The Beat Groups Of Askeaton

 ( or Sean Lynch said “there were no beat groups In Askeaton”. )

In the early 1960s in a small town in southern Ireland there existed several of what were know at the time as “Beat Groups”. A similar situation existed in most towns in the country at the time. The Kranks, The Twilights, The Jinx, The Amantes, The Wildcats and Auntie. Most remained local never straying far from their local scene and most remaining in existence for short periods of time before morphing into some new entity.

One group was slightly different in that they put their dream of making a record into practice. They pooled all their money from gigs and work until they had a substantial amount saved to pay for a recording in a professional studio in Basinstoke in England. They subsequently travelled to Basinstoke where they spent a week recording. When they went to collect the mastertape they discovered the studio had not been paid and their manager was nowhere to be found and neither was their money. They came back to Ireland deflated with their dreams shattered and they disbanded shortly after.

The story entered local folklore and with various additions added to it as it was told and retold until most people believed it was only a myth. One day a native of the small town was at a flea market just outside Basingstoke browsing through the stuff on sale when he spotted a bunch of 1” tapes in a box under a stall. He proceeded to look through them and spotted one marked “ Auntie Ireland” (unpaid). He recalled the story he had heard at home many times and decided to buy the tape for a pittance from the stall holder. Next was the problem of finding a machine to play it on.

A Revox four track was located but upon advice from the sound engineer who had done similar with Brian Eno’s tapes previously the master tape was deep frozen before playing. This meant that the tape could be copied  digitally only once before it self destructed. Whilst taking the tape from the fridge to the playback machine the sound engineer dropped it. The tape shattered into pieces. The artist Danny McCarthy s was given the fragments. He used them to create the work which now appears on this cassette.

 

 

 (Tales of La Monte Young)

Rumour now has it that there was a mix made of the original tape and that that still exists but the group members cannot agree to release it.

 

The cassette will be available Sept 1st on Farpoint Recordings in a very limited edition.Advance orders to guarantee your copy to Farpoint Recordings.The work will be premiered on NOVA Lyric FM on Sunday by Bernard Clarke so this is your chance to bootleg it.