Eamonn Ryan

(originally posted 1/23/09)
On the bus ride home yesterday my mp3 player randomly picked "What Now" by Something Happens. I immediately took the thing off of shuffle and listened to the entire Stuck Together with God's Glue album. Something Happens is the kind of band that has influenced and inspired me as a drummer without my even realizing it. It is the kind of band that inspired this series on drummers.

Eamonn Ryan (Something Happens)

I came to know of Something Happens as part of my addiction to 120 Minutes back in the summer of...probably...1990. I waitressed that summer and would get home around 11pm or slightly later and stay up and watch 120 Minutes on MTV. I'd usually pick one or two bands that I liked from that week's show and run out and buy their cd. Something Happens was one of those bands. I was a much more militant atheist back then, and besides being full of poppy goodness, their music seemed to spit in religion's eye. I liked that. Another band in that category was That Petrol Emotion...which I see from the wiki entry, Something Happens actually references in a song title. Funny.

There doesn't seem to be much on Ryan on the net. Here's a myspace page with some of the band's songs. I really, really like his drumming style, though...and it makes me realize that I should go back and listen to him more carefully. I didn't like the second album of theirs I got Bedlam A Go-Go (I think Epilogue bought me this for my birthday one year)...but I should give it another listen and also seek out Been There, Seen That, Done That and I Know Ray Harmon, and Alan, Elvis & God none of which I knew existed before today.

Here they are playing Parachute (drum part is minimal):


And Hello, Hello, Hello, Hello, Hello: