Episode Notes

Episode 24 of To Here Knows When - Great Irish Albums Revisited focuses on Kaught at the Kampus.

In this episode Elvera Butler joins me to discuss Kaught at the Kampus, the live EP featuring four young Cork bands - Nun Attax, Micro Disney, Mean Features and Urban Blitz - that was recorded at the Downtown Kampus at Cork's Arcadia Ballroom on 30 August 1980. The famed EP has been expanded into a 12 track LP and has been reissued.

Elvera talks about growing up in a musical family in Thurles, attending UCC, being elected Entertainments Officer for the Student's Union, promoting gigs in the Kampus Kitchen on campus, taking over the old Arcadia Ballroom on Lower Glanmire Road, with her late partner Andy Foster, and promoting some of the biggest touring UK and Irish bands between 1977 and 1981 including: The Cure, The Specials, The Beat, The Only Ones, XTC, The Cimarons, The Damned, Virgin Prunes, U2, The Radiators, The Fall, UB40 and many, many others. It's a long-ranging conversation that also takes in Elvera's move to London after the demise of the Kampus gigs.   

For any local music scene to flourish you need a good venue and soon bands formed, and Elvera offered them supports slots. So bands like Nun Attax regularly playing in front of crowds of almost 2,000 people.

Nun Attax inspired others, they were the great influences. After seeing Donnelly and co up on the Arc stage, Constant Reminders – the precursor to Microdisney formed with both Cathal Coughlan and Mick Lynch acting as co-frontmen. I suppose it’s fair that with those two big personalities in the band, Constant Reminders was doomed to fail right from the get go.

Mick left soon afterwards and joined Mean Features and Cathal and Sean formed Micro Disney. The cost of recording a demo tape was beyond the means for these bands so Elvera concocted a plan to record a live gig of just local bands – ostensibly to be able to provide the bands with a recording that they could send to Dave Fanning in Dublin for airplay. The gig was recorded on the 30th August 1980 and the recording was released a few months later. Kaught at the Kampus was the first release on Reekus Records.

In memory of Finbarr Donnelly, Sean Linehan, Chris McCarthy, Pat Kelleher, Mick Lynch and Cathal Coughlan.

For Further Listening/Reading:

To Here Knows When column in The Goo on Kaught at the Kampus…

I mention in the introduction to this episode that I’ve previously produced documentaries about this period of Cork Music.

Episode 15 of the podcast featured my documentary Lights Camel Action – the Story of Stump, Episode 20 featured my documentary Iron Fist in Velvet Glove – the story of Microdisney and Episode 40 featured my documentary Get That Monster Off the Stage - the story of Finbarr Donnelly and his bands Nun Attax, Five Go Down To the Sea? and Beethoven.

I’ve written extensively about this period of Cork music over the years and I’ve archived all of those articles below:

Microdisney

Iron Fist in Velvet Glove — the story of Microdisney
(a comprehensive longread Oral History featuring extra interviews, background information, photographs, ephemera and cultural and historical context)
Part 1 — Cork — 20,200 words (77 minute read)
Part 2 — The Rough Trade Years — 15,400 words (60 minute read)
Part 3 — The Virgin Years — 14,000 words (54 minute read)

Microdisney frontman Cathal Coughlan’s well-lived life of art, excess and energy
"Cynical, very funny and wildly energetic, Cathal Coughlan made music that alternately sounded like art and trouble”
by Paul McDermott
Sunday Independent - 05 June 2022

Cork’s Greatest Records: Black River Falls, by Cathal Coughlan
"In terms of tone and recording methods, the 2000 solo album was a major milestone in the career of the former Microdisney singer”
by Paul McDermott
Irish Examiner - 09 March 2022

Sound job: the oral history of The Clock Comes Down the Stairs by Microdisney
"As band reforms to perform their acclaimed album, those involved explain how it was produced”
by Paul McDermott
The Irish Times - 19 May, 2018

Stump

Lights! Camel! Action! — the story of STUMP
(a comprehensive longread Oral History featuring extra interviews, background information, photographs, ephemera and cultural and historical context.)

Part 1 — Lights! Camel! Action! — 22,000 words (85 minute read)
Part 2 — Lights! Camel! Action! — 2,200 words (10 minute read)

Cork’s greatest records: The inside story of A Fierce Pancake by Stump
by Paul McDermott
The Irish Examiner
04 August, 2021
(New interviews with Stump members Rob McKahey, Kev Hopper, Chris Salmon and producer Stephen Street.)

Lights! Camel! Action! Stump's bright spark bows out
by Paul McDermott
Sunday Independent - 15 December, 2015
(Mick Lynch obituary)

Cork’s Top 50 Albums: Stump’s A Fierce Pancake
by Paul McDermott
We Are Noise - 19 December, 2012
(A review for We Are Noise’s Top 50 Cork Album Poll)

Five Go Down to the Sea?

Get That Monster off the Stage - the story of Finbarr Donnelly and his bands Nun Attax, Five Go Down to the Sea? and Beethoven
(a comprehensive longread Oral History featuring extra interviews, background information, photographs, ephemera and cultural and historical context)

Part 1 — Cork — 19,000 words (72 minute read)
Part 2 — London — 18,300 words (70 minutes)

The sounds of Finbarr Donnelly - Cork’s cult hero remembered
by Paul McDermott
RTÉ Culture - 25 April, 2020