Whipping Boy

[clears throat] So at the time, bands would often come down to Kilkenny, like Therapy?, and there was a few, uh, uh, kind of, you know, English indie bands, not the big stuff.

And a, a regular, a band who would regularly come down, maybe you're fans of them, um, were Whipping Boy.

Um, so Whipping Boy would come down a lot and play.

So it's g- it was kind of, Kilkenny at the time was on the scene, and everybody e- everybody was in a band, and everybody else was in everyo- everyone else's band as well.

So it was a very, very, at the time, a very rich, rich, um, kind of, uh, situation.

I remember we even, there was a gig in, in Kilkenny reviewed in Melody Maker in the UK and, like, that was a mega big deal for us at the time, you know? So we really felt like we were on the map, and we, we, we, uh, meant something as a, as a place, and that we were important.

Um, and that we fostered these relationships with band like Whipping Boy and Therapy? and, and various others as well that would just come regularly to see us.

And the Kerbdog sound, it was like it was a mix of metal, grunge, pop, melody, funk.

are

exactly I've got DJ Foods recipe for disaster which is a lot of fun but I don't listen to it enough to justify it and Whipping Boy Heartworm very cool depressing indie from Ireland cool really nice don't know that one very well but but fair the one that I actually did originally have in my top ten but got knocked out was Lloyd and Wainwright the third Grown Man and it is I think one of his strongest albums it's got some of my favourite songs of his

well that's a big thing because I know how much you love Lloyd and Wainwright oh

absolutely but this one there's some in there where the songs are particularly kind of confessional and you're like fucking hell man this is some deep shit you're letting out here really fucking good and it was my number 10 for a while but it got knocked down at the very last minute did it get up again? thanks Jumbo Wamba so yeah now I had a few the one that I deliberated about because I listen to it loads and probably do like it more than some of the ones in my 10 but it's not a proper album is the Cold Cut Journey by DJ okay because it's a mix album obviously but it's fucking incredible yeah And it blew my head whenever I heard it because I was like, oh, you can do this with a mix album.

And that was kind of like the way I tried to approach most of those covers.

For instance, you know, you go back to the U2 story, Boy and War are very different from October or The Joshua Tree because they're all, you know, that mixed blend of moving back and forward between an influential imagery that made sense and then a picture of the band that also told the story as it showed them developing in their, how they develop as personalities.

So is it your job, do you think, to reflect the music or to give a vibe of what the music is going to sound like before the listener listens to it?

I would, you know, sometimes it would be quite different.

I find that point of saying, okay, you know, I mean, I would easily say there's quite a lot of records in that I've been overseen as an art director or designer that are not particularly great, great covers, but there are also enough really good ones to, you know...

So you're very proud of that.

And that's either working with a photographer who you like, especially someone like Brendan Fitzpatrick, who did all the Whipping Boy covers with me, all the later Whipping Boy covers.

You know, that was a relationship that was very, very strong in terms of his input as a photographer.

Do you think that, you know, that sort of feeling, do you think Ireland is having a bit of a moment, particularly with, you know, music when it comes to that and people are discovering a bit more?

Well, I do think, and I do say this, I do think, what we have done as bands and we've done it since the 90s with bands like whipping boy and uh what's the uh house and then like gilliband and fontaine's it's the irish accent being used in songs you have you know majus salak where paul banks has the most incredible energetic soul crushing fucking voice and it's in his accent and it's you know it's there it's like the wolf tone it's like a Lazarus soul who are one of my favourite Irish bands Brian Branigan sings with a Dublin accent it's the identity is being shown and with that identity being shown our confidence is there Because we have sang before, you have bands like in the 2000s and like the Naughties singing with like, you know, an Irish accent, like an American transatlantic accent, you know? And it's not being themselves, it's not being authentic, but it's good music and it's pop, it's whatever.

And people kind of relate to the lyrics, but I never really got it.

But I got it when I heard Gillivan, you know, like when he was singing garlic curry cheese chips, you know, and he was talking, saying chicken fillet roll and everyone's like,