Semi-legendary hip-hop pioneers and notorious bad boys of Irish rap Scary Éire have been added to the bill for this weekend's Electric Picnic.
In a rare live appearance, Frontman Ri-Ra, "hyperman" Mr Browne, and DJs Mek and Dada Sloosh will play the Salty Dog stage at 1.00am on Saturday morning as part of the Friday night bill.
Warning: strong language
The group, who hail from Crumlin - via Kildare - , the Coombe, and Tullamore, burst out of the nascent Dublin hip-hop scene in the early nineties after a series of gigs at venues such as Fibbers and Barnstormers and became the first Irish rap act to sign to a major label when Island Records took a laudable punt on them.
However, they only ever released one single - 1993’s Dole Queue - before falling apart. The Scary Era, a collection of archive songs that had been shelved since the early '90s, finally making an appearance in 2007.
Trailblazers with a large cult following, Scary Éire reunited for the first time in decades for their most recent gig, at Dublin’s Sugar Club last St Patrick’s Day.
During their short but eventful career, they opened for Madness, Beastie Boys, House of Pain and U2 on the Zooropa tour, and worked with renowned artists like Tricky, Jah Shaka and Howie B.
DJ Mek, regarded as one of the best DJs in the world and winner of five Irish Disco Mix Club titles, was a finalist at the DMC world championships in London.
Fusing punk, trad, reggae, and ska, Scary Éire were a product of a bleak Ireland, but their gigs were renegade and riotous, calling out the dark underbelly of Irish life in the early nineties.
Since the group disbanded, Rí-Rá has continued to perform live and has as well as releasing new material including The Horses Work for Donkey's Wages album, he has also collaborated with Sinéad O'Connor, Tricky, Junior Delgado and Adrian Sherwood.
Meanwhile, DJ Mek has remixed tracks for Ian Brown, Sweetie Irie, La Coka Nostra, The Frames, Gemma Fox and Dirty Dubsters.
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