Sir Henry's was a bar and nightclub on South Main Street in
Cork
Cork or CORK may refer to:
Materials
* Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product
** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container
***Wine cork
Places Ireland
* Cork (city)
** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...
, Ireland. It was founded by Jerry Lucey in 1978. The name was derived from Henry O'Shea, a baker and building owner in the South Main Street area of Cork city. The club was known for its
house
A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air condi ...
,
trance
Trance is a state of semi-consciousness in which a person is not self-aware and is either altogether unresponsive to external stimuli (but nevertheless capable of pursuing and realizing an aim) or is selectively responsive in following the dir ...
,
R&B,
hip hop and regular live
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 Wales ...
concerts. Gigs held there included a number by
The Golden Horde
The Golden Horde, self-designated as Ulug Ulus, 'Great State' in Turkic, was originally a Mongol and later Turkicized khanate established in the 13th century and originating as the northwestern sector of the Mongol Empire. With the fragmen ...
,
Toasted Heretic
Toasted Heretic were an Irish rock group who attracted a cult following in the late 1980s and 1990s. They were founded in Galway in 1985, where singer and lyricist Julian Gough was studying English and philosophy. Their best known early indepe ...
,
Sonic Youth
Sonic Youth was an American rock band based in New York City, formed in 1981. Founding members Thurston Moore (guitar, vocals), Kim Gordon (bass, vocals, guitar) and Lee Ranaldo (guitar, vocals) remained together for the entire history of the b ...
with support band
Nirvana
( , , ; sa, निर्वाण} ''nirvāṇa'' ; Pali: ''nibbāna''; Prakrit: ''ṇivvāṇa''; literally, "blown out", as in an oil lampRichard Gombrich, ''Theravada Buddhism: A Social History from Ancient Benāres to Modern Colombo.' ...
,
Therapy?
Therapy? are a Northern Irish rock band from Larne, formed in 1989 by guitarist-vocalist Andy Cairns and drummer-vocalist Fyfe Ewing. Therapy? recorded their first demo with Cairns filling in on bass guitar. To complete the lineup, the band r ...
,
The Wedding Present
The Wedding Present are an English indie rock group originally formed in 1985 in Leeds, England, from the ashes of The Lost Pandas. The band's music has evolved from fast-paced indie rock in the vein of their most obvious influences The Fall, ...
and
The Fall.
During late 1980s, the club ran a series of three-night long
acid house
Acid house (also simply known as just "acid") is a subgenre of house music developed around the mid-1980s by DJs from Chicago. The style is defined primarily by the squelching sounds and basslines of the Roland TB-303 electronic bass synthesiz ...
weekenders, which attracted DJs such as
Laurent Garnier
Laurent Garnier (born 1 February 1966), also known as Choice, is a French electronic music producer and DJ. Garnier began DJing in Manchester during the late 1980s. He became a producer in the early 1990s and recorded several albums.
Early influ ...
,
Shades of Rhythm
Shades of Rhythm are an United Kingdom, English electronic dance music musical ensemble, group most active from the late 1980s to the mid-1990s, still performing live today and hailing from Peterborough in 1988. They are best known for being a pa ...
and
Justin Robertson
Justin Robertson is an English electronic musician, DJ, author, artist and record producer.
Discography
DJ Mix albums
*Journeys by DJs
*Journeys by DJs Select Tape
*Cream Live
*Bugged Out
*Imprint
*Art of Acid
Lionrock
Albums
*An Instinc ...
. From the mid 1990s the music tended towards
deep house
Deep house is a subgenre of house music that originated in the 1980s, initially fusing elements of Chicago house with the lush chords of 1980s jazz-funk and touches of soul music. Its origins are attributed to the early recordings of Larry Heard ( ...
.
Henry's closed in June 2003 and the building was demolished soon afterwards.
Early years
Sir Henrys was a rock bar for most of the 1980s.
The club at the time also held gigs by an older and more traditional "pub rock" element, but this scene had died out by the mid 1980s, as
post-punk
Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of punk music that emerged in the late 1970s as musicians departed from punk's traditional elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a variety of avant-garde sensibilities and non-roc ...
bands such as Nun Attax (later
Five Go Down to the Sea?
Five Go Down to the Sea? were an Irish post-punk band from Cork, active between 1978 and 1989. Vocalist and lyricist Finbarr Donnelly, guitarist Ricky Dineen and brothers Philip (bass) and Keith "Smelly" O'Connell (drums) formed the band as ...
) grew in prominence.
Many of Ireland's up-and-coming young bands performed here
and the 'Battle of the Bands' was held there for a number of years where unsigned talent competed for a recording contract. Artists that performed there over these years included
Phil Lynott
Philip Parris Lynott (, ; 20 August 1949 – 4 January 1986) was an Irish singer, bassist, and songwriter. His most commercially successful group was Thin Lizzy, of which he was a founding member, the principal songwriter, lead vocalist and ba ...
,
John Martyn
Iain David McGeachy (11 September 1948 – 29 January 2009), known professionally as John Martyn, was a Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist. Over a 40-year career, he released 23 studio albums, and received frequent critical acclaim. ...
, ex-Clash
Mick Jones' Big Audio Dynamite,
The Pogues
The Pogues were an English or Anglo-Irish Celtic punk band fronted by Shane MacGowan and others, founded in Kings Cross, London in 1982, as "Pogue Mahone" – the anglicisation of the Irish Gaelic ''póg mo thóin'', meaning "kiss my arse". T ...
and
The Sisters of Mercy
The Sisters of Mercy is an English rock band, formed in 1980 in Leeds. After achieving early underground fame there, the band had their commercial breakthrough in the mid-1980s and sustained it until the early 1990s, when they stopped releasin ...
.
On 20 August 1991,
Sonic Youth
Sonic Youth was an American rock band based in New York City, formed in 1981. Founding members Thurston Moore (guitar, vocals), Kim Gordon (bass, vocals, guitar) and Lee Ranaldo (guitar, vocals) remained together for the entire history of the b ...
played Sir Henry's, supported by the then virtually unknown band
Nirvana
( , , ; sa, निर्वाण} ''nirvāṇa'' ; Pali: ''nibbāna''; Prakrit: ''ṇivvāṇa''; literally, "blown out", as in an oil lampRichard Gombrich, ''Theravada Buddhism: A Social History from Ancient Benāres to Modern Colombo.' ...
. Some scenes were featured in the documentary ''
1991: The Year Punk Broke''.
Dance venue
As dance music became more popular and the demand for small venue live gigs decreased, Sir Henry's became a venue for the "Sweat" night. Started in 1988 by
Shane Johnson and Greg Dowling, this was to become one of the top clubs in Europe in the early 1990s, supplemented with the addition of the Back Bar with DJ's such as Donkeyman (Mark Ring) and Stephen Grainger (Stevie G).
Over the 1990s, Sweat built up an international reputation, being variously described as "a gorgeous blend of underground house" (i-D), a "deep house frenzy" (The Face) and "the best music on that side of the Irish Sea" (DJ Magazine). By the mid 1990s Sir Henry’s had become a house venue, playing host to some of genre's better known artists such as
Kerri Chandler
Kerri Camar Chandler (born 28 September 1969) is an American house DJ and record producer.
Biography
Chandler's influences go back to New Jersey, growing up in a family of jazz musicians. His father, Joseph Chandler, was a DJ and provided him wi ...
,
Roger Sanchez
Roger Sanchez (born June 1, 1967) is a Dominican-American house music DJ, remixer and producer. He won a Grammy Award for his remix of "Hella Good" by No Doubt in 2003, and is best known for his song " Another Chance", which was an internationa ...
,
Glenn Underground
Peacefrog Records is a British independent record label based in London, England. The label produces releases in many different styles of electronic music, as well as branching out into folk and indie artists such as José González, Nouvelle ...
,
Cajmere
Curtis Alan Jones (born April 26, 1968), better known by his stage name Green Velvet, is an American singer, record producer and DJ. He is also known as Cajmere, Geo Vogt, Half Pint, Curan Stone, and Gino Vittori.
Early life
Curtis Alan Jones wa ...
,
Derrick May,
Migs,
Fred Everything
Fred Everything (born Frédéric Blais in Hull, Quebec) is a French-Canadian electronic musician and DJ, best known for his work in the deep house music genre.
Early life
Blais was brought up in Quebec City, where he gained an interest in synthes ...
,
Charles Webster,
Kevin McKay, and
Mike Pickering
Mike Pickering (born 21 February 1954) is an English musician and DJ.
Career
Pickering was a DJ at The Haçienda's Nude and Hot nights, and later Shine. He worked for Factory Records, where he signed Happy Mondays, To Hell with Burgundy and ...
. The venue also hosted the "alternative" disco night ''Freakscene'' for many years. Sweat ended in 2001, and the venue closed in 2003.
The short independent films "120 bpm" and "The House That Cork Built" record the club's place in Irish House music. A research exhibition, titled ''Sir Henrys@UCC Library'', was held in University College Cork during 2014.
References
External links
CorkDJs.com - Sir Henry's NostalgiaRadio feature on some bands who played Sir Henrys and The Village
{{Coord, 51.896, -8.476, display=title
Buildings and structures in Cork (city)
Nightclubs in Ireland
Music venues in the Republic of Ireland
Electronic dance music venues