Neil Hannon stated the existence of a compilation of his first home demos probably recorded on the days before October went on the studios. “I was so certain of my own genius I made a compilation tape of all my earliest songs. There are side notes like: ‘Used church organ here,’ and ‘Recorded spring ‘85.’ It’s almost unlistenable, but I admire the fact that I took the time.” [1]

Those demos were probably recorded during the October rehearsals at the Cathedral Hall (a venue next to the St. Macartin Cathedral) and may include material such as ‘Passion Fruit’.

Neil Hannon also used to record himself home with different instruments (with the guitar or the family piano but also with suitcases as a drumkit) mixing the recordings with different tape recorders.
One of the recordings is the original demo of ‘Silent Man’ which the one and only copy was given away to his first girlfriend: “Neil wrote a song, put it on tape (with his original artwork cover of a weird photo!) and thrust it into my hands one morning at the bus shelter. It was a song called ‘Silent man’”. Lawrence Hoy: “I remember the day he gave her the tape. It was just before the studio session, I remember we had a gig at a party a few weeks beforehand where we played the song - I think it was the second rectory party. Only one copy of that tape existed.... Because it was a personal gift, Neil had to ask her permission to record it in the studio!” The tape finally went for sale for charity between 2006 and 2010.


[1] The Guardian, 28/10/2010