The SM Corporation

The SM Corporation was formed in 1979 by Stephen Averill following his departure from punk band The Radiators from Space. Alongside Paul Wynne and Dermott Gunn the trio played a live soundtrack to F. W. Murnau’s 1922 classic film Nosferatu, which was projected from the stage. They played a debut Dublin gig on 15th June 1979 and with U2, Virgin Prunes and CD Nein in Cork at Downtown Kampus in Cork in October of that year (in this case using the name 'Z'). As it turned out the band played their improvised Nosferatu live soundtrack to the largest audience of the night. At that time the band used two analogue synths (Kawai S100f), some tape samples and live drums to give some spontaneity. After a year of playing this improvised music the band line up expanded to include Kathy O’Donaghue on vocals and synth and Paula Dee on Keyboards and vocals. For a time ex Radiators bassist Mark Megaray played as a guest with the band. This line-up played a new, specially written song, 'Waiting For The Weekend' live on RTE’s national station’s flagship chat show The Late Late Show. The band also appeared several times on television backing poet Pat Ingoldsby anonymously. The proceeds from these performances and from writing a advertising jingle helped provide the funds for the band to purchase a Tascam Portastudio on which a number of their songs were recorded (available on the Shock World Service Bandcamp page). The next round of changes saw Kathy O’Donaghue and Dermot Gunn depart to be replaced by Paul Wynn’s girlfriend Tina O’Brien on vocals and later another synth player Austin Rock joined. This line-up played a number of gigs including Trinity College and The Television Club at a multi-band show; Methods Of Rhythm which also included The Fountainhead and Ambitions In Glass. For a brief period Paul’s sister Ger also did some gigs with the band as backing vocalist. The band by then had developed a more song orientated set and a demo tape called Rehearsal For Life was circulated at this time but largely fell on deaf ears. At that time they defined their music as D.O.A - dance orientated audio. This was emphasized by the dance orientated track 'Good To Be Alive' which the band released as a limited edition cassette single, it featured guest contributions from two ex Radiators Mark Megaray and Pete Holidai. The trio of Rapid, Wynne and O’Brien recorded the original song 'Eyes On Fire' as well as a cover of John Carpenter’s 'Assault on Precinct 13' and they released a 7” single on Revolving Records (credited to 'S.M. Corporation, the band used a few variations including Siamese Monitors & SM Corp before settling on The SM Corporation). Additional keyboard and guitar, as well as co-production, were by Pete Holidai of The Radiators From Space. Another further set of demos were recorded in the studio of U2 engineer Paul Thomas, again Pete Holidai co-produced. Tina left the band shortly after that and Dublin based American singer Karin Parkes joined as vocalist. Three songs which included a cover of Piece of My Heart alongside the songs Fire From Above and Hammer, the latter two appeared on the Comet Records compilation cassette “Tape 3” released in 1988. The band eventually split in 1989 however briefly reformed for a live show in 2012 in Dublin. Using demos and outtakes they also compiled a version of the album 'Noise Reduction' they would have released had they not split up. As of 2019 there is no label yet attached to this collection entitled