As the song goes: they got knocked down, but they got up again. Of the thousands of 1980s Irish bands who were signed up in the post-U2 rush, given unfeasibly large advances, sent off to the Caribbean to record their debut album and feted by the press as the best thing since bread of the sliced variety, only Something Happens, it seems, managed to get over their PMLSS (Post Major Label Stress Syndrome) and to deport themselves with a bit of dignity when the City Of Too Many Bands became the city of sad losers being dropped by their label quicker than you could say "told you so".
Back with a new album and a headlining gig at The Olympia, they've still got the music in them - and whaddya know, they're still "mad for it" at a time when their contemporaries are computer analysts/bank tellers/in rehab. With a novel take on the "but we're big in America" story, singer Tom Dunne contents himself with a "we are big in Cornell, which is a small place in upstate New York that no one's really heard of" yarn. Meaning? "We're now signed to an American label called Iguana, and the new album, Alan, Elvis and God is being played off the airwaves around that part of the US," says Tom. "The song Are You My Girl has gone from being `a breaker' to `most requested' to `playlist' to `maximum rotation' with an average of 59 airplays a week. We're sort of local heroes there - so much so, that at this year's Paddy's Day parade, the mayor of the town marched at the top of the parade holding up a copy of our album." Makes Spinal Tap look like a documentary.
With a few thousand sales already notched up Stateside, the band are touring like bejasus over there - doing 19 gigs in three weeks and travelling thousands of miles a week - and all on an indie label budget. The ironic contrast between the good ol' days (when they were on a major label, and treated like rock stars whenever they toured, but never sold as many records) isn't lost on Dunne, and the fact that these days they even manage themselves adds nicely to the DIY ethos that is slowly but surely paying off. If only they had gone that way the first time around; but, hey, that's the biz for you, kids.
For those of you who came in late or just weren't bothered first time around, The Happens buzzed brightly around the Baggot Inn scene for a few years in the mid-1980s before getting into bed with Virgin in 1988. The first album, Been There, Seen That, Done That, went supernova in Ireland and produced four top ten singles and also went gold in mad, zany Switzerland (it was the lyrics, apparently). The follow-up, Stuck Together With God's Glue, did even better - and just as Tom Dunne was ironing his white flag and checking out good vantage points at the Red Rocks arena, they found out that their record company was being bought out by EMI and they got dropped on the same day that label mates P.I.L. and The Blue Nile were let go. Their last Virgin album, Bedlam A Go Go - although not their strongest - still kept them ahead of U2 in the "Best Irish Band" polls that year.
What kept you together? "Just the very thought that we had some really good songs and we were determined to get them out there," says Dunne. "When things got really bad I remember going to the other band members and saying `look, if anyone wants to leave and do something else . . . ' but they just reacted in disgust. It hasn't been easy, not having our records released where we wanted them to be released, and we've totally given up on the British market now, but the reaction in America is very promising."
Although a new album to the Americans, this current one is actually most of their last, Irish-only, release Planet Fabulous album (albeit remixed) alongside a handful of new songs (hence the mid-price over here). Such is the level of support in the New York area for them now, that one of the city's biggest radio stations ran a heavily over-subscribed competition which will see two of its listeners flying into Dublin for The Happens gig tonight. Happy ending ahoy?
Alan, Elvis and God is out now on the Iguana label. Something Happens play The Olympia (late show) tonight.
It may come as a surprise that we had our own Brighton Beach, Mods vs. Rockers skirmishes over here - they used to take place in O'Connell Street, apparently. With that all in the past, both sub-cultures are getting their Scooters and Harleys out to ride (in peaceful harmony) from the old fighting place in O'Connell Street to The Temple Bar Music Centre next Thursday night. Live bands on the night include Sonny George, An Emotional Fish, The Kaisers, The Josephs, The Western Bops and Saville. It's from 8 p.m. to late and the tickets are seven quid . . . Moving him even closer towards Nick Drake/Alex Chilton-type cult status, ex American Music Club songwriter, Mark Eitzel is the subject of a new biography by Sean Body called Wish The World Away. It's not going to be published for another two months but if you just can't wait, and no Eitzel fan can, you can order an advance copy from the dedicated music book shop Helter Skelter, 4 Denmark Street, London WC2H (E-mail: helter@skelter.demon.co.uk, tel: 01718361151). Don't mention me or this column or anything because I still owe them some money from my last spending spree there.
