The Blades

The Blades were an Irish band formed in 1977 in the south Dublin neighbourhood of Ringsend.

The band were a support act for Duran Duran in 1984.

Background information
The band were formed in the cauldron of the punk era in 1977, with Paul Cleary on bass, his older brother Lar Cleary on guitar and Pat Larkin on drums, they made their name with a series of raucous gigs at the nearby Magnet bar.

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.

A short-lived singles deal with the Energy label followed before Larkin and then Lar departed, allowing Paul Cleary to switch to guitar, bring in drummer Jake Reilly and bassist Brian Foley and add a brass section in homage to Stax, Motown and Dexy's Midnight Runners.

It was this line-up that produced "Downmarket", arguably Cleary's finest moment. With its mournfully defiant tone, it captured 1980s-era Dublin in all its gloomy, fatalistic solidarity.

They signed a $100,000 deal with the American label Elektra after Andrew Loog Oldham, the A&R man and one-time Rolling Stones manager, saw the band at the Lisdoonvarna festival. Their debut album, The Last Man in Europe, was recorded in 1984 with John Porter, producer.

In 1986, the band released the diverse and retrospective compilation Raytown Revisited.

In 1989, Cleary packed in the rock game altogether, and found himself writing questions for quiz shows and composing signature tunes. After 12 years of songwriting, he turned his back on his talent.