Up Close & Personal: Paul Cleary in conversation with Tom Dunne

The Blades began in the summer of 1977 when five friends got together to play a gig in the hall of the Catholic Young Men’s Society in their local parish of Ringsend. The lineup was whittled down to three: Paul Cleary on bass and vocals, his brother Lar (sadly RIP) on guitar, and friend Pat Larkin on drums. After a slate of classic pop tunes, the original Blades disbanded, and Paul (now on guitar) continued with The Partisans, a beefier dance sound driven by his love of soul. As well as leading an eight-piece pub rock band, The Cajun Kings, Paul also released solo material. However, The Blades’ legacy endured and expanded annually, as radio stations across the country played their classic singles. In 2001, The Blades released a double CD box set, Those Were the Days, which included both his celebrated albums, The Last Man in Europe and Raytown Revisited. In Roddy Doyle’s The Commitments, The Blades are mentioned when Jimmy Rabbitte remarks that he recognises people in the audience as having ‘been at Blades’ gigs years earlier,’ implying that both fans were working class, soul fans, and knew their music.

The Blades reformed to play live in 2013 and two years later released their first new recordings since 1985 with a four-track EP, Smalltime, followed by the album Modernised in 2016. Today, Paul is revered as one of Ireland’s most successful singer/songwriters. With his current band—now powered by a brilliant group of musicians—he has revisited his rich and memorable songbook, including all-time classics Ghost of a Chance, Downmarket,, and Revelations of Heartbreak, complete with a live horn section.  Fuelled by Paul’s Ringsend roots, an iconic voice, and heartfelt musical poetry, The Blade’s live performances remain as powerful and relevant today as they continue to attract new fans and pack out venues nationwide. 

After he graduated from an engineering degree in UCD, Tom joined Something Happens as singer and songwriter from the 1980s to mid-1990s, when he was offered a new career in radio, initially presenting a nighttime Irish music show Totally Irish on 98FM. He transferred to the new national radio station, TODAY FM in 1999, where he presented Pet Sounds from 7.00pm to 10.00pm every Monday to Thursday. During holidays he also filled in for more mainstream daytime hosts Ian Dempsey and Ray D’Arcy. 

In 2002, Dunne scooped a double as the Best DJ at both the Meteor and Hot Press annual awards plus the winner of five PPI Awards.

In 2008, Dunne departed Today FM to join stablemate station, Newstalk, and at first, presented his show titled “The Tom Dunne Show” on weekday mornings from 10am to noon before moving to the nighttime slot due to Pat Kenny’s arrival. On Sunday nights, Dunne presents an alternative-leaning music show “Surf’s Up”.

Tom has also grown as a TV presenter, hosting RTE’s music series Pop Scene and later presented Planet Rock Profiles after original host Dave Fanning departed. PRP aired on RTÉ, ITV, VHI, and many other TV stations around the world. He also co-presented RTÉ’s coverage of the Electric Picnic and mobile show The Hive on the 3 Ireland Network. He also narrates the long running RTE series The Zoo. 

Dunne writes a weekly column in the HQ Magazine City Entertainment supplement of the Evening Herald plus a weekly column in The (Irish) Sunday Times. He has also published three collections of his favourite songs by Irish artists, or artists associated with Ireland, known as the Tom Dunne Collections. In early 2006, he released The Definitive Tom Dunne Vol. 01: Pet Picks 2000-2006, a compilation of some of the most popular tracks from the Pet Sounds radio show.

Something Happens were signed to Virgin Records in the late 1980s and enjoyed initial success after the release of their debut album Been There, Seen That, Done That. Their follow up Stuck Together With God’s Glue, was recorded in Los Angeles and released in 1990 to critical acclaim, with UK music paper NME voting the song “Petrol” one of top fifty singles of the year. Despite achieving success in Ireland and Britain, international recognition eluded the band and they parted company with Virgin shortly after their second album’s release. The band subsequently produced t-shirts bearing the slogan, “Something Happens are no longer Virgins.”[ The band continued to record and release new music into the 1990s and in 2004 released The Best of Something Happens to wide acclaim. This was as a result of the band playing occasional live shows which they still do today.

Outside performing shows with Something Happens bass player Alan Byrne is a TV studio director with RTE’s The Late Late Show; drummer Eamonn Ryan is a senior production manager with live promoters MCD; guitarist Ray Harman is a multi-award winning TV/Film composer, while singer/songwriter Tom Dunne has also thrown himself into a wide range of media and broadcast activities. 

Age & Opportunity is the national organisation working to enhance wellbeing for older people through participation in sport and physical activity, arts and creative engagement, personal development, community collaboration and active citizenship.

The Bealtaine Festival, an Age & Opportunity Arts initiative, is one of our flagship events. The festival continues to grow with the support and collaboration of our partners and hundreds of organisers throughout the country, as well as all those who attend a Bealtaine event. We are grateful to all those who organised events and look forward to another creative and inspiring year of Bealtaine Festival.

Bealtaine Festival is an Age & Opportunity arts initiative funded by the Arts Council and the HSE.