An Emotional Fish
This four-piece power pop band in the mould of U2 or INXS, was formed in Dublin, Eire with a line-up of Gerard Whelan (vocals), Enda Wyatt (bass), Dave Frew (guitar) and Martin Murphy (drums). They began with two Irish hits on U2's Mother label, the second of which, Celebrate, was given a UK release. BBC disc jockey Mark Goodier invited them to do a session, and Radio 1 was so impressed by the band that they sponsored their UK tour. However, this soon backfired as the press made them scapegoats for what they saw as ‘odious and corrupt’ practices on behalf of a public broadcasting service. This fuelled further invective when the band's debut album was unveiled, ‘weighty, overblown and held back by windy rhetoric’ being among the kinder reviews. Lace Virginia and Blue, the follow-up singles, sank without trace as Radio 1 judiciously withdrew from the controversy, failing to give the band airplay in the process. The outfit released their second album in 1993.