Dublin Opinion

A couple of years ago I gave my friend Colm all of my vinyl records as I was moving house (again) and didn’t have a record player and didn’t have any room for them. He kindly took them off me, and tonight he kindly offered them back. A couple of months ago I bought a new record player in ARGOS for €60 - as an aside the same one is now on sale for €40 - and so it’s kind of interesting listening to them again. In between all the records - including the ones I had swiped off Sean Baite - I found this little gem, the Would Be’s “I’m hardly ever wrong” E.P.

I liked the Would Be’s but I have to admit, were it not for John Peel’s seal of approval, I doubt if I would have taken that much notice. Having said that I really like the third song here, “I want to say what goes without saying”, and I have fond memories of seeing them live in the (now-demolished) New Inn on New Street.

As for the band themselves, here’s the blurb from the always excellent irishrock.org

Wonderful indie pop band formed in early 1989 by the three Finnegan brothers, evolving from an their earlier band called The Nobody’s. Another brother James Finnegan managed them and footed the bill for the recording and the first pressing of 250 copies of their debut single, released through Danceline Records. This single was famously championed by John Peel. It is more easily found as the UK pressing on Decoy. 17 year old singer Jilie McDonnell left the band shortly afterwards, replaced by Eileen Gogan. The band reformed in 2000 with a new singer Karen Cunningham.

Enjoy.

 

 I'm Hardly Ever Wrong [2:56m]: Play Now | Play in Popup

 

 Great Expectations [2:11m]: Play Now | Play in Popup

 

 I Want To Say What Goes Without Saying [3:51m]: Play Now | Play in Popup

 

 There Is There Are That's All [2:17m]: Play Now | Play in Popup

Posted in great irish bands, irish culture, Irish music | 32 Comments

32 Responses to “GREAT IRISH BANDS, PART 29: THE WOULD BE’s”

1. on 16 Sep 2008 at 9:44 am1Seán Báite

   Good - then all I need now is to coax the address of your secret hideout in Finglas out of Donagh - and I can send a couple of heavies to get some of me vinyl back…
   Ah shag it ! I haven’t got a turntable - hang on to them for a bit more..

   Ta for the WB’s MP3s - Cavan’s finest - did they ever produce an album or just a couple of EPs ??

2. on 16 Sep 2008 at 10:12 am2Conor McCabe

   Husker Du (Flip Your Wig), the Fall (c.r.e.e.p.), the Cocteau Twins (no name), and one or two others as well.

   According to irishrock.org they only released E.P.s. It also said that they’re back gigging again.

3. on 16 Sep 2008 at 11:29 am3Donagh

   I’ve no idea where Conor lives, apart from being somewhere in Finglas. I remember the would bes from years ago alright, but only ‘I’m Hardly Ever Wrong’ stands out in my memory so it good to hear the rest of these. Thanks for that Conor. Nice to hear Seán’s vinyl getting an airing again too.

   Seán plied me with enough C90 compilations tapes over the years so I never had to borrow any of it.

4. on 16 Sep 2008 at 11:38 am4Conor McCabe

   The Would Be’s is mine. Sean’s stuff is the Fall, etc.

5. on 16 Sep 2008 at 12:06 pm5Donagh

   Ooops…

6. on 16 Sep 2008 at 12:08 pm6Sean Baite

   Actually Conor - I don’t remember ever having bought C.R.E.E.P. - the single, I suppose… and I have a version of it on the cassette of the LP… Is it from another of your victims, possibly even Donagh ??
   Donagh - ta for the Fall write up - sounded like a fun night.
   Imagine it took them until now to think of putting a tent up in the Iveagh Gardens - great idea - always liked the place…

7. on 16 Sep 2008 at 12:35 pm7Conor McCabe

   Fuck! Sean you’re right. I think it’s from Martin Delaney. He gave me his vinyl records when he moved to Australia.

8. on 16 Sep 2008 at 12:50 pm8Sean Baite

   Yep, emigration’s been good for your record collection alright ;->

9. on 16 Sep 2008 at 12:51 pm9Conor McCabe

   The way Fianna Fail are running the economy, I’ll be able to open up my very own second hand shop soon.

10. on 12 Apr 2009 at 2:16 pm10connor mcgowan

    “Must it be” is also a great song from would be’s. its about a shop on Bridge street in Cavan called the 99p shop, since re-named as the 99 shop!

11. on 12 Apr 2009 at 2:31 pm11Conor McCabe

    

12. on 17 Apr 2009 at 8:20 pm12Paul English

    great band, saw ‘em live a dozen times in the early 1990s.
    still have the three 12″ singles they released plus a couple of tapes of demos / live performances. Two SOTWs in NME was good going.

13. on 18 Apr 2009 at 6:00 am13steve

    thanks for the mp3’s great band, britpop before britpop was invented. The girl singer has a terrific voice, did she do anything else? would love to find the ‘must it be’ mp3 also - have given up looking for a cd

14. on 19 Aug 2009 at 3:59 pm14Captainlego

    That’s Eileen Gogan - she’s done some backing vocals for the Revenants and others and also does her own music under the name Melba. Great voice alright, good songwriter too.

15. on 01 Dec 2009 at 6:17 pm15Dave Allen

    Remember them in Whelans from years ago(1991?). They had a trobome if i remember rightly. Liked them a lot. Dont think they ever had proper management which probably didnt help….

16. on 15 Mar 2010 at 2:03 pm16Fanning Sessions

    Conor, that Argos record player doesn’t do these tracks any favours.. It look like the IPNWD has undergone some changes so your link is currently broken, the correct URL is http://irishrock.org/irodb/bands/wouldbes.html.

17. on 15 Mar 2010 at 4:26 pm17Conor McCabe

    I know. A case of ‘make lemonade’ I’m afraid.

    Cheers for the new url, I’ll update it now.

18. on 05 Oct 2010 at 12:33 am18Shane

    Aah the memories, this was the first band I liked, bought the Silly Songs CD from that second hand place downstairs beside the Virgin Megastore (now if I could only remember what that was called). This was about a year before I actually had a CD player. Listening back - they were really, really good.

19. on 05 Oct 2010 at 8:07 am19Sean Baite

    Shane - if ye mean the downstairs place across the river from the Virgin Megastore, it was called ‘Freebird’… don’t remember one downstairs on the same side of the river.
    Another part of auld Dublin that’s gone

20. on 21 Nov 2010 at 4:35 pm20Lynn_Morton

    Hi Conor

    What year did this EP come out? can you confirm that all four tracks feature Julie McDonnell on vocals

    Thanks for posting, it’s the first time that I’ve heard those last two tracks

21. on 22 Nov 2010 at 1:20 pm21Conor McCabe

    1990, and that’s Julie on vocals. She left shortly after the 12″ came out.

22. on 24 Jun 2011 at 9:26 pm22Stig Oppedal

    Hi all!

    Sorry to intrude on the (drawn out!) conversation, but I’m hoping maybe you guys can help me out here: In February 1996 I was listening to John Peel on the World Service, and during the show he played “I’m Hardly Ever Wrong” by The Would Be’s (awesome!), and then what he billed as an unexpectedly new single from “E. Finnegan and M. Finnegan” — and that song was pretty damn awesome too! I think their new band was called Pillow (?), and the song was something like “Lovely Idiots” (?) — I’ve been searching for both the band and the song on the Internet now for years and have found absolutely no trace of the single OR the band, not even on the few Would Be’s pages out there. Does anybody have a clue here?

23. on 29 Jun 2011 at 4:34 pm23Seán Báite

    Had a Google myself Stig - but can’t find anything. They were (are still ?) in another band subsequent to the Would Be’s called The Wah Wahs although they don’t seem to go back as far as 1996. I hope someone connected with the band’ll turn up between now and debt default and give you a proper answer.

24. on 29 Jun 2011 at 7:17 pm24Fanning Sessions

    @Stig Your memory serves you very well. That show appears to have been 3rd Feb 1996. Have a look at this page http://peel.wikia.com/wiki/03_February_1996 . A recording of the show apparently exists but may not have been uploaded yet.

25. on 30 Jun 2011 at 11:09 pm25Stig Oppedal

    Found it! It seems the song is in fact called “Little Idiots,” but in a twist of fate it can only be found if you search for “Little Idiot” (as suggested by the JP wiki). But in any case, I love you guys, I love the Internet, and I love the unknown saint named Miguel who posted the song online a few years ago:

    http://www.box.net/shared/pvi0pfnqco

    It’s a scratchy-sounding mp3, but I’m certainly not complaining — confirmation at last that it wasn’t all in my head! But it is a teensy bit strange that there are absolutely no other traces of this band out there…

26. on 01 Jul 2011 at 12:09 am26Seán Báite

    Any idea of the group’s name ? Could almost be adapted as a new Irish anthem going by the lyrics I gave a cursory listen to : ( Idiots / simpletons - they’ve been running the place for a while now :

27. on 01 Jul 2011 at 8:57 pm27Stig Oppedal

    The JP wiki, “Miguel,” and I all have the name of the band as “Pillow,” and at the very least you’d think that Miguel knows what he’s talking about (since he has a recording). But then again: in this day and age, how can a band who released a single (albeit 15 years ago) leave virtually no trace on the Internet?

28. on 20 Feb 2012 at 4:06 pm28dave g k

    Hey Conor, according to Paul Linehan of the Frank & Walters the original line up of the Would Be’s are supporting them in the Workman’s Club on 31 March . Might be worth a look…

29. on 20 Feb 2012 at 7:34 pm29Conor McCabe

    Wow! Sounds good!

30. on 28 Mar 2012 at 5:41 pm30Patrick

    Here’s a link to most of what they recorded in a compressed file, download extract and enjoy, yes the sound will be a little off on some of the tracks but who’s complaining.
    Pity they didn’t make it big, the Debbie Harry like vocals are to die for!.

    http://rareindie.blogspot.com/2011/05/would-bes.html

31. on 02 May 2012 at 10:18 am31Paddy Mc K.

    They>>>>A R E

32. on 02 May 2012 at 11:25 am32Percy

    Ther’e Back, original line up,great news.

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