The Captions began life in 1979 as a straight ahead punk band called Miracle Cure. Formed on the north coast, the band were Eamon Connor, guitar, Chris Hickey, drums, Sean Corr, bass and Louie Coulter (vocals/rhythm guitar). Original compositions included ‘Sweet Suicide’, ‘Radio One’, “Hey Sweet Thing’, ‘Vampire Lover’ and ‘Durex Blues’ However, Louie left in 1980 and was replaced by Francie McFaul, which triggered a name change to The Captions and a shift in musical direction to a more Power-Pop sound.

Francie McFaul quickly became the band's chief songwriter, with some contributions from Sean Corr. Though the band concentrated on original material, on rare occasions they included a Bowie cover in their live set.

They were prolific songwriters and recorded two demo tapes in quick succession. Their first was recorded in 1981 on a 4 track recorder at Chris Doherty’s amateur home studio, over three days in the kitchen / dining room of his house in Portstewart. They laid down five original Power Pop tracks ; ‘I Can't Get It Out Of My Head’,‘Riverworld’, ‘Terrible Day’, ‘Beat It Out’ & the stand out track ‘Beast of Burden’.

The band peddled the demo around the usual outlets and gave copies away to friends. Terri Hooley of Good Vibrations Records was suitably impressed, however, not in a position to release anything at that particular time. Airplay on the influential Dave Fanning show on RTE was denied. The band were informed by Dave’s producer, that as it was not professionally recorded, their sound technicians union would not allow the show to use it. Hot Press however gave the demo a complimentary review, describing the band as "abrasive guitar pop with a garage edge”. The band launched / showcased it at a punk disco (did such a thing exist) which they organised in Portstewart which went down quite well.

A second 4 - song demo tape, was recorded during a gig at Spuds of Portstewart. It was described by drummer Chris as "a cacophony of sound". The tracks featured were ‘No Feelings’, ‘Take For Example’, ‘Boot Hill’ & ‘All Day Long”. The Captions never managed to play outside the triangle. No money or transport proving hurdles too difficult to surmount at the time. However, they did play quite often at Spuds in Portstewart and the Student Union bar in Coleraine. They supported local artists such as Know Authority, Perfect Crime, The Mighty Shamrocks and The Xdreamysts and bands such as The Gas at Coleraine University. The band split in 1982.

The band members all subsequently emigrated. Sean Corr now lives in New Zealand, Francie McFaul in Scotland, Eamon Connor in the USA and Chris Hickey resides in England.

Francie McFaul continued to write songs and record demos after the band split. He is now better known as Gospel singer David Isaac who recorded 8 albums, toured Europe and America, and appeared many times on TV over a 10 year period. He currently teaches guitar and plays in his local church band, and is still writing songs.

Jan 81 review of The Captions Demo cassette from Hot Press Magazine.

Short, Sharp descriptive, eye catching - this band's music their moniker like a glove."I Can't Get It All" is the first of five tracks, and establishes well the stylistic perimeters within which the band work. Melodic flashes of "Yummy Yummy Yummy" bump up against Undertone-ish exuberance, whilst, guitar wise, the ghost of Status Quo looks on.

The singer first reminded me of Davey Jones, and then of some nugget type garage band vocalist - but think back to, say The Monkee's "Stepping Stone" and then it doesn't seem like such a dichotomy. The Captions have come up with a roughly hewn collection of contagious but abrasive pop songs, shot through with a discernible streak of lyrical cynicism.

Spit Records released two of these 1981 demos on 21st February 2022, namely I Can’t Get You Out Of My Head and The Beast Of Burden, which can be heard below. On 29th March 2022 Spit Records released Shellshock Rockers Vol. 3, a compilation CD of previously unreleased tracks, all salvaged from old cassette tapes. This included The Captions track 'Beat It Out', again recorded in 1981.

If you have any further information or photographs of this band, then please DO get in contact via spit77to82@aol.com