The Cinnamon Firm - Retrospective

Hugh Burns - Vocals, Guitar Joe Curley - Lead Guitar Michael "Denny" Dennison - Organ Jeff Lynas then Kieran McCann - Bass Paddy Johnston then Norm Burns - Drums The band were formed in November 1997 by five friends from belfast's mod / 60s revivalist scene. After only five rehearsals the band played their first gig at Copperfields in Belfast . In April 1998 Kyran McCann took over as Bassist from Geoff Lynas. The five piece were picked up by manager Jim Rielly, erstwhile of from 70's punk legends Stiff Little Fingers. This led to a session at Novatech Studios where they recorded their debut EP (which ended up being an albums worth of material). They took just one day to record 11 tracks. The subsequent release "Cottonwool Crossroads" was very well received, especially within the UK mod scene . The band then toured throughout the UK and Ireland and received some interest from US record labels. 1998 Norm Burns took over Drums from Paddy Johnston and a collection of new songs were then laid down at Ja Studios in March 1999. This led to interest from a well known boxing promoter Dean Powell. The Firm embarked on a frenzied summer of gigs and secured a regular spot at the Creature Club (Vicos). The song 'Doing Me Wrong' from the Ja sessions was penned for a single release in August 1999, however in early August everything started to break down, an american record company that was interested in signing the firm pulled out due to the death of the the record company's owner and soon to follow was the departure of the bands manager Jim Reilly. It wasn't long after that before the band started falling apart due to disappointment more than anything, Joe and Kyran packed their bags which effectively killed off the band, so rather than trying find to replacements and continue along the same path - Hugh and Norm decided to explore new directions while still drawing on their deeply ingrained influences by forming The Keepers. Paddy and Denny went on to form The Penny Dreadfuls (re-named The Dreads) Highlights of the time with the Cinnamon Firm include performing on BBC/ RTE television , playing with such great bands such as Nine Below Zero and of course spending a few hours with the modfather himself ---. Mr Paul Weller, Noel Gallagher , Matt deighton , Paulo Hewitt, Steve White etc in dublin.