MyGen Profile Generator The streets of Dublin, 1983! Ireland's pioneering rockabilly outfit Those Handsome Devils fronted by suave guitar maestro and vocalist extraordinaire Sean Foy set those very streets alight in true greaser-core fashion by busking their wares for beer money! In a very short space of time quite a buzz built up around the city for the Devils and their unique take on all things rockabilly. They began playing sold out shows where one could witness queues forming outside the venues. They did indeed cause quite a stir! One that didn't go unnoticed by the media either! In 1984 Foy and his cohorts, Johnny Bonnie on drums, Frank Rynne on rhythm guitar and Pat Harte on slap bass went into the famous Windmill Lane studios with producer P.J. Curtis and cut their debut single Hep Bop/Boy Meets Girl. Rock DJ Dave Fanning (The Irish John Peel) picked up on the single and gave it regular airplay on his nightly radio show and later that year recorded a session with the band which included the Foy original and contemporary rockin' classic Johnny Cynic. The single was also picked up by "pop" DJ Larry Gogan on his daytime radio show and it was made "Single Of The Week". The national newspapers were also quite fond of Those Handsome Devils not just because of their obvious musical talents but they also their debonair dress sense! The Sunday World in particular seemed to notice that the Devils were causing quite a bit of a fashion trend in Dublin and ran a 2 page feature on the boys choice of gentlemanly threads!! Those Handsome Devils were fast becoming a very big name on the Dublin music circuit.
However, the inevitable line-up changes occurred and with the change in personell came the change in musical direction. By 1986 Those Handsome Devils had opted for a more garage/rock sound but with this said it always maintained rockabilly undertones. In 1987 they released their second and last single, the excellent Don't Bring Me Down. TV appearances and much press interest were order of the day at the Devils camp but they just seemed to disappear without trace.
Today their recorded works are very much sought after and after years of mystery surrounding the band I thought it was hight time to bring them back in to the limelight. Sean Foy is back recording again and has a solo album out on Foot Tapping Records with a new one in the works. There's a link to his page on here (he's number 2 in the "friends" section...yours truly of course is number 1)...so if you missed Those Handsome Devils first time around or are only discovering the talents of Sean Foy for the first time...then you've come to the right place.
O'Prez (May 2007)
