The Radiators From Space

Biography

The Radiators from Space (aka The Radiators, The Rads, Radiators (from Space), and The Radiators Plan 9) was an Irish punk rock band that has been described as Ireland's first punk band. Initially active 1976-1981, the band had a brief reunion in 1987-1988, and reformed in 2003 until the death of founding member Philip Chevron in 2013, with remaining members continuing as Trouble Pilgrims. Band members: Philip Chevron Guitar, Vocals Pete Holidai Lead Guitar, Vocals Steve Rapid Synth, Percuss...

The Radiators from Space (aka The Radiators, The Rads, Radiators (from Space), and The Radiators Plan 9) was an Irish punk rock band that has been described as Ireland's first punk band. Initially active 1976-1981, the band had a brief reunion in 1987-1988, and reformed in 2003 until the death of founding member Philip Chevron in 2013, with remaining members continuing as Trouble Pilgrims.

Band members:
Philip Chevron Guitar, Vocals
Pete Holidai Lead Guitar, Vocals
Steve Rapid Synth, Percussion, Vocals
Jesse Booth Bass, Vocals
Johnny Bonnie Drums, Vocals

The re-emergence of the band saw the release of their third studio album "Trouble Pilgrim". Comprising fourteen songs, seven written by Pete Holidai and seven by Philip Chevron, the album was produced by Pete Holidai in the summer of 2006 at Grouse Lodge Studios in Co Westmeath.

With Johnny Bonnie on drums and Jesse Booth on bass (as permanent replacement for Cait O’Riordan, who left the year previously), the other band members (Steve Rapid, Pete Holidai and Philip Chevron) continue the adventure they began in the mid-1970s when, along with Jimmy Crashe (drums) and Mark Megaray (bass), the Radiators from Space first formed.

In early 1977, the Radiators' debut 45 "Television Screen" was the first Top 20 punk single anywhere in the world. Their first album TV Tube Heart served notice that beyond the fast-and-furious sound lay a couple of major songwriting talents in Chevron and Holidai. They left Dublin for a UK promotional trip and to take up Philip Lynnot's offer of a support spot on Thin Lizzy's 1977 UK tour. Naively perhaps, they thought they'd be back, but they never did return except, like so many emigrants before them, "for the Christmas".

When Steve Rapid chose to stay behind and concentrate on building up that scene rather than move to London with the others, he soon showed he had not lost his aptitude for striking band names. He advised Dublin band The Hype to change their name to U2. Steve (aka Steve Averill) also designed the sleeve of the band's U23 EP and has remained centrally involved in their design process ever since.

Within months of their arrival in London, The Radiators began work on a new album in Soho with producer Tony Visconti. The resulting record Ghostown was a unique event in Irish music: ambivalent visions of Dublin trapped in a childhood jam-jar and unleashed in exile, as they had to be. The sheer scale of the material could be seen when "Million Dollar Hero" became the great lost hit single, the late Agnes Bernelle performed "Kitty Ricketts" in her West End show and Christy Moore (and later Moving Hearts) adopted "Faithful Departed" as the perfect song with which to launch his own new vision of Irish music. When the album was reissued on CD in 2005, Brian Boyd, writing in The Irish Times recalled that "Musically, the album was audacious for its time; lyrically, it's never been bettered. Ghostown represents the first time in Irish cultural life that a rock music 33rpm could sit pretty alongside the country's literary and dramatic output......Quite simply: a monumental artistic achievement."

But it would be a few more years before Britain would be quite ready to listen to a band who sought to express a new generation's radical view of its Irishness. By then, Philip Chevron was himself a member of that band, The Pogues, going on to tour the world and sell millions of records, including the single "Fairytale Of New York" which has been a UK smash hit on three occasions, most recently reaching No 3 in 2005 and now part of the platinum-selling The Ultimate Collection. Meanwhile, Pete Holidai joined Light A Big Fire before concentrating on nurturing new Irish talent as a teacher at BCFE, and as a record producer, for which he won the Hot Press/Smithwicks Award in 1991.

The Radiators previously reformed for a benefit gig in Dublin in 1987 and for two new recordings in 1988. But this latest reunion began in December 2003 when the participants spontaneously agreed to play two songs at a Tribute to Joe Strummer in Dublin. Since then the Radiators have played a number of selected shows in Ireland, including the Oxegen Festival in 2004. In 2005, the band opened for U2 at Croke Park and also played its first UK show since 1978 in front of a hugely appreciative crowd at London’s Dingwall’s Dancehall.

Following the release (on their own The 625 Label) of two four-track CDs in 2004 and 2005, The Rads are delighted to consolidate their shared experience, together and apart, with the Trouble Pilgrim album, release in October 2006. The track listing is as follows: Trouble Pilgrim, The Concierge, Second Avenue, Joe Strummer, Heaven, Words, The Dark At The Top Of The Stairs, Tell Me Why, Hinterland, She Says I’m A Loser, A Package From Home, Huguenot, Don’t Walk Away and We Are So Beautiful.

The band's fourth album, Sound City Beat, a collection of cover versions of songs by older Irish bands, was released in 2012.

Members of the band began performing as Trouble Pilgrims after Chevron became ill with throat cancer and was unable to participate in live work. The band played, including with guest vocalist Gavin Friday and guitarist Brush Shiels, at a tribute concert for Chevron on August 24, 2013 at the Olympia Theatre (Dublin). Chevron died October 8, 2013, effectively ending the band, although remaining members have continued as Trouble Pilgrims. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.