It didn’t stop with Final Flame.
Sure, TPE called it a day, but individually and collectively the petrols kept the fire going on a number of different side projects, and even though it’s been fairly on the qt, some of us are still playing out, working in the studio, and staying busy. Here’s a list of other projects, in no particular order:
- The Undertones - This one was slightly surprising but pretty much a no-brainer. The boys got offered a ton of money to play a reunion gig, and they decided to give it a shot, sans Feargal. They had so much fun they decided to keep it going, and they’ve put out a handful of albums in the last few years.
- Wave Walkers - Raymond and Ciaran didn’t ever stop writing, and Wave Walkers was the project name that encompassed their new batch of songs. They even roped in Damian and Brendan for a handful of gigs. Hell, they’ve even got videos on YouTube, fer chrissakes.
- Anodyne/Marfa Lights - Meanwhile over in Seattle, Steve was writing songs with Harris Thurmond, which eventually materialized an album in 1997. They had to release the album under the name Marfa Lights in the UK/Ireland, since the name Anodyne was already being used.
- O’Neill - When the petrols split up, the gear got divided up amongst the members, and Damian ended up with enough studio toys to write an instrumental album which was eventually put out by Alan McGhee.
- Cantona - Steve has been “permanent part-time bassist” with Seattle pop-group Cantona for the last few years. They have an album scheduled to come out shortly. (Cantona’s MySpace page)
Tensor was such a great album. I still have it on heavy rotation after all these years. Hypnotised had a great video at the time. TPE reforming now is a dream come true. I waited in vain for years for Ciaran to do a PJ Harvey but it never happened. Ciaran is one of my favourite songwriters ever especially as he was in a band that had an embarrassment of riches in that regard.
All the best lads!
Comment by mac — December 7, 2007 @ 4:37 pm
Oooooops! I meant to say “Infatuated”. I put it down to brain freeze due to over excitement at the prospect of the tour. Now that I think of it though, Hypnotised is a great song as well. I’m off for a wee lie down!!!!!
Comment by mac — December 7, 2007 @ 5:07 pm
Holy shit! Thanks!
I forgot that we actually rendered the video (which was a Flash animation) to video for our Irish tour. Damn. I don’t even know if I have a copy of it! Now I’m going to have to dig around for it.
Comment by smack — December 8, 2007 @ 5:24 am
Heh heh, I don’t know if you’re going to be impressed with this or not but Tensor always served as the soundtrack to my getting tarted up for another saturday night on the rip and one thing that really appealed to me at the time was that not many people knew about the album. It was kinda my secret. The whole album was great but I loved Lemon Rind for the bass. I always made sure I timed my exit to a night on the tiles with All Takers.
That’s it, I’m vibed up and ready to go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Comment by mac — December 9, 2007 @ 8:19 am
Nice to the Undertones back again. Paul’s voice is almost as distinctive as Feargals’ and I really like the two new albums.
The demos that Ray put out, with Ciaran are true gems. love the stuff. Only wishing it would be more soon… you hear Ray?
Anodyne is on a regular spin in the car “every day”. Only wish’d Tumbtack was on Tensor as well.
Cantona is still growing on me… some of it is great some still a bit ordinary (no pun Steve)
D’s “No flies on Frank” and “A quiet revolution” are truly great music that should’ve been appreciated more than it is. But then again isn’t that the case with all the Petrols stuff and spin offs..
Comment by esmark — February 4, 2008 @ 10:43 am
What about RARE!!I had the good fortune of seeing them live in Nancy Spains in Cork I think around 96,
Comment by Sean Healy — April 14, 2008 @ 1:35 pm
I was just about to mention RARE, but then saw the final post.
recently dug out the cds (album and singles) and gave them all another spin.
held up better than i expected.
m.e/ireallylovemusic
Comment by marke — May 6, 2008 @ 1:00 am