The Blades (band)
The Blades are an Irish new wave band who formed in the late 1970s in the South Dublin neighbourhood of Ringsend, with Paul Cleary on bass and vocals, his brother Lar on guitar and mutual friend Pat Larkin on drums.
As uncompromising as they were gifted as pop songwriters, the original line-up released two seven inch singles: Hot For You and Ghost of a Chance, the latter of which they performed on The Late Late Show in 1981.
History
Origins (1977-81)
The Blades began in the summer of 1977 when five friends got together to play a gig in the Catholic Young Mens Society hall in Ringsend. The band was thrown out for playing the Sex Pistols single God Save the Queen; the organisers thought it was the British National Anthem.
The line up was whittled down to three - Paul Cleary (b. 9 September 1959) on bass and vocals, his brother Lar (b. 2 June 1957) on guitar and friend Pat Larkin (b. 25 November 1956) on drums.
Even from that early stage, the band's unashamed working-class origins and integrity marked them out from the more elliptical art rock being pioneered by U2 and The Atrix.