Belfast Punk/New Wave Band 1978/84
The Original and Official Band Website of THE LIDS
THE LIDS
TM
© Geoff Shannon 1978
THE LIDS OUR MUSIC
RARE RARE !!! RELEASE ....... AVAILABLE WORLDWIDE
Hard hitting anthem from Belfast Northern Irish '' New Wave Band'' THE LIDS. The lyrical content deemed sensitive for its time during ''The Troubles'' in Northern Ireland, never released as an intended single until now..
'Helicopter' It was a time of turmoil on the streets of Belfast security barriers, bomb alerts, riots , sirens, shootings. army checkpoints and the odd smell of tear gas in the wind.
There always seemed to be a helicopter over head or you could hear one in the distance. 'Helicopter' is about the British army helicopters which flew over housing estates at night shinning really powerful spotlights on the residents below.
At the time it was quite surreal. freaky, intimidating and sometimes funny because of the antics of the people below performing for the spotlights. I even remember these helicopters playing Christmas carols from speakers.
Dramatically portrayed using lyrical references to Greek mythological creatures, ''Pegasus'' being a flying winged driven horse and '' Raging Cyclops'' the one eyed monster.
Never released as an intended single until now. For our 40th anniversary of the bands formation we are releasing all of our best material . A special anthology album to be released at around Xmas 2024
Written in response to the Ethiopian famine in early 1984 ,lyrically still very potent in relation to the recent situations in Northern Africa. Was considered for a single release but was overshadowed six months later by the Band Aid event.
Paul Kelly from the original band myself got together to make a plan for a new unit, that would concentrate on recording and playing larger venues. Paul introduced me to Don McNeely R. I .P. formerly the bass player with ''Pretty Boy Floyd and the Gems''. Supplemented by Coner Shields on guitar and Dr. Chris Legget on piano/synth. This line up sounded great and we practiced extensively. We mainly played in the North of Ireland in the Universities.
In 1983/84 we decided to record some of the material i had written using a studio owned by a fabulous guitarist called Lawrence Thomson R.I.P. It was located in a small warehouse in Newtownards near Belfast, initially we recorded four tracks, ''Walkie Talkie'', '' My Secret Place '', ''Heavy People'' and ''In My House''. As well as doing a great job on production we used the late Lawrence Thomson on session guitar with the view to having him eventually join the band. The next recording session we recorded '' Africa'' and ''It's a Kiss'' . The track ''Africa'' was inspired by the Ethiopian famine situation which also later prompted Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to plan the Live Aid concert in July 1985. The track is still lyrically relevant to the recent events in North Africa over the last decade . Look forward to THE LIDS Anthology Album around Xmas 2022 The Album will be available world wide on Vinyl ,CD and downloadable formats. ..This single is dedicated to the victims of Famine and Turmoil in this world we live in. Also to our very dear friends and fabulously talented musicians who have sadly past on since this recording Don McNeily/Bass and Lawrence Thomson/ Guitar. Never to be forgotten and may they Rest In Peace.
In 1983/84 we decided to record some of the material in a the ''Warehouse Studio'' in Newtownards near Belfast, initially we recorded four tracks there ''Walkie Talkie'' was one of them. Lots of people have very different interpretations of the meaning behind this song . Hey we are going to leave it open but there is lots of clues in the Lyrics and the accompanying video ...... Mysterious and Creepy
NEW RELEASE ST PATRICK'S DAY 2022
This song was recorded in the famous Belfast Wizard recording studios in 1979. The Undertones recorded 'Teenage Kicks' around a week before in the same studio . THE LIDS a New Wave / Punk band who toured Ireland extensively have a vast amount of material which still has to be released. The song ''THIS AND THAT '' is about a relationship gone wrong a love affair ripped apart by arguments and incompatibility. This song we want to promote as a long lost single it was released on a compilation album but we think it merits being promoted as Single. This release is a prelude to our Anthology Album which has been delayed by the world pandemic. We hope to have it out in 2024 and it will be in all formats including Vinyl.
This song is released in memory of Peter North our rhythm guitarist on this track who sadly passed away on 3rd Sept 2021 . R.I.P