Thomas Paul Burgess

Thomas Paul Burgess is an academic, novelist and musician from Belfast, Northern Ireland. He attended Oxford University, studying Ethics & Moral Education, and obtained his PhD from University College Cork.[2] He lives in Cork, Ireland, where he is a Senior Lecturer and Director of Youth & Community Work at The School of Applied Social Studies, University College Cork.

Thomas Paul Burgess
Burgess in 2015
Background information
Birth nameThomas Paul Burgess
BornNovember 1959
Shankill road,
OriginWest Belfast, Northern Ireland.
Genres
Occupation(s)
  • songwriter
  • musician
  • academic
  • Novelist
Instruments
  • Vocals
  • Drums and Percussion
  • piano
  • guitar
[1]
Associated actsRuefrex
  • Jackie Forgie
  • Allan Clarke
  • Gary Ferris
  • Gordy Blair
  • Sacred Heart of Bontempi

His published works include A Crisis of Conscience: - moral ambivalence and education in Northern Ireland (1993), The Reconciliation Industry: - community relations, community identity & social policy in Northern Ireland (2002), The Contested Identities of Ulster Protestants (2015)[3] and The Contested Identities of Ulster Catholics (2018).[4][5]

Music

As a songwriter with his band Ruefrex his work met with acclaim, the group being described as "...the most important band in Britain".[6][7][8]

He appeared on the cover of Melody Maker after they had recorded the controversial "The Wild Colonial Boy" denouncing Irish-Americans for sending guns and money to the IRA. The record entered the UK top 30.[9] Their music was featured in the motion picture Good Vibrations.[10][11][12]

His later projects include forming the musical collective Sacred Heart of Bontempi, and releasing a tribute to Pogues’ frontman, Shane MacGowan entitled, "Shane MacGowan’s Smile" (Burgess had previously toured with the band).

Novels

His first novel, ‘White Church, Black Mountain’[13] (Matador. 2015) was short-listed for the Impress Prize for New Writers, 2017 and The Carousel Aware Prize for Best Novel, 2016.

His second novel, ‘Through Hollow Lands’[14][15] (Urbane 2018) is a dark supernatural thriller based loosely on Dante's ‘Inferno’ and follows survivors of the 9/11 attacks, through the seeming purgatory of Las Vegas. He has described it as, 'An allegorical tale on the death of American innocence.'[16]

Discography

Albums
  • Flowers for all Occasions (8 versions), Kasper Records, 1985

Singles & EPs
  • One by One (5 versions), Good Vibrations Records
  • Capital Letters (7"), Kabuki Records
  • Paid in Kind (2 versions), One by One
  • The Wild Colonial Boy (4 versions), Kasper Records
  • In the Traps (2 versions), Kasper Records
  • Political Wings (12"), Flicknife Records

Compilations
  • Capital Letters... The Best of..., (CD, Comp), Cherry Red

References
  1. "'Alternative Ulster': Punk in Northern Ireland", www.popular-musicology-online.com
  2. "Paul Burgess – Oxford Education Society". Oxford Education Society. Retrieved 28 August 2019.
  3. "Thinking About Unionism". Independent.ie.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  4. "The Contested Identities of Ulster Catholics". Dublin Review of Books.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  5. "Contested Identities of Ulster Catholics". Reading Religion.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  6. "Belfast Punk Bands: Ruefrex – Once ‘The most important band in Britain.’", www.bombedoutpunk.com
  7. "Ruefrex", www.trakmarx.com
  8. "Mad Dogs and Ulstermen: the crisis of Loyalism (part one)", www.opendemocracy.net
  9. "Punk band Ruefrex, voice of working-class Ulster loyalists, are back – and still have something to say, writes Henry McDonald", The Guardian
  10. "Good Vibrations (2012) Soundtracks ", IMDb
  11. "Good Vibrations: The Film (2012)", nipunk.weebly.com
  12. "Ruefrex", discogs
  13. "Paul Burgess' first novel re-humanises a Belfast still hardened by past and ongoing sacrifices". Slugger O'Toole.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  14. "A late change of plan may have saved our lives". Irish Times.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  15. "Belfast Author Thomas Paul Burgess on How 9/11 Inspired New Novel". Irish News.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  16. "Thomas Paul Burgess takes Readers on a Neo-Noir Acid Trip". Into the Void Magazine.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
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