It's a pleasure to meet you, Black 47
Black 47 espouses an unblinkingly political and thoroughly Irish form of rock 'n' roll, with songs covering topics from the Northern Ireland conflict to civil rights and urban unrest in contemporary New York. Black 47 earned their chops playing the pub scene in Manhattan and self-producing their first indie record, Black 47, before converting The Cars' Ric Ocasek to the cause and gaining mainstream attention with their second album.
"Usually most comfortable playing loud and live with upraised fists and chunky guitar riffs in local hangouts - explodes with declarations of gnashing street poetry punctuated with wailing uilleann pipes, Joe Strummer-style chord chops and Bourbon Street sax sojourns." — Rolling Stone
Geoffrey Blythe
Tenor and soprano saxophone
Toward the end of 1980 the split in original Dexys Midnight Runners led to the formation of The Bureau. For a short while Dexys fans had two bands to follow and 1981 was an exciting year.
In 2005, WEA re-issued the long-lost album recorded in 1981 and never before released in the UK. You can get the album at Black 47 shows.
Joe Burcaw
Bass
During his career, Joe has divided his time between New York and London while collaborating with artists such as Ron McClure, Nick Beggs and Mark Egan. In 2007 he will return to London as a featured musician in Bass Guitar magazine's annual seminar/clinic.
His recent solo recording "Dichotomy Theorem" was called "A musical journey of atmospheric treasures, a superb display of playing and songwriting!" by The Village Voice.
Thomas Hamlin
Drums and percussion
Gods Of Electricity is the left field electronic soundscapes project from occasional Black 47 studio guitarist Mike Fazio and Thomas Hamlin. They have a long history of musical partnership dating back to Chill Faction days and before.
Sugartime is four NYC musicians coming together to play the soul songs they love. Jahn Xavier Bonfiglio (The Nitecaps, Richard Hell & The Voidoids, The Ghosts), David Conrad (Black 47, the Uptown Horns, Solomon Burke, Phoebe Snow, Chill Faction, Sylvain Sylvain), Thomas Hamlin (Black 47, Major Thinkers, Chill Faction) & Al Maddy (The Nitecaps, The Royal Wyld, The Dots, Joey Ramone)
Larry Kirwan
Lead vocals and Stratocaster
Independent of Black 47, Larry has produced two solo recordings, Kilroy Was Here and Keltic Kids. He also has published two books, Liverpool Fantasy and Green Suede Shoes: An Irish American Odessey.
Learn more about Larry's side projects on MySpace.
Joseph Mulvanerty
Uilleann Pipes and flute
A founding member of The Ruffians, a New York City pop/punk band called “an American, Gen Y version of the Pogues” by the Chicago Sun Times.
Hear more at Soulpiper.
Fred Parcells
Trombone and pennywhistle
In addition to publishing online over 1700 transcriptions of Irish music performances, Fred also maintains the Black 47 Archive featuring photographs and press from the early days of the band.
Check out The Reel Book and the Black 47 Archive.