The Sultans of Ping are an Irish band formed in 1988 by Niall O'Flaherty, Pat O'Connell, Paul Fennelly and Ger Lyons. The band's name is a play on the 1978

Dire Straits Dire Straits were a British rock band formed in London in 1977 by Mark Knopfler (lead vocals, lead guitar), David Knopfler (rhythm guitar, backing vocals), John Illsley (bass guitar, backing vocals) and Pick Withers (drums, percussion). Th ...

song "

Sultans of Swing "Sultans of Swing" is a song by the British Rock music, rock band Dire Straits, written by the lead vocalist and guitarist Mark Knopfler. Dire Straits recorded a Demo (music), demo at Pathway Studios, North London, in July 1977, and it acquired ...

", dating from a time when "it was sacrilege to say anything whatsoever funny or nasty about Dire Straits".

History

Following a number of line up changes including the loss of lead guitarist Ger Lyons, the band came to the attention of the Irish and UK

music press Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on ...

, when "Where's Me Jumper" was released in January 1992. After several other independently released

singles Singles are people not in a committed relationship. Singles may also refer to: Film and television * ''Singles'' (miniseries), a 1984 Australian television series * ''Singles'' (1992 film), written and directed by Cameron Crowe * ''Singles'' ...

, the band signed to

Epic Records Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the American division of Japanese conglomerate Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), cong ...

, through a deal organised by

Rhythm King Records Rhythm King Records Ltd was a British independent record label, founded in the mid-1980s by Martin Heath, Adele Nozedar, DJ Jay Strongman and James Horrocks. It was based in Chiswick, London. History Beginnings Starting out as an offshoot of ...

's Martin Heath. With Epic, the band released their debut

album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

'' Casual Sex In The Cineplex'', and its follow up '' Teenage Drug'', with additional tracks gaining a

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

-only release. Teenage Drug was renamed ''Teenage Planet Sexy War'' in Japan, and included the single "Michiko". Renaming themselves as The Sultans, they released their third album ''Good Year For Trouble'' in 1996. It included a cover version of The Third Bardo’s 1967 single “I’m Five Years Ahead Of My Time” listed as “Five Years” on the track listing. However, the album cover's artwork caused problems, as major record chains like

HMV HMV is an international music and entertainment retailer, founded in 1921. The brand is owned by Hilco Capital and operated by Sunrise Records, except in Japan, where it is owned and operated by Lawson. The inaugural shop was opened on Lo ...

and

Virgin Virginity is a social construct that denotes the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. As it is not an objective term with an operational definition, social definitions of what constitutes virginity, or the lack thereof ...

decided that the display of bondage and S&M was too explicit. By this time,

Rhythm King Rhythm King Records Ltd was a British independent record label, founded in the mid-1980s by Martin Heath, Adele Nozedar, DJ Jay Strongman and James Horrocks. It was based in Chiswick, London. History Beginnings Starting out as an offshoot of ...

had been absorbed into

Arista Records Arista Records ( ) is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the American division of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. The label was previously a division of Bertelsmann Music G ...

, as Martin Heath became the head of the department. The record label released the band from their

recording contract A recording contract (commonly called a record contract or record deal) is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording act (artist or group), where the act makes an audio recording (or series of recordings) for the label to sell and ...

. Following a split in 1996, McCarthy joined the band Pharmacy, O'Flaherty was involved in producing the Japanese girl band

Mika Bomb Mika Bomb (sometimes spelled Mikabomb) is a London-based, Japanese pop punk band. History Lead singer Mika Handa arrived in London in 1998, with the goal of playing in a punk band. Recruitment for the band began with the arrival in London of t ...

, while McFeely formed the

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock-n-roll, and rock 'n' roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from African ...

band Sister, and later recruited former bassist with The Young Offenders, Steve Hackett. McCarthy moved to

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

where he taught English. Vocalist Niall O'Flaherty subsequently pursued a career in academia. The band reformed as The Sultans of Ping in 2005. Their decision to reform was officially confirmed by drummer Morty McCarthy in an interview with the Cork Evening Echo’s Mark McAvoy published in April 2005. They later played a number of gigs with

Jim Bob James Robert Morrison, known as Jim Bob, is a British musician and author. He was the singer of indie punk band Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine. Biography Jim Bob played in various bands during the late 1970s and early 1980s, including J ...

Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine (also known as Carter USM or simply Carter) were an English indie rock band formed in 1987 by singer Jim "Jim Bob" Morrison and guitarist Les " Fruitbat" Carter. They made their name with a distinctive style ...

. In 2006, the group played a show with Radio 2's Mark Radcliffe, and his band The Family Mahone, as part of

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

's yearly Irish Festival. That same year, the Sultans of Ping released their live DVD ''U Talk 2 Much: Live At The Cork Savoy Theatre'' on Cherry Red Records. The band played several gigs in 2007, at the Brixton Academy in London (with Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine), in Glasgow, and in Roscommon. They played a number of gigs in 2008, including Southend, London and Cork. Drummer Morty McCarthy has written a book on Cork

slang A slang is a vocabulary (words, phrases, and linguistic usages) of an informal register, common in everyday conversation but avoided in formal writing and speech. It also often refers to the language exclusively used by the members of pa ...

entitled ''Dowtcha Boy''. The title of the song "Give Him a Ball and a Yard of Grass", which appeared on their first album, was about

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is a professional association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Founde ...

player

Nigel Clough Nigel Howard Clough (born 19 March 1966) is an English professional football manager and former player who is the manager of Mansfield Town. Playing predominantly as a forward, but later in his career used as a midfielder, Clough was capped by ...

and was based on a quote from football manager

Brian Clough Brian Howard Clough ( ; 21 March 1935 – 20 September 2004) was an English football player and manager, primarily known for his successes as a manager with Derby County and Nottingham Forest. He is one of four managers to have won the Englis ...

about

John Robertson John, Jon, or Jonathan Robertson may refer to: Politicians United Kingdom politicians *J. M. Robertson (John Mackinnon Robertson, 1856–1933), British journalist and Liberal MP for Tyneside 1906–1918 *John Robertson (Bothwell MP) (1867–1926), ...

. The song contains several more of his sayings in its lyrics. This was given away free with Nottingham Forest Fanzine 'Brian' as a one track flexi-disk in April 1992. The band were announced as the support act for

's 'Norf and Sarf' show at London's Brixton Academy in November 2011. In April 2015, the Sultans played a one off sold out gig at the Soundhouse, Leicester. Today, Niall O’Flaherty is a lecturer in the History of European Political Thought at

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public university, public research university in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV ...

, specialising in 18th and 19th century thinkers such as

Thomas Robert Malthus Thomas Robert Malthus (; 13/14 February 1766 – 29 December 1834) was an English economist, cleric, and scholar influential in the fields of political economy and demography. In his 1798 book ''An Essay on the Principle of Population'', Mal ...

and

Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English Natural history#Before 1900, naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all speci ...

. Pat O’Connell is in banking in London. Alan McFeely moved into film music. Morty McCarthy teaches English in Sweden.

Impact

"Where's Me Jumper" featured as the theme song to the 2012

Sky1 Sky One was a British pay television channel operated and owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). Originally launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, it was Europe's first satellite and non- terrestrial channel. From 31 July 1989 ...

series ''

Moone Boy ''Moone Boy'' is an Irish sitcom created, co-written by and co-starring Chris O'Dowd for British broadcaster Sky One. The series is co-written by Nick Murphy (writer), Nick Vincent Murphy and is produced by Baby Cow Productions, Sprout Pictures ...

'', and was the closing song in the 2016 Irish comedy '' The Young Offenders''. The band later explained that the song was based on a real incident in

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located south-east of Sheffield and nor ...

hotspot ''The Black Orchid'', though the item lost was in fact a cardigan. "Give Him a Ball and a Yard of Grass" is the theme song used by the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...

radio station ''

Newstalk Newstalk (formerly NewsTalk 106) is a national independent radio station in Ireland. It is operated by News 106 Limited, a subsidiary of Bauer Media Audio Ireland, and broadcasts under a sound broadcasting contract with the Broadcasting Aut ...

'' 106/108 on their 'Off The Ball' sports show.

Band members

* Niall O'Flaherty – vocals * Pat O'Connell – guitar * Ian Olney – bass (from 2005) * Samuel Steiger – guitar (from 1995) * Alan McFeely – bass (1991–1996) * Morty McCarthy – drums (from 1991) * Paul Fennelly – bass (until 1990) * John McAuliffe – bass (until 1991) * Ger Lyons – drums (until 1991)

Discography

Albums

As Sultans of Ping F.C.: * '' Casual Sex in the Cineplex'' (

– Feb 93) No. 26 (

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...

) As Sultans of Ping: * '' Teenage Drug'' (

– Mar 94) No. 57 (

) As Sultans: * ''Good Year for Trouble'' (

– June 1996)

Singles

As Sultans of Ping F.C.: * "What About Those Sultans?" EP featuring "Stupid Kid" / "Riot at the Sheepdog Trials" / "Eamon Andrews" * "Where's Me Jumper" (Divine Records ATHY 01 – Feb 92) No. 67 ( UK Singles Chart) No. 8 (Ireland) * "Stupid Kid" (Divine Records ATHY 02 – 27 Apr 92) No. 67 (UK Singles Chart) No. 11 (Ireland) * "Veronica" (Divine Records ATHY 03 – Oct 92) No. 69 (UK Singles Chart) * "You Talk Too Much" (

6588877 – Jan 93) No. 26 (UK Singles Chart) No. 4 (Ireland) As Sultans of Ping: * "Teenage Punks" (

– Sep 93 ) No. 49 (UK Singles Chart) * "Michiko" (Epic Records – Oct 93 ) No. 43 (UK Singles Chart) * "Japanese Girls" (

Sony Japan , often abbreviated as SMEJ or simply SME, and also known as Sony Music Japan for short (stylized as ''SonyMusic''), is a Japanese music arm for Sony. Founded in 1968 as CBS/Sony, SMEJ is directly owned by Sony Group Corporation and is opera ...

– 1993) * "Wake Up And Scratch Me" (Epic Records – Feb 94) No. 50 (UK Singles Chart) * "Miracle Michiko" EP (Japan only release – 1994) As Sultans: * "Mescaline" (1996) No. 21 (UK Independent Chart) As The Sultans of Ping: * "Girlwatching" (2007)

References

External links

Originals Sultans website

* ttps://www.rte.ie/radio/2xm/clips/11494101/ Dancing in the Disco - The Story of The Sultans of Ping(RTE doc by

Paul McDermott Paul Anthony Michael McDermott (born 13 May 1962) is an Australian entertainer, best known both for '' Good News Week'' and for his role as a member of the musical comedy group the Doug Anthony All Stars. He has frequently appeared at the Mel ...

) {{DEFAULTSORT:Sultans Of Ping Fc, The Sultans Of Ping FC Irish punk rock groups Musical groups established in 1988 Musical groups from Cork (city) Rhythm King artists 1980s in Irish music 1990s in Irish music 2000s in Irish music 2010s in Irish music 2020s in Irish music