A double album anthology of 32 studio recordings by Irish band Auto da Fé

Auto da Fé: When the Curtain goes Bang An Anthology

If 1977 and the advent of Punk heralded the summer of discontent, then the 1980's was the era of discontent.   Political and social norms were completely overthrown. Fashions veered from Gothic to shoulder pad, walls came down, and cold war enmities defrosted while miners went on strike and poll tax drew anger and campaigners for CND, H-Block, political amendments, feminism, SPUC and animal rights marched and lobbied to register discontent. Much social struggle existed with  a determination to change the status quo as the sole weapon to which to ensure survival. This climate of rebellion and social upset expressed itself through art and music. Music was a primary key of expression and the sounds of struggle zoned from punk to reggae, new wave, electro pop and electronica. The rebellious spirit could be heard and the sounds of struggle and discontent resonated proudly.

In Ireland, change was in the air and the emergence of Auto da Fé was part of the sound of change. They caught the vibe of a changing country, changing people and changing attitudes making the first bold tentative yet important steps to an enlightened society. The presence of Auto da Fé helped make those steps bigger, louder, bolder and easier to comprehend.  While they were described as a theatrical, keyboard dominated New Wave band and in Gay Woods’ words “a progressive rock band for the eighties” there was more to Auto da Fé than just music alone -they were messengers of the zeitgeist.

Translated from the Portuguese, Auto da Fé means “Act of Faith” and refers to the ritual burning of heretics at the stake by the Spanish Inquisition. The name aptly described the feeling of heretical musical outsiders that Gay and Trevor felt at the time. The band’s arrival was a social phenomenon as well as a musical one – in that they mirrored the new spirit of self-liberation and personal freedom through music. Liberation was the order of the day and expression was the code – with music as the means of expression. For Gay Woods- reinvention was the means by which such liberation and expression was made possible. Gay’s journey of self-discovery, self-doubt and existentialism filtered itself through songs and lyrics that resembled a scrapbook of repelled emotions unleashed at last. They resonated for their melodic strength as much as their anarchic power.

Auto da Fé was an important part of Gay’s musical journey from folk singer in Steeleye Span and as part of a singer/songwriter duo with ex-husband Terry Woods,  to a fully-fledged lead vocalist in a theatrical New Wave band complete with a redefined image and appearance in a continuing journey of personal growth as a woman -her views, thoughts and ideas expressed in their fullest notion and channeled through Auto da Fé’s music. Gay Woods’ arrival as a solo artist and a woman witnessed an Irish equivalent of Patti Smith, Debbie Harry, Souxie Sioux and later Cyndi Lauper and Madonna – here was a woman expressing herself with forthright honesty.

While Gay was for many the focal point of Auto da Fé, the band was a joint effort with partner/musician/composer Trevor Knight- himself an accomplished musician from a jazz/rock background, playing with progressive fusion acts Metropolis and Naïma among others. They wrote the material together and their partnership and collaboration created a body of work that was at once challenging, bold, provocative, melodic and attractive.

Formed in Holland in 1979/80, musically, the initial jazz/rock/funk influences mixed and were gradually subsumed into the later electronic based 80s sounds of synthesizers and programmed percussion, creating an antidote to the guitar dominated bands of the time. The cast of Dutch, Irish, Greek and British musicians that sailed with Gay and Trevor in the adventure that was Auto da Fé between 1980 and 1990 contributed hugely to the music they produced both live and in the studio.

Auto da Fé began life in the town of Nijmegen in Holland, with Gay joining Trevor who had hooked up with some established local musicians after moving there a few years earlier. These local bands gradually morphed into the first version of Auto da Fé, building up a strong live following in Holland, recording a number of demos (featuring songs like those included here such as The Merchant and The Angelus, securing live radio sessions in Hilversum, and playing the most prestigious gigs like The Paradiso in Amsterdam. After attempting 2 rather poorly attended and underpaid tours of Ireland with the Dutch band, Gay and Trevor decided to relocate to Ireland in 1981. Low-key gigs with new members Robbie Brennan (Stepaside) and Mark Megaray (The Radiators) followed – the decision having been made to lose the guitarist after he couldn’t make a gig and it worked fine! - and work as a 4-piece keyboard-led band in gigs like The Magnet Bar, The Baggott Inn in Dublin, and The Showboat in Waterford. They began to attract attention and slowly build an Irish audience. By chance whilst recording a demo in Windmill Lane Studios they met Thin Lizzy’s Philip Lynott who had recently embarked on a solo career using a more synthesiser/ electronic based sound. Robbie and Philip had played together in Skid Row many years before and Philip knew Gay from The Woods Band days in London- so an old union was re-ignited. Philip readily agreed to produce the first record November November, which subsequently received considerable airplay in the UK as well as Ireland and then he produced and funded Bad Experience and Man of Mine- also playing and singing on these tracks. A live show at The Venue in London with Philip playing bass, and a Live In Concert for the BBC Radio followed, later released as “Songs for Echo”. His last production for the band was “Something’s gotten hold of my Heart recorded in Midge Ure’s studio with Midge playing guitar. He asked Trevor and Robbie to join his solo band for a tour of Ireland in 1982 with Auto da Fé as support act. The airplay, videos and high profile helped make the band a major player on the scene.
Auto da Fé were a sensation on the live circuit in Ireland in the early 80s - a compulsive live band that in Gay's words -'it was my idea about this band that it should be just live, to play, get paid and go home”. Their live show was a spectacle, a colourful anarchic celebration–a living breathing pulsating being that pushed the  envelope at all times  and dared indifference. Gay’s colourfully provocative appearance was a 360-degree turnaround from her folkie roots. To witness her throwing bags of cut up coloured paper around the stage, belting out strident anthems of love, lust, anti-commercialism, and tirades against the repressive society, Catholic Church, moralist ethos of the period and general discontent was a formidable sight. Trevor Knight hunched over his keyboards, a daunting figure, behind his array of synthesisers, pianos and electronic percussion, formed a visual foil and complimented the unique musical symmetry Auto Da Fé possessed. Throughout their history a wide range of musicians joined them on stage with rhythm sections including Theo Wanders and Karel van Rijn, the much missed Mark Megaray and Robbie Brennan, Philip Lynott, Garvan Gallagher, Willie de Mange, David Connolly, TJM Tutty and Earl Gill Jr, Stephen Knight, Eddie Lee and Tom Jamieson, Howard Wilson and Wal Coughlan and guitarists Wout Pennings, Joop van Nimwegen, Fin Corrigan, John Stokes, Dick Farrelly, Adam Siatras, Ronnie Stone and Jimi Slevin and wind players Dave McHale and Keith Donald, locked into rock solid rhythmic groves united in the twin synchronicity of a familial unit.

Auto da Fé was 'organised chaos' in musical terms. a passionate, triumphant animal that invoked reaction, consternation, indifference and love sometimes all at once. Its captive audience followed relentlessly the cosmic dancers in tow and the relationship between band and audience was familial and tribal. Ireland had seen nothing like Auto da Fé before and they had heard nothing like them either. They captured their excitement in the cold confines of the studios producing at once perfect 80s new wave electro-pop radio songs, which were memorable and also possessed lyrical and thoughtful soundbites. The singles November November, Bad Experience, Man of Mine and All is Yellow (Hot, Hot, Hot!) together with live appearances at the Reading Festival UK, The TV Club Dublin, spots on RTE's Non Stop Pop, left scorch marks on the memory. In 1982 Gay Woods was voted Number 1 Female singer in the Hot Press poll. The “B” sides of the singles offered examples of the subversive, complex, intellectual, anarchic world of Auto da Fé. For Rich People, Lot 3, Auto Da Fe, Frankie and Cellophane Rain were barbed and barbing and they caught the knife edged energy and white-knuckle exhilaration of their live show-itself a roller coaster ride or exhilarating emotionality and cascading rhythms.  

Visually and aurally they captured a sense of despair, release, hope and liberation that spoke for an audience in 80s Ireland. Their phenomenon was social as much as it was musical. In 1986 Gay and Trevor temporarily retired Auto da Fé to re-emerge as Operacket- a project which Mark Prendergast in Irish Rock -Roots, Personalities, Directions (O’Brien Press 1987) describes as “the flamboyant aspects of Auto da Fé were dispensed with for a more serious presentation which featured Gay’s voice against a backdrop of cut up sounds, African rhythms and minimalist keyboard techniques”. Some of this work became part of the recordings released as “Gazette” in 1989 again under the Auto da Fé moniker. This followed an appearance at “Self Aid”. A revitalised band with guitarist the late Fin Corrigan, drummer Tom Jamieson and a variety of bass players played many venues around Ireland in the final years of the 80s.

This Auto da Fé Anthology is a selection of studio recordings from 1980-1992. With tracks from the first demos in Holland to early recordings of songs that permeated the live show, to the various singles, album tracks, radio show sessions to Friendship - their final recording in 1992. These tracks encapsulate the unique, cathartic sound and experience that was Auto da Fé – a band that captured the liberal spirit of the 80s wind of change.

John O’Regan 2018