Dublin, Ireland · anarcho-punk

Paranoid Visions

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Ireland's long-running anarcho-punk agitators, still recording with their heroes — Dublin's conscience at full volume, four decades of righteous racket.

Paranoid Visions formed in Dublin in 1982, making them one of the longest-running acts in Irish punk. Their music sits in the anarcho-punk tradition, fast and abrasive, with lyrics that took aim at Irish politics, the church and social hypocrisy, often delivered through dual male and female vocals. The band built its own scene, running its own label, F.O.A.D. (Fuck Off And Die), through the 1980s and 90s, handled largely by guitarist P.J.

In 1987 the band mounted the FOAD2U2 campaign, spraying the slogan across Dublin as a jab at the city's most famous export. The EP I Will Wallow parodied U2's Boy album and its single "I Will Follow," fitting the band's habit of aiming its satire at home.

The group split in 1992 but reconvened for one-off shows through the following decade, including dates supporting the Sex Pistols' Filthy Lucre tour in 1996 and the Damned's 25th anniversary tour in 2001. A full reunion followed the 2005 compilation Outside In, which led to a new EP, Missing in Action, and a fresh run of writing.

Between 2005 and 2017 Paranoid Visions released five albums and twelve singles. The 2009 record Beware of the God was later placed among Hot Press magazine's list of important Irish albums, and singles such as "Politician," "Treasure on the Wasteland" and "Outsider Artist," the latter featuring TV Smith, all reached the Irish top ten.

From 2013 the band worked with Crass vocalist Steve Ignorant, a partnership that produced two albums and two singles alongside regular live shows; 2016's Now and Then...! entered the Irish charts at number six. In 2025 a two-hour documentary on the band, Outsider Artists: The Story of Paranoid Visions, premiered in Dublin.

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anarcho-punk