent in their denims & black leather jackets were just as important with Rudi possibly the band who gained the greatest advantage out of the event. The two scenes mixed as they never had the opportunity to previously “Dark Space” significance must include the cross border detents it achieved.
Admittedly Project lost money. But the spirit of the affair appears to have convinced them of the necessity to repeat the experiment & if there were faults in the organization, the lessons have surely been learnt.
