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