Tuesday 17 March 2015

Whipping Boy Heartworm


Whipping Boy Heartworm

Get It At Discogs
As recently as 2013, Whipping Boy’s masterpiece, Heartworm, topped a poll of the best Irish albums of all time, conducted by Phantom FM, beating out competition from U2, Van Morrison and My Bloody Valentine. Heartworm’s status as Ireland’s Nevermind is still very much in tact. Arriving as it did it in the mid 90’s, Heartworm, fittingly, has a foot in both grunge and britpop: the tsunami of layered guitars, angst and aggression of the former mixed with the direct, instant and focused pop craft of the latter. Guitarist Paul Page and bassist Myles McDonnell built musical canvases that took the best from The Velvet Underground, Sonic Youth, Spacemen 3 and Echo & The Bunnymen. Vocalist and lyricist Fearghal McKee wrote of an Ireland that seemed uncharted and uncovered, describing in terms befitting of an Irvine Welsh novel the seedy side of life in Dublin, crooning as he does in a Dublin accent. McKee’s lyrics, though dark and claustrophobic, have an inclusive strand that made fans feels part of a gang: ‘We Don’t Need Nobody Else’ became a raison d’etre for the band and fans alike, while ‘When We Were Young’ meant to The Pope’s Children what The Undertones’ ‘Teenage Kicks’ had meant to the generation before. If Heartworm is the sound of a band in transition, moving into the next dimension, it’s also the sound of a generation in transition between the early- 90’s hangover from the recession- stricken 80’s to the Celtic Tiger years, which really began in 1997, by which time the band had, sadly, imploded and run out of steam.

7 comments:

Dandyboy said...

Been after this one for a while now, due to perpetual student poverty I never picked it up when it was out (though I managed to buy all the singles from it really cheaply), looking forward to this!

Dandyboy said...

Oh, and it's great to see the site back again too!

Iano1 said...

Great addition!

Anonymous said...

Great to have you back assume it was the curse of the Geldof

Daniel said...

Hi,can you repost,please? Cheers from Brazil!

Aid00 said...

Hello Daniel New Link Up & Running

Daniel said...

Thans,man!Nice blog you have!Congrats!

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