The official website of Belfast band Ruefrex

Jackie and Clarkey plugged the new album with a brief interview broadcast on BBC Radio Ulster's 'Arts Extra' programme. The interview went out on Friday 7th October

Ruefrex featured in the October 2nd edition of 'The Observer' newspaper with a feature entitled 'Return of the Angry young Prods'. Band members Allan Clarke and Tom Coulter were interviewed by Henry McDonald with comments also from Paul Burgess who was in Cork.

September 2005

Official Release date announced!

Today, Cherry Red Records revealed that the official release date for the album 'Capital Letters.... the best of..' was October 17th.

Tracks are - One by One/Don't Panic/Capital Letters/April Fool/Perfect Crime/The Wild Colonial Boy Pt 1/Correct Your Fireside Manner/Even In Ihe Dark Hours/Paid In Kind/By The Shadowline/The Wild Colonial Boy/In The Traps/Flowers For All Occasions/The Lenders Of The Last Resort/Days Of Heaven/Playing Adult Games/The Fightin' 36th/Between Having And Wanting/Playing Cards With Dead Men/Middle-Ground

April 2005

When interviewed by Guy Trelford (co-author of 'It Makes You Want to Spit') recently on what was the motivation behind the reformation of Ruefrex, Paul Burgess replied......
"The key factor was the encouragement of Tony McGartland and his website. There endures an affection and I think respect for the band and our stance during a period when we stayed true to our core beliefs whilst others prospered commercially and with critical acclaim. Tony convinced us of that and he was right. The logistics of pulling it together were tricky but there was enough initial good will and interest in new songs to keep all members on board. We go a long ways back –from school days - so after some initial awkwardness, things kicked in again."

September 2004

Ruefrex returned to a packed Empire on September 30th for the Terri Hooley Benefit. Since Paul Burgess is in the US the band are joined by ex-SLF drummer Brian Faloon. Also on the bill are The Undertones, Shame Academy and The Moondogs.

April 2004

Live Radio Session

The band were featured on BBC Radio 6 hosted by Liz Kershaw on Sunday 2nd May performing two live acoustic tracks `Flowers for all Ocasions` and `A Punters Tale`. The session and brief interview came across very well and Kershaw really put her neck on the block by playing `The Wild Colonial Boy` from their re-issed `Flowers for all Occasions` album. The band are currently still rehearsing with a view to recording a mini-album of new material over the summer months.

November 2003

Rehearsals Resume

14th Nov - After the success of the reunion gig at The Empire, the band were together again rehearsing new material. Although rehearsals in Belfast continue without Paul, the band assemble as a powerful songwriting team when he arrives from Cork to work together on what will be a brand new album from Ruefrex.

The original pressing of the re-issue `Flowers for all Occasions` CD is sold out and we are awaiting new stock to arrive.

Re-Union Gig

Ruefrex played a set of new and old material at their reunion gig at The Empire, Belfast on 6th November 2003. The band have no plans to reform to churn out a catalogue of old material but to continue from where they left of 15 years ago. They are very pleased with things to date. They have added a fifth member, Andrew McFarlane on guitar/keyboards and on the night performed seven songs - `Class War`, `A Punter`s Tale`, `Flowers for all Occasions`, `Grace of God`, Capital Letters`, `One by One`. They encored with an old favourite `The Ex-Lion Tamer`, a cover by 70s punk band `Wire`. Despite problems with the `on-stage` sound their set was probaly the most exciting of the night as 'Clarkey' stripped to the waist and left the stage to join fans for a chorus of 'One by One'. Photographs of their performance can be seen in the 'gallery' section.

The gig also featured on the BBC N.Ireland TV programme `First Stop` on Wednesday 5th November at 11.00pm when 'Clarkey' and Greg Cowan were interviewed briefly.

Paul Burgess arrived earlier in the week from Cork and they were booked into a city centre studio (1st, 4th and 5th) to rehearse for the show with a full line-up.

August 2003

We are delighted to announce the re-release of the highly acclaimed debut album `Flowers for all Occasions` for the first time on CD. This initial `limited run` of 100 copies is to raise funds for studio time and recording of a brand new album of new material. Copies of the album can be obtained for £8.75 including postage and packing from...........

Ruefrex had a brief rehearsal today (3rd July 2003) in Belfast. Although Paul Burgess hasn`t yet joined the sessions because of holiday engagements the remaining members rehearsed possible new tunes `The Punters Tale` and `Grace of God`. They feel that original Ruefrex numbers `Flowers for all Occasions`, `Fightin` 36th`, `Days of Heaven` and `Kingsmill Road` have stood the test of time and would form a solid basis for a new set. Meanwhile, ex-Ruefrex producer Mick Glossop has been able to source several previously unreleased out-takes by the band which could make interesting `B` sides. `The Wild Colonial Boy` (12" mix) and `In the Traps` (12", 7" and instrumental mix). This marks the first time the band have worked together in 18 years!

In the days that followed drummer Paul Burgess had rejoined the band and commented........ "We have all met up a couple of times now and are looking at the possible release of a 4 track cd with a provisional track listing, radical re-working of Fightin' 36th; Days of Heaven and Kingsmill Road and a new song `Norman Whiteside's Knees`."

The most exciting news in years is that original members Allan Clarke, Tom Coulter, Jackie Forgie and Paul Burgess have had a secret meeting to discuss the possible reunion of Ruefrex.

To promote the reunion, Allan and Jackie played an acoustic session for Community Radio station `Northern Visions Radio` in Belfast, hosted by Terri Hooley. The session was broadcast live on Sunday 29th June and the three songs performed were `Port of Amsterdam`, `Flowers for all Occasions` and `The Wild Colonial Boy`. They have been invited back to air new material in September. When we get further information on the reunion, we`ll pass it on to you.

Ex- Ruefrex guitarist Jackie Forgie has teamed up with Andrew MacFarlane on keyboards and Paul Garrett vocals in a new band called the `Black Taxi Ballads`. After Christmas the band go into the studio to record some of their own material and are also planning a few selected gigs in the New Year. As well as the original material they will be performing acoustic versions of `One by One`, `The Wild Colonial Boy` and `Paid in Kind`. Jackie informs me.... "The original songs will be covering subjects such as the Shankill bombing, the murder of Margaret Wright and issues that have had an enormous effect on my outlook!" The first completed track is "Shadows over Windsor Park" which deals with the Neil Lennon affair. The band are working hard to move the project forward.

As for the live set, there will be a few drastically re-arranged versions of songs like `Delilah`, `Psycho Killer`, `Stagger Lee`, `Tramp the Dirt Down` and `Death is not the End`.

There are tentative discussions at present about a possible Ruefrex release - "the radical re-recording and re-arranging of some existing songs and some new ones."

Paul Burgess is currently working on a collection of poetry and lyrics for a publication called "Correct Your Fireside Manner". Paul has already written several interesting books, most notably "A Crisis of Conscience; Moral Ambivalence and Education in N.Ireland." (Avebury Press) and "Community Relations, Community Identity and Social Policy in N. Ireland." (Edwin Mellen Press)