User talk:Bullit (the band)

Bullit formed in 2003 after the discussions of long time friends Ed and Herb. The pair met in College in Dublin in 1989 and were drinking associates long before they ever got together with guitars.

Ed was an acomplished trumpet and bass player who had spent much of his teenage years playing around the music scene in the Irish midlands and making music with his older brother, Ken. There was a number of rehearsal sessions involving the pair during their college days but they never amounted to anything.

Herb engaged in a few projects in the early nineties. None of them would have achieved much recognition, but one act (who Herb claims he can't remember the name of) played a few gigs with screaching amplifiers, agressive vocals. The sets usually didn't last more than 5 songs, including Jane's addiction and stones covers.

When Ed and Herb left college in 1993, they quickly set about forming Stuffed as a three piece, with Will Ahern on drums. At the time Nirvana were at their height, so Stuffed took the cue and spent six months in regular sessions, in Apple Rocks Studios. The music at this time was a blend of punk with a blues style. By the end of this six month period, Stuffed had around 20 original songs fully written and rehearsed. They recorded a 14 song demo album on a portable 4-track in Apple Rocks Studios in one day, with vocal and limited guitar overdubs over the following weeks in engineer and producer, Brian Bannon's, family home. At the time the music scene in Dublin/Ireland was feeling the hangover of not finding the next U2. As a result none of the record companies they sent the demo to, responded (even with rejection letters). With the dispondancy that Stuffed experienced, they quickly called it a day. Ed went travelling around Europe, Will continued on working in IT, and Herb went to set up a candle shop in the south of Ireland.

When Ed returned from Europe, he moved to Galway, where a flourishing bohemian music scene had developed. He joined the Judas Diary on Bass, and Trumpet. Judas Diary were were more of a small orchestra of traditional instruments (guitars, drums, flute, brass, fiddle, vocals), and had up to 10 members at one stage. Judas Diary toured Germany frequently and remain part of Galway's popular myth even today. At this time Ed was also running Hedgehog Studios outside Galway city with brother Ken.

Herb did very little musically, in the years between the dissolving of Stuffed and 2000. this was largely due to personal and relationship circumstances. However during this Time Herb and Ed remained in contact. In 2000 during an impromtu jam Ed played Herb a riff on the guitar suggesting he produce some lyrics. This riff turned out to be "Who do you pray to ?", which was the first song on the debut Bullit album, "Can't Stop, Won't Stop" (released 2003). Up to 2002, Ed and Herb collaborated in Ed's Studio in Mullingar. At the time, drummers Paddy Hasset, and Kieth Horan sat in on drums in a session capacity. Everybody at the time was happy to let the project continue in an informal capacity.

In September 2002, Herb was involved in a serious motorbike collision, breaking his lower left leg in 3 places. During his recovery, Ed gave him a digital 8-track recording desk, which resulted in a very prolific song writing period. At this time, they also decided to produce a completed body of work. Can't Stop Won't Stop was released around March 2004.

With the enthusiasm the boys had now attained they went back into Studio 34DD in Mullingar during Christmas week 2004 to start putting together Addicted to Life. Ken was back from New York for a short time and produced and engineered the Lay-down tracks. At the time Ken was still putting out vinyl 45s with his New York Band Sky Rocket. During the set up for the session, while they were waiting for then Drummer Peter Kirby to turn up, Ken played Drums on "Thought I knew you". He was also resoponsible for guitar overdubs through out the album. As with the first album, Ed was the driving force behind the recording, and when it was completed, the band enlisted Kevin Leech from Crimson as a live Bass Player, while Ed played guitar during Bullit Performances. That year(2005) the band played various dates around Dublin, Mullingar and Longford.

Keeping with the fashion of recording at Christmas time, Herb went into the studio Christmas week 2005. The studio was the live sound center in Cabra Dublin, which was the first time Bullit had commercially recorded. In the months prior to that Ed had priorities which meant the live bullit outfit had run its course, and it was effectively a session project again. At the time Herb began playing as many solo singer sonwriter gig slots he could get, in an effort to work out material in an environment that let him know instantly "hit or miss" with the material he was writing. The drummer for the Cabra sessions was a punk/ska sessionist called Crispo who had one rehearsal prior to recording to work out the drum line. Ed played bass on this album, and Vince Hughes contributed some masterpieces in the form of guitar work for three of the songs. The Album was called Cinderella's Tranqualizers. So far a single of three songs has been released from this album, but the rest has only appeared sporadically on myspace to date.

Bullit reformed as a live three piece in early 2006 with Herb guitar and voice, Ed Bass and voice, and JP from punk outfit CURT! They played a summer tour around Ireland, but due to the dispondency they experienced, the band yet again ended up getting sidelined