About

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Welcome to Brand New Retro, where we scan and publish old Irish print content previously not available online.

We have over 415 posts featuring more than 1600 images which we have scanned from various magazines.
See the content category links on the left of the screen.
Location specific scans have been pinned to our Dublin and Irish maps.

The roots of the site go back to Dundalk, 1978 when my brother Eamonn and I produced the first edition of our ‘Too Late’ fanzine. Keen to digitise and share some of these old fanzines I started Brand New Retro in April 2011. On discovering that lots of other interesting Irish content & photos from our collection of magazines and fanzines had hardly any online presence, I extended my scanning to include these.

Unless otherwise stated, all the pictures and articles have been scanned from our personal collection gathered over the years. The scans are not for any commercial purpose.

Brian “Dougie” McMahon

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30 comments

  1. Marian Park

    “DOUG DEVLIN: Ex-Scottish Youth midfielder who was a Wolves reserve before moving to Walsall in July 1972. He made 18 League appearances prior to joining Dundalk in July 1973, then played for Raith Rovers, Telford, Tamworth, Alvechurch and Rushall. Now running Douglas Publicity Ltd. in Walsall.”
    from http://www.saddlers.co.uk/page/SaddlersAZ/0,,10428~936599,00.html

  2. noeleen soraghan

    HI Dougie – Great Blog! Heard about this all the way across the pond. Wondering if you’re still wearing your gutties?? Cheers, Noeleen

    • Hi Noeleen, great to hear from you. Hope all well in the Big Apple. Yes, still loving my gutties & plan to do a post on them along with skeething guns some day soon. Thanks for the shout!

      • noeleen

        Left the big Apple in 87 Dougie! Up in the sticks of Connecticut now :) Your pic appeared tonight on a page I belong to on FB Dundalk Northend and friends.Check it out when you get a chance.
        Fame has arrived!

    • Hi Hayley, lovely to hear from you. Yeah, schoolboy hero he was! Great player. His pic is in that 70s collage on the blog! Hope he is keeping well + has good memories of the town!

  3. I must say this is fascinating. I volunteer with The Little Museum of Dublin. It’s a civic museum for the city and they are looking for exactly the type of things you are talking about to be loaned or donated to the museum to tell the story of Dublin in the 20th Century.
    I would really appreciate it if you could get in contact with me 01 661 1000

  4. Niall Mc Mahon

    Great site Brian,read about it in the Argus this week,some good memories there,especially the Dundalk cup win of 88.Was in Dalymount that day with Dad and Liam.
    Well Done

    Niall Mc Mahon

  5. Padraig

    I stumbled upon this site while checking out the Thin Lizzy Dundalk gig dates on Google. Brilliant stuff. Love all the DFC memories of the cup final in 1988 – I was there!

    I think my brother Paul Lee was involved with Red the Spine. I was at Art College at the time and remember taking some photographs of a gig (poss in the Cellars)…my memory sometimes does not serve me well…

    Best Wishes

    Patrick Lee

    • Hi Pat. Paul was Red the Spine… with me. I have no photos at all but have a decent demo tape. Do you still have the photos? Would be good to get some up on this site. Thanks for all the comments :-)

      • Padraig

        Hi Brian

        Ah, not too surprised that Paul was Red the Spine, he has a big personality! He’s in the States these days.
        I’ll have a look for some photographs next time I’m home in Dundalk (I’m in London). Is there any way of uploading the demo? Would be good to hear it.
        I really like the stuff you’ve done with the site, Dundalk (and Ireland) had a lot going on in the 70s/80s and I have nothing but good memories. So it’s good to remember and celebrate it.
        The photo of your parents is great too. A nice tribute to your dad.
        Cheers
        Patrick

      • Great to hear from you Pat and thanks for support. I plan to digitise the demo soon. I’ve misplaced the cassette but I know its here somewhere. Will put it up on web especially if I can get your photos to go with it!

  6. John Byrne

    Hey Dougie – great site. A right little treasure trove!

    By any chance were you at an infamous punk gig at St Anthony’s Hall in Dublin circa 1977/78? The Virgin Prunes, Skank Mooks and Berlin were among the bands on the bill.

    I remember talking with a very enthusiastic lad from Dundalk afterwards as we headed back up the quays, and when I saw the young you in the above snap of NRG it brought me right back.

    I could be wrong, of course. It was a very long time ago . . .

    • It was a long time ago, John and I wasn’t at that gig BUT my brother was! It may have been him! He actually wrote a review of the gig which he published in his Too Late fanzine. I will post this review on the blog very soon.

  7. Seller

    Hi, i have a box full on National Geographics ranging from the 60′s to the naughties. They are in good condition and im looking to sell them. Any of you retro bloggers interested? Im based in dublin.

  8. Paul O'Hagan

    A very interesting blog. However, for a blog that claims to showcase ‘old Irish pop culture’ I’m a little disappointed that there seems to be nothing about the six counties. I’m also disappointed though frankly not surprised that there’s absolutely no reference (as far as a quick perusal goes) about the Irish language or any of the more traditional things that make Ireland a little different from you know where. Granted the language is on its last legs along with most of the other traditions and I understand many people in the south feel they were forced down their throats in school and so forth. However, I think you’re ignoring a large chunk of Irish reality.

    I also recognize that you really don’t want anything to do with Loyalism/Orangeism (who the hell does apart from those lovely people themselves?) but I think it’s sad that not only are southerners (many of them it seems) accepting partition, they are letting it colour the way they see the world. But if that’s the way it is then I have to accept that reality.

    That said, I’m always intrigued by blogs like this (along with ROI history etc, documentaries on RTE and TG4) showing me some of the social history and other aspects of the South (as we always called it even though the most northerly part of the Island is in Donegal) that we heard little of in Belfast when I was growing up in the sixties and seventies. Good luck with the blog.

    • Paul, I know. One look at the density of the pins on our map and you would think Irish Pop Culture from the last 50 years only existed in Dublin and, of course, Dundalk!
      We are always on the look out for old interesting pop culture clippings which are not already online, so if you have anything, please let us know. Thanks, Doug

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