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Aslan are an Irish
rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...
band from
Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...
who formed in 1982. Composed originally of Christy Dignam, Joe Jewell, Tony McGuinness, Billy McGuinness, and Alan Downey, the band has released six studio albums: ''Feel No Shame'' (1988), ''Goodbye Charlie Moonhead'' (1994), ''Here Comes Lucy Jones'' (1997), ''Waiting For This Madness To End'' (2001), ''For Some Strange Reason'' (2007) and ''Nudie Books and Frenchies'' (2012).


History

Aslan took their name from the fictional lion in
C.S. Lewis CS, C-S, C.S., Cs, cs, or cs. may refer to: Job titles * Chief Secretary (Hong Kong) * Chief superintendent, a rank in the British and several other police forces * Company secretary, a senior position in a private sector company or public se ...
's series of books chronicling the land of Narnia (
Aslan Aslan () is a major character in C. S. Lewis's ''The Chronicles of Narnia'' series. Unlike any other character in the Narnian series, Aslan appears in all seven chronicles. Aslan is depicted as a Talking animals in fiction, talking lion and is ...
is the Turkish word for "
Lion The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large Felidae, cat of the genus ''Panthera'', native to Sub-Saharan Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body (biology), body; a short, rounded head; round ears; and a dark, hairy tuft at the ...
"). The band came from the working class areas of
Finglas Finglas (; ) is a northwestern outer suburb of Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It lies close to Junction 5 of the M50 motorway (Ireland), M50 motorway, and the N2 road (Ireland), N2 road. Nearby suburbs include Glasnevin and Ballymun; Du ...
and
Ballymun Ballymun () is a suburb of Dublin, Ireland, at the northern edge of the city's Northside. Ballymun has several sub-districts, such as Sillogue, Coultry, Shangan and Poppintree, and is close to Dublin Airport. A metro stop on a city-to-airpo ...
in Dublin's Northside, in the mid-1980s. They released a demo single, "This Is", in the spring of 1986. It was a success and a popular single on Ireland's pop radio station, RTÉ 2fm. In the summer of 1986, they played a series of shows in the UK and ''
Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. In January 2001, it was merged into "long-standing rival" (and IPC Media sister publicatio ...
'' noted: "Lucky the label that signs this band!" Janice Long at
BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and Contemporary hit radio, current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including ...
recorded Aslan in session and it aired three times in the subsequent weeks. At the end of 1986, Aslan were awarded The Stag/''Hot Press'' "Most Promising New Band" award and signed to
EMI EMI Group Limited (formerly EMI Group plc until 2007; originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At t ...
.


''Feel No Shame'' and breakup (1988)

In 1988, Aslan recorded their debut album, ''Feel No Shame'', which went to number one on the
Irish Albums Chart The Irish Albums Chart is the Irish music industry standard albums popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA). The charts were previously compiled on behalf of IRMA by Chart-Track, and have been compiled by t ...
. Within a couple of months it was certified Gold, and the band embarked on a promotional
U.S. The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguous ...
tour. However, in August 1988 after the option for their second album had been picked up, and just before ''Feel No Shame'' was due to be released Stateside, Dignam's spiralling
heroin Heroin, also known as diacetylmorphine and diamorphine among other names, is a morphinan opioid substance synthesized from the Opium, dried latex of the Papaver somniferum, opium poppy; it is mainly used as a recreational drug for its eupho ...
addiction led to him being fired from the band. The remaining members recruited singer Eamo Doyle, who previously played with Dublin band The Lookalikes, but according to drummer Alan Downey in the ''Made In Dublin'' DVD: "it was like U2 trying to go on without Bono... it was just never going to work". Eamo Doyle then played with Les Binks from
Judas Priest Judas Priest are an English heavy metal band formed in Birmingham in 1969. They have sold over 50 million albums and are frequently ranked as one of the greatest metal bands of all time. Judas Priest have also been referred to as one of the p ...
. Christy Dignam went on to form Dignam & Goff with guitarist Conor Goff, whilst the other members went on to form The Precious Stones.


Reunion

On 11 July 1993, Aslan played what was planned as a one-time charity performance in Finglas. Rather, they decided to reunite proper and then landed a new record deal with BMG. The first single " Crazy World" entered the
Irish Singles Chart The Irish Singles Chart is the Republic of Ireland's music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA) and compiled on their behalf by the Official Charts Company. Chart rankings are ...
at number four and stayed in the chart for three months. "Crazy World" also won the "Single of the Year" at 1993's ''Hot Press'' Awards. A few months later the follow-up single, "Where's The Sun", reached number three on the chart. The latter part of 1994 was spent touring in Ireland and recording their album ''Goodbye Charlie Moonhead'', which was released in Ireland at the end of 1994 and charted at number one, going on to be certified Gold weeks later. But by 1995, the band were dropped by their record label BMG. In April 1996, Aslan began recording a new album without a record label. This album, ''Here Comes Lucy Jones'' was released in October 1997 and the album went into the Irish Albums Chart at number fourteen. Aslan were nominated in seven categories of the 1997 ''
Hot Press ''Hot Press'' is a monthly music and politics magazine based in Dublin, Ireland, founded in June 1977. The magazine has been edited since its inception by Niall Stokes. History ''Hot Press'' was founded in June 1977 by Niall Stokes, who cont ...
'' readers poll. ''Shame About Lucy Moonhead'', a compilation of the best of Aslan's recorded work on
EMI EMI Group Limited (formerly EMI Group plc until 2007; originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At t ...
, was released in July 1998. It reached number one in the Irish albums chart and was later certified double platinum. In March 1999, Aslan played five sell-out shows at Ireland's Vicar Street venue, during which their live album and video concert movie/DVD ''Made In Dublin'' were recorded. Both reached number one in their first week of release. The album went platinum within three weeks and remained in the top ten for eight weeks. Towards the end of 1999 Aslan sold out Ireland's largest indoor venue (9,000 capacity), the
Point Theatre The Point Theatre (sometimes referred to as the Point Depot or simply as the Point) was a concert and events venue in Dublin, Ireland, that operated from 1988 to 2007, visited by in excess of 2 million people. It was located on the North Wall ...
on 26 December, sharing the billing with Picture House. In the summer of 2000, Aslan toured Australia for the first time to promote the release of the album ''Shame About Lucy Moonhead'' and sold-out shows in
Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...
and
Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...
. Aslan ended 2000 by playing for the first time in the Netherlands to a sellout crowd. Afterwards, they returned to Ireland to sell out the Point Theatre on 27 December. In early 2001, Aslan recorded a single, "She's So Beautiful" (featuring
Sinéad O'Connor Shuhada' Sadaqat (born Sinéad Marie Bernadette O'Connor; , ; 8 December 1966 – 26 July 2023) was an Irish singer, songwriter, record producer and activist. Her debut studio album, ''The Lion and the Cobra'', was released in 1987 and achieve ...
on backing vocals), which entered the Irish Singles Chart at number nine on the week ending 26 July 2001 and peaked at number eight the following week. The band released the follow-up "Different Man", which charted at number seven. In September 2001, Aslan's studio album, ''Waiting for This Madness to End'' entered the Irish Album Chart at number one, and reached platinum sales certification after only four weeks. During Christmas 2001, Aslan again sold out the 9,000 capacity Point Theatre. In 2002 Aslan were nominated for eight categories in the ''Hot Press'' readers' poll. In October 2005, the band released a 48-track CD, named ''Platinum''. The album contains the singles, b-sides and rarities of their career. The Platinum collection went into the charts at number three and after several weeks achieved platinum sales. The band played yet another headlining gig at the Point Theatre on 27 December 2005. The band helped write and perform "How Can I Protect You", the tenth track for
Alabama 3 Alabama 3 are a British musical group founded in Brixton, Brixton, London, in 1995. Their track "Woke Up This Morning" was used for the opening credits of the TV series ''The Sopranos''. In the United States, the band is known as A3, to avoid ...
on their 2006 album, ''
Outlaw An outlaw, in its original and legal meaning, is a person declared as outside the protection of the law. In pre-modern societies, all legal protection was withdrawn from the criminal, so anyone was legally empowered to persecute or kill them. ...
''. Their next album, ''For Some Strange Reason'', was released in October 2007 and debuted at number eight in the Irish Albums Chart. This was their first album based solely on new material not to debut in top spot since 1997's ''Here Comes Lucy Jones''. Two singles, "Here Comes the Sun" and "Jealous Little Thing" were released prior to the album. Singer Damien Dempsey makes an appearance on the new album on the track "Bullets and Diamonds". On 15 February 2008, Aslan won the award for Best Irish Band at the 2008 Meteor Awards. Soon afterwards, Tony McGuinness announced on the band's website that he would be moving to Australia for one year with his family, and would be replaced by Rodney O'Brien as bass player for Aslan during that time. On 7 November 2008, Aslan performed "Always" on a balcony overlooking
Dame Street Dame Street (; ) is a large thoroughfare in Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. History The street takes its name from a dam built across the River Poddle to provide water power for milling. First appears in records under this name around 1 ...
, in Dublin for the music viral show '' BalconyTV''. In May 2009, Aslan released "Uncased" and reached number two in the
Irish Singles Chart The Irish Singles Chart is the Republic of Ireland's music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA) and compiled on their behalf by the Official Charts Company. Chart rankings are ...
. The band toured Australia in December 2011 playing to large crowds of predominantly expatriates. Their album ''Nudie Books and Frenchies'' was released in April 2012 and reached number one in the
Irish Albums Chart The Irish Albums Chart is the Irish music industry standard albums popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA). The charts were previously compiled on behalf of IRMA by Chart-Track, and have been compiled by t ...
. Aslan released their next single "Secret Smile" on 10 July 2015. They also released their single "Now I Know" in 2018, with a 30th anniversary version of ''Feel No Shame'' on vinyl and CD. In early 2019, they released a 25th anniversary edition of ''Goodbye Charlie Moonhead'' on vinyl, excluding the track "Maybe I'm Obsessed".


Death of Christy Dignam

Christy Dignam died at his home on 13 June 2023 at the age of 63, from complications associated with
amyloidosis Amyloidosis is a group of diseases in which abnormal proteins, known as amyloid fibrils, build up in tissue. There are several non-specific and vague signs and symptoms associated with amyloidosis. These include fatigue, peripheral edema, weigh ...
and
myeloma Multiple myeloma (MM), also known as plasma cell myeloma and simply myeloma, is a cancer of plasma cells, a type of white blood cell that normally produces antibodies. Often, no symptoms are noticed initially. As it progresses, bone pain, a ...
. In February 2024, Aslan announced new singer Lee Tomkins as they prepared to embark on an Irish tour.


Band members

Current * Joe Jewell – lead guitar, backing vocals (1982–1988, 1993–present) * Billy McGuinness – keyboards, harmonica, guitar (1982–1988, 1993–present) * Alan Downey – drums, percussion (1982–1988, 1993–present) * Lee Tomkins - lead vocals (2024-present) Former * Christy Dignam – lead vocals (1982–1987, 1993–2023; died 2023) * Tony McGuinness – bass guitar (1982–2008) * Rodney O'Brien (2009–2022) -bass * Eamonn 'Eamo' Doyle – lead vocals (1988–1989)


Discography


Studio albums


Live albums


Compilation albums


Singles


DVD

* ''Made In Dublin – Unplugged and Documented'' (1999) * "Please Don't Stop" (2013)


Bibliography

* Damien Corless: ''Aslan's Crazy World'', Verge-Brunswick Press, 1998.


References


External links


Official website


at the Irish Music Database * *
Aslan News – UK based news site run by Dave and Savo

AUDIO NETWORKS: Aslan's Booking Agent

– Official Bebo
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aslan EMI Records artists Irish rock music groups Musical groups established in 1982 Musical groups from Dublin (city) 1982 establishments in Ireland Sony BMG artists 1980s in Irish music 1990s in Irish music 2000s in Irish music 2010s in Irish music 2020s in Irish music