Engineer Chris O’Brien set up a small but funky recording set up in the front

room of the house and recorded a few songs namely ‘Fatman’, ‘My Baby’s Coming

Home’ and ‘Show Me’. This was all around the time of the Magic Carpet gigs.

Then through a man called Lorcain Ennis we did some demos in Strand Studios

off Caple Street in Dublin. Leo Barnes was invited to play some sax on a song

called ‘Out Walking’ which literally blew us all away. This is where the first

demo of ‘Love Don’t Work This Way’ was recorded.

A tall man with U2 connections called in one evening and picked up a copy of

the tape and pretty soon the phone was ringing wanting a meeting with the band.

In the mean time, gigs were happening in places like the Colony Restaurant,

Timmerman’s, The Chicken Club at the Pembroke Bar, various gigs in Trinity and

U.C.D and of course in the Risk night-club. It was in the Risk night-club that

the famous friends started coming to see us. It was here that we hit something

musically, that was to send out waves around the globe.

U2 at this stage had set up a record label to help Irish artists. We were offered

a one single deal for the song ‘Love Don’t Work This Way’ which we recorded

in Windmill, with Flood as an engineer/producer. It was really a tiring day

but a very professional experience, which felt like a stepping stone for all

of us. The record got great airplay and reviews and it was important to have

such a recording to send to various record companies whom were intrigued by

the band’s sound. Finally, after touring for a while and rehearsing a lot, we

went over for a meal organised by London Records. This was a strange event at

the time. Almost like being courted, where the other person is eager to impress.

Anyway, we ate a lot and drank too much and made no promises to anybody. Eventually,

the paperwork was right and we signed

our first recording contract with London Records.

So many names were put forward to work with that we were dreaming names at

the end. They were stressful days where it was hard to know where it was all

going. Eventually we played with U2 in Dublin sometime between late ’87 and

early ’88. Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley came to see us. What we liked was

their versatility; they had worked with (Dexy’s Midnight Runners, Madness, and

David Bowie) to name a few. We did a good week of rehearsals and reshaping and

we then went to London to record. It was put together in

Westside Studios near Notting Hill Gate and we did some overdubbing in Townhouse,

in Battersea (once owned by Pete Townsend). We felt good in Townhouse with their

selections of pianos/organs/ercussions/vibes/marimbas, etc. It was a very soulful

session meeting the various people involved like the Jimmy’s (Helms/Chambers)

who did some backing vocals, Luis Jardin with his big fat cigars who played

percussion and Claudia Fontaine who’s voice changed the shape of the album so

wonderfully. We ate a lot of Indian food and drank a lot of beer, wine and whiskey.

There was a lot of coming and going on behind the scenes with a whole sub committee

making the album, too. I remember Clive was on the phone a lot. We eventually

mixed in Westside, we had the company of people in Archies bar, while Alan Winstanley

did the mixing on the album which came to be called ‘People’.

1988’s ‘People’, was the most successful debut in Irish history. Even before

the release of ‘People’, expectations were high. Rolling Stone magazine said

they were the ‘best unsigned band in the world’. The album’s original sleeve

is shown above – now a collector’s items. CD’s were starting to hit the market

and subsequently, to get the market going for CD’s rather than lovely old crackly

vinyl, extra songs tended to be added to the CD that weren’t on the vinyl version.

‘Lonely Lane’ and ‘Saved’ being the bonus tracks for ‘People’. (The Limited

Edition Import listed below with a different catalogue number is no different

to the normal CD). After it was released the band were said to be the next U2

– which was highly unfair to both Hothouse Flowers and U2. They were, after

this release, probably as big, if not bigger than U2. The album reached Number

2 in the UK chart and Number 1 in Ireland.