| The Silencers | 
| | Origin | Scotland | | Years active | 1987–present | | Genre(s) | Alternative guitar pop | | Label(s) | RCA | | Members | Jimme O'Neill
(Vocals/Guitar)
Cha Burns
(guitar)
Joseph Donnelly
(Bass)
Martin Hanlin
(Drums)
| - This article is about the band. For the movie, see The Silencers. For the comic book, see The Silencers (comic)
The Silencers are a Scottish rock band formed in London in 1986. Their music is characterized by a melodic blend of pop, folk and traditional Celtic influences. Often compared to Scottish bands with a similar sound like Big Country, Del Amitri and The Proclaimers, The Silencers have distinguished themselves with their eclectic sounds, prolific output and continued career. Their first single, "Painted Moon," was a minor international hit and invited critical comparisons to Simple Minds and U2. In 1987 they released their first album A Letter From St. Paul, which included "Painted Moon" and another minor hit, "I See Red." Buoyed by the huge European hit "Bulletproof Heart," the band's third album Dance to the Holy Man is the band's commercial peak to date. In the 1990s The Silencers saw popular taste shift away from their songwriter-based style of music toward grunge and electronic music. They released a regular stream of albums, but have struggled to capture more than a cult-size fanbase. Motto: Nemo me impune lacessit (English: No one provokes me with impunity) Scotlands location within Europe Scotlands location within the United Kingdom Languages English, Gaelic, Scots Capital Edinburgh Largest city Glasgow First Minister Jack McConnell Area - Total - % water Ranked 2nd UK 78,782 km² 1. ...
1987 (MCMLXXXVII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
A music genre is a category (or genre) of pieces of music that share a certain style or basic musical language (van der Merwe 1989, p. ...
This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...
For other uses, see RCA (disambiguation). ...
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The words Celt and Celtic can have a variety of meanings. ...
Big Country was a rock band from Dunfermline, Scotland, popular in the early to mid 1980s, but still releasing material for a cult following as recently as 2004. ...
The original Del Amitri line-up as seen on the cover of Melody Maker magazine in February 1985 Del Amitri are a British pop-rock guitar band, formed in Glasgow, Scotland in 1982. ...
Craig and Charlie on the cover of their debut album This Is The Story The Proclaimers are a Scottish band composed of identical twins Charlie and Craig Reid. ...
Simple Minds is a Scottish New Wave/rock band which had its greatest worldwide popularity during the mid-1980s. ...
U2 are an Irish rock band featuring Bono (Paul David Hewson) on vocals, rhythm guitar and, on occasion, [harmonica]]; The Edge (David Howell Evans) on lead guitar, keyboards and backing vocals; Adam Clayton on bass guitar; and Larry Mullen, Jr. ...
History
Before forming The Silencers, vocalist Jimme O'Neill and guitarist Cha Burns were active in London's new wave music scene. O'Neill wrote songs for Paul Young and Lene Lovich, while Burns played guitar in Adam & The Ants. Paul Antony Young (better known as Paul Young) is a British pop artist. ...
CD reissue of Lene Lovichs first album, Stateless. ...
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1980s In 1979 they met and formed a post-punk/new wave project called Fingerprintz [1], and released three albums under that moniker: The Very Dab, Distinguishing Marks, and Beat Noir. They earned some critical recognition and notable appearances on John Peel's radio show and the BBC's In Concert radio series. The group split in 1985. Then O'Neill formed a duo with electropop singer Jacqui Brookes and they released two singles in 1983: "Haunted Cocktails" and "Lost Without Your Love." When Brookes subsequently released solo album Sob Stories, O'Neill wrote or co-wrote a majority of the tracks and played guitar and other instruments on the album.
Soon O'Neill and Burns were playing music together again, this time joined by drummer Martin Hanlin and bass player Joseph Donnelly, a cousin of Simple Minds singer Jim Kerr. After considering band names like "My Granny's Green Chair" and "The Hot Dog From Hell," they settled on "The Silencers." In September 1986 they began to tour Europe and the United Kingdom. They demoed three new songs at Scarf Studios in London: "Painted Moon," "I See Red," and "I Can't Cry." The demos earned them a contract with RCA, and their song "Painted Moon," about O'Neill's personal reaction to the Falklands War, was included on the soundtrack to the film The Home Front, and then released as their first single in April 1987. Their first album A Letter from St. Paul included re-recorded versions of all three demos. The Pretenders invited the band to support them on their European tour, and then the success of Painted Moon across the pond induced a tour of America on their own, and later with Squeeze. Jim Kerr (born in Glasgow, Scotland, 9 July, 1959) is the lead singer and lyricist of Scottish band, now duo, Simple Minds. ...
Combatants United Kingdom Argentina Casualties 255 killed 777 wounded 1 taken prisoner 649 killed 1,068 wounded 11,313 taken prisoner The Falklands War (Spanish: Guerra de las Malvinas) was an effective state of war in 1982 between Argentina and the United Kingdom over the Falkland Islands (also known in...
Pretenders album cover, 1980. ...
Squeeze was a British rock music band that came to prominence in the New Wave period of the late 1970s. ...
In 1988 The Silencers toured Europe with The Alarm and Painted Moon became a radio hit in Britain. The band moved back to Scotland and recorded second album A Blues for Buddha at CaVa Studios in Glasgow, with Flood producing. The standout tracks were "Scottish Rain," about love and fallout from Chernobyl, and "The Real McCoy," which became a fan favorite. The band then toured Europe with Simple Minds for four months, culminating with a stadium show at Wembley in front of 80,000. The Alarm are a Welsh alternative rock band, who were most popular in the 1980s. ...
Mark Ellis a. ...
Chernobyl area. ...
Simple Minds is a Scottish New Wave/rock band which had its greatest worldwide popularity during the mid-1980s. ...
Wembley is a place in the London Borough of Brent. ...
1990s After the tour, the band began work on third album Dance to the Holy Man, but personal conflict derailed the process. Joseph Donnelly and Martin Hanlin left the band, and were replaced by Tony Soave on drums and Lewis Rankine on bass. The album, a departure from the band's "guitar-based atmosphere pop," [2] was recorded during the summer of 1990. It included funk, blues, and Celtic strains. Single "Bulletproof Heart" became a big hit in Spain and France, but album sales lagged back in the United Kingdom. Jinky "JJ" Gilmour joined the band as a second vocalist before another tour of Europe, and Stevie Kane joined the band, replacing Rankine during the tour due to presonality conflict.
Deeply in debt to RCA and not having the expected success in England, The Silencers were in danger of being dropped by their label despite their success throughout Europe. However, after label representatives saw an impressive live show they allowed the band to begin work on fourth album Seconds of Pleasure. [3] Single "I Can Feel It" is, true to form, a hit in Europe and ignored in England. Without tour support from RCA, the band financed its own tour to Switzerland, France and Scotland.
In 1994 The Silencers signed to new labels: Permanent for Britain and BMG for France. That summer they recorded the song "Wild Mountain Thyme," featuring O'Neill's daughter Aura on vocals. It became a hit in Scotland after featuring in a tourism board advertising campaign. Soon after, they completed fifth album So Be It. BMG (Bertelsmann Music Group) is one of the six divisions of Bertelsmann. ...
After a mid-1995 tour of Europe, Gilmour and Soaves left the band. Jim McDermott of the Kevin McDermott Orchestra joined on drums and Aura McNeill became a permanent member of the band. The year 1996 brought the release of singles comilation Blood & Rain, and The Silencers took several years off from recording.
In 1999 the band worked on seventh album Receiving, which was financed by money from festival appearances in Europe. Speaking of the new record, O'Neill said, "Some of the new tracks were recorded as if this was a different band. I wanted to forget about everything we'd done before and some of what came out reminded me of Fingerprintz - new wave for the nineties!" [4] The experimental nature of the songs, he said, was inspired by the influence of Jack Kerouac, William Burroughs and Charles Bukowski. Jack Kerouac (pronounced ) (March 12, 1922, Lowell, Massachusetts – October 21, 1969, St. ...
William S. Burroughs. ...
Charles Bukowski (August 16, 1920 – March 9, 1994), was a Los Angeles poet and novelist often mistakenly associated with Beat Generation writers because of alleged similarities of style and attitude. ...
2000s In 2001 the band released their first live album, A Night of Electric Silence, recorded in Glasgow in 2000. with McDermott on drums, Kane on bass, Phil Kane on keyboards, O'Neill on guitar and vocals, Milla on violin and Aura O'Neill on vocals.
In November 2004 Come was released, featuring standout tracks "Siddharta," "Let It Happen" and "Head."
Today, most of the band's albums are out of print and available only at inflated prices.
Discography
Full-length Albums A Letter From St. Paul, (1987) RCA PD 71336 | A Blues for Buddha, (1988) RCA PD 71859 | Dance to the Holy Man, (1991) PD 74924 | Seconds of Pleasure, (1993) RCA 74321 14113 2 | So Be It, (1995) BMG France 74321 25231 2 | Receiving, (1999) Uncanny Records CANNYCD1 | A Night of Electric Silence, (2001) Last Call, Wagram Music 3068202 | Come, (2004) Keltia Musique KMCD 157 | 1987 (MCMLXXXVII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
1988 (MCMLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
1991 (MCMXCI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
1993 (MCMXCIII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar and marked the Beginning of the International Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination (1993-2003). ...
1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday, and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. ...
2001: A Space Odyssey. ...
2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
Compilations Blood and Rain, (1996) BMG France 74321 41924 2 | 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ...
Singles - Painted Moon (1987)
- I Can't Cry (1987)
- I See Red (1988)
- Answer Me (1988)
- The Real McCoy (1988)
- Scottish Rain (1989)
- Razor Blades of Love (1989)
- I Want You (1991)
- Bulletproof Heart (1991)
- Hey Mr. Bank Manager (1991)
- I Can Feel It (1993)
- Number One Friend (1995)
- Something Worth Fighting For (1995)
- 27 (1995)
- Wild Mountain Thyme (1995)
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