A few months ago my friend Colm shared with me a band I wasn’t aware of, Eden. Not the Eden I had written about on the blog, these Eden hailed from Belfast.

I know very little about them. But what’s interesting is that they have an active Facebook page and lately they did a reunion gig. Yeah, they played at the Holywood Yacht Club on January 28, 2023. This gig was in aid of the Macmillan Cancer and in celebration of Tim Harvey.

I had reached out on Facebook to the band to see if they’d be keen to do an interview but didn’t hear back from them sadly. I wonder how their gig went. Must have been cool to play their tunes after many years. Cool thing too is that they had support that night by E.B. Scott and a band I know, The Holsteins (check out an interview I did with them ages ago).

So I am scrolling through their Facebook and I see the five-piece playing at a venue called The Errigle Inn in 1987.

Then I find a small bio which I share:
Formed in 1987 and based in Belfast, Eden’s present lineup retains three of the founder members with Paul Drum replacing the original drummer in 1988. If asked to categorise, the band may be viewed as ‘alternative’, although the majority of their songs should appeal to a wider audience than the ‘indie’ clique.
Songs are on the whole written by Jake McCullough and Mervyn Patterson, but ultimately the compositions will be a group effort.
This, their forth demo, illustrates the diversity of their repertoire – from ballad to dancetrack. Previous recordings include a video of a live performance at the Limelight Club in Belfast are available on request.

This press sheet put together by Colm and Marie McCrory, their management, also gives us info about the band members. Jake McCullough on vocals and guitar, Mervy Patterson on lead guitar, Tim Harvey on bass and Paul Drum on drums.

Also venues they have played, Limelight Club, Guinness Spot and the Speakeasy in Queens University, Errigle, Dunbar Link, Duke of York, Pennyfarthing and Conor Hall in Belfast. University of Ulster in Jordanstown. Strand Hotel in Porstewart and Union Hall in Derry.

This fourth demo had four songs which we know their names, “Always Ours”, “Suzanne”, “Paint Your Pictures Blue” and “North”. Their songs had been featured on radio programmes like The Davy Simms Show on DTR FM and on The Bottom Line on BBC Radio Ulster.

The band would split up in 1990. There are some cool photos of the band taken by Peter Major from The Holsteins at the Music/Arts Collective in Lower Donegal Street taken before they went their separate ways.

Then we see that the band had a gig at The Errigle Inn where they supported The Lewies. Other bands that day were Marble Cedar and The Brilliant Trees. When they played at The Guinness Spot they shared stage with Silent Running and a band I’ve featured in the blog, The Carralines.

What about at The Limelight? There they supported The Carolines once, another time with Shimera and also, for a Christmas time gig, they played with O.E.M.

Then we learn the band started in the summer of 1987. That they were all schoolfriends. Actually Mervyn and Jake had already been playing together since 1985 live. Not sure what was their band called at that point though.

A setlist from their first gig is the next find. The songs they played were “Shallow”, “Let Her Go”, “That’s What”, “Midnight Game”, “Loudest (?) Beach”, “Chasing Shadows”, “Judas Iscariot”, “Friends”, “When the Cats’ Away” and “Too Close to Dance (?)”. Some word are hard for me to understand. I don’t want to blame the handwriting but…

There 2nd ever gig was an acoustic one at at the Dunbar Link.

Another song name i find is “Small Time Mind”. But that’s not all. Colm had actually shared songs with me. There’s “Always Ours”, “Friends”,  “Let Her Go”, “North (Live on Belfast Community Radio 1990)”, “North (Pete’s Dad Study)”,”Paint Your Picture Blue (Pete’s Dad Study)”,”Small Town Mind (Splash Studios)”, “Suzanne (Eamon’s Bedroom)” and “When the Cats Away”.

And that’s all I could find about them really. Quite a bit, but of course, I’d like to find a discography of their demos. And what about they didn’t get to release any proper records? It seems they had a good following in Belfast, so we should know more about them! Please share with me any other details!

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Listen
Eden – Small Time Mind