Ricky Dineen

Dineen grew up in Churchfield in Cork City. He formed a band in 1978 with school friends Philip and Keith O’Connell. He met vocalist Finbarr Donnelly in 1978, when they bonded over a shared interest in UFOs and music.[4] Until then Dineen had been a hard rock and Pink Floyd fan; Donnelly introduced him to post-punk and bands featured on John Peel's BBC radio show.[5][6] Donnelly joined the band that year, and they renamed as Nun Attax.

He was active on the post punk scene from 1978,[7] during which time he recorded for Reekus Records, Kabuki Records,[5] Abstract Sounds[8] and Creation Records.[8] Nun Attax developed an early live following in Ireland as Nun Attax, becoming scene leaders in the punk movement that grew around the Arcadia ballroom, managed by Elvera Butler and Andy Foster.[9][10] In 1981 three of their songs were featured on the live compilation album Kaught at the Kampus, alongside tracks by Microdisney, Mean Features and Urban Blitz. The album was recorded at the Arcadia on 30 August 1980, and released by Reekus Records.[11]

In 1983 they renamed as Five Go Down to the Sea? and recruited Úna Ní Chanainn on cello to play the bass parts. The band's sound changed significantly at this time, away from their punk roots, towards a far more Captain Beefheart and surreal sound,[11] They recorded their most acclaimed EP Knot a Fish later that year.[11] The band moved to London that winter, where they built a live following across England. They released two further EPs, The Glee Club (Abstract Sounds, 1984) and Singing in Braille (Creation, 1984), but broke up in 1985. Dineen and Donnelly stayed in London and played a number of gigs with a drum machine early in 1986, but without attracting industry interest.[12][13]

The two reformed as Beethoven in 1988 and released the Him Goolie Goolie Man, Dem EP on Setanta Records the following year.[5] In his review for the NME, writer Steven Wells awarded the record “Single of the Week”, and said that "The centrestone of this jewel of a record is the kidnapping, tarring and feathering, mugging, shagging and destruction of "Day Tripper".[14][15] Before they could build on this success, Donnelly accidentally drowned a few weeks later while swimming in Hyde Park's Serpentine Pond, aged 27.[3][16] Dineen had been out with him that day, and they had planned to meet up later in the evening.[16] He later said, "If you went out for the craic with your friends on a Sunday afternoon and one of them didn't come back, it's surreal-like. Even though we were both 27, you're still young. It changes your whole life because we went from planning our future, thinking we were going to be in England for a while, to the next minute being on the flight back to Ireland."[4] Their planned second single was never released.[12][7] Grief stricken and with the band at a sudden end, Dineen returned to Cork shortly afterwards, where he "drank [his] way though the 1990s" until his career revived in the early 2000s.[17]

Five Go Down to the Sea? have steadily grown in popularity since. A Five Go Down to the Sea compilation album Hiding from the Landlord was released in April 2020, accompanied by a twenty-page fanzine with contributions from Elvira Butler, Cathal Coughlan of Microdisney, Pete Astor of The Weather Prophets, Gavin Friday of the Virgin Prunes, and writers John Robb, Kevin Barry, Declan Lynch and Cónal Creedon.[18][19]

Dineen currently plays guitar in Big Boy Foolish with guitarist and vocalist Liam Heffernan, and in the occasional Five Go Down To The Sea? memorial band And NUN Came Back,[20][21] along with Heffernan, vocalist Tom Healy, bassist Humphrey Murphy, and drummer Ian Walsh.[22]