The Virgin Prunes!

Hey guys and hello to my new followers, I hope you are all having a lovely 2012 thus far! For this post I decided to do a short profile piece on an Irish gothic rock band called The Virgin Prunes. Enjoy!

The Virgin Prunes formed in 1977 in Dublin. The band began as a group of young'uns with an interest in music, one of whom was Paul Hewson- i.e. Bono of U2 fame. (Obviously Hewson didn't last long in the band, he went on to form U2). When explaining the band's motivation Gavin Friday explains that 'we didn't want to stand around at the shops, drink cider and play football. We wanted more from our lives'. Cool buzz! 

Friday describes growing up in Dublin in the 1970's : 'We were like a Third World Country. If you go back to parts of the Eastern bloc of Europe now, that's what Dublin was like in the 60's and 70's. Grey, dull, mass unemployment and complete poverty. Music became a lifeline to escape for kids. Punk gave you a license to form a band with just an attitude. I turned 16 when punk kicked in and had plenty of attitude' 

The band quote David Bowie and Joy Division as being highly influential on their work. They had a terribly unfortunate performance one time during which a band members's trousers split to reveal an embarrassing amount of... em... manhood!! They were actually supporting The Clash at the time who were less than impressed!

During the 1980's the band began to disintegrate and eventually Gavin Friday left the band in 1989. The remaining members continued playing under the name of 'The Prunes' until they split in 1990. 

Below are some songs of theirs for your listening pleasure! :)

Until next time!

Miaow