The Silencers (band)

Last updated

The Silencers
Jimme O'Neill et Red Cardell.jpg
The Silencers performing with Red Cardell
Background information
Origin Scotland
GenresRock, pop, Celtic rock
Years active1987–present
Labels RCA Records
Members Jimme O'Neill
Stephen Greer
Aura O'Neill
James O'Neill
Baptiste Brondy
Tony Soave
Past members Cha Burns
Martin Hanlin
Joseph Donnelly
Lewis Rankine
JJ Gilmour
Jim McDermott
Phil Kane
Stevie Kane

The Silencers are a Scottish rock band formed in London in 1986 by Jimme O'Neill and Cha Burns, two ex-members of the post-punk outfit Fingerprintz. [1] Their music is characterised by a melodic blend of pop, folk and traditional Celtic influences. Often compared to Scottish bands with a similar sound like Big Country, Del Amitri and The Proclaimers, The Silencers have distinguished themselves with their eclectic sounds, prolific output and continued career. Their first single, "Painted Moon," was a minor international hit and invited critical comparisons to Simple Minds and U2. In 1987 they released their first album A Letter From St. Paul, which included "Painted Moon" and another minor hit, "I See Red." Buoyed by the huge European hit "Bulletproof Heart", the band's third album Dance to the Holy Man is the band's commercial peak to date. Throughout the 1990s, The Silencers saw a popular taste shift away from their songwriter-based style of music toward grunge and electronic music.

Contents

History

Before forming The Silencers, vocalist Jimme O'Neill and guitarist Cha Burns were active in London's new wave music scene. O'Neill wrote songs for Paul Young and Lene Lovich, while Burns played guitar in Adam Ant's backing band during 1982–1984, together with Fingerprintz drummer Bogdan Wiczling. [2] O'Neill, who, in the mid 1970s, had worked for a time as a clerical assistant in the Department of Health and Social Security, released a single for Oval Records in 1975, "Achin' in My Heart"/"Cold on Me", under the name Jimme Shelter (a throwback to the song, "Gimme Shelter" by The Rolling Stones).

1980s

In 1979, they met and formed a post-punk/new wave project called Fingerprintz, [2] [3] and released three albums under that name: The Very Dab, Distinguishing Marks and Beat Noir. [2] They earned some critical recognition and notable appearances on John Peel's BBC Radio 1 show and the BBC's In Concert radio series. The group split in 1985. Then O'Neill formed a duo with electropop singer Jacqui Brookes and they released two singles in 1983: "Haunted Cocktails" and "Lost Without Your Love". When Brookes subsequently released solo album Sob Stories, O'Neill wrote or co-wrote a majority of the tracks and played guitar and other instruments on the album.

Soon O'Neill and Burns were playing music together again, this time joined by drummer Martin Hanlin and bass player Joseph Donnelly, a cousin of Simple Minds singer Jim Kerr. After considering band names like 'My Granny's Green Chair' and 'The Hot Dog From Hell', they settled on 'The Silencers'. In September 1986, they began to tour Europe and the United Kingdom. They demoed three new songs at Scarf Studios in London: "Painted Moon", "I See Red" and "I Can't Cry". The demos earned them a recording contract with RCA Records, and their song "Painted Moon", about O'Neill's personal reaction to the Falklands War, was included on the soundtrack to the film The Home Front, and then released as their first single in April 1987. Their first album A Letter from St. Paul included re-recorded versions of all three demos. The Pretenders invited the band to support them on their European tour, and then the success of Painted Moon across the pond induced a tour of the United States on their own, and later with Squeeze.

In 1988, The Silencers toured Europe with The Alarm and Painted Moon became a radio hit in the UK. The band moved back to Scotland and recorded a second album A Blues for Buddha at CaVa Studios in Glasgow, with Flood producing. The standout tracks were "Scottish Rain", about love and fallout from Chernobyl, and "The Real McCoy" which became a fan favourite. The band then toured Europe with Simple Minds for four months, culminating with a stadium show at Wembley in front of 80,000.

1990s

After the tour, the band began work on third album Dance to the Holy Man, but personal conflict derailed the process. Donnelly and Hanlin left the band, and were replaced by Tony Soave on drums and Lewis Rankine on bass. The album, a departure from the band's "guitar-based atmosphere pop", [3] was recorded during the summer of 1990. It included funk, blues, and Celtic strains. [1] The O'Neill-penned "This Is Serious" had previously been submitted to other artists and had been recorded twice prior to The Silencers' version; in 1987 Eric Martin recorded it for his I'm Only Fooling Myself album, and one year later Marilyn Martin recorded it for her 1988 album, which took its name from the track. The single "Bulletproof Heart", a re-recording of a track from the Fingerprintz album Distinguishing Marks, [1] and later to be covered by Jim Kerr for his Lostboy project. It became a hit in Spain and France, where the band had success at that time. The album sales lagged back in the United Kingdom, although it did enter the UK Top 40 chart, their first and last entry to date. [4] JJ Gilmour joined the band as a second male vocalist before another tour of Europe, and Stevie Kane joined the band, replacing Rankine during the tour due to personality conflict.

Deeply in debt to RCA and not having the expected success in the UK, The Silencers were in danger of being dropped by their record label despite their success throughout Europe. However, after label representatives saw an impressive live show they allowed the band to begin work on fourth album Seconds of Pleasure. [5] "I Can Feel It" (the video for which featured a cameo role from Frances Corrigan, O'Neill's daughter's friend from Coatbridge) was, true to form, a hit in Europe and ignored in the UK. Without tour support from RCA, the band financed its own tour to Switzerland, France and Scotland.

In 1994, The Silencers signed to new labels: Permanent for Britain and BMG for France. That summer they recorded a cover of the song "Wild Mountain Thyme", featuring O'Neill's daughter Aura on vocals. It became a hit in Scotland after featuring in a tourism board advertising campaign. Soon after, they completed fifth album So Be It.

After a mid-1996 tour of Europe, Gilmour and Soave left the band. Jim McDermott of the Kevin McDermott Orchestra joined on drums and Aura O'Neill became a permanent member of the band. The year 1996 brought the release of singles compilation Blood & Rain, and The Silencers took several years off from recording.

In 1999, the band worked on seventh album Receiving, which was financed by money from festival appearances in Europe. Speaking of the new record, O'Neill said, "Some of the new tracks were recorded as if this was a different band. I wanted to forget about everything we'd done before and some of what came out reminded me of Fingerprintz – new wave for the nineties!" [5] The experimental nature of the songs, he said, was inspired by the influence of Jack Kerouac, William S. Burroughs and Charles Bukowski.

2000s to 2010s

In 2001, the band released their first live album, A Night of Electric Silence, recorded in Glasgow in 2000, with McDermott on drums, Stevie Kane on bass, Phil Kane on keyboards, O'Neill on guitar and vocals, Milla on violin and Aura O'Neill on vocals.

In November 2004, Come was released, featuring the tracks "Siddharta", "Let It Happen" and "Head". However, by this time most of the band's albums were out of print. In July 2006, Baptiste Brondy, a 20-year-old French drummer, replaced McDermott. Burns was six days past his 50th birthday when he died of lung cancer in the Welsh seaside resort of Prestatyn on 26 March 2007.

2020s

The Silencers's new album "Silent Highway" is released on October the 13th, 2023, after almost 20 years since last album, and returns to the enthusiasm of the first material. Jimme O’Neill is now based in France, in Brittany.

Surrounded this time by his family – Aura, his daughter, who sings on two tracks (“Silent Highway”, “Onmamind”), James and Connor, his sons – and his close friends – Baptiste Brondy – drummer of Delgrès, who co-produced the record - this eighth album was recorded in France between Nantes and Rennes, and mixed in Glasgow.

Discography

Albums

Live albums

Compilation albums

Singles

Solo album - Jimme O'Neill

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Gilmour</span> English musician (born 1946)

David Jon Gilmour is an English guitarist, singer and songwriter who is a member of the rock band Pink Floyd. He joined in 1967, shortly before the departure of the founder member Syd Barrett. By the early 1980s, Pink Floyd had become one of the highest-selling and most acclaimed acts in music history. Following the departure of Roger Waters in 1985, Pink Floyd continued under Gilmour's leadership and released the studio albums A Momentary Lapse of Reason (1987), The Division Bell (1994) and The Endless River (2014).

<i>Meddle</i> 1971 studio album by Pink Floyd

Meddle is the sixth studio album by the English rock band Pink Floyd, released by Harvest Records on 5 November 1971 in the United Kingdom. The album was produced between the band's touring commitments, from January to August 1971 at a series of locations around London, including EMI Studios and Morgan Studios.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chris Spedding</span> Musical artist (born 1944)

Christopher John Spedding is an English guitarist and record producer. In a career spanning more than 50 years, Spedding is best known for his studio session work. By the early 1970s, he had become one of the most sought-after session guitarists in England. Spedding has played on and produced many albums and singles. He has also been a member of eleven rock bands: the Battered Ornaments, Frank Ricotti Quartet, King Mob, Mike Batt and Friends, Necessaries, Nucleus, Ricky Norton, Sharks, Trigger, and the Wombles. In May 1976, Spedding also produced the first Sex Pistols recordings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dead or Alive (band)</span> British band

Dead or Alive were an English pop band who released seven studio albums from 1984 to 2000. The band formed in 1980 in Liverpool and found success in the mid-1980s, releasing seven singles that made the UK Top 40 and three albums in the UK Top 30. At the peak of their success, the line-up consisted of Pete Burns (vocals), Steve Coy (drums), Mike Percy (bass), and Tim Lever (keyboards), with the core pair of Burns and Coy writing and producing for the remainder of the band's career due to Percy and Lever exiting the group in 1989. Burns died in 2016; with the death of Coy in 2018, the band ended.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pop Will Eat Itself</span> Alternative rock band

Pop Will Eat Itself are an English alternative rock band formed in 1986 in Stourbridge in the West Midlands of England with members from Birmingham, Coventry and the Black Country. Initially known as a grebo act, they changed style to incorporate sample-driven indie and industrial rock. Graham Crabb describes their sound as "electronic, punk, alternative hip-hop, hybrid music for fucking, fighting & smoking cigars". Their highest-charting single was the 1993 top-ten hit "Get the Girl! Kill the Baddies!". After initially disbanding in 1996, and having a brief reformation in 2005, they issued their first release in more than five years in 2010.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Primitives</span> British indie pop band

The Primitives are an English indie pop band from Coventry, best known for their 1988 international hit single "Crash". Formed in 1984, disbanded in 1992 and reformed in 2009, the band's two constant members throughout their recording career have been vocalist Tracy Tracy and guitarist Paul "PJ" Court. Drummer Tig Williams has been a constant member since 1987. Often described as an indie pop or indie rock band, the Primitives' musical style can also be seen as straddling power pop, new wave and post-punk.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mogwai</span> Scottish post-rock band

Mogwai are a Scottish post-rock band, formed in 1995 in Glasgow. The band consists of Stuart Braithwaite, Barry Burns, Dominic Aitchison, and Martin Bulloch (drums). Mogwai typically compose lengthy guitar-based instrumental pieces that feature dynamic contrast, melodic bass guitar lines, and heavy use of distortion and effects.

<i>On an Island</i> 2006 studio album by David Gilmour

On an Island is the third solo studio album by Pink Floyd member David Gilmour. It was released in the UK on 6 March 2006, Gilmour's 60th birthday, and in the United States the following day. It was his first solo album in 22 years since About Face in 1984 and nearly 12 years since Pink Floyd's 1994 album The Division Bell.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Sutherland Brothers</span> Scottish folk and soft rock duo

The Sutherland Brothers were a Scottish folk and soft rock duo. From 1973 to 1978, they performed with rock band Quiver, and recorded and toured as Sutherland Brothers & Quiver. Under this combined moniker, the group recorded several albums and had a significant international hit single with the song "Arms of Mary" in 1976. In North America, they are primarily known for their 1973 single "(I Don't Want to Love You But) You Got Me Anyway".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Script</span> Irish rock band

The Script are an Irish rock band formed in 2001 in Dublin. The band currently consists of Danny O'Donoghue, Glen Power, Benjamin Sargent and Ben Weaver (guitar). Mark Sheehan was a member of the band up until his death in 2023. The band moved to London after signing to Sony Label Group imprint Phonogenic and released their first album The Script in August 2008, preceded by the debut single "We Cry" as well as other singles such as "The Man Who Can't Be Moved", "Breakeven" and "Before the Worst". The album peaked at number one in both Ireland and the UK. Their next three albums, Science & Faith (2010), #3 (2012) and No Sound Without Silence (2014), all topped the album charts in Ireland and the UK, while Science & Faith reached number two in Australia and number three in the United States. Some of the hit singles from the albums include "For the First Time", "Nothing", "Hall of Fame" and "Superheroes". The band's fifth studio album, Freedom Child, was released on 1 September 2017, and features the UK Top 20 single "Rain". Their sixth studio album, Sunsets & Full Moons, was released on 8 November 2019, and features the single "The Last Time". A Greatest Hits album was released on 1 October 2021.

<i>The Hawk Is Howling</i> 2008 studio album by Mogwai

The Hawk Is Howling is the sixth studio album by the Scottish post-rock band Mogwai, released on 22 September 2008, by Wall of Sound, Play It Again Sam and Matador in the UK, Europe, and the US, respectively. It was released in Australia by Spunk Records on 27 September 2008.

Kevin Francis McDermott is a Scottish musician, singer and songwriter.

Cha Burns was the guitarist for Fingerprintz and the Scottish band, The Silencers and live guitarist for Adam Ant.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Red Cardell</span>

Red Cardell is a French, Breton rock band, that mixes Breton music with rock, folk, blues, world music and chanson réaliste.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Walk the Moon</span> American pop/rock band

Walk the Moon is an American rock band based in Cincinnati, Ohio. Lead singer Nicholas Petricca started the band in 2006, while a student at Kenyon College, deriving the band's name from the song "Walking on the Moon" by The Police. Although the band is best known for their most successful hit single to date "Shut Up and Dance", other notable songs include "Anna Sun" and "One Foot".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pat O'May</span> Musical artist

Pat O'May is a French musician who blends rock music with elements of world music. He originally worked with the heavy metal band Marienthal, and also produced several solo albums. He has written over 100 tracks for the TV show European coast seen from the sky. He participated in Alan Simon's rock operas Anne de Bretagne, Excalibur: The Celtic Rock Opera and started working with Martin Barre touring and recording with him.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jimme O'Neill</span> Musical artist

Jimme O'Neill is a Scottish singer and guitarist who has been the lead singer of Scottish rock band The Silencers since 1984. Having started his musical career with Cha Burns in Fingerprintz in the new wave music scene, they joined Martin Hanlin and Joseph Donnelly in the 1980s to create the band The Silencers.

Keltia Musique is a French independent record label and distribution company specializing in Celtic music. It was founded in 1978 in Quimper, Brittany, by Hervé Le Meur.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Celtic Social Club</span> Rock music band in Scotland

The Celtic Social Club is a musical band formed in 2013. It was led by Manu Masko.

James "JJ" Gilmour is a Scottish singer-songwriter known as a member of the Glasgow-based rock band The Silencers.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Aizlewood, John (5 March 1991). "Dance To The Holy Man review". Q Magazine. 55: 79.
  2. 1 2 3 Colin Larkin, ed. (1992). The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music (First ed.). Guinness Publishing. p. 860. ISBN   0-85112-939-0.
  3. 1 2 "Biography of the Silencers". Thesilencers.free.fr. Retrieved 30 December 2012.
  4. ↑ "dance to the holy man | full Official Chart History | Official Charts Company". www.officialcharts.com. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
  5. 1 2 "The Silencers / Electric Silence". Last Call Records. Retrieved 30 December 2012.
  6. 1 2 Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 498. ISBN   1-904994-10-5.
  7. ↑ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 273. ISBN   0-646-11917-6.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.