The Blades

The Blades were formed in 1977 at a time where punk ruled Dublin, with bands like The Radiators from Space being among the talk of the Irish music scene. Originally with Paul Cleary on Bass, his brother Lar on Guitar and drummer Pat Larkin completing the lineup. They released two 7” singles on Energy Records with this lineup ‘Hot For You’ (1980) and ‘Ghost Of A Chance’ (1981) the later of which was performed on The Late Late Show that year.

Reekus Records released their first album ‘The Last Man in Europe’ in January 1985 as well as the singles collection ‘Raytown Revisited’ late the same year. Raytown Revisited is considered essential listening and is included in the book ‘101 Irish Albums to hear before you die’ by Tony Clayton-Lea of the Irish Times. Soon after the release the band split up as they became disillusioned with the music industry and they played their last gig together in The Boxing Club in Drogheda in January 1986.

Since then Paul Cleary played with The Partisans as well as releasing his Debut Solo Album ‘Crooked Town’ on Reekus Records in 2001 while Pat Larkin played with ‘The Peridots’ and Brian Foley with ‘The Mountain Climbers’.