Formed in Dublin in 1975, Radiators From Space are credited with being Ireland’s first punk band, initially adopting the name Greta Garbage and The Trash Cans.

Their music is straight up, first wave punk – nothing too fancy, just high energy, angry but melodic, shouted gang vocals, over raucous guitar and drums with a predominant, throbbing baseline. At this early stage, the music still echoed influences of early Sixties rock ‘n’ roll / garage and like all classic punk songs, none overstay their welcome, and are short sharp and straight to the point!

The band were picked up by the excellent Chiswick Records label (more about them in a later post) and their debut single ‘Television Screen‘ was released in 1977.

Later the same year, their first album (and only LP under this particular name) was released, again on Chiswick Records. ‘TV Tube Heart‘ comprises thirteen tracks, over thirty-three fast, furious and fabulous minutes. You could say that the sound is standard ’77 punk noise, with tracks like ‘Ripped and Torn‘ reflected by The Rezillos and ‘Blitzin At The Ritz,‘ a bit Clash-esque in places.

By the time of the album’s recording, original vocalist, Steve Rapid, had left the band, to be replaced by Phil Chevron who would later move on to join The Pogues.

In 1978, the decision was taken to shorten the band name to simply, ‘The Radiators,‘ and their second album, ‘Ghostown‘ was released in 1979.

Over the years, there have been a few re-incarnations of the band and retrospective releases, but these are the only two albums of The Seventies.

(After leaving the band, Steve Rapid – real name Steve Averill – went on to become a successful design artist, famously responsible for producing U2’s album covers. He is also reportedly credited with suggesting the band changed their name from ‘The Hype.’)

(Steve Chevron sadly passed away in 2013)

THE RADIATORS FROM SPACE
Phil Chevron – Vocals / Guitar
James Crash – Drums
Peter Holdai – Guitar
Mark Megaray – Bass
Stephen Rapid (Steve Averill) – Vocals

TITLE	FORMAT	LABEL	YEAR	NOTES
Television Screen	7″ single	Chiswick Records	1977	I’ve only listed 7″ singles and albums released under the name ‘The Radiators From Space.’
Enemies	7″ single	Chiswick Records	1977
Sunday World ‎	7″ single	CBS Records	1977
TV Tube Heart	LP	Chiswick Reecords	1977