{"id":9762,"date":"2023-11-22T21:08:34","date_gmt":"2023-11-22T21:08:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.webhostlabs.net\/synergy\/?p=9762"},"modified":"2023-11-22T21:08:56","modified_gmt":"2023-11-22T21:08:56","slug":"jerry-fish-and-the-mudbug-club-biography","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.webhostlabs.net\/synergy\/2023\/11\/22\/jerry-fish-and-the-mudbug-club-biography\/","title":{"rendered":"JERRY FISH and THE MUDBUG CLUB Biography"},"content":{"rendered":"

The most diverse jumble of musical chameleons ever to share a stage<\/strong><\/h1>\n

This week, I\u2019m going to introduce you to an Irish artist, relatively unknown on the international scene, but well known in Ireland. \u00a0His previous band supported\u00a0U2<\/a>\u00a0in 1993 on their Zoo TV Tour.\u00a0 Their music is described as ‘lounge lizard, schmooze and mariachi passion’.\u00a0 It is a spectacular concoction of soul, jazz, lounge, swamp blues and good old-fashioned rock ‘n’ roll.\u00a0 It\u2019s where Leonard Cohen sings Dean Martin.\u00a0 As the band says \u201cWhat do you get when you cross Tom Waits with a Circus Showband, when you mix Jacques Brel with Mink DeVille, when you lock Dr John, Dean Martin and The Fun Lovin’ Criminals in the same room?\u201d<\/p>\n

The answer is\u00a0Jerry Fish and the Mudbug Club<\/strong>, the most diverse jumble of musical chameleons ever to share a stage.\u00a0 Don\u2019t be tempted to use the clich\u00e9s \u201care you codding me, something fishy going on here, fish out of water, plenty of fish in the sea\u201d.<\/p>\n

Jerry Fish was born Gerard Whelan and is as Irish as they come even though he was born in London.\u00a0 He was brought up in Darndale, a working class area of North Dublin.\u00a0 Incidentally, this is very close to the area the\u00a0four lads from U2<\/a>\u00a0were from.\u00a0 Around 1987, he auditioned as a singer for a band that included Enda Wyatt. He got the job, but the band broke up soon afterwards.\u00a0 After the breakup, Jerry and Enda performed alone. Jerry brought David Frew and Drummer Martin Murphy into the band and it became known as An Emotional Fish.<\/p>\n

I met Jerry and the lads around 1988\/9 in Wexford on a sunny Sunday afternoon in a little pub in the middle of nowhere called Pegs Bar. They were chilling out and managed to jam on their guitars.<\/p>\n

In 1989 they signed with U2\u2019s label, Mother Records and released two CDs – Grey Matter and Celebrate. Celebrate went into the Irish top 10 and hit number 46 on the UK charts and number 5 on the US Modern Rock Tracks chart.\u00a0 They moved to Atlantic Records who re-released their albums, but they didn\u2019t really do too well.\u00a0 They then recorded Junk Puppets (1993) and Sloper (1994), but they didn\u2019t do too well in UK and US, either.<\/p>\n

Around 1996, the band broke up. They ended up in court with their record label, an experience which Jerry can only exasperatingly refer to as ‘heartbreaking’.<\/p>\n

Jerry then took a break and began to get to know himself.\u00a0 He did a bit of traveling, fell in love, restored motorbikes and had babies (not necessarily in that order).\u00a0 He went back to music in 2002.\u00a0 In an interview for Hotpress, Jerry said \u201cI\u2019ve always thought I\u2019m just one jammy, lucky f***er.\u00a0 It\u2019s because I\u2019m forever counting my blessings. I love the fact that I\u2019ve shoes on my feet.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2002, Jerry formed a new band with a new style ‘lounge lizard schmooze, mariachi passion and punk Latino’.\u00a0 The band consisted of Jerry Fish, Conor Brady (guitar), Simon Farrell (bass), John Wilde (drums), Stefano Stallion Muscovi (trumpet, harmonica, background vocals), Mischa Langemejer (saxophone), and Pat Corless (trombone, tuba, background vocals).<\/p>\n

They released the full-length album \u201cBe Yourself\u201d (2002) and the Top 20 hit single “True Friends.”\u00a0 True Friends was used in an advertisement by Vodafone and stayed in the Irish charts for over three months.\u00a0 It included contributions from Damien Rice, Anuna, Maria Doyle Kennedy, Bronagh Gallagher, Josie Doherty, and an international brass section comprised of Mischa Langemejer, Felim Gormley and Stefano Muscovi,\u00a0 Follow-up singles included “Upside Down,” “Anyway the Wind Blows,” and “Be Yourself.”\u00a0 \u201cBe Yourself\u201d also included contributions from Damien Rice.\u00a0 In 2004 they recorded a live album at the Palais de Glase Spiegeltent, Live at the Spiegeltent \u2013 floating on the River Liffey.\u00a0 It was part of the Dublin Fringe Festival.<\/p>\n

In 2009, they released their second album \u201cThe Beautiful Untrue\u201d. It was a Top Ten hit on the Irish albums chart. The album includes the single “Back to Before,” and duets with indie singer Carol Keogh (The Low Babies and The Plague Monkeys) and amazing rockabilly singer Imelda May from the Liberties in Dublin.\u00a0 The \u201cBeautiful Untrue\u201d hit number 7 on the Irish charts.<\/p>\n

Also in 2009, Jerry recorded an album, which has not been released, with the actors Michael Madsen, David Carradine and Harry Dean Stanton, and the singer Iggy Pop, with the contributors reciting poems written by Madsen. Jerry and Michael signed a deal to make three records together to be released on Jerry\u2019s new label “The Mudbug Club”.<\/p>\n

In 2003, Jerry was given an Irish Music Award at the 2003 Meteor Awards for best Roots\/Country Artist (much to the bemusement of Jerry) and went on to present the second series of the music television programme\u00a0Other Voices<\/em>\u00a0produced by Phillip King that same year.\u00a0 I was at the Meteor Awards that year.<\/p>\n

They toured in Ireland and UK during 2002, 2003 and 2004, including sell-out shows at the Olympia.\u00a0 They played in many festivals like Glastonbury, Isle of Wight, V Festival, T in the Park, Oxegen, The Electric Picnic and Witness.<\/p>\n

In 2010, the song \u201cBack to Before\u201d from the album \u201cThe Beautiful Untrue\u201d was featured in\u00a0 television and radio advertisements in Spain and Portugal for the department store chain\u00a0El Corte Ingl\u00e9s<\/em>.<\/p>\n

In 2011,\u00a0The Beautiful Untrue<\/em>\u00a0was released in Spain by Warner Music.<\/p>\n

Over the years, Jerry has sung with people such as Sinead O’Connor, Cerys Matthews, Something Happens, Engine Alley, Lir, Republic of Loose, Iggy Pop, Damien Rice, Imelda May, Kate Moss, Camille O\u2019Sullivan, Aslan, Sharon Shannon and Carol Keogh. As Jerry says of his band \u201cI have some of the best musicians in the world working with me, Conor Brady and Simon Farrell and John Wilde on drums. I went to see the Rolling Stones, and I\u2019ve a better brass section. And we all love what we do in the Mudbug Club\u201d.<\/p>\n

Jerry (he has An Emotional Fish line-up with him this time) is playing the Olympia this Friday 30th<\/sup>\u00a0March in aid of Barretstown.\u00a0 He has Sinead O\u2019Connor, Something Happens, The 4 of Us, Republic of Loose, Engine Alley, Lir and Ham Sandwich with him.\u00a0 I think it\u2019s just about sold out, so if you want tickets, get them now.<\/p>\n

Rock on Jerry!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Lets start the videos this week with TRUE FRIENDS<\/p>\n

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