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The Hitchers debut album Fun & Games reissued after 25 years

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3 years ago

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The Hitchers debut album It’s All Fun and Games Til Someone Loses An Eye has been re-issued.

The Hitchers debut album Fun & Games reissued after 25 years

The Hitchers debut album

Their debut album was originally released in 1997.


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The Hitchers are very pleased to announce that with thanks to the people who supported their Fundit campaign, they are reissuing their debut 1997 album ‘It’s All Fun and Games Til Someone Loses An Eye’ on 12” vinyl.

They invite everyone to their presale of the EXTREMELY LIMITED surplus of ‘Fun and Games’ 12″ vinyls. The band have also released a new video for track U Can Du – always something of a standout moment live but never released as a single.

Releasing two albums and a slew of EP’s in the late 90s, the Limerick band came to the attention of legendary BBC DJ John Peel, who championed the band’s debut release. The Hitchers recorded a session for his show which is still broadcast today day.

The ‘Strachan/You Can Only Love Someone’ double A-side single won the band friends, plaudits and award nominations (pipped to the Best Irish Single gong by Ash’s ‘A Life Less Ordinary’), as did the band’s follow up LP, ‘For The Want of Some Better TV’. The band were ever-present on the gigging circuits of Ireland and Britain earning a reputation for spikey punk-pop, acerbic, witty lyricism, terrace-chant chorus’ and fiery live performances.

Though The Hitchers officially de-mobbed in 2001, they have over the years regrouped for one-off shows and mini-tours. Media interest in the band is rekindled biennially around the time of World Cups and European Championships, which led to The Guardian readers voting ‘Strachan’ the ‘greatest football song ever’.

In 2019 BBCs Steve Lamacq curated ‘Lost Alternatives’ a 2×12” album of his favourite bands from his time on the wireless and marking his 25th Anniversary with the BBC. He selected The Hitchers ‘Strachan’ to close the album – setting them alongside Teenage Fanclub, Snuff, Sleeper, Travis, Compulsion, Cornershop, China Drum and Suede. 

Similarly, Warner Bros Germany approached the band for permission to use the song on ’11 Freunde – the album’ where The Hitchers would find themselves in an even more rarefied scenario – rubbing shoulders with some of their own biggest heroes including Billy Bragg, The Wedding Present, The Proclaimers, New Order and Half Man Half Biscuit.

In the words of band member Niall Quinn, “In the UK, it’s fair to say The Hitchers are mainly remembered for ‘Strachan’. That was the tune that got played most and still gets played and knocked about and that stirs up interest when the world cup or the Euros roll around.”

Then in Ireland, I sometimes think it’s more the Red Mohair Jumper/She’ll Be Sorry era stuff that immediately preceded Strachan and the two albums that rings bells with people. When you come home to Limerick, there’s this palpable thing about the ‘teenage’ Hitchers. So I tend to think of The Hitchers less like a band and more like Dallas. There are some characters who are integral to the story who are only in it for the first couple of seasons. But still, the story runs…”

For more info on The Hitchers go HERE 

For more stories on The Hitchers go HERE 

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Richard is a presenter, producer, songwriter and actor. He was named the Limerick Person of the Year (2011) and won an online award at the Metro Éireann Media and Multicultural Awards (2011) for promoting multi-culturalism online. Richard says that the ilovelimerick.com concept is very much a community driven project that aims to document life in Limerick. So, that in 20 years time people can look back and remember the events that were making the headlines.