A House for sale

The "For Sale" sign has gone up on A House and it all happens at the Olympia theatre tonight, where they play their last ever gig. Say it ain't so, Dave: "Almost 12 years to the day since we first formed in Walkinstown, after releasing five albums and 12 singles, its all ending tonight," says lead singer Dave Couse.

Why? "We've done what we wanted to do; we've left behind a body of work that I'm very proud of, and we've gone out on what I believe to be our best ever album. I wanted to leave it on a high note, I wanted to change and move on. I'll still be involved in song-writing, it's all I know to do, but it's no more A House".

It's the end, if not of an era, then of a sparkling career that saw the original four-piece become, a six-piece, and saw them go on a tour of most known record labels: "we started off with Blanco Y Negro, then went to Setanta, then to Parlophone, then back to Setanta. In America we were on MCA and then Radioactive and in Australia we were on Possum," says Dave.

"I think there were 10 record deals in all."

The albums were great, from the debut On Our Big Fat Merry-Go-Round, to I Want Too Much, onwards to the sublime I Am The Greatest, the underrated Wide Eyed And Ignorant and the current swansong, No More Apologies, whose title track is arguably their best work to date. There were also the singles, highlights of which included Me Again Jesus, Call Me Blue, Endless Art (their best known track), Here Comes The Good Times and the current Without Dreams.

Any regrets? "None whatsoever," says Dave, "we were a very lucky band all through our career. Just over the last few days, people have been coming up to me on the street and saying how sad it is that we're breaking up. It's not sad at all; we've achieved an awful lot. We've brought out five albums, and a lot of bands don't last long enough to do that. There have been so many highlights over the years, from touring with the Go-Betweens in the US, to recording our second album on Inishboffin, to having Edwyn Collins produce I Am The Greatest," he says.

As the sleeve notes to their last album put it: "I've said my piece and I am ready. There are no more sorries, no more `I used to be's' ... no more apologies."

Doors open tonight at 8 p.m.

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