Get That Monster Off the Stage

Film (2024)

Video and Photographs © Ciarán Ó Tuama
Documentary produced by Paul McDermott

A guest post for The Blackpool Sentinel explaining the background to the documentary and Ciarán’s film version can be read here.

Radio Documentary

The essential Get That Monster Off The Stage documentary — Hot Press

Essential listening for anyone into the history of Irish music — Des O’Driscoll (Irish Examiner)

Radio Production of the Year — 2002 Smedia Awards
This is a fascinating snapshot of the vibrant Cork music scene of the 80s. The producer went after (and got) contributions from the main players and constructed a compelling account of cult rock hero Finbarr Donnelly. The programme itself is an excellent weave of music and the spoken word, and is unobtrusively informative — Myles Dungan (chairman of the judging panel)

Get That Monster Off the Stage — interviewees

Ricky Dineen — Nun Attax/Five Go Down to the Sea?/Beethoven
Giordaí Ua Laoghaire — Nun Attax/Micro Disney/Nine Wassies From Bainne
Rory Cobbe — RTÉ Producer
Finny Corcoran — Belson/The Belsonic Sound
Cathal Coughlan — Microdisney/Micro Disney/The Fatima Mansions
Conal Creedon — Author/Playwright
Stan Erraught — The Stars of Heaven

Shane Fitzsimons — Journalist
Liam Heffernan — Mean Features/Actor
Declan Lynch — Journalist/Author
Mick Lynch — Mean Features/Stump
Morty McCarthy — The Sultans of Ping FC
Sean O’Hagan — Microdisney/Micro Disney/The High Llamas
Jim O’Mahony — The Belsonic Sound
John Robb — The Membranes/Journalist/Author
Ian Wilson — Producer, RTÉ Radio

Get That Monster Off the Stage — the story of Finbarr Donnelly forms the first part of a Cork Trilogy. Part two, Lights! Camel! Action! — the story of Stump, tells Stump’s story from their indie beginnings to combustion by the late 80s. Part three, Iron Fist in Velvet Glove — the story of Microdisney, tells Cathal Coughlan and Sean O’Hagan’s story from meeting in Cork in 1979 to disbanding in 1988. All three stories have their roots in Cork’s post-punk music scene that coalesced around Elvera Butler’s Downtown Kampus at the Cork Arcadia in the late 70s.

“Together all three works form a deep and wide composite picture of a generation of Irish musicians finding a way to exist. They are also the story of Ireland in the 1980s in many ways – recession, unemployment, emigration, Thatcher’s Britain, squats, poverty, survival against the odds. I couldn’t recommend them highly enough for anyone with any interest in what we call independent music” — Conor O’Toole (The Underground of Happiness)

Oral History

Get That Monster off the Stage is accompanied by 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)

Radio On

Radio On was a public discussion event held at Triskel Arts Centre, Cork on 24 Aug, 2016. The event was based around the radio documentary Get That Monster Off The Stage. Radio On featured Paul McDermott as MC for the evening, in conversation with: Ricky Dineen (Guitarist, friend and bandmate of Finbarr Donnelly), Jim O’Mahony (DJ & Musician) and Rob McKahey (Drummer with Stump).

This programme was produced by Conor O'Toole with sound supervision by Kieran Hurley at UCC98.3FM. The event took place during Heritage Week and was kindly sponsored by The Heritage Council, with support also from Cork Folklore Project and UCC98.3FM.