This fondly remembered Omagh band began life in early 1979 as a four piece band. It featured Seamus Gormley on guitar, Paul Gormley on drums, Paul Breslin on bass and Stevie Chesters on guitar and vocals. The band originally went by the name of The Rejects but after a few months together they added the recently defunct RU12's ex-lead singer Marty Donnelly to their ranks and with a swift name change, The Excellerators were born. Brothers Paul and Seamus Gormley (aged 15 and 13) lived opposite the local girls’ convent school and their bedroom doubled as the band’s rehearsal space, much to the chagrin of their neighbours in the Gallows Hill area of town. The other three members, Paul Breslin, Stevie Chesters (both 15) and Marty Donnelly (aged14) all lived less than a five minute walk down the road in O'Kane Park. In fact, all three of them lived in the same five house terrace row! Many of Omagh’s punk bands sprung from this area of town including Straitjacket and The Icons. All five lads had grown up together, went to the same primary and secondary schools and all shared a love of Punk, Powerpop, jeans, Harrington jackets and sneaky bottles of cider. It was hardly surprising then that they all ended up in a band together. .

Early local gigs comprised of street parties, the CKS and Strathroy community centres, youth clubs, school dances and battle of the bands competitions which featured other local bands such as The Icons, Control Zone and The Anarchists to name just a few. Eventually, they played some out of town gigs too in Castlederg, Strabane and Lifford. The band had assembled a tight set of original material including All Around You, Cornerboys, Under Her Control, Saturday Bloody Saturday, Fashion and Adam Eterno. The band mixed these with the odd Rudi, Outcasts, Undertones or Moondogs cover.

In March of 1980 the five lads in the band went to the (sadly no more) Royal Arms hotel in Omagh to see one of their favourite bands The Undertones. Whilst standing among the expectant audience, they were approached by the promoters as the support band (The Sect) was having problems getting to Omagh from Derry as their van had broken down on the way. The Excellerators were asked would they fancy opening for The Undertones? Bear...shit...woods...Out through the side door and down the fire escape the five ran and up to their rehearsal/bedroom in the Gormley house to pick up their guitars, snare drum and cymbals. Approximately half an hour later, the now sweaty jeering crowd wanted the rock 'n' roll punk fix they'd paid to hear. So with the shout of 1-2-3-4, The Excellerators opened their set with their rendition of The Clash's White Riot and pogo mayhem ensued. Halfway into their second song they noticed that The Sect had eventually arrived but the Excellerators got to finish their blistering set. The Sect got to play a shortened set and finally headliners, The Undertones took to the stage and wrapped up a great night that has since gone down in Omagh's punk fokelore. Other notable gigs included opening for Rudi, and three different support slots for The Outcasts, who jokingly referred to the band as "the wee mods" due to their love of Harrington’s. At one soundcheck in Castlederg the cheeky upstarts belted out their cover of Magnum Force while The Outcasts stood at the bar. It had only been released a couple of days! Greg Cowan and the band were in stitches, remarking afterwards that The Excellerators version was better than theirs!

In 1982 The Excellerators won a local Battle of the Bands contest but this was to be their last hoorah. By this time the original wave of the local punk and Powerpop was on its last legs and post-punk, new romantic and electronic music was on the up. The band split amicably the same year. Sadly they never made it into a studio to properly record their material but some live recordings do exist. Like many working class teenage bands at that time, the guys still remain friends to this day. Paul Breslin served a short stint after the band split as bass player for Control Zone. The Gormley brothers and Stevie Chesters are still living in Northern Ireland while Paul Breslin emigrated to Australia in the mid eighties. Marty Donnelly now resides in Dublin and Stevie has since played in many local bands including Sunset Sunday and The Muldoons and is still involved in music as a bass player. Seamus and Paul later formed The Crocodile Tears and released one album called Peach in 1987. Seamus is currently back recording new material. Marty too went on to play in both Sunset Sunday and The Muldoons and is now recording new material under the guise of The Thunderbolt Chorus.