De Confidence

AKA Anthony & De Confidence. De Confidence is an art collective founded p by West Cork artist Anthony McCarthy ca 1987. Membership of the collective has over the years included: Dan Hallissey (AKA Crafty Dan) (keyboards), Giordai Ua Laoghaire (ex Nun Attax, Microdisney, Soon, etc) (guitar), Liam Murphy (Black Velvet Band) (guitars, keyboards), Barry Nolan (AKA Son of Lir) (keyboards), Liam Shanahan (keyboards), Arty Lorrigan (drums, percussion), and female singers Tara Woolridge, Lara Ewusoho and Neasa de Bearoid (Hidden Fears). Anthony lists the Virgin Prunes, Ivor Cutler and Yello among his influences. His vocals are like spoken word performances. An earlier project named Anthony & The Alcoholics was abandoned after the "Music For Suffering Ducks" project (circa 1984) and the Kuckoo single (1985). De Confidence rarely played outside Cork. The live show reputedly includes music, mime, spoken word, projected images, light effects, etc, i.e. a multi-media approach. There are also several videos. In 1988 they did a 3 city tour under the name Anthony & De Confidence which included Triskel Arts Center, Cork, the Irish Film Institute in Dublin and Covent Garden Community Centre in London. This tour was organised and promoted in the hope of stirring record company interest in the band but nothing concrete came of it apart from one unsatisfactory offer. Another notable performance was at the Pacific Circle Music Convention in Sydney, Australia in 1997. Anthony is still active and has released quite a body of work over 20+ years on his own Kings Union imprint, and two self-published books (Maymount Books), but with zero distribution to speak of these items are very difficult to get hold of. More details can be found on his myspace page -- see external links below. Anthony's books to date are "Driving My Car" (2001) and "The Rise and Fall of Billy the Blob" (2005), both published by MayMount.