Paul ClearyThe Blades Frontman And Songwriter
THE BLADES were always going to be the “next big thing” in the late 1970s/early 1980s.
The Ringsend band won over critics with their powerpop/ mod songs – all written by Paul Cleary, who was routinely described as one of the country’s finest songwriters.
The Blades appeared on The Late Late Show in 1981. The original line-up changed the following year and in 1983, Cleary beat Van Morrison and Bono to win the Hot Press Best Irish Songwriter award.
International success was always around the corner but it never came. The breakthrough beckoned when they were signed to Elektra but the label chose not to release the debut LP. Independent label Reekus Records released that album – The Last Man in Europe– in 1985 but it was too late and the disillusioned band split soon after. A singles compilation was also released that year.
Cleary soldiered on, first with the The Partisans and later The Cajun Kings but then he disappeared from the public eye. He worked on the production of the quiz show Blackboard Jungleand did some other work for television.
There were hopes of a comeback in 2001, when Reekus released a double CD box set Those were the Days. This was followed by Cleary's solo album Crooked Town.
But Cleary again retreated into the shadows soon after. Now 50, he is married with children and lives in Dublin. When contacted, he politely declined to be interviewed.
The drummer in the original trio, Pat Larkin, said he hadn’t seen Cleary in a while.
While Cleary is not speaking publicly now, he was more forthcoming in interviews in 2001. He told TV3's Ireland AMthat he was very bitter after the split.
“We were supposed to be the next big thing and there was ourselves and U2 of course, and U2 have gone to bigger and better things.”
