CACTUS WORLD NEWS

"Thinking of her brought to mind “Cactus World News”. These guys went ballistic in Ballyhale overnight around the same time and I’ll never forget my friend Shaun stating categorically that they would be bigger than U2." (http://conoroneill.com/2006/10/)

"Ah yes - Cactus World News - one of the best Irish bands - that deserve greater recognition than they received!" ( http://mog.com/music/Cactus_World_News)

Country:
Ireland
Genre:
Rock
Style:
Folk Rock, New Wave, Psychedelic Rock, Alternative Rock

Members:
Eoin McEvoy - Guitar, Vocal
Fergal MacAindris (Fergal Andrews) - Bass (-1989)
Frank Kearns - Guitar
Wayne Sheehy (Wayne P Sheehy) - Drums (-1989)

after 1989
Chris McGoldrick - Bass (member of Alabama 3)
John Doyle - Bass (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Doyle_(musician)
JJ Collier - Drums (http://latino.myspace.com/jjcollier)

VIDEO:

"Church Of The Cold"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4SZClya9Nk&feature=related

URBAN BEACHES (1986, re-realesed in 2001)

Credits:
Bass - Fergal MacAindris
Drums - Wayne Sheehy
Engineer - Mark Freegard (http://www.markfreegard.com/), Thomas Stiehler (recording engineer for Marillion, Killing Joke, Psychedelic Furs, etc)
Guitar - Eoin McEvoy , Frank Kearns
Piano - Wayne Sheehy (tracks: 11)
Producer - Chris Kimsey (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Kimsey and www.myspace.com/wonderknob1), Ian Wilson (also produced The Alarm,Stiff Litte Fingers (track 17) Producer - Bono (U2), Jon Kelly (http://www.record-producers.com/roster/jon-kelly/biography.html) (track 12-14)
Vocals - Eoin McEvoy, Vocals - Joan Whyte (www.rte.ie/performinggroups/rtephilharmonicchoir/choirmembers.html)
(track 05)
Written-By - Cactus World News

Notes:
Recorded in Wissellord Studios, Hilversum Holland and Windmill Lane Studios, Dublin.

2001 Rerelease with Bonus-Tracks and 24-paged booklet. New Artwork digitally remastered in Dublin by Mary Kettle

VIDEO:
"Worlds Apart/Years Later (Live)"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXzTSp4RQzs

Tracklist:

01 Worlds Apart (3:36)
02 In A Whirlpool (3:36)
03 The Promise (5:03)
04 The Bridge (4:15)
05 State Of Emergency (7:10)
06 Years Later (4:10)
07 Church Of The Cold (3:49)
08 Pilots Of Beka (6:04)
09 Jigsaw Street (3:19)
10 Maybe This Time (7:00)
11 Cashen Bay Strand (5:12)
12 The Bridge (Original EP Version) (3:51)
13 The Other Extreme (4:13)
14 Frontiers (4:54)
15 Go Dti An Tra (2:59)
16 Tables Overturn (4:19)
17 State Of Emergency (RTE Radio Session) (6:18)

Link to download:

"Cactus World News wastes no time in making a first impression on its debut album Urban Beaches. The opening track "Worlds Apart" explodes from the speakers with screeching, reverberating guitars, tumbling drums, and fervent vocals. The anthemic chorus and breathtaking energy of "Worlds Apart" will remind listeners of U2's "I Will Follow" in its feel and execution. However, despite similarities to the music of fellow Irish band U2, Urban Beaches is a smart, hypnotically melodic album bristling with youthful exuberance and sparkling musicianship. The impassioned singing of Eoin McEvoy on "Worlds Apart," "In a Whirlpool," "The Promise," and "The Bridge" is contagious; after hearing him bellow "Worlds apart, worlds apart/Closer than I've ever been/To you" a few times, listeners will find themselves mouthing the words or perhaps singing it in the shower. Frank Kearns' driving, electrifying riffs magnify the urgency in McEvoy's voice; nearly every track has thrilling, dramatic guitar playing. Urban Beaches should've been a hit in the U.S.; instead, it became a buried treasure in the cutout bins."(http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:fbfpxqqgldte)

"Of all the bands in U2's wake coming out of Dublin, Cactus World News was the best, and "The Bridge" better than most of U2's output. Anthemic Rock, baby"
(http://recluseshow.blogspot.com/2008/12/bridge-cactus-world-news.html)

"The first band signed to U2’s Mother Records and a corresponding big record label (MCA), one would think that Dublin’s Cactus World News would benefit from the hand that was given them for their debut release in 1986. Indeed their first single (“The Bridge”) was well received by critics and although it didn’t sell by the bucket full was sought fervently by die hard U2 fans. Rolling Stones engineer Chris Kinsey was brought in to produce on the back of his brilliant Production effort of Marillion’s “Misplaced Childhood” album the previous year.
Unfortunately, due to the bands relationship with Mr Bono’s band, one tends to consider that every song is a parody of U2, and the term “poor man’s U2” could never be more apt. The stripped Bass and Drum track, the eternally long sustain on the Guitar track and the New Wave influenced Stadium Rock sound makes one immediately think of the bands benefactors. The problem is that the songs just aren’t strong enough, and no matter whose weight you put behind average songs, they will always be average songs."

""Worlds Apart" will set even the most jaded of hearts afire. I'm not sure this band was the U2 imitation that some detractors make them out to be, but unfortunately it's hard for any band to shake such a tag."The Promise" is great; "Years later" has a huge chorus; "In A Whirlpool" is about as passionate and masterful as The Sound's "Golden Soldiers." (And its title seems to be an homage to The Sound's "Whirlpool.") There's a lot to dig into on this album. A nice touch is that the last song on each side ends with a lengthy, spacey (improvised?) ambient coda, which helps to balance out the band's almost unrelenting urgency. The singer's most obvious vocal idol is Ian McCUllough (of Echo & The Bunnymen).
RIYL: U2, early Bunnymen, The Sound, Comsat Angels, Feverdream [Australia], Spy Vs. Spy [Australia]"

"Excellent album from the 80's. Stand-out tracks for me are State of Emergency and World's apart.
Remember that State of Emergency appeared in an episode of Miami Vice.
I really liked the vocals and the ringing/singing guitars."

"U2 signed this Dublin quartet to its label, Mother, so it's hard to discern if the resemblance would have been diminished without that association. Their first single, "The Bridge," is an atmospheric exaltation that found quick (albeit short-lived) success and was improved for Urban Beaches, on which it is the standout tune. Similar-sounding tracks fill whatever gaps existed between U2 and era-mates Big Country and the Alarm."
(http://www.trouserpress.com/entry.php?a=cactus_world_news)

"An awful lot. When I was a kid living in Canada, my brother exposed me to such a wide range of music, often from the UK, that I still value his taste in music. He's still trying to get me to listen to NOFX! Anyway, I first heard of Cactus World News during the mid 80s when he gave me Urban Beaches by the band. The tape, yes those were the days, was never far from the tape deck in my stereo... Then 15 years later the tape was dying. Thankfully, I managed to find Red Coral Records on the internet and buy a remastered version on CD. I was astonished by the clarity, having listened to a tape that had been overused! The CD is never far from my CD player and often brings back the nostalgia.
What does the music sound like? Well, if you like U2, you'll certainly like it as Urban Beaches was produced by Bono I believe. It does have a U2 vibe, but it is very much its own thing...
I was talking to my brother about the band last year, and he was pleasantly surprised that I still have the album after all these years, but to me, I'll always listen to it, because it reminds me of family, is part of my youth, is different to anything else and is bloody great!"

More review:
http://drivebymedia.wordpress.com/2007/07/16/cactus-world-news-urban-beaches-and-more/

http://www.u2wanderer.org/disco/solo037.html

http://www.squidoo.com/altmusic

NO SHELTER (1989, re-released in 2004)

Credits:
Frank Kearns - Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar (Electric), Producer
Eoin McEvoy - Guitar (Acoustic), Vocals, Producer, Concept, Tape Research, Photo Research Wayne P. Sheehy - Percussion, Piano, Drums, Producer
Andrew Boland (www.myspace.com/andrewboland ),Tim Martin - Engineer/Thom Cadley,Chris Laidlaw - Assistant Engineer
Mary Kettle (http://www.artistdirect.com/nad/music/artist/credits/0,,656321,00.html) - Assistant Engineer, Digital Remastering
Simon Clarke - Keyboards, Organ (Hammond)
Frank Donnelly - Tape Research
Mark Feltham (9 Below Zero,see: http://www.ninebelowzero.com/html/mark.htm) - Harmonica
Stuart Gordon (ex-The Korgis,and works lot with Peter Hamill,see: http://www.rondotheatre.co.uk/production.php?ID=307 and www.myspace.com/3caballeros) - Strings, Arranger
David Rhodes (http://www.davidrhodes.org/) - Guitar, Percussion, Producer
Deirdre Rutkowski (ex-Sunset Gun and worked with THIS MORTAL COIL) - Vocals
Matthew Schwartz - Cover Photo/Colm Henry - Photography
Andy Wallace (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Wallace_(producer)), Kevin Killen (http://www.killenmix.com/ and http://www.reverse-thread.com/kevinkillen.html) - Producer, Engineer, Mixing

Tracklist:

01 Window To Your World (3:33)
02 Taste Of Mercury (4:00)
03 Rebound (3:39)
04 On The Run (4:42)
05 Say Goodbye (4:49)
06 Town Like This (3:39)
07 Falling Sun (4:14)
08 Sleep All Day (3:58)
09 Volcano (5:06)
10 Furious Love (3:43)
11 Everytime (2:20)
12 Memory Harbour (4:34)
13 City Of Angels (4:05)
14 Reconcile (3:56)
15 Window To Your World (Demo Version) (4:17)

Link to download:


"Originally scheduled for release in 1989. It was decided by the record company not to release it. Due to that the band split.
Finally released in 2003 by Red Coral. The waiting for ages has ended and it was worth.
Superb album with ringing guitars and excellent harmonies. But it could not quite compete with Urban Beaches. No shelter is a bit more polished and produced and the rawness of the debut is sometimes missing.But after all these years it still sounded fresh. No Shelter really deserved to be published.
My stand-out tracks are Taste of Mercury ,Say Goodbye and Volcano."

"A second, more pop-oriented album was shelved after two singles failed to draw attention and was not released until much later. (Just for fun, play No Shelter's "Falling Sun" for that annoying collector who claims to own every rare U2 track.)"

More review:
http://www.hotpress.com/archive/2780446.html

http://www.emagine.ie/portfolio/graphic_design/cactus_world_news

http://www.araglin.nl/pivot/entry.php?id=314

SINGLES, B-SIDES

Notes:
Tracks 01-03: THE BRIDGE EP (released November 1985)
Tracks 04-06: YEARS LATER 12" - SPECIAL EDITION (released on 06 Jan. 1986)
Track 07: YEARS LATER 12" (1986)
Track 08: WORLDS APART (12") (1986)
Tracks 09: THE BRIDGE (12") (1986)
Track 10: 7" - Melody Maker, MM VINYL CONFLICT 1 (given away in Feb. 1986 issue of MELODY MAKER magazine (UK))
Tracks 11-14: REBOUND 12" (1989)
Tracks 15-17: TOWN LIKE THIS (12") (1989)
Tracks 18-19: DON'T LET ME DOWN (7") (1990)

VIDEO:

"The Bridge-Live"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1b0OiptaQZA

Tracklist:

01 The Bridge (Original EP Version)
02 The Other Extreme
03 Frontiers
04 Waiting In the Lowlands (acoustic)
05 The Bridge (acoustic piano)
06 Years later (12")
07 Hurry Back
08 Worlds Apart (Extended Version)
09 The Bridge (Extended Remix)
10 Skin And Dust
11 Rebound (7" Version)
12 Reconcile
13 Break On Through (Live)
14 City Of Angels
15 Town Like This
16 Volcano
17 State Of Emergency (Live)
18 Don't Let Me Down
19 Funny

Link to download:


Detailed info:
http://members.tripod.com/~dirkh/cwn-disco.html



Biography:
Cactus World News were an Irish rock band formed in Dublin in 1984. Founded by Frank Kearns and Eoin Mc Evoy the original members were: Frank Kearns, Eoin McEvoy, Wayne Sheehy, and Fergal MacAindris. Their early influences were The Clash, The Ramones, Talking Heads, U2, The Waterboys, and R.E.M.
Their first recording, and best known song, was "The Bridge", which was produced by U2's Bono, and released on their Mother Records label. They performed at the Self Aid concert in Dublin on May 17, 1986. The band released their debut album, Urban Beaches in 1986 and gained minor hits with its three singles: "Years Later", "Worlds Apart" and a re-recording of "The Bridge". After their second album, No Shelter, was shelved at the 11th hour in 1989, the band were dropped by their record label and underwent several personnel changes. MacAindris and Sheehy both quit in 1989. McEvoy and Kearns continued for a couple more years, with various other band members coming and going, including Chris McGoldrick (bass), John Doyle (bass) and JJ Collier (drums).

After leaving Cactus World News, Sheehy went on to play drums with Hinterland (appearing on their Kissing The Roof Of Heaven album in 1990), Hothouse Flowers (appearing on Live), Leslie Dowdall (appearing on Out There, 1998) and Dave-Id Busarus.
Frank Kearns (using the name Francis Xavier) released a solo album, Walking The Waves, in 2005, which featured Sheehy and McEvoy.
MacAindris is now playing Bass for London band Cloudbase.

Trivia:
MacAindris is the son of the late, Irish-born, English-based, television broadcaster Eamonn Andrews.

"The Irish band Cactus World News received a boost from one of their compatriots before they even recorded their first album. In 1985, the group sent a demo tape to Bono of U2 and he promptly brought the band into the studio to record their EP The Bridge. Formed in Dublin, Ireland, Cactus World News would've received comparisons to U2 even without Bono's connection with the group. Eoin McEvoy's moody, passionate vocals and Frank Kearns' soaring electric guitars were reminiscent of U2's early work, especially on anthems like "Worlds Apart" and "The Bridge" from Cactus World News' first album Urban Beaches. Released in 1986 on MCA Records, Urban Beaches was predicted to be a breakthrough debut. However, despite much press attention and even a performance on MTV, Cactus World News was unable to sell records in the U.S. Once touted as the next big thing, Cactus World News' popularity couldn't extend beyond the frequency range of college radio stations. In 1989, Cactus World News released a second album called No Shelter. Unhappy with the commercial potential of the LP, MCA immediately deleted it before it was distributed. Many fans doubted its existence until copies of it were passed around on the Internet. Cactus World News disbanded in 1990."

(http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:gzfqxqy5ldde~T1)

Frank Kearns:
"I went to school in Mount Temple where I was in bands. The U2 guys were in a band called Feedback and they got a deal in 1979, and my band supported them on their first Irish tour. Cactus World News started out in 1984. Eoin McEvoy, the lead singer, and myself started jamming together in a house in Cabra and we wrote a song called 'The Bridge'. Bono heard the song and loved it, wanted to produce it so we went into the studio with him, made an EP and that really got the attention of all the record companies at the time, resulting in a record deal with MCA.

You thought with a record deal you'd just won the lotto but it's far removed from the image of signing a cheque in a dressing room. Most deals are eightalbum option and after each album the option is always on the record company's side so there is no such thing as a million pound deal. For us what it meant it we were able to survive without being on the dole and go to rehearsal without starving. It wasn't a champagne lifestyle. We were a hardworking rock band who took ourselves very seriously.

When we were starting off, all the criticism at that time was 'You just want to be the next Thin Lizzy' and then when U2 made it, it was 'Oh, you just want to be the next U2'. It was very exciting because if they could do it, anyone could do it.

When we signed the deal we were full of hope and optimism and did really well. We had singles in the British charts; we toured America and played lots of big clubs and places in the States.

I was in the States last week and I turned on the radio and heard a Cactus World News song. It was great because we had a real connection with America and we sold a lot of records there . . . we sold more in a suburb of LA than we did in the whole of Ireland.

We were the loudest band in the country and we unfortunately paid the price for that which is Eoin's tinnitus in the ear. It's improving at the moment but it affected him big time.

We've all been through different things ourselves.

Wayne, the Cactus drummer plays with Damien Dempsey's band. I've just released an instrumental album under the title Francis Xavier and that's completely different to Cactus but it's still atmospheric and in that vein. The old Miami Vice episodes have just been re-released and Cactus are on a couple of them. Ferris Bueller's Day Off has a Cactus track on it.

When I look back I'm proud of what we've done. I would have had liked to gone on further and done some more stuff but life got in the way . . . we had difficulties with management . . . and sometimes these hurdles are too hard to get over."
(http://www.tribune.ie/archive/article/2007/oct/28/eye-of-the-tiger-feature-1980s/)

ALBUMS:
Live - Spin Magazine Concert Series (1986)

Urban Beaches (1986; re-released with extra tracks 2001)
No Shelter (1989, unreleased until 2004)

WAYNE SHEEHY
as a member of Driveshaft (or Drive Shaft) around 1980-1982(http://irishrock.org/ipnw/bands/driveshaft.html), 1990 (around 1983,see: http://irishrock.org/ipnw/bands/1990.html) and Hinterland (1987-1994,see: http://irishrock.org/ipnw/bands/hinterland.html and http://www.love-song.co.uk/hinterland/index.htm) is one of Irelands premier Drummer/Percussionsts & has worked with the following International musicians: Jeff Martin (The Tea Party), Eric Burden (the animals) Cactus World News, Ronnie Wood (Rolling Stones), Robert Palmer, Bo Diddley, Carl Carlton, Michelle Shocked, Bobby Womack, Damien Dempsey, Paul McGann, Hot House Flowers, Donavon, Juliet Turner, Paul Brady, Ian McLagan, Paul Young, Hinterland, The Chieftans, Pierce Turner, Steve kilbey, Mary Coughlan, Van Morrison, Andy White, Kieran Kennedy, Andrew Strong, Lesley Dowdall, Nina Hynes, Slide,Trevor Hutchinson, Doug Winbush, Robert Malone, Greg Cohen, Kieth Duffy, Chris Kimsey, Andy Wallace, Ron St Germain, Kevin Killen, David Rhodes, Malcolm Burn, Bono, Amina, Iona Green And many more!!!(http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=51075692&blogID=353966815)

He Toured with Ron Wood (1991-1994),Bo Diddley (1993-1994),Andrew Strong Commitments (1991-1994),Hothouse Flowers (1995-1998),Juliet Turner (since 1997), The Chieftains (2001)
Recorded (They Don't Teach This Shit In School CD (2000)) and toured (1998-2004) with Damien DempseyAlso worked with Michelle Shocked,Paul McGann,Virgil Kane (2006),Carl Carlton.(see more info below)

He formed his own band The Sofas (1995-1999) with The Hothouse Flowers' bassist Robert Malone. Condor Brady: "The Sofas are Wayne Sheehy, Rob Malone, Justin Carroll, Felim Gormley and myself (Condor Brady). We dont get out together much anymore but we recorded lots of stuff that s laying around in the vaults."(www.myspace.com/conorbrady)

Appeared on Bobby Womack's 1993 album
Dave-id Busaras' 1995 album
Leslie Dowdall-Out There (1998)
Donovan's 2002 album
Maggie Khiane - Out To The World CD (2006) (as producer)
Niall Duffy-Time Sleeps For No One (2008 with Frank Kearns!,see: http://cdbaby.com/cd/niallduffy)
Stephen Branigan's 2008 EP

He remains one of the directors of the Kingdom management company.. Wayne also runs "The Drum Collective" a fun, therapeutic and skill based drumming and rythmn workshop , for all levels and age groups, these workshops are nationwide and outside of Ireland they correspond with touring schedules.

Wayne continues to tour , write and record with Jeff Martin and is very exited at the Release and launch of there new band and album The Armada.

NEWS:
"Former Tea Party front man Jeff Martin (http://www.jeff-martin.net/) and legendary percussionist Wayne Sheehy are on a mission. With their newly formed rock'n'roll powerhouse, The Armada (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Armada_(band) and www.myspace.com/jeffmartinandthearmada), the dynamic duo are set to launch an attack on the aural landscape, mixing the captured audio slaves of numerous campaigns into a set of wholly new material for release in the Autumn" (http://www.flybynight.org/suscribe.html)

!!!!! Don't miss to download HINTERLAND - Kissing Roof Of Heaven (1990) here:
http://mineforlife.blogspot.com/2008/03/hinterland-kissing-roof-of-heaven-1990.html

Awesome good album where Sheehy plays drums!!


More info:
http://www.myspace.com/waynesheehy

http://www.carl-carlton.net/e/songdogs_special.php

http://www.hothouseflowers.com/home.asp?s=music&p=born

http://www.thearmada.com/

http://officialpaulmcgann.com/default.aspx?id=51

www.myspace.com/paulmcgannmusic

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lou_777/2330083825/




FRANK KEARNS
has a long and glorious history in the music biz. He went to school with U2 and was the guitar player with Cactus World News.Now Frank runs a Salt Recording studio in Sutton in Dublin. He’s developed a wonderful comfortable studio (http://www.saltrecordingstudio.com/) with both Digital (Protools) and analogue ( 2 inch Tape) equipment. Frank also runs a ‘Rock School’ where budding musicians can learn from an expert.We’ve supplied Frank with Apogee converters, a custom Auralex acoustic treatment and he’s currently looking at Neve and Portico converters. Take a peek at saltrecordingstudio.com (www.audiowarehouse.ie/clients.html)

He was a member of the followin bands:

‘FRANKIE CORPSE AND THE UNDERTAKERS’, formed in 1976:
""Punk really was that seismic," agrees Frank Kearns, a schoolmate of U2 and guitarist in punk band Frankie Corpse & The Undertakers. "It was like Year Zero. I mean it's impossible to describe or to visualise the impact it had on a generation of young people in Ireland. No one had experienced anything like it before. Suddenly, everything changed and nothing that happened previously mattered."
(http://www.stevecummins.net/stevecummins.net/Irish_punk_scene.html)
"My band, Frankie Corpse And The Undertakers, were about to support U2 at a gig. I got a firsthand taste of his managerial ruthlessness when he cut our set from thirty minutes to fifteen. Our guitarist, Frankie himself, was philosophical. "We'll just have to play faster," he decided. It was punk rock. Fast was good."
(http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/neil_mccormick/blog/2008/07/31/paul_mcguinness_how_to_take_over_the_world_with_a_phone)

THE FAST (1979) (world’s first Ramones tribute band). Then came THE MYSTER MEN (1979) (http://irishrock.org/ipnw/bands/mystermen.html and www.myspace.com/made_in_dublin)

BLUE RUSSIA (1980) (http://irishrock.org/ipnw/bands/bluerussia.html):
"Frank Kearns was the original member and founder of BLUE RUSSIA. Noel: "He was a key inspriration to me then and again 25 years later. Frank went on to form Cactus World News and is presently travelling the islands of the pacific (Western Samoa) capturing sound & vision for his latest concept album. It should be released sometime in the next few months."
(http://www.trcjt.ca/ab950/lizzy4/blurusia.html)

CACTUS WORLD NEWS (1984) and SAND PUZZLE (1994)

Frank Kearns (using the name Francis Xavier) released a solo album Walking the Waves (2005)where featured two ex Cactus World News' members Wane Sheehy (percussion) and Eoin McEvoy (vocal) harmonies. (http://www.1969records.com/shop/xavier_walking.htm (review)

He also works with Kilbey brothers:

"in The Esoteric Music Club (EMC,see: http://www.karmichit.com/EMC.html and http://homepage.mac.com/fipster/church/side-projects/side-projects.html?esoteric-music-club.html&main), which is a Karmic Hit-based, donation driven music project created by John Kilbey, who is the brother of The Church's fame Steven Kilbey"

"CWN shared the bill with Australian band The Church on several occasions, and Frank Kearns has since worked with singer/songwriter Steve Kilbey on a series of recordings"

"Frank Kearns and Steven Kilbey plan to release their album this year, tentatively titled "Coral Kingdom". You can read more about Frank at his studio's site."
(http://www.shadowcabinet.net/archive/current/steve.htm)

He is the founder of Rockschool (http://www.rockschool.ie/):
"As a professional rock musician and producer, my vision was to facilitate young musicians in exploring their creativity and expressing their unique individuality through music. Each year, I see students realise how creative they are and am thrilled to witness their new found confidence and self esteem." (Frank Kearns)

More info:
http://www.francisxavier.net/home.html

www.rockschool.ie/fxk_hotpress_2008.pdf



FERGAL ANDREWS
"My name is Fergal Andrews. I am a musician and sound engineer. I live on the coast, north of Dublin city in Ireland. "Io" (eye-oh) is the name I use for my music. I began my musical career in 1985, playing bass with a rock band called "Cactus World News" which I left in 1988. Since then, while playing with several bands and working as a recording engineer, I have developed a passion for electronic music. A couple of years ago I started writing music for theatre (http://www.irishplayography.com/search/person.asp?Personid=1905), which led to a growing love for music of a more classical nature. It is from the marriage of these two relative extremes that Io was born. Falling into the category of Electro-Acoustic, the music itself is also a mixture of extremes, moving from warm and inviting to cold and disturbing."
(http://www.fortunecity.com/victorian/muses/275/ioinfo.htm)

He recently plays with Cloudbase (since 2004)

More info:
http://www.xfmuploaded.co.uk/cloudbase/

www.myspace.com/cloudbaseuk



EOIN McEVOY:

what i know is that he was a member of Jump Iceland (1980-1981,see: http://irishrock.org/ipnw/bands/jumpiceland.html) and guested as vocalist on Francis Xavier's new album.

I also found some guys with the same name, people that can be him:
1, Eoin McEvoy, Senior QEat Abbotts Education Waterford Institute of Technology
2, Eoin McEvoy, Financial Controller at Horseware Products Limited
3, Eoin McEvoy, Senior QE at Abbotts
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/dir/eoin/mcevoy
4, Eoin McEvoy, Managing Editor of the Irish Times.
5, Eoin McEvoy, Grove Turkeys Ltd.

If you know who is right person, let me know please!

Please support the band by using ITUNES music store, where you can download all their songs!:
http://www.apple.com/itunes/whatson/music.html

or try here:
http://www.cactusworldnews.com/purchase1.htm

More Info:
http://www.cactusworldnews.com/

http://www.myspace.com/cactusworldnews

http://irishrock.org/ipnw/bands/cactusworldnews.html

http://www.shatteredmind.com/cwn/

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A0DE0D81630F934A15754C0A960948260
http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/cactusworldnews/

http://members.tripod.com/~dirkh/cwn-disco.html

http://www.irish-showbands.com/images/dwane/ddxcactusworldnewss80.htm