‘Utterly radical, subversive and alien’: the untold story of Irish post-punk

Sign up to Roisin O’Connor’s free weekly newsletter Now Hear This for the inside track on all things music Get our Now Hear This email for free Get our Now Hear This email for free SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. open image in gallery The Dublin band’s 1977 debut album “It was very hard for us to get gigs because nobody understood punk,” says Averill. We felt that we were going the right direction – that if we can force an audience to walk out then we had something that was worth pursuing.” Enjoy unlimited access to 100 million ad-free songs and podcasts with Amazon Music Sign up now for a 4 month free trial Sign up Enjoy unlimited access to 100 million ad-free songs and podcasts with Amazon Music Sign up now for a 4 month free trial Sign up Assisted by the British tabloids’ growing fascination with punk culture, The Radiators slowly found an audience. Though the band’s recording output was small, tracks such as “Always In Danger”, with its warbling synths, icy yet serene vocals, and pop song outline, encapsulated their own strand of Irish post-punk. At the end of the day we thought they might kill us but in fact they cheered.” open image in gallery While Irish post-punk only flirted with the mainstream and struggled to cross over internationally, Dublin band Virgin Prunes found themselves performing their song “Theme for a Thought” on state broadcaster RTÉ’s The Late Late Show in 1979.