Heartworm
(7/100 The People's Choice)

Today FM presenter Alison Curtis talks about Heartworm
"I didn’t know about Whipping Boy until I moved over to Ireland [from Canada] and I first discovered that album in about ’99. I was working in Phantom FM at the time and really trying to familiarise myself with Irish music. Each time I did a show I’d pull out a few albums from the library and listen to them off-air to see what I liked. I remember pulling Heartworm off the shelf and right from the first song just thinking ‘Holy crap! Who is this? This is really good’. And we didn’t have their debut album, unfortunately. I know it’s really hard to get your hands on, so I actually only know Heartworm. I love it so much that I think I got really addicted to it. Generally, it was either ‘Blinded’ or ‘We Don’t Need Nobody Else’ I'd play, but almost every week you were guaranteed to hear something from the album.
I actually didn’t get my own copy until last year because they stopped manufacturing them. Then there was a bit of buzz about Fearghal’s solo stuff, so they pressed a few more and I managed to get a copy. Now, it's the kind of album I'd never want to be without."

Antoinette Curtin, hotpress.com
"Songs that, in their drunken narcissism, are more Irish than the Irish themselves."

John Casey, hotpress.com
"Heartworm is my favourite Irish album of all time for a number of reasons, but mainly it’s because of its raw energy. You can just feel the passion and angst in Fearghal McKee’s voice and lyrics. In the early ‘90s, Whipping Boy managed more than anyone to capture the transition that both Irish music and Irish culture were going through at the time. It still manages to stand out as a definitive album today."