In Tua Nua
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In Tua Nua (roughly translated from the Irish as "In the new land") was an Irish rock group who achieved a modicum of fame and success in both Ireland and Europe throughout the late 1980s. The group was formed by Leslie Dowdall, Jack Dublin, Vinny Kilduff, Ivan O'Shea, Martin Clancy, Paul Byrne and Steve Wickham in the early 1980s. Although the group's focus and pretensions were an early Roxy Music-style rock (though sadly they lacked the looks and ability of the British group), it combined this aspiration with ersatz folk and traditional Irish music in the form of uillean pipes and acoustic guitars, laced together with raw vocals and electronic violin. The latter instrumentation was at times was little more than a pastiche of the playing of Eddie Jobson on Roxy Music's Country Life (album)[1].
In 1983 the band were the first to sign to U2's Mother label and released their first single "Coming Thru". Shortly afterwards Island records signed the band. A number of singles were released and a debut album recorded. The first Island single was the critically acclaimed "Take My Hand", co-written by a very young Sinéad O'Connor. This was followed by a second single, "Somebody To Love".
In 1985 Steve Wickham left to join forces with The Waterboys which allowed Island to drop the band. The album recorded for Island remains unreleased to this day. A compilation of singles and b-sides was packaged together and released as an album in Italy under the title "Somebody to Love".
Vinnie Kilduff also departed from the band around this time. Undeterred, the remaining members recruited replacements - Aingeala de Burca on violin and Brian O'Briain on uilleann pipes.
In 1986 the new look In Tua Nua played the Self Aid concert and were considered by many to be one of the highlights of the day. Newly signed to Virgin Records the band released "Seven Into the Sea", one of their most popular recordings. A debut album "Vaudeville" was released in early 1987.
After extensive touring to promote the album the band reconvened to record a follow-up album. Shortly sfter the recording was completed both Aingeala de Burca and Ivan O'Shea decided to call it a day. Two new recruits were found in the form of Lovely Previn on violin and Matt Spalding on bass.
The follow up album "The Long Acre" was released in 1988. It spawned two popular radio hits "All I Wanted" and "Don't Fear Me Now". A third single from the album, "Wheel Of Evil", was also released.
The band decamped to LA to record a third album for Virgin. After the recording was finished the band split so Virgin never released the album. Both "Vaudeville" and "The Long Acre" were made available on iTunes in 2006 and the unreleased third album called "When Night Came Down on Sunset" was eventually released through iTunes in September 2007.
Although officially disbanded in the early 1990s some original members of In Tua Nua reformed in 2004 to occasionally play live together again.
Leslie Dowdall, the blonde and beauteous lead singer, who always dressed in black continues to perform, be it solo or guesting with other Irish and international singers. She released two well-received solo albums in the 1990s; "No Guilt, No Guile" and "Out There".
At its height the band had a cult following and an international, albeit limited, appeal and although the band never truly made its mark on the world stage, it did create a musical genre all its own that appealed to the more reflective and pragmatic listener.
[edit] References
http://www.emigrant.ie/boards/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=2;t=003030
Sunday Independent, 8th December, 1996
Aingela de Burca, violin player in the pop group In Tua Nua received £10,000 in an out-of-court settlement against Hot Press Magazine in December 1995. The settlement was made on the steps of the Four Courts because Ms de Burca claimed had been maligned in a comment placed in the personal ads of the magazine. Hot Press settled for £10,000 in preference to proceeding with a defence which would have been much more costly and yielded nothing even in the event of them winning, since Ms de Burca was without means. Ms de Burca was dropped from the band in 1988 when she began these proceedings against the only music magazine in Ireland capable of giving the band coverage.
