Aslan, who took their name from the heroic lion in C.S. Lewis’s series of books chronicling the fictional land of Narnia (Aslan is the Turkish for ‘Lion’), emerged from the working class areas of Finglas and Ballymun in Dublin’s Northside, in the mid 1980s. They released a demo single, ‘This Is’, in the Spring of 1986, which was a huge hit and became the longest ever play-listed single on Ireland’s pop radio station, RTÉ 2fm.

In the summer of 1986 they played a series of rapturously received shows in the UK and Melody Maker noted, ‘Lucky the label that signs this band!’. Janice Long at BBC Radio 1 recorded Aslan in session and went on to air it for an unprecedented three times in the subsequent weeks. At the end of 1986 Aslan walked away with The Stag/Hot Press,’ Most Promising New Band’ award and signed to EMI.

In 1988 they recorded their debut album, ‘Feel No Shame’ which shot straight in to the No.1 spot of the Irish charts and remained there for weeks. Within a couple of months it was certified Gold. Then in August 1988, just as the option for their 2nd album had been picked up, Aslan infamously imploded, torn apart by overindulgence of all kinds.

Five years and a day to the last time they gigged together (on the 11th of July 1993) they played what was supposed to be a one off charity gig in Finglas; the spark was reignited and Aslan landed a new record deal with BMG. The first fruit of the deal, their single “Crazy World”, entered the charts at No 4 and stayed in the charts for 3 months, becoming one of the most played songs on Irish Radio for the year.