Hothouse Flowers

Infobox musical artist 2
Name = Hothouse Flowers


Img_capt = Hothouse Flowers playing at Bumbershoot 2005
Background = group_or_band
Origin = Dublin, Ireland
Instruments =
Genre = Alternative rock
Folk rock
Celtic rock
Years_active = 1985 – present
Label = London Records
PolyGram Records
Rubyworks Records
URL = [http://www.hothouseflowers.com/ Official site]
Current_members = Liam Ó Maonlaí
Fiachna Ó Braonáin
Peter O’Toole
Dave Clarke
Past_members =

The Hothouse Flowers are an Irish rock group that combines traditional Irish music with influences from soul, gospel and rock.

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.

The 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.

"Songs From the Rain" 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.

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 No3 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 4th September 2007.

In late 2007 band member Peter O'Toole left as his son (Doolin) was scouted by Valencia FC.

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
*"Home" - 1990
*"Songs From the Rain - 1993
*"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

ingles

References / External links

* [http://www.hothouseflowers.com Hothouse Flowers' Official Website]
* [http://gilliver.net/hothouse/ Fan site]
* [http://www.rubyworks.com RubyMusic (Irish label)]
* [http://www.redeyeusa.com RedEye (U.S. label)]
* [http://www.rianrecords.com Liam O Maonlai's record label]
* [http://www.ligdoscith.com Lig Do Scith Hothouse Flowers, Liam O' Maonlai and Prenup Fansite Photo Gallery] Peter O Toole [http://www.peterotoole.net] Peter O Toole [http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=70262606]