Thomas Paul Burgess | |
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 Burgess in 2015 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Thomas Paul Burgess |
| Born | November 1959 Shankill Road |
| Origin | West Belfast, Northern Ireland. |
| Genres | |
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Thomas Paul Burgess is an academic, novelist and musician from Belfast, Northern Ireland.
Burgess attended Oxford University, studying Ethics & Moral Education, He obtained his PhD from University College Cork. [2] He lives in Cork, Ireland, where he is a Senior Lecturer and Director of Youth & Community Work at The School of Applied Social Studies, University College Cork.
He worked in Short Brothers Ltd (aircraft manufacture), 1978-81. Following his academic studies, he taught English Literature in schools in Belfast and Oxford. In 1990, he was Community Relations Officer for Antrim Borough Council, and in 1992 was a researcher/outreach worker for Initiative '92, Torkel Opsahl
His published works include A Crisis of Conscience: - moral ambivalence and education in Northern Ireland (1993), The Reconciliation Industry: - community relations, community identity & social policy in Northern Ireland (2002), The Contested Identities of Ulster Protestants (2015) [3] and The Contested Identities of Ulster Catholics (2018). [4] [5]
His first novel, ‘White Church, Black Mountain’ [6] (Matador. 2015) was short-listed for the Impress Prize for New Writers, 2017 and The Carousel Aware Prize for Best Novel, 2016.
His second novel, ‘Through Hollow Lands’ [7] [8] (Urbane 2018) is a dark supernatural thriller based loosely on Dante's ‘Inferno’ and follows survivors of the 9/11 attacks, through the seeming purgatory of Las Vegas. He has described it as, 'An allegorical tale on the death of American innocence.' [9]
As a songwriter with his band Ruefrex his work met with acclaim, the group being described as "...the most important band in Britain". [10] [11] [12]
He appeared on the cover of Melody Maker after they had recorded the controversial The Wild Colonial Boy denouncing Irish-Americans for sending guns and money to the IRA. The record entered the UK top 30. [13] Their music was featured in the motion picture Good Vibrations . [14] [15] [16]
His later projects include forming the musical collective Sacred Heart of Bontempi, and releasing a tribute to Pogues’ frontman, Shane MacGowan entitled, Shane MacGowan’s Smile (Burgess had previously toured with the band).
In 2021 Burgess wrote, performed and produced Vanished into Air; a song for the disappeared. [17] [18] [19] The project was intended to highlight the plight of those families who lost members believed to have been abducted, murdered and secretly buried in Northern Ireland, the large majority of which occurred during the Troubles. The victim support group Wave and family members supported the initiative.
In 2024, Manchester University Press published Burgess’ memoir, Wild Colonial Boys: A Belfast Punk Story. [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] It gave an uncompromising account of his time with his band Ruefrex and enjoyed critical acclaim from a number of sources.
The Pogues were an English or Anglo-Irish Celtic punk band fronted by Shane MacGowan and others, founded in King's Cross, London, in 1982, as Pogue Mahone—an anglicisation of the Irish phrase póg mo thóin, meaning "kiss my arse". Fusing punk influences with instruments such as the tin whistle, banjo, Irish bouzouki, cittern, mandolin and accordion, the Pogues were initially poorly received in traditional Irish music circles—the noted musician Tommy Makem called them "the greatest disaster ever to hit Irish music"—but were subsequently credited with reinvigorating the genre. The band later incorporated influences from other musical traditions, including jazz, flamenco, and Middle Eastern music.
Stiff Little Fingers are a Northern Irish punk rock band from Belfast, Northern Ireland. They formed in 1977 at the height of the Troubles, which informed much of their songwriting. They started out as a schoolboy band called Highway Star, doing rock covers, until they discovered punk. They were the first punk band in Belfast to release a record – the "Suspect Device" single came out on their own independent label, Rigid Digits. Their album Inflammable Material, released in partnership with Rough Trade, became the first independent LP to enter the UK top 20.
Shane Patrick Lysaght MacGowan was a British-born Irish singer-songwriter, musician and poet best known as the lead vocalist and primary lyricist of Celtic punk band the Pogues. He also produced solo material and collaborated with artists including Joe Strummer, Nick Cave, Sinéad O'Connor, and Cruachan. Known for his exceptional songwriting ability and his heavy alcohol and drug use, MacGowan was described by The New York Times as "a titanically destructive personality and a master songsmith whose lyrics painted vivid portraits of the underbelly of Irish immigrant life".
Events from the year 1992 in Ireland.
Rudi were a punk rock/power pop band from Belfast formed in 1975. Throughout the late 1970s they were one of the most popular Northern Ireland punk bands but while The Undertones and Stiff Little Fingers secured record deals with major labels and had chart success, Rudi didn’t hit the big time and became 'the band that time forgot'. Rudi split in 1982. Their recordings can still be found today.
The Moondogs are a Northern Irish rock band formed in 1979, and consisting of Gerry McCandless, Austin Barrett and Jackie Hamilton. Their career spans three albums, four singles and two television programmes.
Martin Christopher Kennedy, known as Bap Kennedy, was a singer-songwriter from Belfast, Northern Ireland. He was noted for his collaborations with Steve Earle, Van Morrison, Shane MacGowan and Mark Knopfler, as well as for writing the song "Moonlight Kiss" which was on the soundtrack for the film Serendipity.
Ruefrex, originally called Roofwrecks, were a punk rock band from Belfast, Northern Ireland, formed in 1977.
Good Vibrations was a Belfast record label and store. Founded by Terri Hooley in the early 1970s, Good Vibrations started out in a small derelict building on Great Victoria Street, Belfast. Good Vibrations began life as a record shop, opening in late 1976; it grew to become a popular record shop.
Events during the year 1978 in Northern Ireland.
The Golden Horde were a neo-psychedelic, post-punk, garage rock, band based in Dublin, Ireland. Simon Carmody, John Connor, Des O'Byrne, Peter O'Kennedy & Sam Steiger, are the most renowned line-up of the band.
Randalstown is a townland and small town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, between Antrim and Toome. It has a very prominent disused railway viaduct and lies beside Lough Neagh and the Shane's Castle estate. The town is bypassed by the M22 motorway with junctions at both the eastern and western ends of the town. It had a population of 5,151 people in the 2021 census.
Terence Wilfred Hooley is a businessman from Northern Ireland who is a prominent figure in the Belfast punk scene and founder of the Good Vibrations record shop and label. He was responsible for bands such as The Undertones, Rudi, Protex and The Outcasts making their mark on the music scene in Ireland and Britain. After playing "Teenage Kicks" on BBC, national radio John Peel then became a big supporter of the Good Vibrations record label.
The Tearjerkers are a five piece power pop band from Northern Ireland. Formed at the height of the punk rock boom in Ulster in 1978, the band were composed of members from other Northern Irish groups namely Cobra, Midnight Cruiser and The Detonators.
That part of the United Kingdom called Northern Ireland was created in 1922, with the partition of the island of Ireland. The majority of the population of Northern Ireland wanted to remain within the United Kingdom. Most of these were the Protestant descendants of settlers from Great Britain.
The Harp Bar is a public house and live music venue based in Hill Street, central Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is notable in the context of punk rock history, particularly music from Northern Ireland. It was owned between 1977 and 1984 by Patrick (Patsy) Lennon whom some years later built and owned the Limelight nightclub and Dome Bar.
Shock Treatment was a post-punk band formed in Belfast in 1978 built around vocalist Barry McIlheney, (vocals), guitarist Davy McLarnon (guitar), and bassist David ‘Basil’ McCausland (bass).
"Alternative Ulster" is the second single by the Northern Irish punk band Stiff Little Fingers. Originally released as a single on 17 October 1978, the song later appeared on the band's 1979 debut studio album, Inflammable Material.
Gavin Martin was a Northern Irish music journalist.