THE OFFICIAL TEARJERKERS SITE

The Tearjerker's where 5 young lads from Northern Ireland who formed a power pop / punk band in 1978 amid the Punk explosion of the late seventies. The TJ's wrote classic power pop tunes and toured Ireland both North and South extensively. Signed to cult Belfast record label Good Vibrations they where quickly snapped up by English record label Phonogram.

The band started in 1978 when Howard Ingram and The Groover from the Detonators the original 1976 punk band, joined forces with Cobra's Nigel Hamilton and Speeds Paul Maxwell. An Irish punk supergroup hmm. We signed to Belfast’s Good Vibrations label and then Phonogram in the UK and Mercury worldwide.

The Tearjerkers enjoyed support from fans from all over Britain and Ireland during the late seventies. What set the Tearjerkers apart from their Northern Irish contempories was that every member of the band was a songwriter with a keen ability to write catchy and fun pop songs. They were not impressed by the ram-a-lama dole queue version of punk rock, they wrote short fast high energy intelligent songs. The bands members age's ranged from eighteen to twenty four and all were accomplished players having cut their musical teeth playing in other bands.

The Tearjerkers were out to have as much fun as they could and constantly toured playing every venue that put on live music all over Ireland both north and south and also in the Greater London Area. This constant touring won the band many fans especially in the South of Northern Ireland which was generally ignored by Belfast bands.

The Tearjerkers line up

Paul 'Westie' Maxwel - Vocals

Howard 'Throb' Ingram - Bass Guitar
Paul 'Groover' McIlwaine - Guitar
Brian 'Brinsley' Rawson - Guitar
Nigel 'Squatty' Hamilton - Drums later replaced by Gregg Lindsay

The band signed to local cult label Good Vibrations before signing to Phonogram label releasing the following singles:-

Love affair - Good Vibes
Murder Mystery - Phonogram
Through the Back Door (American compilation album) Phonogram
Where's Julie - Blue Rhythm Audio
The Tearjerkers also released a live album originally on cassette titled "Everybody Wants To Shag... "The Tearjerkers - This has become a highly sought after collectable

The Tearjerkers scored a minor hit in the UK reaching number 74 in the UK singles chart with the single Murder Mystery produced by John Astley & Phil Chapman who had previously worked with the Who and Eric Clapton. This single was also released in France, Sweden, and Belgium where it was well received reaching the lower reaches of European hit parades. Murder Mystery was reviewed favourably on Radio One's Round Table on which Johnny Rotten gave it a thumbs up! This single now exchanges hands at very high prices and is one of the most prized 'rare' singles from the punk era - so if you have one hang on to it