Every time I look for more information on Five Go Down To The Sea ?, all I get is info from an Enid Blyton book which also appeared on BBC in the Famous Five series. The band probably took their name from it.
Some years ago I read on a forum that the guitarplayer passed away after the band split up.
You could already hear a song of them on the 'Good Morning Mr. Presley' comp. LP I posted not a long time ago.
For those who like The Fall, The Three Johns, Membranes, Bogshed,...
Knot A Fish 7" (Kabuki Records-KA Five.5-1983)
1. Fishes For Compliments
2. Elephants For Fun And Profit
3. There's A Fish On Top Of Shandon (Swears He's Elvis)
4. Why Wait Until April
The Glee Club 12" (Abstract Records-12 ABS 027-1984)
1. The Glee Club
2. Jumping Joley
3. Often
4. Boon For Travellists
5. What Happened Your Leg ?
Singing In Braille 12" (Creation Records-CRE 021T-1985)
1. Singing In Braille
2. Aunt Nelly
3. Silk Brain Worm Women
Five Go Down To The Sea?
Five Go Down To The Sea? were from Cork, Ireland and were originally called Nun Attax. They were fronted by the Northern Irish Finbarr Donnelly who was a legendary figure in Cork from the late seventies onwards. Contemporaries of Microdisney, the band moved to London circa 1984 and released the three EP's posted here. There were a few radio sessions (one of which featured a track entitled 'While My Guitar Meryl Streeps') before the band resurfaced again in 1989, this time calling themselves Beethovven. Their sole release, the 12" 'Him Goolie Goolie Dem Man' was single of the week in NME but unfortunately frontman Donnelly drowned in the Hyde Par serpentine pond after downing a considerable amount of cider. The rest of the band soon moved back to Cork.
ReplyDeleteThanks a lot for the info cma. Much appreciated!
ReplyDeleteYes I like it somewhat. Cool post as usual - keep it up!
ReplyDeleteHave you heard the new The Fall album yet? It is rocknroll!
Incredible band,top oh the pile when it came to the mid 80's shambling type noise. Saw them at the Hope and Anchor in london back in the day and they were a total riot of combustible noise.The singer had to visit the bathroom mid song so he just went in and carried on singing. Total dedication to the art.Great stuff.
ReplyDeleteMike.
"For those who like The Fall, The Three Johns, Membranes, Bogshed,..."
ReplyDeletethen it is for me :)
The singer died, the guitarist formed Nine Wassies from Bainne. He stayed in my house one night very nice guy as his own radio show now in Irish in Ireland
ReplyDeleteWonderfull band, I was searching for a pic of them when I found this. There was a fabulous promo pic of them with Donnelly sitting in a huge Edwardian/Victorian style wicker chair with the others standing around - all in period suits.
ReplyDeleteI saw them quite a few times all of which were off the wall and thoroughly entertaining. One gig featured a new drummer at whom Donnelly yelled something like "wait a minute, you're not Smelly. Where's Smelly? Get out of here."
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ReplyDeleteHot Damn!
ReplyDeletei've been looking for an mp3 to replace my vinyl for so long ... this stuff is very rare indeed and yes, trying to google em was a pain.
another band you can compare em to were the great A Witness
Thanks for this. FYI, one of Donnelly's drinking holes in Cork was called the Phoenix. I once saw him take a bit out of a vinyl Hare Krishna record and swallow it. A legend! BTW, Ricky, the guitarist, is still alive :)
ReplyDeletenot bit, bite!
ReplyDeleteBrilliant band (like Bogshed on acid, I swear!) but everso slightly scary in the flesh. In a nicec way though! IBx
ReplyDeletehave a look at http://www.getthatmonsteroffthestage.com/
ReplyDeleteI allways thought it was curious - perhaps an omen - that someone from a band called Five Go To The Sea, would eventually come to his end by drowning!!!
ReplyDeleteI have an elpee, or a 12 inch with a couple of songs, but without the sleeve. Bought in a Camden town record store in the 90ts... Great stuff! i think John Robb introduced thos people to me, back then. Herr Seele, from ostend
Hallo Herr Seele, bedankt voor de comment. Weet nog dat je de Membranes liet spelen in Bissegem & Torhout.
ReplyDeleteI saw these gents play a handful of times way back when &, though an eminently good natured lot, they WERE a little bit of a frightening prospect for anybody in the audience who HADN'T downed a keg of Strongbow before leaving the house! A really great live band though - totally wrong & backwards but somehow bang-on. I think they felt that Stump stole their act a little bit, but imagine Stump(x100) & that's kinda what this bunch were like on stage. The Beethoven 12" is great too if you can track it down...
ReplyDeleteNot true that the rest of the band moved to Ireland.
ReplyDeleteI, Daniel, stayed in London and I am still in London and still a drummer.
They were the best band I have ever played in.
Daniel
Hello Daniel, thanks for leaving a comment. Seems that 5GDTTS had some live reputation!
ReplyDeleteI saw Nun Attax about a dozen times. They were the greatest band ever, IMNO.
ReplyDeleteRe Cma's post, I think it was "While my cigar Meryl Streeps"!!
5 go down to the Sea featured a brilliant but utterly bewildered female cellist from the RTE Symphony Orchestra.
Five Go Down To The Sea? feature in a new book called 'Cork Rock: From Rory Gallagher To The Sultans of Ping'
ReplyDeleteLink is down.Pleeeeease Re Up.
ReplyDeleteLookin'for that stuff for a long Time.
Greetz
Link works fine. Just tried. Please try again. Enjoy!
ReplyDeleteTried it again.Link works but theres nothing in it.I'm confused.Please check it.Thanx
ReplyDeleteI used to see them at The Living Room many years back when I was in the TVPs. Great band, wild and fine men. Sad to hear about Donnelly - I never knew.
ReplyDeleteDave Musker
Five Go Down To The Sea? have a MySpace website: http://www.myspace.com/5godowntothesea
ReplyDeleteAny chance for quality re-rips? This band deserves it, really!
ReplyDeleteAlready re-ripped them. Coming soon!
ReplyDeleteNew HQ rip's up.
ReplyDeleteWow, fantastisch! Ik luisterde in de jaren tachtig naar John Peel via BFBS in Keulen. Dat waren schone tijden en dit was een schoon groep. Echt fel bedankt! Uwe blog is aan 't uitgroeien tot een knalbibiliotheek!
ReplyDeleteincredible band it's a pity the link is dead... any re-up?
ReplyDeleteNew link for Five Go Down To The Sea?. Enjoy!
ReplyDeleteThanks for this incredible band.
ReplyDeleteThis blog is outstanding!!!!
great blog , great underrated band le late Finbarr Donnely was amazing: he sounds like Mike's Lynch of Stump (another great band , any chance your could any re-up? a
ReplyDeleteNew link Angie. Enjoy!
ReplyDeletegreat, thanks a lot
ReplyDeleteHi Curious,
ReplyDeleteI heard "Singing in Braille" 'round at a pal's place the other night, I'd forgotten what a monstrous, awesome noise Donnelly & co. made on that one, it sounds like Flipper on Guinness!
If there's any chance you could re-up these EPs at some point I'd really appreciate it, I never owned their debut & my copies of the 12"s went a.w.o.l. many, many years ago (because I'm an idiot, same old story, eh?).
Curiously, neither Five Go Down To The Sea or Beethoven recorded a Peel session, I wonder why?
Thanks (again),
Rooksby.
Good choice Rooksby. New link. Enjoy!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the swift re-up, Curious - I'm going to be listening to this stuff for the entire weekend, I expect! :)
ReplyDelete