• Donal Coghlan: Vocals, keyboards, bass gutair, lyrics.
• Gerry Leonard: Gutair, programing

Although both had been in a verity of local bands during the Eighties, Leonard and Coghlan did not get to know each other until they moved to Copenhagen in 1986.

Coghlan had decided on Denmark because he had spent the previous year in Dublin going in and out of Hospitable Until he was diagnosed with M.S. and he felt he had to escape the "intensive care" he had found himself in after he had left Hospitable.

Leonard moved to Copenhagen in pursuit of a romantic affair. Leonard had been given the word that another young Irish musician was recently resident in the City and, one night, turned up Coghlan's doorstep. It was the start of a friend ship which soon turned to musical matters.

From 1978, Coghlan had been in The Departure, a popular Dublin band much influenced by XTC and The Stranglers. Four years later he quit the local rock scene, vowing never again to play live in this way. He opted instead, to concentrate on song writing and bought one of the first Porta-studio's which he operated from his bedroom. One of his first clients, co-incidentally, was a band featuring Gery Leonard. This was in 1984, two years before there friendship was properly cemented.

Leonard meanwhile was also involved in the Dublin burggeoning rock scene. Soon after leaving school he landed a job as tape operator in a twenty four track studio. During the subsequent three years he worked his way up the ladder, becoming a studio engineer.

At the same time Leonard was playing with Dublin outfit The Spies also attending the local school of music studying guitar. After the spies broke up he joined a group called Above the Thunderclouds

When Coghlan and Leonard returned to Dublin they decided to get a musical partnership together and to cut a long story short Hinterland was formed. Having caused quite a stir in the music business with own produced demos they singed to Island Records and publishing in 1989.

The group spent a lot of time in the USA promoting there first release on Island records finally parting company with the label in 1994.