 | This article needs additional citations for verification .(September 2020) |
Setanta Records was a British independent record label led by founder Keith Cullen. [1] Setanta published UK and Irish indie music in the late 1980s and in the 1990s.
| | This article needs additional citations for verification .(September 2020) |
Setanta Records was a British independent record label led by founder Keith Cullen. [1] Setanta published UK and Irish indie music in the late 1980s and in the 1990s.
Setanta Records was started in a Camberwell, London squat by former bicycle courier Keith Cullen. Their first success came when Dublin band Into Paradise received positive reviews from the British music press[ which? ] for their Setanta debut titled Under the Water. Major label interest[ which? ] followed and Into Paradise subsequently signed to Ensign Records retaining Cullen as band manager. Shortly thereafter, Cullen signed the Cork trio the Frank and Walters, who wore orange shirts and purple flared trousers. As with Into Paradise, the band signed to Go! Discs retaining Cullen as band manager. The Frank and Walters achieved minor commercial success when their song "After All" peaked at number 11 on the UK Singles Chart.
Commercial success followed Cullen's signing of the Divine Comedy whose first three albums Liberation , Promenade and Casanova were well received in the UK and Europe. The Divine Comedy also provided the soundtrack for the Channel 4 sitcom Father Ted . Despite label boss Cullen not thinking that the song was commercially promising, Setanta also had chart success with the Edwyn Collins (former frontman of Scotland's Orange Juice on Postcard Records) hit "A Girl Like You" which went on to become successful in several national charts.
In the late 1990s, the label turned down the Magnetic Fields' album 69 Love Songs , which ended up being a critical and commercial success. In 2007, Setanta signed London band The Tacticians. Their debut album Some Kind of Urban Fulfilment was released on Setanta in August 2007. In 2012, Cullen announced that he was closing Setanta down. [2]
The Divine Comedy are a pop band from Northern Ireland, formed in 1989 and fronted by Neil Hannon. Hannon has been the only constant member of the group, playing, in some instances, all of the non-orchestral instrumentation except drums. The band has released 12 studio albums. Between 1996 and 1999, nine singles released by the band made the top 40 of the UK Singles Chart, including the 1999 top ten hit, "National Express".
Orange Juice were a Scottish jangle pop band founded in the Glasgow suburb of Bearsden as the Nu-Sonics in 1976. They became Orange Juice in 1979, and became perhaps the most important band in the Scottish independent music scene that emerged in the post-punk era, inspired by contemporary punk bands including Subway Sect, Television, and Buzzcocks but also 1960s acts, most notably the Byrds and the Velvet Underground. Musically, the band brought together styles and genres that often appeared incongruous, for example, country, disco and punk.
Dave Couse is an Irish musician, producer, and radio presenter best known for being the lead singer and main songwriter with the band A House.
Catchers are an Irish indie pop band formed in 1993 and led by singer-songwriter Dale Grundle with Alice Lemon (vocals/keyboards). Former band members include Peter Kelly (drums), Ger FitzGerald, Craig Carpenter, and Jonathan Lord. Grundle and Lemon have known each other since their teens in Portstewart, Northern Ireland. In 2006, Grundle formed The Sleeping Years. In 2021, Dale and Alice began writing new material with drummer Roger Luxton, releasing Catchers’ single "Something's Taking Over Me" on 5 November 2021.
Edwyn Stephen Collins is a Scottish musician, producer and record label owner from Edinburgh. Collins was the lead singer for the 1980s post-punk band Orange Juice, which he co-founded. After the group split in 1985, Collins started a solo career. His 1995 single "A Girl Like You" was a worldwide hit.
The Frank and Walters are an alternative pop band from Cork city in Ireland. The band was founded in 1989 and named in honour of two eccentric Cork characters.
A House were an Irish rock band that was active in Dublin from the 1985 to 1997, and recognized for the clever, "often bitter or irony laden lyrics of frontman Dave Couse ... bolstered by the [band's] seemingly effortless musicality". The single "Endless Art" is one of their best known charting successes.
Casanova is the fourth studio album by Northern Irish chamber pop band the Divine Comedy. It was released in 1996 by Setanta Records, and it happened to be the band's commercial breakthrough. It was certified Gold in the UK in July 1997, aided by the release of the album's first single, "Something for the Weekend", which reached No. 13 on the charts. Two other singles released from the album, "Becoming More Like Alfie" and "The Frog Princess", charted at No. 27 and No. 15, respectively.
Paul Walter Quinn is a Scottish musician who was the lead singer of cult 1980s band Bourgie Bourgie, and also released records with Jazzateers, Vince Clarke and Edwyn Collins and sang on an early track by the French Impressionists.
The Bluebells are a Scottish indie new wave band, active between 1981 and 1986.
Fin de Siècle is the sixth album by Northern Irish pop band the Divine Comedy. It was released on 31 August 1998 by Setanta Records. Following the release of fifth studio album A Short Album About Love (1997), frontman Neil Hannon demoed new material at his flat in Clapham. During this time, the relationship between the band and their label Setanta Records was straining as a result of heated discussions over tour costs and studio sessions. They recorded their next album in three studios with Jon Jacobs as the main producer and Hannon co-producing. Fin de Siècle is a chamber pop concept album that details living in the 20th century.
A Short Album About Love is the fifth studio album by Northern Irish chamber pop band the Divine Comedy, released in 1997 by Setanta Records. It was recorded on 20 October 1996 at Shepherd's Bush Empire, London.
The Zephyrs are an Edinburgh, Scotland-based indie band. They have released six albums and two EPs containing their shoegazing folk-rock style.
"The Pop Singer's Fear of the Pollen Count" is a song by the Divine Comedy. Written by Neil Hannon, it was originally recorded for the Liberation album and was issued as the B-side of "Lucy".
"Endless Art" is a song by Irish indie rock band A House, released initially as the lead track on the Bingo EP (1991), and then as a single from their 1991 album I Am the Greatest. It was later included on the greatest hits album The Way We Were.
Pony Club are a Dublin-based Irish band, primarily a vehicle for Mark Cullen. Other members include his brothers, Darren and Jason, as well as Martin Healy and David Morrissey, both formerly of A House, and Rob Cumiskey of The Kybosh.
Keith Cullen, is the founder of Setanta Records, an artist manager and the author of the novel God Save The Village Green.
"Rip It Up" is a song by Scottish indie pop band Orange Juice, released in 1983 as the second single from their 1982 album of the same name. The song became the band's only UK top 40 success, reaching No. 8 on the chart. "Rip It Up" signalled a departure from the sound of the band's earlier singles, with Chic-influenced guitars and using a synthesiser to create a more disco-oriented sound.
Five Go Down to the Sea? were an Irish post-punk band from Cork, active between 1978 and 1989. Vocalist and lyricist Finbarr Donnelly, guitarist Ricky Dineen and brothers Philip (bass) and Keith "Smelly" O'Connell (drums) formed the band as Nun Attax while teenagers. They became known for Donnelly's absurdist, surreal lyrics and stage presence, Dineen's angular guitar and bass parts and their Captain Beefheart-style rhythm section. The group changed their name to Five Go Down to the Sea? after moving to London in 1983. Their line-up has at times included guitarists Mick Finnegan, Giordaí Ua Laoghaire, Mick Stack, and the cellist Úna Ní Chanainn.
Him Goolie Goolie Man, Dem is a five track EP by the Irish post-punk band Beethoven Fucking Beethoven released on the London-Irish label Setanta Records in June 1989. It was both the last album by the band, and the debut release by Keith Cullen's then fledgling Setanta.
