Christmas shopping with Mr.Fish

Going on a fantasy Christmas shopping trip with Jerry Fish is a bit like being taken on a whirlwind lesson in music history and culture - with a few unexpected curveballs thrown in for good measure!

Fish’s tastes are, not surprisingly, varied and eclectic – as anyone familiar with the fantastically joyous sound of the Mudbug Club in full flight might expect. But entering HMV’s Grafton Street store with the enigmatic frontman of one of Ireland’s most popular live outfits is more akin to taking a classroom of 8-year olds to a Toy’s R Us outlet!
Fish can’t hide his excitement as he directs his gaze in wonder at the sheer volume of desirable fare on offer. The range of rock’n’roll wonders on offer notwithstanding, the first thing to catch his eye is not musical in nature but a collection of miniature volumes by children’s’ writer, Dr Seuss.
“I was raised on Dr Seuss,” he says, his eyes lighting up as he picks up the tiny set of books. “My father must have joined some kind of book club because a new one would come in the post every month. He’s a real fun read for kids - everything’s crazy and surreal. He was a kind of a Grateful Dead hippy character – the Cat In The Hat is the one most people know. Nowadays, I read them all the time for my own kids and they love them as much as I did. He’s been dead for a few years now but I was in Paolo Alto in California once and I met someone who knew him – which was a big thrill.”
Still in the books department Fish grabs a copy of (former hotpresser) Neil McCormack’s intriguing biography, I Was Bono’s Doppelganger.
“He gave our album a great review in The Telegraph so I’d have to support him,” he laughs. “But seriously from what I’ve read in the press about this book, it’s an interesting story. In some ways we’ve all been in the shadow of Bono and U2, especially those of us who came up in the 1980s and 1990s.”
He identifies a book of Rolling Stone magazine articles and photos of the late, great Johnny Cash as a potential present – for himself!
“What can you say about Johnny Cash that hasn’t been said before?” he asks. “But he’s still hugely interesting as a character. His life story is quite incredible. What I really find very interesting is that I saw some TV footage from about 20 years ago and it looked like he was at the end of his career. He had dyed hair and he looked very old. You’d never think he was going to continue for another 20 years. Then Rick Rubin came onboard and made all those brilliant albums. And they were all so simply produced, stripped down to the bare bone.”
Moving into the Music DVD section, Jerry picks out a copy of the Rolling Stones’ Rock & Roll Circus – the celebrated TV special, filmed in 1968 but never broadcast.
“I love the artwork on this – it’s very Jerry Fish and the Mudbug Club,” he says. “But I just loved the freedom of that whole 1960s era. There seemed to be a lot more artistic freedom back then than there is now. The Stones and other bands like them could do what they wanted – and then the record company would just market it. These days it’s more like find the market first, and then find a band that fits into it.”
We head towards a row of shelves heaving under the weight of box sets of every genre imaginable – from Buffalo Springfield to The Who to Hank Williams and Elvis Presley. Jerry’s curiosity is vast, but he knows what he really likes.
Immediately lays his eyes on a Sun Studios CD set and a Motown collection of vinyl 45s, he’s animated.
“That early Sun Studios stuff is just timeless,” he says, perusing the track-listing. “The entire history of rock and roll is here. And Motown was such a great idea. I love the songs – but I also like the idea that record companies would use the same band for all the recordings. I have the Stax Records Box set with Booker T & The MG’s playing on all the tracks. It’s very much a Mudbug Club ethos. Yep, these two would add very nicely to my collection.”
A Martin Scorsese Blues Box Set is the next item to tickle his fancy. Scorcese, of course, is the man who made Taxi Driver and Raging Bull among other meisterworks – as well as having shot The Last Waltz for The Band.
“I didn’t realise he was such a blues fan but he’s a great filmmaker and he always uses great music in his movies so I would trust his judgement on this one,” Jerry says. “I’ve really gone back to listening to a lot of roots music these days. Black musicians of that era worked so hard. They were coming from the cotton fields to playing guitar, so they treated it with the same work ethic. It wasn’t uncommon for them to play for 12 hours at a stretch.”
He goes off in search of the new Tom Waits album but on the way inadvertently bumps into a rack of 2005 calendars. Two of them fall off - a Viz magazine Kama Sutra and a Daniel O’Donnell calendar.
“It’s a pity they’re not mixed together into one, “ he jokes. “Daniel O’Donnell and the Fat Slags together – now that would be scary!”
He eventually finds the Tom Waits album, Real Gone, and picks it up excitedly. “I’m a huge fan of his but I haven’t heard any of this album yet. The way he describes making it is the way I’d like to make an album. I’m a rock fan but I just ended up being in a rock band [An Emotional Fish]. I would have liked to experiment more with other musicians like Waits did. We got into it a little with our third album, Sloper, but with The Mudbug Club I was able to take it a lot further in that direction. But Real Gone is a record that I really want – put that on the list!”

After all that fantasy shopping it’s time for a coffee and Fish (aka Whelan) sits down and talks about his hectic year, which has seen The Mudbug Club expand into the UK with considerable success.
“We had a very busy summer over there,” he reflects. “We played Glastonbury for three days, which was brilliant. We also did V2004, T In The Park and the Isle of Wight Festival. It was interesting for us. Because of the brass section, we stand out from all the other bands and they’re really into it. Glastonbury was the highlight. It was ourselves, Snow Patrol and The Thrills from Ireland.
“It really bonded the band. We bought this big MASH style army tent and stuck it backstage behind the acoustic stage and stayed there for the three days. Everything with us is done on a shoestring, which is very trying at times – but it’s more real.”
Following the massive success of their debut album Be Yourself which has now sold over 20,000 copies in Ireland, the latest album Live At The Spiegeltent, recorded at the Dublin Fringe Festival last September, has just come out. It includes two previously unreleased songs, ‘Wake Up Call’ and ‘So In Love Again’, as well as a limited edition live DVD also recorded at the famed travelling venue.
“The Spiegeltent came to town and I thought ‘This is right up our street, perfect for the Mudbug club’,” he says. “I put it together very quickly; it’s a record of where we’re at now. I wanted to bootleg the band in a way. I’d be interested in doing that after every studio album – it becomes like a snapshot.
“I made Be Yourself in a small studio on my own, brought people in and fumbled my way to forming a band – and then it grew legs. The band really is quite unique. I don’t think there’s a band like it in Ireland or anywhere else for that matter. Conor Brady is an amazing guitarist, just incredible – and we have the best brass section in the world.
“I’ve recently moved to the country and I’m setting up a studio where we plan to put the next studio album together. We’re moving in a funk direction, which should be interesting. I can’t wait to get working on it.”

Jerry Fish & The Mudbug Club Live At The Speilgeltent is out now on the Mudbug label.
(photography Liam Sweeney)