Satire can claim a long and rich tradition in Ireland. Jonathan Swift arguably invented the genre with Gulliver’s Travels, a novel about a man trapped in a country of extremely small people (Paddy Casey to score the movie?). Swift was, in fact, chortling in his shirt-sleeves at the middle classes (petty, money-grabbing and, therefore, in his eyes, very, very small).
Bounding in his footsteps are the amiably irreverent cartoons of Eyebrowy. Rather than dabbling in lofty social commentary, however, the satirists behind Eyebrowy engage in the very necessary task of taking the piss out of local rock stars.
For those who haven't heard, Eyebrowy is a collective of web animators (recently transposed to television), whose calling is the gleeful sending up of Dublin music ‘scenesters’ and their most adored watering hole, “Phelans” (can you guess its real name?).
Among their targets are many of your favourite coffee-house troubadours: Glen Hansard, Damien Rice and an exaggeratedly short-arsed Casey (usually only the top of his head is depicted).
Eyebrowy cartoons are short flash-animated vignettes, stylistically indebted to South Park and proudly parochial in theme. One episode begins with Glen Hansard and Paddy Casey propping up the Phelans bar when The Thrills, stroll in, uplifting mercilessly and demanding skinny mochas.
Nonplussed by their presumptuousness, Hansard slips into a tirade. Later, one of The Thrills will wonder who exactly was the excitable, beardy chap: “I think it’s your man from TG4,” replies the other. “What’s his name – Hector?”
Eyebrowy is the work of Mick McGovern and brothers Bren and Colm Russell, who began mucking about with web animations while at Tallaght Institute of Technology.
Regular concert-goers, the Eyebrowy crew were amused by domestic rock’s cast-iron hierarchy. For instance, the loudest cheer at a Mark Geary show inevitably came when Glen Hansard deigned to put in a guest appearance.
”A few years ago there seemed to be a big singer/songwriter scene. We’d just imagine the conversations they’d be having at lock-ins, making them more surreal or farcical to get a laugh,” says McGovern. “Dublin is so small. If you make a cartoon featuring Damien Dempsey or BellX1 it’s almost funny in itself.”
Word of mouth brought Eyebrowy to the attention of the media; Hot Press was an early cheer-leader; last autumn RTE commissioned a series of animations for its Last Broadcast series.
“The television thing started with Stuart Clark’s ‘Get Eyebrowy on TV’ article in Hot Press,” says Bren. “After he put the thought in people’s heads everyone kept saying ‘it’d be great on telly".
As to what their targets think, the answer, it seems, is that the majority are quietly flattered. Bell X1 recently dedicated a song to Eyebrowy; The Frames have dropped snippets of the cartoon into their light show.
Eyebrowy are not unreconstructed cynics. They care passionately about music; part of their website is a ‘radio blog’ linking to unsigned acts; recently a UK band, Sam & Me approached them to work on a video (since screened on MTV2).
“The next step is going to be our difficult second album,” says Colm. “Our new stuff is going to be a real departure. The challenge is never to repeat ourselves.”