Asylum were formed by three friends back in 1982 after witnessing Crass play the A Centre in Belfast. Initially Jim Gilmore lead guitar, Paul O'Neill bass and Donal McCann on drums practiced as a three piece without a singer. Jim recalls one such practice “Big Bear came along to see us practice and took us under his big teddy boy wing and introduced us to Eddie Johnson who then became our 'singer”. The band rehearsed in a local youth club, initially doing covers of The Clash, Anti Nowhere League and the Exploited before electing to write their own material. After 6-8 months of rehearsals the band played their debut gig at the Clubhouse on the
Glen road as support to Re’bel.  Jim again “We only played one song! I think we only had one song at the time but it was our own!”

Afterward, the band started gigging regularly around Belfast with Stalag 17, playing venues such as the Orpheus and the Manhattan. Jim Gilmore again “ The Manhattan closed it’s doors to punk bands shortly after we played it but Big Bear managed to persuade the owners to reopen their doors to pUnks and the 'The Manhattan Punk Club' was born”.  Fittingly Asylum played the first gig of the new punk club and also wangled permission to use the venue as a rehearsal space too!

Shortly after obtaining the rehearsal space though, Eddie decided to leave the band to be replaced by Fra (The Emperor). Asylum continued to practice and play sporadic gigs with Fra as their vocalist until they eventually split in 1984. After a short break Asylum reformed with an additional guitarist (Brian McCann) and with Chuck now on lead vocals. Around this time the band went on their first 'Tour' again with good mates Stalag 17. They were joined on the “tour bus” by Anathema, all around Scotland and England. One of the highlights was playing with the Mau Maus in Sheffield and getting a write up in Sounds Magazine Quote " If you think Mensi is the cert to win Mr ugly bastard of the year competition again,then think again, have you seen the lead singer for Asylum".  Jim Glimore laughs “Yeah, so at this stage we decided to get rid of Chuck and get in a more handsome singer. Along came Spike (laughs).” Chuck (R.I.P) did indeed leave the band but a recording with him singing Government Issue still survives. Spike (Paul Convery) became the band’s fourth lead singer.

Jim Gilmore left Asylum and played bass for a rock/blues band before being asked to stand in on a tour around Europe playing bass for Stalag 17. After the tour Jim was invited to become a permanent member of the band, on guitar!

Asylum continued gigging as a four piece and the band recorded numerous demos throughout their career all of which remain unreleased. The band members are sketchy as to when or why the band eventually spit up (they blame the Holylands home brew).

Big Bear has tried in vain on a number of occasions to get Asylum back together again but so far without any luck.

Sadly, Big Paul (Paul O’Neill) passed away on 17th September 2021.