JERRY FISH & THE MUDBUG CLUB - BIOGRAPHY

What 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?

The answer, my friends, is Jerry Fish & The Mudbug Club, the most eclectic bunch of musical chameleons ever to share a stage, all guided by the beatific gaze of chief Mudbug, Mr. Jerry Fish himself.

Their debut album, Be Yourself, described as ‘ a vibrant mash of lounge lizard schmooze and mariachi passion’

And…

As close to a perfect, summer afternoon, sitting in a hammock with an ice cold beer CD as you are probably going to find. The reference points are Lou Reed in the vocals, Mink de Ville in the Latin backing, the tiniest hints of arpeggio strings from The Blue Nile, great New Orleans horns, wonderful backing vocals from the likes of Damien Rice and a host of others...
Beg, borrow or steal a copy and then dig the hammock out and wait for the sun to return. Bliss. © Jon Webster

My God, this is a great record. Imagine the Fun Lovin’ Criminals bumping into Tom Waits in an obscure jazz bar somewhere in Mexico and you’re still not close to doing justice to Be Yourself, an album which bucks the zietgiest with so much enthusiasm you just have to love it.

Highlights are the second track Upside Down, which sounds like Bob Dylan popped into the studio for a guest vocal while sporting a sombrero, and the Bacharach-like (no really) True Friends.

When you hear a record as discordant with the music scene as Be Yourself it’s easy to assume that it’s been recorded with the author’s tongue planted hard in his cheek but that misses the point here. Yes, the smiles come aplenty and witty lyrics are definitely Mr. Fish’s currency of choice, but these songs have been so well crafted that they deserve more than a casual, amused listen.

With spring on the way, here’s the first record that deserves to soundtrack your summer.
Playmusic Magazine (UK)

The arrangements are full of lovely little touches: flourishes of Spanish guitar, bursts of swinging horns. It’s like Tom Waits in a good mood, or maybe Leonard Cohen doing Dean Martin backed by an Irish showband. There are a lot of obvious influences, but the Mudbug Club embrace them in such good spirit it is impossible not to be carried along by their enthusiasm.
Neil McCormick / The Telegraph (UK)

… from the infectious swing of ‘My Friend Jim’ to the sweet melancholia of ‘True Friends’, the addictive swagger of ‘Upside Down’ to the emotional honesty of the title track, this is a record that’s as warm as an open fire: an album to cherish for many years to come.

‘Be Yourself’ is approaching double platinum status in The Mudbug Club’s native Ireland. The debut single ‘True Friends’ was chosen by Vodafone to spearhead a TV ad campaign, and became a massive hit single into the bargain. Indeed, ‘True Friends’ was the only independent Irish single to feature in the Irish Christmas Top 20; when it nestled at number 15 in the national charts, and went on to spend over three months in the Irish Top 20. The follow up single, ‘Upside Down’ cemented The Mudbug Club’s reputation as one of the finest new acts in the country.

Jerry Fish and the Mudbug Club were nominated for two Meteor Music Awards, Ireland’s biggest annual musical awards ceremony, where they were up for ‘Best Album’ and bizarrely, ‘Best Roots & Country Artist’. Somewhat ironically, they won the latter award, much to the bemusement of Jerry: “At the time, I thought it was a bit hokey to win the Roots and Country Award, but now, in hindsight, I can see where they were coming from, and since there was no award in a ‘Swampadelic’ ‘Best Swamp Crooner’ or ‘Circus Band’ category ‘Best Roots & Country Artist’ was surely the next best thing”.

The ever-expanding band released ‘Be yourself’ in the UK and busily toured the length and breadth of Ireland and the UK including Sell-out shows at Dublin’s famous Olympia Theatre, The Ambassador and Vicar St. as well as jubilant performances at many of the UK & Irelands summer festivals, ‘Fruitstock’ ‘V’, ‘The Isle of Wight’, ‘T in the Park’, ‘Oxegen’.

In 2004 The Mudbug Club were invited to Glastonbury to play all three days of the festival and were widely hailed as one of the hits of the entire weekend, they returned to Glastonbury in 2005 to deliver yet another storming set to the assembled masses and look set to return in 2007.

‘Jerry Fish – Showbiz Nostalgia’

Jerry Fish is the alter ego of singer Gerard Whelan who through the 1990’s was the main creative force in An Emotional Fish, the Irish rock band who released one of the most successful debut Irish albums ever.
An Emotional Fish were courted and signed to Atlantic Records by the labels legendary founder the late, great and much loved Ahmet Ertugen. The band released three albums, their eponymous debut, produced by Tim Palmer, which featured the massive hit single ‘Celebrate’, in 1990; ‘Junk Puppets’ produced by Alan Moulder, Dave Stewart, and Clive Langer in 1993; and the independently released ‘Sloper’ in 1995. In between, they managed to tour the world many times, sharing stages with the likes of Nirvana, Sonic Youth, Iggy Pop, Depeche Mode, The Velvet Underground and U2.

However, when An Emotional Fish’ last and most critically acclaimed album, the fabulous Sloper, saw the band end up in a legal dispute with a record label, the Fish became disillusioned with this business they call show, dropped out, and turned their fins to something completely different.

Jerry indulged in his other passion, restoring old motorcycles. He then upped sticks and traveled to Nepal, where he fell head over heels in love. However, it wasn’t until the birth of his daughter, Ella Joy, that The Mudbug Club’s bandleader felt he had to follow his heart and return to the other thing he loves most in the world, music.

Jerry set up his own independent record label and set about recording ‘Be Yourself’ and with a little help from his former bandmates in An Emotional Fish, as well as a veritable who’s who from the Irish music industry, including Damien Rice, Anuna, Maria Doyle Kennedy, Bronagh Gallagher, Josie Doherty, and an international brass section. With ‘Be Yourself’ The Mudbug Club were born. The rest, as they say, is history…

“I wanted to record an album that sounded like a Tarantino soundtrack, where every song tells a different tale,” Jerry explains. This, he has most certainly achieved, and then some.

… It’s a swamp thing, but it’s got real soul!

‘Jerry Fish – Trivia’
Jerry Fish is the presenter of Philip King’s music television programme ‘Other Voices II’ broadcast by RTE, featuring ‘The Handsome Family’ ‘Simple Kid’ ‘Paddy Casey’ ‘Gemma Hayes’ ‘Glen Hansard’ ‘Christy Moore’ and many more.

‘Jerry Fish & The Mudbug Club Live at The Spiegeltent’
‘Floating on the River Liffey.’

Recorded at the ‘Palaise de Glase’ Spiegeltent in Dublin, as part of the Dublin Fringe Festival… is a live album and bonus DVD featuring two previously unreleased songs ‘Wake up Call’ and ‘So in Love’

‘The Mudbug Club as a band is designed to evolve… so it was important to me to capture The Mudbug Club before it changes… and when I heard ‘The Spiegeltent’ was coming to town, I couldn’t think of a better venue to bring my circus to.’

Jerry decided to commit ‘The Mudbug Club’ to film. ‘Live at The Spiegeltent’ is directed by Maurice Linnane. Jerry met Maurice while touring with U2 during the Zooropa tour in 1993 (the two share the same birthday, in the same year, in the same hospital…spooky)


Breaking News
Swamp crooner Jerry Fish is currently completing work on a new recording with The Mudbug Club, which he looks forward to independently releasing in Spring 2008... Stay tuned to this website for further news.