Paul Bell

Hi, This is the story . so far!
I'm from Wexford in Southern Ireland. Have been writing music most of my life and managed to make a reasonable career out of it! The usual highs and lows of a composer! Studied in The Royal Academy Of Music but flunked out just before my degree! Moved to Dublin when I was only a kid to try and get into music. Played with the legendary Eric Bell (no relation) founder member of the original Thin Lizzy and all round genius guitarist who wrote The Rocker and famous solo on Whisky In The Jar, to name but two.
After playing with Eric I formed a band called The Lookalikes with drummer Mike Mesbur. We recruited some great musicians including my best mate from Dublin, Eamon Doyle on bass. What a blast! We were young and really going for it! There were a lot of bands coming out of Dublin at the time and we were constantly courted by UK record companies. We were probably looking for the ideal record deal and by the time it came round I had got fed up playing bubble gum rock/ pop and decided to move to London. From those days my good friends U2 were the ones I knew would make it. deservedly they did and in style!
In London I hooked up with Irish guitarist Grimmo and we formed Zerra 1. We were lucky enough to be taken under the wing of Robert Smith from The Cure and after only a couple of small London gigs without management or record contracts we were on The Cure "Pornography" British and European tours. An amazing six months and some great friendships came out of that time.
We then signed to Chrysalis publishing and after many more tours with the likes of Peter Gabriel, The Mighty Wah, U2, Siouxe and The Banshees, Cocteau Twins, having recruited and shed several members along the way, most notably all round great guy/ musician (now record company exec!) Korda Marshall, we signed to Phonogram Records with a line up that included my old friend from Ireland Mike Mesbur on drums.
We made our first album (imaginatively titled "Zerra 1") in Woodstock with the legendary Todd Rundgren in the producers chair, again an experience!
We then basically toured for the next 2 years in our own right and as special guests of acts like Ultravox, Big Country, Boomtown Rats and lots more.
Zerra 1 made a second album called The Domino Effect with Tim Palmer producing. By then the line up was Eamon Doyle on Bass and Anto Drennan on guitar. We sold reaonably well but being in the eighties and having had a load of money spent recording, promoting etc we were stuck in that situation where we would have needed a monster record to continue. Zerra 1 disbanded in 1988.
In 1990 I formed a band called Ashes And Diamonds with good friend Andy Higgins. We recorded our only album called Heart Of An Angel in Miami where we were based for about six months with the great Tom Allom producing in Criteria Studios. We were managed by all round business guru and friend Michael Dolan.
I then did some producing and managing for a while. I ran my own studio in London up until 1993, when I got in touch with another friend of mine from my home town called Brendan Wade, who had been in a band called Cry Before Dawn. I asked if he would like to come to London to try writing together. I had another connection with Brendan in so far as I had produced the tracks that got them their record contract with CBS records.
We wrote five songs in a week and sent them to two companies, namely Warner Chappell Publishing and Ritz Records. We were amazed when both companies got back to us and offered us contracts. We signed to Warners and began a long term working relationship with Ritz records. Our band was called The Wild Swans, after the W.B. Yeats beautiful poem "The Wild Swans At Coole". we later changed it to The Swans (as we weren't so wild!)
In 1996 we had a number one record in Ireland, knocking the Spice Girls Wannabe of the top spot along the way. This record was directly linked to another passion of mine Hurling, which is an amazing Irish Sport. We wrote two songs to celebrate both the past and present of our County Hurling team called "Dancing At The Crossroads" and "The Purple And Gold". In amazing syncronicity the record went to number one on the day of the All Ireland Final, which Wexford won for the first time since the late 60s. What made this achievement all the more remarkable was that we didn't have a record company, management or even distribution for our record. It was a totally homegrown success with families, friends and people form Wexford Hurling all helping. That was one of the proudest moments of my life and the proudest moment of my musical career!
We then signed to Ritz records and recorded our album entitled Photographs And Letters with the super talented Chris Porter producing. We recorded some tracks at Abbey Road in the famous Beatles Studio Two, with great string players from London Symphony Orchestra under the musical direction of Chris Cameron again what an experience! We toured with Mike And The Mechanics, David Essex and did a lot of touring in our own right. We did numerous TV and radio particularly in Ireland. We made many friends along the way and sold quite a lot of records helped by some great people Michael Clerkin, Jef Hanlon, Gerry Crowley and my mentor/ advisor and friend over the years Michael Dolan.
When Brendan and I decided to call it a day I began writing for other people. This was an experience I found to be rewarding and eye opening, proving its never too late to learn in this or any other walk of life. I was lucky enough to work with some great people like Martin Brammer for example.
I am now concentrating on running my artist management company imaginatively called Paul Bell Management. I'm a partner in Radiophonic Music Publishing and Lookout Mountain Records. I also still do a bit of composing.
It's been interesting and still is. If you're still reading at this stage fair play to you. I will be posting some music on here from stuff I have written over the years. Thanks for reading. Paul