The Lunatic Fringe

Are you sitting comfortably? Good, then I will begin.

Far, far back in time - way back to the early 1980s, four working class Belfast boys had a dream - to cut ( that was the terminology of the times) a record. But only one of those kids was a real dreamer.

Paul Rowan was convinced he was the bastard love child of David Bowie and Marc Bolan and that one day he would fulfil his destiny to be a rock star. After all, It was in his bleached blue jeans.

But he was born with a disability. While he could play guitar like a God and sing like a siren, his songs sank like turds in the Thames.

Destiny took a hand when his friend and bass player Frankie Higney introduced him to a disturbed hermit called Huddleston with wild red hair possessed of the power of an ancient Irish balladeer.

Soon there followed sell out local gigs, support slots with top pop acts and a live concert filmed by the BBC’s revered Old Grey Whistle Test.

But like Icarus these young lads flew too close to the sun and were soon consumed by its power.

But raw energy can’t be destroyed only transformed - in this case into the band’s first vinyl single.

It’s taken a while, but now you can sample two songs that seduced a city by a bunch of boys still referred to as Belfast’s best unsigned band.