CPI Archive 2009: Believe the Untruth: Jerry Fish and the Mudbug Club are back and ready for road. Andrew Hamilton chats to Gerry Whelan, aka Jerry Fish, about commando recording, herbal remedies and why he likes working with inferior musicians.
There was a moment in 2002 when the considerable musical talents of Gerry Whelan were almost lost to the world. After 14 years and three albums, the big UK or US break that would have transformed An Emotional Fish into a household name seemed all but lost, floundering somewhere over an ever more distant horizon. Yes, it wasn’t always easy to be An Emotional Fish. Their early thunder was stolen when they became unwitting scapegoats of a BBC Radio 1 corruption scandal. Then, when Whelan and Co finally managed to re-gather some momentum, their image was tarnished by their constant labelling in the media as U2 impersonators. Add to this a three-year legal wrangle with their German record company and what you have is more than a few reasons to call it a day. But music has a way of pulling you back in, just when you think you’ve finally broken free. “I think the catalyst for Jerry Fish was the birth of my daughter. With An Emotional Fish, it wasn’t so much a full-stop as a series of commas and then a full-stop. An Emotional Fish came to an end because of a dispute with a record label and being in court for three years or more. So that was a mess. It was hard to know could we go ahead and make another record,” says Gerry.
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