I knew you couldn't resist opening this page! Okay, so here is a brief history of the group.
(IRA logo by Andrea Luminati)
The group started off in 1981 as a duo with Andres Luminati and myself called IJA, which means Italian and Japanese in American school. Andres had never played guitar in his life, and I myself was only good at classical piano. What a challenge!
(Image: IJA in action: Andres (L) & Jun (R))
Soon, Steve Edwards from Gibraltar joined us as a drummer (which was a real laugh... He has never touched drums in his life neither, and what was worse, he was "rhythm-deaf"! Oops, Steve, are you out there?). So there we were as a Trio. We tentatively named ourselves "The Devil's Trident". Our target was to play in the annual talent show. First we had to find the instruments to play with! That is another long story. Then we had to make up a new and appealing name for the group. We selected the name IRA, standing for International Rock Army, but actually we liked how it sounded. This was the first phase of IRA. (Image: from L to R, Jun, Steve & Andres)
So Andres was the guitarist, I was the keyboard player, and Steve was the drummer. What do we miss? Yes, the bassist! We went to look for one, and where there's will, there's way: Andre Sant'Anna, a native Brazilian, was keen on the matter - but as usual, he never played bass in his life neither (any comments there, Andre?). So the ultimate amateur band was formed with an aim to play in the talent show. This is the second phase of IRA. (Image: from L to R, Jun, Andre, Steve & Andres)
Somehow we made it to the talent show, but I was forced to play the drums too because Steve could not keep the rhythm! Here unravels the detailed true story of how we managed to play at the talent show written by Andres (Andrea).
But after that, IRA became famous. For a year or so, we had played at various parties, and gained attention of our class. During that time, Steve moved from Brazil, Andre quit the group, and a new American bassist, Clay Burkett, joined the group. Here are the details of this third phase of IRA by Andrea. (Image: IRA on the day of graduation (83/6/1). From L to R, Andres, Clay & Jun. Notice the logo I-R-A done by the 3!)
"What had started as a joke, was still a joke... but now, everybody was laughing with us and not at us." - Andrea Luminati
Dedicated to the Alumni of Associacao Escola Graduada de Sao Paulo
IRA forever!