Ah jaysus, I’m embarrassed by that!” Paul Cleary is seated with Hot Press in the bar of the Mespil Hotel, Dublin and I've just recounted a conversation heard in the audience at the Philip Chevron testimonial after his set. Following a rapturous applause and his exit from stage another group proclaimed, “Well God is gone, we can go now.”
“I was apprehensive, those types of nights can be a mixed bag. You’re never sure how you're going to go down,” says The Blades frontman. “It was great to get that reception. It gave me some inspiration to do these Blades gigs, I just thought, ‘Why not?’"
The aforementioned Olympia shows are two of the most hotly-anticipated gigs of 2013. The dates will see Cleary reunite with his former Blades for the fi rst time in 27 years. Throughout the late '70s and early '80s the band, contemporaries of U2, were one of the hottest prospects on the domestic circuit. But despite packed shows, extensive airplay, hit singles and a major deal, The Blades came to an abrupt end in 1986. The relationship with Elektra turned sour due to label personnel changes before their fi rst and only album, The Last Man In Europe, was released. Respected Irish independent Reekus Records made sure the now legendary outing saw the light of day. They later issued Raytown Revisted, a singles, b-sides and outtakes collection.
The story of The Blades began in their suburban home of Ringsend, where the local Catholic Youth Hall played host to their first show. Legend has it they were kicked out of the aforementioned venue for daring to play ‘God Save The Queen’.
“Forget that! It’s an urban myth, I can dispel that one,” laughs Cleary. “We did play our first gig in the CYMS in Ringsend but didn’t include that song! I have a feeling I know where that came from, somebody involved in the band is a little bit economical with the truth….. I’m loath to dispel the stories he spins as they’re quite good! I have supposedly said and done many cool things but I just leave the stories out there. That’s one of them!”
Gigging regularly, the band secured slots in venues like The Magnet, McGonagle’s and The Baggot Inn, where they famously had a six-week residency with some young upstarts by the name of U2.
“U2 were doing the same circuit as us and we bumped into them from time to time,” explains Cleary. “They asked us would we play The Baggot Inn with them, I remember thinking they were very professional, very together. They said at the time they hired us because they wanted to push themselves. We took it as a compliment that they thought we were good enough to push them!
“There’s another myth that I wouldn’t mind debunking,” he continues. “People have said that we blew them off the stage, I’m very proud of The Blades and I think we were good but we never blew U2 off the stage! I can state that, categorically, U2 were too good for that. I think what some people confuse is that some of the crowd preferred The Blades.
That’s not blowing a band off the stage! “I took a few pot shots at U2 when maybe I shouldn’t have, I was a bit immature and possibly envious of their success. I want to put the record straight, they were really nice,” states Cleary. “There was a culture at the time that if you had a support band you treated them badly and they got bad sound. U2 always treated us really well. They made sure you got what you wanted, they were gentlemen. If there was any competition I think we knew who won!”
Despite his modesty, at the time The Blades were the band many thought would ‘make it’ and when major label interest was shown it seemed it was just a matter of time.
“Elektra hired Andrew Loog Oldham to sign four or fi ve bands in Europe, he'd heard about us so he came to see us at the Lisdoonvarna Festival,” Paul says. “We'd overindulged the night before and had really sore heads. The weather was miserable too and there may have been a few technical problems. But we got our big record deal from that day!”
And what was the Stones svengali like to deal with?
“He was interesting,” smiles Cleary. “He came to see us a couple of times when we were making the album. We made it in Wood Green and mixed it in the Roundhouse in London. He asked to meet me in a pub one afternoon, I went in and we were sitting there talking, he said, ‘You know the music is good but maybe it needs a bit more...’ and just as he paused ‘Jumping Jack Flash’ blasted out of the jukebox as if on cue! It was a magical moment. He was such a control freak he may have contrived it. If he did it was a brilliant piece of theatre!”
The Last Man In Europe was recorded with Smiths legend John Porter.
“He was great. He'd just done The Smiths and I remember one day in the studio Johnny Marr’s wife came to get his opinion on a guitar she'd bought for Johnny. We only met them once, did a gig in Trinity with them around the time they were breaking up. We had to share a dressing-room which was actually a lecture theatre. They all came in and were very quiet and shy, as we were. We never really spoke and that happened a lot unfortunately!”
As well as the odd college show the band also accepted an invitation to play Mountjoy Jail.
“Yeah, we didn’t really go down that well at all,” says Paul shaking his head. “ I think Brush Shiels had played the day before and may have had a go-go girl in a cage which would have went down a storm! We were asked if one of the inmates could sing. We hadn’t been doing too well up to this point, so this guy got up and sang ‘Sweet Caroline’ and brought the house down! It was great from there, he saved the gig as far as I was concerned.”
After the band split in 1986 Cleary formed respected outfi t The Partisans, dabbled in pub rock with The Cajun Kings and released a solo album Crooked Town in 2001. But the legend of The Blades has endured. The Last Man In Europe is a consistent presence in Best Irish Album Polls and when it and Raytown Revisited were released on CD in 2000 buoyant sales proved the Ringsend rebels were gone but not forgotten.
So what are Cleary’s hopes for the upcoming shows?
“I always want people to enjoy themselves,” he enthuses. “It’s a great thing to walk off stage and think that was a good gig, it’s a great feeling, it’s almost a high. People have paid good money and it’s my job to make sure they have a good time”
And now for the dreaded ‘new material’ question…
“I do have songs that I wrote over the last couple of years, not with The Blades in mind,” he muses. “But now... I don’t know what I’ll do with them.”
We can but hope!
The Blades play the Olympia, Dublin on December 13 & 14