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Eire Apparent was a band from Northern Ireland.

In early 1967 ace-guitarist Henry McCullough (formerly of The Sky Rockets Showband and Gene & The Gents) from Portstewart in Northern Ireland made his way to Belfast where he teamed up with bassist Chris Stewart, singer Ernie Graham and drummer Dave Lutton to form the psychedelic outfit The People. Later that year the hopeful foursome moved to London and got signed by ex-Animal Chas Chandler for Track Records who changed the band's name into the less familiar "Eire Apparent".

With only one single released Chandler sent them on tour with headliners Jimi Hendrix Experience, Soft Machine and The Animals. Things went quite well during 1968 when, in Canada McCullough was sent back to Ireland due to visa problems with Mick Cox taking his place in the band.

McCullough joined Sweeney's Men and, later on, became The Grease Band's axeman. In 1973 he enrolled with Paul McCartney and Wings, and these days he is still offering excellent solo albums.

The new Eire Apparent cut one album in 1969 with Jimi Hendrix producing, who had already produced for Cat Mother And The All Night Newsboys before with their album The Street Giveth And The Street Taketh Away released in 1969. Jimi had tried to combine traces of Rock, Pop and Psychedelia which seemingly turned out to be quite different to handle even for a guitar genius. Several sources claim the existence of a second Eire Apparent album (reportedly produced by Soft Machine drummer Robert Wyatt) but most likely it never saw the light of day.

In May 1970, hardly noticed by the public, the band broke up. Ernie Graham recorded one solo album in 1971, was a short-time member of Help Yourself in 1972 and then co-founded underrated pub rock combo Clancy. Mick Cox formed his eponymous band in 1973 (one album on capitol records) and can be heard of on Van Morrison's classic album Common One in 1983. Dave Lutton played with Heavy Jelly in 1970, Ellis (1972-73), Marc Bolan (1974-76) and assisted Chris Spedding on his 1979 Guitar Graffiti album. Chris Stewart became one of Rock's most exciting bass players and an ever-faithful partner for Frankie Miller (1975-78). Further jobs include Spooky Tooth, Joe Cocker, Jim Capaldi, Eric Burdon, Graham Bonnet, Terry Reid, among many others.

• http://www.irishshowbands.net/bgeire.htm