The Hothouse Flowers
are an Irish rock group that combines traditional Irish music with influences from soul, gospel and rock.
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HOTHOUSE FLOWERS TICKETS
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Biography
The group first formed in 1985 when
Liam Ó Maonlaí and
Fiachna Ó Braonáin (who had known each other as children in an
Irish-speaking school,
Coláiste Eoin) began performing as street
musicians, or
buskers, on the streets of
Dublin, Ireland as "The Incomparable Benzini Brothers". They were soon joined by
Peter O'Toole, and had won a street-entertainer award within a year. They renamed the group "Hothouse Flowers" and began writing songs and performing throughout Ireland.
Rolling Stone magazine called them "the best unsigned band in Europe".
In 1986
Bono from the band
U2, saw the Flowers performing on television and offered his support. They released their first
single, "Love Don't Work This Way", on U2's
Mother Records label, which quickly led to a deal with the
PolyGram subsidiary
London Records.
Their first
album,
People
was released in early 1988 and was the most successful debut album in Irish history. It reached the
number one slot in Ireland within a week and eventually reached number 2 in the
UK Albums Chart. The international success of the album received a great boost when a
music video for the first single, "Don't Go", was played in the interval between contestants and the scoring in the 1988
Eurovision Song Contest. This propelled the song to number 11 in the
UK Singles Chart, the highest position the band would ever achieve in this chart.
[1] Meanwhile, at home, "Feet on the Ground", the album's second single, reached #1 in the Irish singles chart.
The group's second album,
Home
was released in June 1990. It was recorded sporadically during extensive touring; with sessions in
Dublin,
London, a rented house with a mobile
recording set-up in
Carlow, Ireland, and one day of work with
Daniel Lanois in
New Orleans, while
Bob Dylan was taking a break from his sessions with Lanois. The album did not have the overwhelming success of the first record, but it did reach No1 in
Australia. The two singles from the album, "Give It Up" and "
I Can See Clearly Now" (a
cover version of the
Johnny Nash song) reached numbers 30 and 23 respectively in the
UK Singles Chart.
was released in March 1993. Though it received excellent reviews and achieved some chart success in Australia and Ireland, worldwide sales were disappointing. In an attempt to boost record sales (and especially to break in to the American charts), the
record label and the band's
management kept the group on the road almost continuously for the entire year. The band also participated in the
Another Roadside Attraction tour in
Canada that year, and collaborated with
The Tragically Hip,
Crash Vegas,
Midnight Oil and
Daniel Lanois on the one-off single "
Land" to protest forest
clearcutting in
British Columbia. Also in 1993, The Hothouse Flowers joined
Def Leppard on their song
From the Inside, found on their
compilation album Retro Active.
By early 1994, Ó Maonlaí had decided that the group was suffering from physical, mental and creative exhaustion, and he called for a year-long sabbatical.
The year-long break turned into several years, as the band members recouped their energy and experienced changes in their personal lives, including divorces, marriages, the birth of children and the death of Ó Maonlaí's father. The group also split from their long-time manager, and Leo Barnes (saxophone) and Jerry Fehily (drum kit) left the group. O'Toole and ó Braonáin spent some of their time off from the Hothouse Flowers recording and touring with
Michelle Shocked. Ó Maonlaí worked with
Tim Finn and
Andy White, while also studying traditional Irish music.
In 1998 they released
Born
. Joined by Wayne Sheehy on drums and Rob Malone on
bass guitar, this album contained extensive
songwriting contributions from O'Toole, who (freed from his bass responsibilities) played mostly
guitar,
bouzouki and
keyboards on the recording. The music also incorporated more elements of
electronic loops,
synthesizers and studio effects.
By 1999 they had reached the end of their contract with London Records, and both the label and the band decided not to renew. The label head allowed the group the rights to record songs from their past London releases and produce a live record.
Live
was self-released by the group later that year, taken mostly from an October 1998 show in the National Stadium, Dublin, with one track from a November show in
Tokyo. Sheehy and Malone left the group shortly after the release of the record.
Dave Clarke, formerly of
Blue in Heaven, joined on drums and O'Toole returned to the bass.
In 2000 London Records released a compilation of songs from their four previous albums titled
Best of
.
During the band's official hiatus between
Songs From the Rain
and
Born
, band members had both written songs individually, and sporadically got together to write collaboratively. Some of these songs were never released, while others altered significantly to become some of the tracks on
Born
. In 2003 the Flowers collected these unreleased recordings and issued them as
Vaults: Volume 1
.
In February 2004 the band released their latest album,
Into Your Heart
, produced by the band and John Reynolds. The first single, "Your Love Goes On", reached Number 3 on the Irish charts. The album also reached No3 on the Irish Album Chart and received critical acclaim that they were back to their best. The record was released on the RubyMusic label in
Europe and distributed by Redeye in the United States. They have toured extensively in support of the record, including a performance at the
Glastonbury Festival in 2004.
Maonlaí has done several tours as a
solo acoustic performer, and released an album in 2005 called
Rian
.
In 2007, Fiachna appears on
Belinda Carlisle's CD
Voila
singing a duet with her on a cover of "Bonnie and Clyde".
The Hothouse Flowers appeared at the Glastonbury Festival Acoustic tent in 2007.
Fiachna and Dave have also branched out with a former member of
The Pogues to form a group called "Pre-Nup". They have recently opened some shows in America for The Hothouse Flowers. An album by "Pre-Nup" called
Hell to Pay
was released on 4 September 2007.
In late 2008 Liam O'Maonlai released his follow up album to "Rian". It is entitled "To be Touched" and has received wide critical acclaim. He is currently touring the album in between some one off shows with Hothouse Flowers.
Current members
- Liam Ó Maonlaí - vocals, keyboards, guitar
- Fiachna Ó Braonáin - guitar, vocals
- Peter O'Toole - bass, vocals, guitar. Currently on hiatus, with Kieran Kennedy (Black Velvet Band, Maria Doyle Kennedy) a touring member of the band
- Dave Clarke - drums
Former members
- Leo Barnes - saxophones still playing local
- Jerry Fehily - drums
- Wayne Sheehy - drums
- Rob Malone - bass currently with David Gray
- Maria Doyle Kennedy - singer, including an open air gig at University College Dublin in spring 1986
Discography
Albums
- People
- 1988 - UK #2
- Home
- 1990 - UK #5
- Songs From the Rain
- 1993 - UK #7
- Born
- 1998
- Live
- 1999
- Hothouse Flowers: The Best Of
- 2000
- The Vaults: Volume 1
- 2003
- Into Your Heart
- 2004
- Hothouse Flowers: The Platinum Collection
- 2006
Singles
| Year
| Title
| Chart positions
| Album
|
| U.S. Hot 100
| U.S. Modern Rock
| U.S. Mainstream Rock
| UK Singles Chart |
| 1988
| "Don't Go"
| -
| 7
| 16
| 11
| People
|
| "I'm Sorry"
| -
| 12
| 23
| 53
|
| 1990
| "Give It Up"
| -
| 2
| 29
| 30
| Home
|
| "I Can See Clearly Now"
| -
| -
| -
| 23
|
| 1993
| "Thing of Beauty"
| -
| 14
| 32
| -
| Songs From The Rain
|
| "Emotional Time"
| -
| -
| -
| 38
|
| 1998
| "You Can Love Me Now"
| -
| -
| -
| 65
| Born
|
References
- British Hit Singles & Albums