The History of Hoovers and Sledgehammers

For all who are interested in the long winded and true history of how

Hoovers and Sledgehammers came about, grab a six pack of beer or a mug of

tequilla and read on...

                                     Earl Mustard                                                       Igor Honey         

It all began 15 years ago.  After stumbling across some magpies feeding on some roadkill on his way to school Earl Mustard was left with a lasting impression on what he had just seen. How could he best relate his story to his fellow humans? Music was and still is a universal language, so he got himself an acoustic guitar.  It was black.  He learned some chords and wrote some songs.  "The magpie", "Washing the clothes" and more famously, "Bring the bread" were some of his earliest compositions.  

Soon his good pal and art historian Igor Honey had joined in his quest to speak to the masses through song.  Playing the bass guitar like he was handling a soft weazel on speed, Igor soon added an edge to Earls beautiful music.

Next on the cards after months of practicing and perfecting and crying, was to find the ultimate drummist. After an exhaustive search, the lads realised that their long time friend and educator Eoin "The Bone Machine" McGrath could add the beat and power they so desperately saught.  Biscuit tins and wooden spoons transpormed the sound into something magical.  2 months later the trio were armed and dangerous and hungry for the open stage.  All they needed was a name & Earl had it immeadiately- "The Gas Characters" were ready for action...

                   The Bone Machine as he looks nowadays

Not long after however, it was agreed that they needed a real drum kit-you just can't tune a biscuit tin like a snare, or cardboard box like a bass drum.  The Bone Machine couldn't afford one, he was kicked out.  One drummer down...

But the timing couldn't have been better, for Earl had a chance encounter in a bar with an old school pal. Cory "feldman" O'Neil revealed that he recently had invested some of his father's pension in a pearl export.  A quiet lad who had tried his hand briefly at ski jumping, Earl realised Cory was the perfect choice.  After some jamming the new line up was ready for something big...

             Cory at DCU battle of bands

 And something big was just around the corner in the form of a battle of the bands held in Dublin City University.  The lads played two of Earl's newest compositions: "The Brady Bunch" & "Deeper". They got people dancing. It was a success. Donal Dineen of "No Disco" fame was there to lap up their efforts.

Two weeks later Cory had left the band.  He missed skiing too much.  Second drummer down.

The boys were back to square one again.  The rehearsal room was devoid of drums.  However, this lull was a welcome one.  Earl and Igor could spend some time composing new songs and perfecting their skills on their instruments. Historically, it was around this time that they became interested in aliens, ufos, and holy god.

Drummer number 3 walked into the Gas Charatcers' lives quite by accident- while Igor was shopping for cantelope in a major super market chain he was served by a fellow who was playing drums on the display counter with bread sticks.  It turned out the bread sticks were stale, hence giving such a rich acoustic sound that appealed to Igors musically sensitive ear...

Mick "the stick" Roche

    After a brief chat about what exactly he was doing, it became immeadiately obvious that mick should join forces with the two boys.  A short time later the trio were blasting out some powerful rock ballads.  New compositions included "The Scissor Drug", "Funk 77" and "Missing Time" to name but a few.  With this raw energy and new direction the Gas Characters tag was dropped, and "Fear of Music" decided upon as the new band title.  

              Fear of Music in the Attic

Fear of music enjoyed a good run through the early nineties, playing various venues around dublin and occasionally mincing with some females here and there...

For some reason, two years later the band decided to change their name to "Tub" and indeed this incarnation also enjoyed some quality time both on stage and in the rehearsal room.  Songs bobbing around at this point in time included "Fatnose" [which isn't about having one], "The Philadelphia Experiment", "Sex Offenders in your Medicine Cabinet" [don't ask], and the beautiful country ballad "One Last Cigarette" [about enjoying one last small cigar].

            Tub in their prime 1997

  Sadly though, this band just wasn't to be, and Mick went off on his travels to Peurto Rico to chase ufos and whatnot. Drummer number 3 was gone...

Now came the drought. No music. No rehearsing. No gigs. Earl and Igor went their separate ways. Igor packed up his stufft and sped off to that fine land that is Australia.  Earl saw this as the perfect opportunity to do some travelling of his own.  The destination he had always dreamed of was Peru-so that was where he went.

Somewhere along this time period, The Bone Machine arrived back from South America looking to play some music with Igor & Earl. Now a competitant guitar player, Bone Machine stood at the helm of this new incarnation of the band.  Tony "Swany" Swan stood at the drums for this one.  They recorded an album which they later named "A touch of Mammys Hands".  They called the band "Ask yer Daddy". Three days later the band had broken up.

But again this didn't discourage the duo from playing music.  By chance an old Pal of Bone Machine- Gary "Gaz" Gartlan, a supreme guitarist/bassist/speakers corner enthusiast from New York,  was knocking around dublin and was interested in jamming the the guys.  He knew a drummer Aengus "Woodsie" Woods.  Another new band was formed within hours.  A few short weeks later, billed as "Wax & Wayne", they played a gig in old Slatterys on Capel Street, Dublin with The Dudley Corporation as support. Smiley Bolger loved them and it was a marvelous show by all accounts- but it was to be their one and only, as Gaz was deported back to America for not having the correct papers for playing in a rock and roll band!

                 Wax & Wayne

2 years passed.  The Igor and Earl met up again.  It wasn't long before a plan was put in place to get a band back together.  Various adverts were placed throughout the biggest and best music/guitar shops in dublin looking for "drummer for dublin based rock/abstract band-influences include pixies, pavement, starsky & hutch and serial killers, please contact..."  They got more than they bargained for.  Hoovers and Sledgehammers do not, under any circumstances, want to talk about this part of their career to anybody, at any time, ever.  

After the aformentioned unmentionable period of drummer number 6, the two decided that they would go onwards without the help of human drummers[took them long enough to make this decision] and introduce a machine from now on to do the beats for them.  Hoovers and Sledgehammers were born.  A great day for all involved and for all mankind.  Within two weeks, one album was finished and they called it "Songs for Mella".  This unofficial beauty was recorded live in Earls house with a really shit tape recorder.  Songs still exist in the archives, some of them included on the tape are "I can't wait to go out tonight" and "Bobby the Faggot" to name but a few.  Two weeks later, they had bought a tascam 4 track recorder and  suddenly there were no limits to what they could do.  Their first album with over 30 tracks was completed in 1 month from start to finish. A now classic and much sought after album, "The Marmite Master" brought such gems as "The Flute Boy",  "Once Gary Said" and a reworking of an old tune from Fear of Music days-"Luekaemia's Treat".    

                                                   Very first H&S gig         

Soon after Hoovers and Sledgehammers played their first gig. It was at a house party. There was a moderate crowd there. They enjoyed it. This was the shape of things to come.

Within two months the band had produced two more albums on the 4 track, each album containing 25 songs or there abouts.  "The Woman with 3 tits" and "Sugar Country" did well amongst friends and suprisingly well on the American Billboard charts.

The new millenium saw many drunk people fall into the river liffey in Dublin. Hoovers and Sledgehammers went for a new sound.  Turns out Earl had been learning how to play the drums quite like a wizard on lsd. i.e. wonderfully.  Now they had all they ever wanted. A reliable, competant drummer. Earl and Igor started jamming and recording the jamming.  Earl started singing whilst playing the drums.  Igor played some improv bass to earls drums.  Earl made up lyrics as he went along...

After a few weeks recording, they realised that there was enough material [52 hrs approx.] to make into an album-"Fox at my Window" was born...

Classic songs such as "Honey, I gotta go", "The Bilderberg Group", "The Device" and "Chocolate on my Face" came out of this album.  

This seemed to be the winning format that the two young musicians had been searching so long for.  It wasn't long before they were playing songs from Fox at my Window to a live audience.  The reaction was good.  Within two years the band had produced three more albums in Earls shed on the humble tascam 4-track.  "Shut the Fuck up", self titled "Hoovers and Sledgehammers" and most recently "Dr.Carmel". Each album averaging 25 songs or more. They also recorded an ep with the excellent Soviet Filter producing-  known as Joyridin' ep, all the songs have enjoyed widespread airplay.  [see audio section for samples]

Presently the band are recording their 5th album and are playing throughout venues in dublin.  they are enjoying a substantial listenership over on the cpu website.

Amen.