Limerick City 1978...the anonymous cult group Date-Rippers began
recording a trilogy of cassette albums in their living rooms , with
punk attitude, white noise, shortwave radio sounds and stylophones.
Amazingly, these chaotic , practically anti-songs received radio play
and began selling locally. Indeed , the 1979 album contained among the
first examples ever of "sampling" , with one track based on a loop of
Gary Numan's "Cars" and another of Lene Lovich's "Lucky Number". Barry
Warner now admits to an "involvement" with the Date-Rippers , who
evolved into the more musical ( but still anonymous to this day) three
piece Tripper Humane in 1980. All the music was synthesizer-based.
More home-recorded albums followed and sold well , as well as another
name change to Ultimate Treason. Ultimate Treason ( which was basically
a psuedonym for Warner's early solo work ) began recording properly in
the studio in 1983 , releasing a further three full cassette albums ,
this time available nationwide , with national airplay and enormous
press coverage.
They also contained embryonic versions of later singles "Real Man" ,
"Dancing Without You" ( which also contained a portion of Tripper
Humane's "Discoland", so no point denying THAT involvement!!) and "Just
A Floor"
Dublin City 1985.....after recording a session for RTE radio ,Barry
Warner moved to Dublin to release his debut single and video "Real
Man". The response to the single was staggering, with huge airplay for
both the single and the video. The song reached number 29 in the Irish
charts in December 1985. It's flip side "Losing Control" was also
noteworthy for it's early hip hop flavour , with scratching turntables
and 808 drum machines. Three more pioneering electronic singles
followed..."Dancing Without You" ( which had the full-on rap b-side
"Throwdown") , "What's Happenin" and "Just A Floor" , with
countless TV appearances and , reluctantly ,live shows with a full
band.
Incredibly, given the traditional musical climate in Ireland at
the time, he never received even one bad review, though it's important
to emphasize
that he was literally the only person in the country releasing
commercial synthpop ( as opposed to the "arty" option).
There followed a bizarre vocal stint on some recordings by The Prunes (
formerly The Virgin Prunes) , and also a sold-out performance with them
, with Warner doing vocals. No one saw that coming, but it was a sign
that Barry had become tired of "making records I wouldn't buy myself" ,
as he said at the time. Barry increasingly felt that he had compromised
his work in order to receive airplay in Ireland , whose radio playlists
were notoriously conservative. The fact is, though, his plan
worked...mixing subversive lyrics with catchy tunes was hardly the
crime he perceived it to be, and daytime radio play meant he'd avoided
his music being relegated to the ghetto of late night specialist shows.
"Dancing Without You" was on the "Late Late Show" on the night it had
it's largest viewing figures ever....the launch of the Irish National
Lottery, and "Just A Floor" became a TV series theme tune!!!! But none
of the records were released outside Ireland, which saw Warner's music
"career" ( a word he avoided using ) reach a glass ceiling. There
seemed nowhere else to go , particularly without any major backing.A
half hearted remix album followed in 1988, with the new song "Hanging
Around Forever" , but Warner was increasingly tired of going in circles
( and the Irish "biz" in general).
Warner teamed up with producer Pat Donne in 1990 to record a cover of
David Bowie's "Sound And Vision" to great acclaim , under the name The
Good, The Bad and The Bassline. Bowie wrote to Warner at the time to
say how much he liked their version....the ultimate compliment.
Needless to say, Bowie's approval garnered a lot of publicity , but
Warner called it a day after completing the music video for "Sound And
Vision", and there was a creative silence for 15 years, during which
time he DJ-ed extensively.