It's a pleasure to meet you Black 47
Black 47
espouses an unblinkingly political and thoroughly Irish form of rock 'n' roll,
with songs covering topics from the Northern Ireland conflict to civil rights
and urban unrest in contemporary New York. Black 47 earned their chops playing
the pub scene in Manhattan and self-producing their first indie record, Black
47, before converting The Cars' Ric Ocasek to the cause and gaining mainstream
attention with their second album. The band celebrates their 20th year on the
road with their latest album "Bankers and Gangsters"
"Usually most
comfortable playing loud and live with upraised fists and chunky guitar riffs in
local hangouts - explodes with declarations of gnashing street poetry punctuated
with wailing uilleann pipes, Joe Strummer-style chord chops and Bourbon Street
sax sojourns." — Rolling Stone
Geoffrey Blythe
Tenor and soprano
saxophone
Toward the end of 1980 the split in original Dexys Midnight Runners
led to the formation of The Bureau. For a short while Dexys fans had two bands
to follow and 1981 was an exciting year.
In 2005, WEA re-issued the long-lost
album recorded in 1981 and never before released in the UK. You can get the
album at Black 47 shows.
Visit The Bureau online.
Joe
Burcaw
Bass
During his career, Joe has divided his time between New York
and London while collaborating with artists such as Ron McClure, Nick Beggs and
Mark Egan. In 2007 he will return to London as a featured musician in Bass
Guitar magazine's annual seminar/clinic.
His recent solo recording "Dichotomy
Theorem" was called "A musical journey of atmospheric treasures, a superb
display of playing and songwriting!" by The Village Voice.
Thomas
Hamlin
Drums and percussion
Gods Of Electricity is the left field
electronic soundscapes project from occasional Black 47 studio guitarist Mike
Fazio and Thomas Hamlin. They have a long history of musical partnership dating
back to Chill Faction days and before.
Sugartimeis four NYC musicians coming
together to play the soul songs they love. Jahn Xavier Bonfiglio (The Nitecaps,
Richard Hell & The Voidoids, The Ghosts), David Conrad (Black 47, the Uptown
Horns, Solomon Burke, Phoebe Snow, Chill Faction, Sylvain Sylvain), Thomas
Hamlin (Black 47, Major Thinkers, Chill Faction) & Al Maddy (The Nitecaps,
The Royal Wyld, The Dots, Joey Ramone)
Larry Kirwan
Lead vocals and
Stratocaster
Independent of Black 47, Larry has produced two solo recordings,
Kilroy Was Here and Keltic Kids. He also has published two books, Liverpool
Fantasy and Green Suede Shoes: An Irish American Odessey. Kirwan has also
recorded Kilroy Was Here and Keltic Kids as solo efforts.
He has written
eleven plays and musicals, five of which are collected in the book Mad Angels.
Liverpool Fantasy, his best known play, has been produced Off-Broadway and at
the Dublin Theatre Festival. He has also written a novel version of Liverpool
Fantasy, a memoir Green Suede Shoes and Livin’ in America, a collection of songs
and stories.
His latest novel, Rockin’ The Bronx, has just been published.
Kirwan hosts and produces Celtic Crush for SiriusXM Satellite Radio and writes a
weekly column for the Irish Echo. In 1995 the NY Daily News named him one of the
top fifty most interesting New Yorkers, several places ahead of Madonna. It
would appear, however, that he has lost considerable ground to the blonde
seductress. Nonetheless, while brooding on a comeuppance, he slaves away in
cunning silence on Transport, a musical with book by Thomas Keneally, that will
receive a workshop/performance at the Irish Arts Center, NYC in April,
2010.
Learn more about Larry's side projects on MySpace.
Joseph
Mulvanerty
Uilleann Pipes and flute
A founding member of The Ruffians, a
New York City pop/punk band called “an American, Gen Y version of the Pogues” by
the Chicago Sun Times.
Fred Parcells
Trombone and pennywhistle
In
addition to publishing online over 1700 transcriptions of Irish music
performances, Fred also maintains the Black 47 Archive featuring photographs and
press from the early days of the band.
Find more videos like this on THE VIRTUAL WALL OF FAME