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The
Moondogs formed in September 1978 when drummer Austin Barrett
and vocalist/guitarist Gerry McCandless approached young Jackie
Hamilton (who happened to be going out with Gerry's sister Maria
at the time) from Ventura Highway, to replace Vinny O'Neill, (brother
of the Undertones' John and Damian), on bass. Jackie couldn’t
play bass, but it was the time of ‘three chords and you've got
music’ so, undeterred, he purchased a second-hand bass and went
to the first rehearsal above the Bogside Inn, where the backroom
was an undertakers! Getting straight down to business, they soon
had a few self-penned tunes - You Said, Hey Joanna, She's 19 and
Ya Don't Do Ya.
It was around this time that fellow Derry contemporaries The Undertones
signed to Sire Records, and they asked Jackie, Gerry and Austin
to do the warm-up slot at their celebratory gig from the back
of a coal lorry in Bull Park. The band still hadn't a name, (although
Solitary Confinement was mooted), and needing one quickly with
their debut gig fast approaching, Gerry suggested The Moondogs,
after an early incarnation of the Beatles, and they all agreed.
From there they went on to hone their skills playing around the
local haunts in their native Derry, often as support to The Undertones
(earning them the description of “Spiritual Sons of the Undertones').
One of these venues was the Casbah. "In 1978 and beyond, the Casbah
was a regular favourite, a portacabin done up with 'Ali Baba'
plasterwork and sedan windows on the outside, cheap and tacky.
But with so many bombs going off, it wasn't seen as worthwhile
wasting money on the outside decor" says Jackie, while Austin
(cousin of Undertones’ drummer Billy Doherty) remembers "the barman
at the Casbah who used to lean over and flick you with a wet tea-towel
if you started to pogo!" New songs such as Popstar and Two-timed
were added to a set that included several covers such as the early
Beatles rouser Boys and Showaddywaddy's Hey Rock'n'Roll. Soon
the band had recorded their first studio demo, and this was quickly
followed by a session for Downtown Radio.
April 1979 saw The Moondogs follow in the footsteps of Derry cousins
The Undertones when they signed to the Good Vibrations label who
released the band’s debut 45 She's 19 / Ya Don't Do Ya. The single
was championed by (surprise, surprise) John Peel, and shortly
afterwards they were invited to join The Undertones (who else!)
on their UK and Irish tours. There was enough interest generated
in the band to attract the attention of Sire and WEA Records.
In April 1980 they recorded their first session for the John Peel
Show, and, not wanting to miss a second of their big moment, on
the night the session was broadcast Jackie drove way up into the
border hills (a risky move in Derry at the time) and parked next
to a radio transmitter to ensure that he got crystal-clear and
uninterrupted coverage of The Moondogs on air. Then in June of
that year they opted to sign to Real Records, a subsidiary of
Sire (who the Undertones were signed to of course!) and home to
the likes of the Pretenders and Johnny Thunders. By September
they were based in a flat on London’s Kings Road and had started
recording in the studio. Their first single for Real, Who's Gonna
Tell Mary, was released in 1980, produced by Pete Collins and
co-produced by Pete Waterman. Legendary Rolling Stones collaborator
Andrew Loog Oldham, who also had a hand in the production, nearly
messed things up. He took a notion that The Moondogs could crack
America, so he 'kidnapped ' the master tapes and flew to the USA.
Writs flew like confetti until Oldham returned the tapes.
It all happened for the Moondogs in 1981 when Granada TV, who
wanted to give the band their own teatime show, approached the
band. Today, the idea of giving a young pop band a regular kids
TV show where they play their songs to their ideal record buying
audience is a marketing dream - witness S Club 7! But when Granada
approached the Moondogs, they weren't so sure. A large cheque
helped remove some of the doubts, and they had a ball recording
their twenty songs for the show at Rockfield Studios in Wales.
They also rehearsed and filmed on the Coronation Street set when
it wasn’t in use, and quite a few Newton and Ridley beer mats
and ashtrays went missing. The first show was broadcast in the
last week of April, by which time the boys were getting ready
to go to New York to record their debut album. That same month
they had recorded their second session for the John Peel Show,
and used the opportunity to try out some new songs to send to
Todd Rundgren as ideas for the album. However, these recordings
featured their move into New Romanticism complete with brass section
and longer songs, a move that they were later to regret. This
session was broadcast the following month, May.
Two further singles were released on Real - Talking In The Canteen,
produced by Nick Garvey of The Motors, followed by Imposter, produced
by Kinks legend Ray Davies. The Moondogs were thrilled to work
with Davies, especially as All Day And All Of The Night was one
of their warm up songs (Davies actually caught Gerry playing it,
much to his embarrassment!) Davies was keen to work on the album
but Todd Rundgren had already been roped in as producer. The Moondogs
didn't know who Rundgren was, but since the offer meant a trip
to New York, off they went - "We'd never been and we might never
be again" said Jackie.
They arrived at Rundgren’s studio in Bearsville, upstate New York,
on May 30th 1981. That's What Friends Are For proved to be quite
an ironic title for the album as the band split up halfway through
recording. Says Jackie; "Going out there wide eyed, naive and
easy-going, it was a shock to have to work the Rundgren way. Weeks
went by and we had only done backing tracks. We needed a break
maybe. Two of us were due to get married and were missing home,
but more importantly, we were unsure about our music and where
we were going. Remember, we were just three lads from Derry, I
was the youngest at seventeen and we weren't convinced we had
what it takes. New Romantic stuff was just coming in and we weren't
sure about the look, the longer songs and their brass sections.
We tried them but it didn't work." Prophetically, Warner Bros
bought Sire Records and began to clean out the cupboards and it
seemed that The Moondogs would be dropped without the album ever
being released. On their return to Derry, with the Dutch courage
of a few beers, The Moondogs went en masse to the bank on a Friday
afternoon to collect their publishing and recording advances,
not something you could take home in your wallet! The bank manager
was incredulous that the band hadn't even told their manager Thomas
Black (now head of A&R for EMI Ireland) - and Thomas's wife worked
in the bank! They sneaked past her, and the manager sat them down
and told them they should open separate accounts. They paid the
VAT on their money and then declared themselves bankrupt. With
a few pieces of paper it was over, and the following Monday The
Moondogs signed on the dole.
Unknown to the band Todd Rundgren had finished off the album,
and Sire released it in Germany later that year. It wasn't until
1985 that Jackie even saw a copy of the album when Terri Hooley
called to tell him that a guy in the shop had a copy of the album
with him. Eventually Jackie got his own copy, bought off the Internet
auction site EBAY by a sympathetic fan for £85.
Jackie and Gerry went on to form a short-lived band with Billy
Doherty of the Undertones, called The Hickeys, who made one TV
appearance on RTE. Gerry moved into the world of computers and
Jackie became a TV presenter (remember Channel One?) and then
a highly sought after TV producer (Patrick Kielty Show etc). He
currently runs his own company called Moondog Productions. Austin
drummed (and still does) with a blues covers band, Double Trouble,
and runs a successful dog-training school in Derry.
In 1996 The Moondogs reformed for a one-off gig in Galway, at
the bequest of The Saw Doctors. Then in 2000 they joined the regrouped
Undertones for a benefit gig to raise money for Derry City Football
Club, and have played the occasional gig since. 2003 saw the release
of two Moondog albums, with their John Peel sessions released
by Detour
in February, and a brand new album, Red Fish, by Dublin label
Reekus
in May 2003.
(Taken from ‘It Makes You Want to Spit’, the definitive
guide to Northern Ireland punk 77-82, by Sean O’Neill and Guy
Trelford be published by Reekus in November 2003)
THE
MOONDOGS WEB SITE |
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