On this episode I’m joined by Giordaí Ua Laoighaire for a deep dive into Ciddy Hall by Nine Wassies From Bainne released in 1998 on NumNum Records.

Giordaí Ua Laoighaire was a member of Cork punk band Nun Attax before joining Micro Disney - the first five piece version of the band which formed in mid-1980 and lasted until early 1982. Giordaí played guitar on Stano’s first two albums and later in the 1980s was a member of Cork band Soon. In 1988 he moved to Dublin and wrote music for theatre and presented his own high-regarded radio show on Raidió Na Life. He formed Nine Wassies From Bainne in the early 90s.

Special thanks to John Byrne for sending stuff my way on this one.

In the Wassies Giordaí was joined by former Golden Horde member Peter O’Kennedy on drums and a number of bass players over the years: Enda Doyle, Eddie Lee and Michael Mullen; later again David William Murray took over vocals/rock god duties.

The band quickly gained a loyal following and regularly played in Whelan’s throughout the 90s packing the place out time after time. Bill Graham reviewed one of those legendary Whelan’s gigs in Hot Press:

Ciddy Hall was released in 1998, in his review for the Irish Times, Kevin Courtney wrote:

On Thursday, 24 July 1997 author Neil Strauss reviewed the Irish night of the “Intel New York Music Festival” in The New York Times writing:

“Revelino was a consummate band, playing driving, catchy psychedelia-tinged power-pop. Its best songs, like ‘Happiness Is Mine,’ were beautiful, harmony-laden confections full of falsetto singing and buzzing guitars. Nine Wassies were the exact opposite: where Revelino strove for tight, unassuming pop-rock, Nine Wassies enjoyed sprawling, pretentious art-rock that fell somewhere between Emerson, Lake and Palmer’s pomposity and Wall of Voodoo’s new-wave weirdness.”

Strauss seemed to really like Revelino (they were featured in Episode 8) and I think his review of the Wassies is hilarious: “sprawling, pretentious art-rock” - where do I sign up for that?

For Further Listening/Viewing:

Ciddy Hall is available on Spotify.

In this episode Giordaí mentions the documenatary film May Fame, directed by Colm Tobin in 2004. It can be viewed below.

The Return of Nine Wassies From Bainne Soundcloud is available below. I’ve highlighted a couple of tracks further down.

‘Terelynn’ by Giordaí Ua Laoighaire agus Cathal Coughlan:

‘The Holy Holy Show’ by Soon:

‘The Cúil Aodha Travelogue’ by Nine Wassies From Bainne:

Osna Faoisimh (free the Sigh of Relief) for Julian Assange and Loujain Al-Hathloul by Giordaí Ua Laoighaire

Produced for DiEM Voice (Democracy in Europe Movement) in 2024 to highlight the plight of Julian Assange:

ABOUT: “In the late 1500´s England declared the Irish Gaelic chieftain, Brian na Múrtha Ó Ruairc to be an outlaw for attempting to protect his lands at Breifní Uí Ruairc, during the later period of the Tudor conquest of Ireland. Many centuries later Julian Assange published so called sensitive material exposing war crimes and in effect was also declared an outlaw.

In 1590, Ó Ruairc sought asylum in Gaelic speaking Scotland, Assange in the Ecuadorian Embassy. Corruption led to Ó Ruairc being handed over to the English, becoming the first individual to be extradited into England from Scotland. Assange was handed up to British Crown forces in April 2019 Ó Ruairc was thrown into harsh conditions in the tower of London and Assange into Belmarsh Prison. Ó Ruairc was tried for treason, in a language that he did not speak (English). At that time, English law had no clear provision for treason committed in Ireland against the British Crown as it wasn’t yet fully part of the fledgling empire but they wished to make an example of him. Ó Ruairc requested a week to review the evidence and good council but these were denied to him. Some time after his court case, in early November 1591, Ó Ruairc was taken from his cell, first hanged, then before his death, was disemboweled and beheaded. His skull was later hung on a spire near London Bridge as a warning to all.

It looks like that Assange is not in a dissimilar situation. Though not an American citizen, the all powerful USA administration will get its way much like the British Crown did back several centuries ago, in the case of Brian na Múrtha Ó Ruairc. It’s time for England to snap out of its centuries long funk, obey its own laws and free Julian Assange now.”

Nine Wassies From Bainne’s 1996 Fanning Session has been archived by The Fanning Session Archive:

On the episode we mention this old clip of Soon performing ‘The Holy Holy Show’ on RTÉ’s Megamix:

The Knock Bonya Express was the online home of Nine Wassies From Bainne.

Rockin’ all over the Web: It’s only HTML, but I like it
The Irish Times
Monday, 22 June 1998

“Cork band Nine Wassies From Bainne are a pretty kooky lot, and their Website at lives up to their image as acid-fried gaelgeoiri. It’s designed as a fictional local newspaper, The Knock Bonya Express, whose features include a hot debate between Irish language revivalists and “Cromwell-loving sleveens”, plus an adult-only “bovine line” where you can dial such hot numbers as ‘3 heifers in a bed’ or ‘hear me moo’. There’s also news of The Wassies’ gigs and record releases, but that’s just a sidebar to the big story about late milk deliveries to Knock Bonya.”

Below I’ve captured a few screenshots of the Express: