Kaught At The Karpark: Punk tunes from the 1980s for Cork Culture Night 

While much has been made in recent years of the legacy of Cork’s punk and post-punk scenes of the 1980s, especially when considering parallels to the idiosyncrasies of the current generation of noisemakers, the decision to host another reunion event was an easy one for promoters/organisers Seanie Buttons – this time, the mass public quirking out will happen in the North Main Street Car Park – the site of the former back bar of Sir Henry’s, itself a legendary venue.

Kaught at the Karpark, a not-too-subtle reference to the epoch-defining Kaught at the Kampus EP that stands among the few lasting documents of that era, happens this Friday night, as part of Cork City’s lineup for the national Culture Night extravaganza, and among a lineup also featuring Rob McKahey (Stump) and Sean O’Hagan (Microdisney/High Llamas), Ricky Dineen is once again lined up for double-duty, bringing his warbling, discordant guitar style to live performances from Big Boy Foolish, his current project with Liam Heffernan (Mean Features), and …And Nun Came Back, his vehicle for music from his projects with late vocalist Finbar Donnelly, including Nun Attax, Five Go Down to the Sea? and Beethoven.

“It’s the brainchild of Seanie Buttons [including some of] the lads from Pretty Happy. Basically, they had come up with the whole concept, and the whole idea of having a Cork celebration in the car park was great as well. It’s a celebration of what went before, 45 years ago at the Downtown Kampus. We tried to get as many people as possible involved, that were involved at that time – Sean O’Hagan is coming over, Rob McKahey is going to be doing a bit, of course, and ourselves, then… Y’know, we [...And Nun Came Back] hadn’t played together for about six or seven years, and just to get them all together in the room and start doing songs again, the old ones, was great fun. Great fun.”

It’s yet another acknowledgement of the pioneering punk sound of a city that was then very much in search of an identity of its own amid recession, unemployment and a general malaise that may, unfortunately, seem more than familiar to a lot of younger readers. With that being said, while hard times have often made for good music, Dineen says he’s taken heart in how the bands and venue have been remembered.

“Oh yeah, it’s great. I’m proud, and happy that it’s after coming around, and especially, y’know, coming from years ago… the punk-rock kind-of time, like, and 45 years later, being associated with culture in the city, d’you know what I mean? Whereas, like, 45 years ago, we would have been in a kind of a dirty, smelly punk band that our mams and dads just tolerated… 45 years on, we’re actually a part of the cultural scene in Cork, and I’m quite, quite proud of that, actually.

“I suppose some old folks would have said, you’ve sold your soul, you’re mainstream, you’re part of the establishment. And all that, sort-of probably is true, I am proud of it. I’m delighted to be a part of this. To be accepted by, y’know, the Cork City Council – we got that mural a few years ago, another proud moment, getting your photograph taken with the lord mayor and things like that… it’s a long way from being gobbed on at the Arcadia!”

With members of Pretty Happy among the organising team for the night, Dineen takes the time to reaffirm the generational connections that young bands have forged with the music he was involved with – specifically those seeking to take Cork and the city’s culture as part of their canvas.

“Pretty Happy are a band that I absolutely adore, I think they’re fantastic. And whether they did get any influence from what we had done previously, I don’t know, but it’s great to see it happen. I Dreamed I Dream, I’ve seen them as well, and they seem to be carrying on… this legacy of the q-word – quirk! – is probably used to describe it, not being afraid of the accent. Pretty Happy, they’re touring in Europe, with this Cork thing in places like Hamburg, I think it’s fantastic. Carrying on the legacy, if you like, of this kind-of madness that ensued 40-odd years ago.”

Big Boy Foolish, as a going concern, has been active in studio and on a live basis over the past few years, with their debut album, brief touring and a 7” single release of their cover of Cork folk standard ‘The Armoured Car’ among their priorities in the past year. Despite leaning further into a droll sense of observational humour, amid the current state of the world, the band is ultimately the current place for Dineen and Heffernan to direct their creative energies.

“I like to think that it’s carried on the tradition of what we were doing back then. I like to think that there’s a certain amount of humour there, and a lot of attitude as well. The attitude is not like, ‘y’know, I’m a guy in a rock band’... but when we do play live, because we don’t actually see each other that often, because Liam is in Dingle, it’s great. We can bounce off each other and bounce off the audience, just have a bit of craic – not just be taking things too seriously, ‘this has to be totally polished’... we make a mistake and we laugh at it, we laugh at the audience, and the audience, a lot of the time, will laugh with us as well.

“But I’d like to think, then, that there’s a certain merit to the music as well. Y’know, I wouldn’t want it to be just a novelty, then, which I don’t think we are. I think, the music… I’m kind of frustrated a bit because we spend so much time creating the music. The way things always happen, you throw the music on Bandcamp, you get about two days of activity, the indie stations will play your track, and then they’ll forget about us. The attention span is very, very short.”

Has Dineen thought of ways to counteract the current way of things?

“I don’t know. I don’t think that the local radio stations are being supportive. I call ourselves young, I know [laughs], but we are a relatively new band – I don’t think the local radio stations are supporting the new bands like they did even a few years ago. The specialist programmes, that played local music, tend to play more established national music, get all the big bands.

I used to listen to the Sunday night programmes on the local stations, and I used to hear new bands, and go ‘oh, yeah, I’ll check them out’. Recently, listening to programmes, I said, ‘nah’. Y’know, I can hear Kodaline anytime.”

The never-ending story of the big platforms versus the grassroots aside, Dineen is ultimately excited for this Friday’s event. “I haven’t been looking forward to a gig like this for so long. The unique location of it as well – I think it’s going to look well because you’re near Shandon, the cathedral’s in the background… really, really excited.”

Seanie Buttons presents Kaught at the Karpark, happening Friday, September 19, at the North Main Street Car Park, Kyrl’s Quay, Cork City; as part of the city’s Culture Night offering. Tickets, free, are currently booked out, but keep an eye to social media for any further updates.