`As synonymous with Dublin as coddle, stout and being held up with a syringe" - that's just one recent description of the folk explosion that is Ding Dong Denny O'Reilly. Waging a one-man war against trendy cafe bars, British chain stores and poncey cocktail drinks, Denny is determined to re-establish the traditional Irish values of "fightin', pukin', spittin', singing, hating the English, drinking and incest".
O'Reilly's illustrious career began in reform school, where he formed a splinter group from the school marching band called The Red Hot Chili Pipers; after a stint with The Nazi Showband (not quite as successful as the Indians or the Zulus, alas) and a geographical folk group called Wild Mountain Badgers (a big influence on U2 apparently), he was imprisoned in the North, where he formed a boyband called New Kids In The Block.
However, it was as front-man with The Hairy Bowsies that Denny really forged his unsavoury image, singing such uplifting ballads as The Craic We Had The Day We Died For Ireland and Spit On The Brits. Both Bishop Cox and the News Of The World have condemned O'Reilly as "disgusting" and "appalling", so what more recommendation do you need?
