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Artist Website: www.horslipsrecords.com
About Horslips
Horslips were a brilliantly original group who in the 1970s combined hard rock with traditional Irish music in a way that had never been done before to create some of the greatest music that ever came out of Ireland. They were very successful in Ireland itself where they topped the charts and toured relentlessly across the width and breadth of the country playing in small towns and countryside dancehalls that had never witnessed an original rock band before. Although they were the first major rock band to keep their base in Ireland and paved the way for the likes of U2 to follow, the unfortunate thing is that they remained relatively obscure outside the country.
Horslips were formed in 1970 by Eamon Carr, Charles O'Connor, Barry Devlin, Jim Lockhart along with guitarist Declan Sinnot who was later replaced by Johnny Fean. They formed their own record label, Oats, and their first single, "Johnny's Wedding", went to the top of the Irish charts in 1972. In 1973 they released their debut album "Happy To Meet, Sorry To Part" which they recorded in the Rolling Stones Mobile Studio. This album showcased their diverse range and contained tracks of many different styles including rock mixed with traditional, pure traditional, folk and progressive hard rock. They also showed their love of Irish culture by singing some of the songs in the Irish language. Later in the same year they released a concept album based on Irish mythology, "The Táin", which was a harder rocking album that defined their Irish traditional infused brand of hard rock. "Dancehall Sweethearts" followed in 1974 and the traditional aspect of the bands music was starting to take a back seat by the time of their fouth album, "The Unfortunate Cup Of Tea" in 1975. However, that same year Horslips provided fans of the more traditional music with a Christmas gift in the form of their mostly straight traditional instrumental album "Drive the Cold Winter Away". They followed this album in 1977 with another celtic rock masterpiece of a concept album, "The Book Of Invasions". The remaining studio albums of their decade long career were to be less inspired, drifting away from the celtic rock sound that they pioneered towards more mainstream rock. In 1980 they released their classic live album "Belfast Gigs" which featured many of their classics at full throttle and they disbanded shortly after.
In the 1990s Horslips were back in the news again when they were involved in a multi-yearlong legal battle with Belfast based Outlet Records for copyright ownership of their music. Jim Slye, who was Horslips' manager from 1977 until they split in 1981, had sold the rights to their back-catalogue for 4,250 in the year following their split without the knowledge of any of the band members. In 1999 Horslips finally won their case against Outlet and a settlement for years of lost income from their works and subsequently their entire catalogue was remastered and re-issued.
In March 2004 Horslips reunited to perform at an exhibition of Horslips memorabilia in Derry. Later that year they recorded and released the album "Roll Back" which contains acoustic reworkings of some of the classics from their heyday. Since then Horslips have reunited for a few special TV appearances. The band made their first TV performance since their reunion on 'The Late Late Show' on RTE television in January 2005. The next performance by the band was a set recorded live in Dingle, Co. Kerry, for the RTÉ television program 'Other Voices' in December 2005. On March 25 2006 Horslips performed on a tribute show recorded and broadcast live on the Irish language TV station TG4.
Lineup
Horslips are:
Jim Lockhart - flute, tin whistle, keyboards, harpsichord, vocals
Charles O'Connor - concertina, mandolin, fiddle, vocals
Barry Devlin - bass, vocals
Eamon Carr - drums, bodhran, vocals
Johnny Fean - guitar, banjo, mandolin, vocals
(Johnny Fean replaced original member Declan Sinnott in 1972)
STAMP OF APPROVAL
A series of stamps were released in 2002 by An Post celebrating the biggest names in Irish Rock.
However they missed the opportunity to honour one of the most legendry bands in the history of Irish rock - Horslips! So IrishRockers.com has created the Horslips stamp:
Video
Horslips performing King of the Fairies on a Dublin rooftop in 1976
Furniture live, National Stadium, 1973
A reunited Horslips play Trouble with a Capital T on RTE`s Other Voices (December 2005)
Horslips on The Late Late Show - Part 1 (21 January 2005)
Horslips on The Late Late Show - Part 2 (21 January 2005)
Comments
Aidan wrote on 2010-11-18 00:00:00:Christopher - Sat, 20-May-1972 You might be interested in having a look at horslips.irishrockers.com
Christopher Lovern wrote on 2010-11-12 00:00:00:
I would love if somebody could let me know the date of Horslips concert in the National Stadium in Dublin 1972
Mairtin wrote on 2009-06-11 00:00:00:
Trouble with a capitol T has been especialy re mixed and re recorded as a charity single by Horslips ft guys from the Blizzards,Republic of Loose,Killa 10cc etc for therawsessions.ie
andy coco wrote on 2009-05-05 00:00:00:
very,very good
That would be telling wrote on 2008-04-24 00:00:00:
So if I click on this page enough times, can I hack the stats so that Horslips is in the top bands whose page is visited on this site? Hahh excellent....!!!!
ptixxiaovs wrote on 2007-06-20 00:00:00:
Hello! Good Site! Thanks you! kycjgvedhnmtls
John Bell wrote on 2007-04-07 00:00:00:
Marvelled at Horslips in the seventies in Belfast and saw them on stage in the Astoria, Bundoran, Co. Donegal- in the early eighties, I played with "Candy" from Derry and achieved a goal of playing the Astoria stage- GREAT DAYS.
Sean Hennessy wrote on 2006-11-04 00:00:00:
Check some of my pics of the band here:: hennessyphotography.co.uk I have many, many more.....mostly live :)
Lee Templeton wrote on 2006-10-21 00:00:00:
Book of Invasions: A Celtic Symphony Thirtieth Anniversary event in Wellington Bar, Dublin, November 4. www.horslips.ie official site for details.
Robert Rearick wrote on 2006-10-11 00:00:00:
Cleveland, Ohio: Back in the day we used to raid the IMPORT CHEAPIES and there discovered Happy To Meet...Sorry To Part on vinyl. Thus were hooked on HORSLIPS. Continue to be fans of their celtic rock stuff to this day. Loved the DVD and ROLL BACK CD.
Luca Banche niclot-Nurin-ITALY wrote on 2006-09-26 00:00:00:
HORSLIPS' Late 70ies stuff was, for me, absolutely brilliant: anticipating in some way, the Irish Hard-Punk Rock Feeling of SLF, UNDERTONES etc.
Seaghßn ? Murchˇ wrote on 2006-07-14 00:00:00:
AMG needs to update their entry and include Roll Back. Tnanks for crediting a fine band; they inspired me at 16 in 1977's burst of punk to take pride in their intelligent Irish infusion of folk into rock.
Eamonn Dunne wrote on 2006-04-28 00:00:00:
Great energy,great style,great music - great band.
Lee Templeton wrote on 2006-02-05 00:00:00:
Fans of Horslips will be able to take part in a web chat with Jim & Barry on Thursday 16th Feb. at 2pm. http://www.rte.ie/tv/othervoices
Mike Doogan wrote on 2006-01-21 00:00:00:
Does anyone remember the Glasgow Apollo gigs - fantastic
Lee Templeton wrote on 2005-10-03 00:00:00:
History of Horslips Exhibition from October 6 to October 18 Droichead Arts Centre Drogheda. If you can get there: go!
Sean wrote on 2005-09-29 00:00:00:
Tour,OH My God Where When ,unbeliveable. Coming from myles makes it very believable
Myles Lally wrote on 2005-09-23 00:00:00:
Where have they gone to those faded faces , those fierce moustachioed old men ? Their at it again , watch this space ? DVD, Then Tour !
francie quinn wrote on 2005-08-16 00:00:00:
where will it all end?
Gerrymann wrote on 2005-08-11 00:00:00:
Hi to all fellow Horslips fans, does anybody know when the DVD is coming out? and are the ever going to do a gig??
Jim Nelis wrote on 2005-08-09 00:00:00:
Fantastic stamp, long overdue, but features Declan Sinnott and not the definitive lead guitarist Johnny Fean. The best Irish band to ever grace a stage.
Ye Olde Toade wrote on 2005-08-08 00:00:00:
Nice job Aidan, but spell check on LOCKHART.
Lee Templeton` wrote on 2005-08-08 00:00:00:
Fantastic work here Aidan. Loved the stamp.
Declan Rigney wrote on 2005-07-19 00:00:00:
They generated excitement outside the pale , imagined through English rock/pop magazines and brought to life in the dancehalls of my youth...great music ..They had something very special
Tony Bannon wrote on 2005-07-19 00:00:00:
Often imitated never equalled
Lee Templeton wrote on 2005-07-19 00:00:00:
Great music. Great people.
Joe Forde, Guitarist with Electric Blueshouse Band wrote on 2005-07-19 00:00:00:
A brilliant band with an incredible guitar player,Mr Johnny Fean no less- the man who invented celtic rock guitar and remains the true master of this style. Wonderful memories of such a fine and original band of musicians- hence, great that they are back.
Barry Mc Cabe wrote on 2005-07-18 00:00:00:
The first Irish rock group to do it from home. They made great music and they made us feel proud to be Irish!
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