History

Early in 1983, in St. Patrick’s institution for Dublin’s criminal juveniles, an eleven-year–old Mick McDonnell met a bewildered lad named Steve Cranley.

On remand for larceny and petty theft of pets, the elder McDonnell was to prove a poor influence on Cranley, who was much more the decent-lad-gone-wrong than the hardened little thug. 8-year–old Steven had stolen a bus, which a careless driver had left idling on Aston Quay and was arrested following a four-hour low speed chase along the 77A route. The irony being that had he not deviated from the original route, it is unlikely he would ever have been apprehended. The only upside to this deciding event in his life is the fact that, impressed with quartering the time the bus usually takes, Dublin Bus later promised Steven a job "anytime he wants". The incident was immortalised in the Christy Moore song "Aston Quay, Look At Me"

In jail they bartered tobacco and fruit cake in huge amounts with other inmates to obtain their first guitars, which had to be played in extremely dry conditions, as they were carved out of soap, and would start to lather when the boys palms became sweaty. Later they switched to more traditional wooden instruments.

In an effort to obtain information on a chocolate button smuggling problem rampant in the prison, officials placed one Patrick Fitzgerald, aka The Babby, in McDonnell and Cranley’s shared cell. Alas for the authorities, their supergrass switched sides after a decisive arm wrestling contest, and having again bartered for several weeks, a chamber pot, a wooden spoon and the leg of a chair was to serve as The Babby’s first drum kit.

A recording deal signed in prison was unfruitful and short-lived, as the boys soon discovered that the head of the label was serving life for signing Daniel O’Donnell, and as he could only promote the band within the prison itself, he was probably ill-equipped to fulfil the job properly.

They lost contact for several years after their release, but teamed up again in 1999. They have since written songs for Mary Black, Brian Kennedy, B*Witched, Diana Ross and country legend George Strait. However, it is their own interpretations of these tunes that really brings them to life. They are available for download here.