Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Radiators get to the Heart of iconic first album.. with JASON O’TOOLE
Live Zoom session tonight and vinyl reissue all part of celebration plans by Ireland’s punk forerunners
The Radiators From Space can take great Pride in making Irish rock history as the first ever band to perform at the refurbished Croke Park on U2’s Vertigo Tour in 2005.
It might’ve happened over 15 years ago, but it still elicits a good chuckle from the Dublin outfit – hailed as Ireland’s first punk band – when reminded of Bono’s reaction to them being the opening support act that night.
“The whole band were watching our set and Bono turned around to everyone in the room, saying, ‘Oh my God! The Radiators From Space are on my stage!’” recalled Pete Holidai.
The Radiators have enjoyed a strong relationship with Bono and (Electric) co ever since their founding member Steve Averill, aka Stephen Rapid, came up with the name U2.
“Yes, for my sins,” quipped Stephen, who also just happened to design many of U2’s most iconic album covers.
“I’ve been asked a few times to come up with names for bands.”
Steve – who alongside Pete will participate in a live Q&A session on Zoom tonight to celebrate their first album TV
Tube Heart being reissued on 10” yellow vinyl – found inspiration for his own band’s name when flicking through a brochure for radiators.
Pete recalled: “I think we’d change our name every week. Roxette was one! Thank God we didn’t keep Roxette is all I can say.
“Steve came up with the concept of the old B movies of the ’50s – like The Killer Tomatoes, or Plan 9 from Outer Space.
“He said, ‘Punk is almost like the B movie music of the market place’.
“And often when people would ask, ‘Where did you get the name?’
I’d say, ‘Well, from a heating brochure’.”
Steve was almost like the Louis Walsh of his time when it came to manufacturing his ideal band whose second album Ghostown (1979) has been hailed as the best Irish record of all time by Roddy Doyle and Joseph O’connor.
“I wanted to find a band playing the kind of music that I wanted to listen to – something with a bit of energy,” Stephen explained.
“I said, ‘The best way to do it is try and pick a selection of individuals that I come across that have the look’.
“I had a Saturday job in Golden Discs. Pete came into the shop. I thought Pete had that look that I was looking for.
“He went and looked at the right kind of albums, so I just walked over to him and I said, ‘Hey, do you want to be in a rock and roll band?’
“And then Billy Morley came in one day and he looked really like a young Mick Ronson.
“And I didn’t know whether Pete or Billy could play, and it was great because both of them could play.”
They next discovered the late Philip Chevron – who would go on to join The Pogues and write Thousands Are Sailing – through a newspaper advert.
Dublin might often be wrongly mistaken as the inspiration for Dirty Old Town, but it’s certainly proved to be a small world for them: Philip knew the other future band member Mark “Megaray” Horgan.
Pete said: “Philip actually worked for Mark’s dad.”
Philip arrived for his audition on a Honda 50, which is reminiscent of Joe The Lips character from The Commit
ments turning up on a motorbike at Jimmy Rabbitte’s home.
“He was on the Honda, because he was a messenger and he decided, ‘I’m just popping out of the office for a little while’,” Pete said.
Steve added: “Philip was one of the only people we’d ever met who’d seen The Sex Pistols in the 100 Club.
“So he knew the areas we were heading for. Now, punk wasn’t a big word. Nobody knew what punk was about – we just called ourselves ‘high energy rock’.
“It wasn’t so much a case of us jumping on the bandwagon because we were already doing it.
“We were reading about The Sex Pistols or The Clash and they were covering the same sort of songs. We said, ‘What’s going on here? It’s really interesting’.
“So there was a synergy there and we felt we came in alongside that movement.”
Pete continued: “We ended up in the first rehearsal (in 1976) with myself, Steve, Philip, Mark and Jimmy (“Crashe” Wynne). We taped some of those early rehearsals.
“We still have the tapes. I might play one or two on Friday night that have never been heard before.”
Steve left the band during the recording of their first album.
“I was listening to some of the new songs that Philip and Pete were writing and I had this kind of worry that I said, ‘Well, these songs need an actual real vocalist to sing them’.
“I’m not demeaning what I was doing in the band because it worked perfectly for the punk era, because initially I did pretty well doing the lead vocals.
“I felt for the band to progress they needed the two of them (Pete and Philip) to be the singers.”
Steve stayed on in various other capacities – such as tour manager on their first English tour and graphic artist – before later rejoining them for their initial reunion in 1987 and subsequent one in 2003.
“It was probably the right decision, because I was married at that point and we were expecting our first child,” Steve explained.
“I didn’t really want to go into the totally unsure world of not knowing what was going to happen with the band.”
Steve also just happened at that point to be carving out a successful career as a graphic artist.
He would go on to cement an international reputation as one
Nobody knew what punk was about – we just called ourselves ‘high energy rock.
of the best in the business with his iconic album covers for U2. He’s also collaborated with the likes of Depeche Mode, Elvis Costello and The Script. What’s his favourite U2 cover? “Its’ difficult to say, but in many ways the Boy cover because there was a resistance initially for the band to work with somebody from their hometown,” Steve (inset) told me.
“The attitude of the record company was, ‘Who’d want to work with somebody in Dublin when you’ve got these fantastic designers over in London?’
“And when the album was released in America they changed the cover because they were worried about paedophile references.
“But the very fact that the album cover won an award in the UK was a huge thing for me, career-wise. Because I felt it was the right image for the band at that time. So it was great to have that.
“There are no relationships that I’m aware of that lasted as long as my relationship with U2 as a graphic designer.”
Steve added: “The last one I was involved in was Songs of Innocence. I decided to pack it in at that point because I’d always said that when I got to 65 I was going to get out of the day job, because it was fairly full-on.
“And when the band changed from Paul Mcguinness to the Maverick management in Los Angeles I just found the whole process of getting anything worked out or approved became so torturous that I just said, ‘It’s not worth it. Their whole process is a nightmare’.”
The band broke up two years after their second album (1979) failed to set the world alight, which still remains a great mystery because it always ranks without fail in every music critics top 10 best Irish albums of all time – including my own last year.
They finally released their third album Trouble Pilgrim in 2006.
Pete said: “People said it’s almost like the missing link between by TV Tube Heart and Ghostown – it’s got the best of both on that one album.”
One of their most popular tracks is Song Of The Faithful Departed, which was famously covered by Christy Moore.
“I think it’s terrible. I hate it,” Pete confessed.
“I like Christy Moore and he’s made some great music, but I thought this version is an abomination. I just don’t like it.”
The guys are still going strong these days under the band name Trouble Pilgrims.
They stopped using The Radiators when Philip Chevron died at the relatively young age of 56 in October 2013.
I did a major four-page newspaper interview with Philip only four months before his death as he was coming to terms with being diagnosed with terminal throat cancer.
It was the last time he spoke publicly about either his illness or illustrious career.
Philip could no longer really speak at that point and we had to communicate via many lengthy emails.
I greatly admired how Philip courageously faced death.
Pete said: “It was a very touching piece. I thought it was brilliant. I cried.
“Philip was one of the strongest individuals that I’ve ever known in my life. He met it head-on.”
They both went to see Philip shortly before his passing.
Steve recalled: “His mum said, ‘You should probably go now. He’s feeling very frail’. We knew we couldn’t hug him. We just said goodbye and shook his hand. There was no emotional outburst.
“We just left the room and the house and walked out the driveway and knew that we weren’t going to see Philip again.”
Pete added: “He just gave me this look right into my eye from a very sick man, which for me it was almost like he was saying, ‘I love you. I loved being with you. And I’m going to miss you as much as you’re going to miss me’.”
Trouble Pilgrims have just recorded a new album and famous producer Tony Visconti – best known for working with Bowie and Marc Bolan – is putting a bit of spit and polish to it at the moment.
Steve said: “People who don’t know anything about The Radiators see Trouble Pilgrims almost like a new band, so they reassess you in a different way and that’s got benefits as well as drawbacks.”
They say it’s a case of “never say never” about them ever using The Radiators name again but can’t see it happening.
Pete quipped: “I don’t think at this stage – unless someone offers us 100 grand!”
Steve added: “We want to stand on our own two feet because this band’s got new members, new blood, new ideas. So we want to move forward with that.”
One thing’s for sure, there’s plenty of life left in the old dog yet.
“I think the definition of punk is what we have to look at here – we still want to smash our telecaster through a television screen now even,” Pete concluded. “We still have a lot of the same beliefs.”
zpete Holidai and Steve Rapid will discuss all things relating to TV Tube Hearts with DJ Karl Tsigdinos tonight (Friday 9 April) between 7.30pm-9.30pm. The full details of this free event can be found on the band’s social media, or the Facebook and Instagram pages of Virtus Promotions, which is the new promotion company of the students at BCFE (Ballyfermot College of Further Education).
■ The TV Tube Heart 10” yellow vinyl can be ordered from www.theradiators.irish