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

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.

Discography

Albums

Compilation albums

Singles

Related Research Articles

<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">Gigolo Aunts</span> American power pop band

Gigolo Aunts are an American power pop band, who formed in 1981.

Gun are a Scottish hard rock band from Glasgow. The band currently consists of brothers Dante Gizzi and Giuliano "Jools" Gizzi (guitar), along with Paul McManus (drums), Andy Carr (bass) and Davie Aitken (guitar). Starting in 1989 with Taking on the World, Gun have released seven studio albums, three of which have made the UK Top 20, and had eight UK Top 40 hit singles. The most successful of these was a cover of Cameo's "Word Up!", which reached the top 10 in 1994.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gary Wallis</span> British musical artist

Gary Wallis is a British drummer, percussionist, drum programmer, producer and musical director. He has worked with a wide range of artists and bands, including Nik Kershaw, Pink Floyd, 10cc, Il Divo, Westlife, Girls Aloud, Atomic Kitten, Paul Carrack, Dusty Springfield, Bonnie Tyler, Mike Rutherford, Mike + The Mechanics, Spice Girls, All Saints, Tom Jones, Jean-Michel Jarre, Helene Fischer and Schiller.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pink Floyd</span> English rock band

Pink Floyd are an English rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experimentation, philosophical lyrics and elaborate live shows. They became a leading band of the progressive rock genre, cited by some as the greatest progressive rock band of all time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">If I Let You Go</span> 1999 single by Westlife

"If I Let You Go" is a song by Irish boy band Westlife. It was released in the United Kingdom on 9 August 1999 as the second single from their self-titled debut album (1999). It became the second number-one hit, spending 11 weeks on the UK Singles Chart. The song has received a gold sales certification in the UK for selling over 400,000 in combined sales of purchased and streaming-equivalent sales. It is the band's 10th-best-selling single in paid-for sales and combined sales in the UK as of January 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pray (Take That song)</span> 1993 single by Take That

"Pray" is a song by English boy band Take That. Written by band member Gary Barlow, the ballad was released on 5 July 1993 by RCA and BMG as the second single from the band's second studio album, Everything Changes (1993). It is the first of twelve singles by the band to reach number one on the UK Singles Chart, staying at number one for four weeks, and starting a streak of four consecutive number-one singles. The song has received a Gold sales status certification and sold over 438,000 copies in the UK, won British Single of the Year and British Video of the Year at the 1994 Brit Awards, and was the finale of Take That's Beautiful World Tour 2007. The music video for "Pray" was directed by Gregg Masuak and filmed in Mexico.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amazing (Westlife song)</span> 2006 single by Westlife

"Amazing" is a song by Irish boy band Westlife. It was released on 20 February 2006 as the third and final single from their sixth studio album, Face to Face (2005). The song peaked at number four on the UK Singles Chart. It debuted with 16,316 sales in the UK alone.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">House of Lords (band)</span> American rock band

House of Lords is an American rock band based in Connecticut, with members in New Jersey and Florida.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Obvious (Westlife song)</span> 2004 single by Westlife

"Obvious" is the third and final single released from Irish boy band Westlife's fourth studio album, Turnaround (2003). The track was written by Pilot, Savan Kotecha, and Andreas Carlsson and was produced by Jake Schulze, Kristian Lundin, and Karl Engström, with additional production from Quiz & Larossi. It is composed in the traditional verse–chorus form in E major, with the group's vocals ranging from the chords of C♯4 to A5. This was the last Westlife single to be recorded with their full original lineup, as Brian McFadden left the month after its release.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Unbreakable (Westlife song)</span> 2002 single by Westlife

"Unbreakable" is a song by Irish boy band Westlife. It was released on 4 November 2002 by RCA Records and Syco Music as the first and only single from their first greatest hits album, Unbreakable – The Greatest Hits Volume 1 (2002). The song was written by Jörgen Elofsson and John Reid, and produced by Steve Mac. It was composed in the traditional verse–chorus form in G major, with the group's vocals ranging from the chords of D4 to C♯6.

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

The Script is an Irish rock band formed in 2001 in Dublin, by lead vocalist, keyboardist, guitarist Danny O'Donoghue, lead guitarist Mark Sheehan and drummer Glen Power. 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.

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">Moon Taxi</span> American rock band

Moon Taxi is an American indie-alternative rock band based in Nashville, Tennessee. The band was founded in 2006 by Trevor Terndrup, Tommy Putnam (bass), Spencer Thomson, Tyler Ritter (drums), and Wes Bailey (keys) while attending Belmont University.

<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">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>

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.