The Xposers were one of the first punk bands to come out of Rathcoole in Newtownabbey. Formed in 1979 the initial line up of the band was Roy McConnell vocals, Ashey Sinnerton bass, Mohair Mick lead guitar, Derek Machen guitar, Roy Spence guitar and vocals and Fast Eddy on drums. However, Fast Eddy was quickly replaced by Sharon Spence (RIP) on drums and Roy Spence, no relation to Sharon, took Mohair Mick’s place on lead guitar and vocals.

Their musical influences included The Vibrators, Talking Heads, Devo and Neil Young. Guitarist Derek Machen takes up the story of how the band formed “We were five mates who grew up together and after getting pissed off with discos and Saturday Night Fever we bought a Clash song book, took some guitar lessons and formed a band”.

The band were filmed (see below) playing their “I Could But I Just Don’t Want To” track for the John T Davis movie Shellshock Rock. This footage was shot at the Harp Bar in Belfast, where the band were regulars, both on and off the stage. The band also appeared on the Ulster Television News show Good Evening Ulster hosted by Gloria Hunniford performing another of their songs “Emergency Cases” live in the studio (above image is from this appearance). The band had been due to perform their track ‘Nazi Time’ but producers objected to the song’s title so Emergency Cases was performed instead. Some further photographs from this performance are featured in the band’s photo slideshow above.

The Xposers split in the mid 80s after having clocked up around 200 gigs.

The tracks ‘Nazi Time’ and ‘Shellshock’ were however recorded at Whiteabbey recording studio in 1980 and both tracks feature on the Spit Records compilation CD Shellshock Rockers Vol. 2 - Still available direct from this site. The track ‘Shellshock’ also appears on the Best of Spit Records comp ‘Not Another Phlegmin' PuNk Compilation!’which is also still available.