Touring Bands - The Nips

THE NIPS

The Nips in Belfast Friday 6th & Saturday 7th October 1978 at the Harp Bar, Belfast.
The band line for these gigs were, as image above - L-R Larry Hinrichs guitar (R.I.P), Shanne Bradley bass, Shane MacGown vocals and Richard Williams (not pictured) Drums.
Shanne Bradley from the band recalls their trip across the Irish Sea.

I’m pretty sure on one of the nights, support was by Protex but I’m not sure if they played both gigs. I have some singles I was given, somewhere. Afterwards Protex came to London. I remember going to see them at the Music Machine, ’Don't Ring Me Up' was one of those singles. Fold out paper covers. We were the first band from England to play at the Harp Bar. Larry Hinrichs, our guitarist from that time sadly died a few years ago (2013). We had Richard Williams from The Passions playing drums on the trip he was/is about a decade older than us.
We drove all the way from London to Stranraer in Scotland in a dodgy old transit van mostly sitting with the gear in the back. Then the commercial ferry with lorry drivers, arriving in Belfast for the weekend. Mad weekend! It was a long journey. I stayed at Stan Brennan mum’s house. Stan ran Soho Records and he too is sadly no longer with us. Stan was also the band’s manager. His mum cooked amazing bacon sandwiches! I forget what they were called, maybe soda bread or potato bread for breakfast (an Ulster Fry). We had a tour of The Falls Road and The Shankill but i don't think it was possible to drive down them. Barricaded off. We did drive past Belfast City Hall. We signed copies of our single at Good Vibrations Record Shop. Our last night was spent partying at Terri Hooley's house, though after several hours of Van Morrison I never wanted to hear Van the Man again!
We were in a big rush to get back on the Monday morning so Larry our guitarist could get into work! He still lived with his parents! On arrival in London, he bolted out of the van with his Gibson Les Paul (his dad worked for Macari's Guitar shop so he had a top guitar! ) and Leather jacket to get to work at Lloyds Bank! He hadn’t told his mother that he was in Belfast!
If anyone has any photographs of this gig, then please DO send them in as we'd love to see and share them. Send to spit77to82@aol.com