Bangor band Draw Funny Animal (DFA) were formed in April of 1982 by Mark Dale (Bass), David Mc Garry (Guitar) and Michael Rugman (Drums). Stephen ‘Mouse’ McBride joined slightly later after the demise of fellow Bangor band the Co-Ordinates.

From early garage practices and self recorded tapes, the band proceeded to carve out a small, but enthusiastic niche following in the local Bangor music scene by supplying a barrage of ‘Bauhaus’, ‘Birthday Party’, ’Fall’ and ‘Iggy Pop’ inspired noises and subsequent furniture arrangement of the various pubs and music venues in the locality, supporting bands such as Dogmatic Element, the Perfect Crime and Ruefrex.

David left in September of that year to study for a university degree, which left the band in a bit of a quandary finding a replacement guitarist. It was not until the following year that Bill Aiken joined, and things started to take off for the band, with a renewed toughness and uncompromising stance when it came to the arrangement of songs and future gigs.

As a result of this, the band managed to secure a stint at the newly formed ‘Jules’ club, in what is now known as the ‘Cathedral Area’ of the city. This was then an array of socially scarred and rundown hovels adjacent to the Art College, but the club prided itself as one of the first venues in town which encouraged an ‘Alternative Music’ scene.

With the music technology we take for granted now being in its infancy, the band managed to come up with some interesting ideas in the use of recorded tapes being used as samples, and this came to the fore in the band’s recording output. With Bill leaving the band to go to England, Mark going on to study at Art College, and Michael working in the wholesale sector, the band temporarily folded in 1986, but returned in 1987 under the new moniker of DFA with a renewed line up of: Mark Dale (Bass), Stephen Dale (Mark’s younger brother) (Guitar) Stephen ‘Mouse’ McBride (Vocals) and ‘Bobz’ aka Colin Bell playing assorted instruments joining the line-up 2 years later.

At this time the band were experimenting heavily in beats and drum machines, (firstly using tapes, Sinclair ZX81 and Sinclair Spectrum 16K/48K computers (remember them?) , then various Yamaha beat boxes and echo chambers, providing a thunderous cacophony of drum and bass rhythms, with the double-headed brilliance of noisy guitars and  ‘oral napalm’ as an overlay to this. This proved to be the type of sound that the band was trying to produce and, (in lead singer Mouse’s view), pre-empted a lot of the music genres that were to be known as ‘Grunge’ and the ubiquitous ‘Rave’ culture. 

DFA’s uncompromising and sheer bloody mindedness continued to prevail throughout the final years of the band’s existence with gigs supporting the Charlatans, the Divine Comedy, the up and coming Therapy?, [the tightest and hardest working band in the country] and US Hardcore rockers Fugazi, as in F**ked Up, Got Ambushed, Zipped In [into a body bag], on its CV.

The last hurrah for the band came in the form of a support slot with the Liverpudlian 3-piece Drive. When this band pulled out of the remaining venues as part of their Irish tour, due to contractual disagreements with the promoter, DFA took on the role of completing the last date of the tour (and their last gig) in The Village in Cork in 1991.

Stephen ‘Mouse’ McBride “Oh yes, I remember it well. It was the night when Nirvana whet global with their single ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ and subsequent video, played for the first time on MTV. I saw it on the box, before the gig that night, and, for me anyway, this was a defining moment in music history. It was like, where were you when the Clash first visited Belfast, or, when John Lennon died.  It had an immediate impact on both the audience, (who were just brilliant), and the band itself, (who, I must say, just blew the stage apart!!).  Nirvana sparked the imagination, and the band’s output was to become the catalyst for many future music genres”. 

Stephen again “After the bands demise, Stephen Dale went to Edinburgh and is now involved in the emerging Arts scene in the city. Mark Dale went on to become a lecturer in Photography at Bangor College, and Bobz (Colin Bell) continued on in various musical ventures, forming, and playing in, the very excellent Scene Around Six. I don’t remain very nostalgic for times past, but I am proud of what Draw Funny Animal / DFA tried to achieve during their years together, and I hope others will appreciate the contribution the band made to the Irish music scene at the time.”  

On 23rd September 2022, Time To Be Proud Records released a 9 track compilation CD Draw Funny Animal 1983 - 1992. You can listen to a track from this release below.