Pugwash (band)
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Pugwash are an Irish pop band fronted by
Drimnagh Drimnagh () is a suburb in Dublin, Ireland to the south of the city between Walkinstown, Crumlin and Inchicore, bordered by the Grand Canal to the north and east. Drimnagh is in postal district Dublin 12. History Early to mediaeval Drimna ...
-born musician Thomas Walsh. Pugwash has released six albums since its debut LP ''Almond Tea'' in 1999. Influences on the band's sound are regularly cited as including
XTC XTC were an English rock band formed in Swindon in 1972. Fronted by songwriters Andy Partridge (guitars, vocals) and Colin Moulding (bass, vocals), the band gained popularity during the rise of punk and new wave in the 1970s, later playing in ...
,
Electric Light Orchestra The Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) are an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1970 by songwriters and multi-instrumentalists Jeff Lynne and Roy Wood with drummer Bev Bevan. Their music is characterised by a fusion of pop, classical a ...
and
Jeff Lynne Jeffrey Lynne (born 30 December 1947) is an English musician, singer-songwriter, and record producer. He is best known as the co-founder of the rock music, rock band Electric Light Orchestra (ELO), which was formed in 1970. As a songwriter, h ...
,
the Beach Boys The Beach Boys are an American Rock music, rock band that formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian Wilson, Brian, Dennis Wilson, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and frie ...
,
the Kinks The Kinks were an English rock band formed in Muswell Hill, north London, in 1963 by brothers Ray and Dave Davies. They are regarded as one of the most influential rock bands of the 1960s. The band emerged during the height of British rhythm ...
,
Honeybus Honeybus were a 1960s pop group formed in April 1967, in London. They are best known for their 1968 UK Top 10 hit single, " I Can't Let Maggie Go", written by group member Pete Dello who also composed their previous single "(Do I Figure) In Y ...
and
the Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...
, though Walsh dismisses the Beatles comparisons as "lazy".


History

Using the money from a compensation award following a childhood accident, Walsh set up a recording facility in a shed in his parents' garden. He later claimed he was inspired to do so after hearing that musical hero
Andy Partridge Andrew John Partridge (born 11 November 1953) is an English guitarist, singer, songwriter, and record producer who founded the rock music, rock band XTC. He and Colin Moulding each acted as a songwriter and frontman for XTC, with Partridge writi ...
of English new wave group
XTC XTC were an English rock band formed in Swindon in 1972. Fronted by songwriters Andy Partridge (guitars, vocals) and Colin Moulding (bass, vocals), the band gained popularity during the rise of punk and new wave in the 1970s, later playing in ...
had retired from touring and recorded his music at home in a shed. In the early 1990s, Walsh adopted Pugwash as a stage name and began recording some 150 demos to 4-track and, in 1995, one of those was named Demo of the Year by Irish music magazine ''
Hot Press ''Hot Press'' is a fortnightly music and politics magazine based in Dublin, Ireland, founded in June 1977. The magazine has been edited since its inception by Niall Stokes. History ''Hot Press'' was founded in June 1977 by Niall Stokes, who co ...
''. The recognition led to an introduction to US producer and musician
Kim Fowley Kim Vincent Fowley (July 21, 1939 – January 15, 2015) was the American record producer, songwriter and musician who was behind a string of novelty and cult pop rock singles in the 1960s, and managed The Runaways in the 1970s. He has been ...
, who asked Walsh to play guitar for him live and in studio. Fowley then introduced Walsh to Irish singer-songwriter Andy White, with whom Walsh would go on to tour. Using these as learning experiences, Walsh turned his full attention to writing and recording as Pugwash and in 1997 he signed a record deal with the now defunct Vélo Records. In 1999, Pugwash released debut album ''Almond Tea'', which was co-produced by Walsh and Keith Farrell. Within four weeks of its release it had been placed at No 23 in a list of the top albums of the millennium in ''Hot Press''. Following positive reviews for ''Almond Tea'', Pugwash embarked on a lengthy tour of Ireland, supporting numerous visiting artists including
Television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...
and
Grant-Lee Phillips Grant-Lee Phillips (born Bryan G. Phillips; September 1, 1963) is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He led the group Grant Lee Buffalo in the 1990s, afterwards launching a solo career. He features as the town troubadour ...
. In 2002, Pugwash released second album ''Almanac''. Again co-produced by Walsh and Farrell and featuring contributions from
Air The atmosphere of Earth is the layer of gases, known collectively as air, retained by Earth's gravity that surrounds the planet and forms its planetary atmosphere. The atmosphere of Earth protects life on Earth by creating pressure allowing for ...
and
Beck Beck David Hansen (born Bek David Campbell; July 8, 1970) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He rose to fame in the early 1990s with his Experimental music, experimental and Lo-fi music, lo-fi style, and became ...
collaborator
Jason Falkner Jason Falkner (born June 2, 1968) is an American songwriter, musician, and guitarist who was a member of the bands Jellyfish (band), Jellyfish, the Three O'Clock, and the Grays (band), the Grays. Since 1996, he has released six solo albums, start ...
, Almanac was another collection of similarly melodic and retro-styled songs which invited comparisons to classic 1960s and 1970s pop. The album caught the ear of Andy Partridge, who would go on to name the single "Apples" as the most exciting track he had heard that year. ''Almanac'' track "Anyone Who Asks" would later be used prominently in the 2008 Hollywood movie '' Pride and Glory'', starring
Edward Norton Edward Harrison Norton (born August 18, 1969) is an American actor and filmmaker. He has received numerous awards and nominations, including a Golden Globe Award and three Academy Award nominations. Born in Boston, Massachusetts and raised ...
and
Colin Farrell Colin James Farrell (; born 31 May 1976) is an Irish actor. A leading man in projects across various genres in both blockbuster and independent films since the 2000s, he has received numerous accolades including a Golden Globe Award. ''The I ...
. In 2003, Australian label Karmic Hit released a compilation of remastered tracks from the first two Pugwash albums, entitled ''Earworm''. The same year, Pugwash returned to the studio to record a follow-up to Almanac and was involved with the setting up of 1969 Records with Daragh Bohan. The label would go on to release the next two Pugwash albums. The recording of Pugwash's third album '' Jollity'' began after Walsh contacted Dave Gregory of XTC through a friend to ask Gregory to write a string arrangement for a song called "A Rose in a Garden of Weeds". Impressed with the demos Walsh sent him, Gregory readily agreed. Walsh then contacted
the Section Quartet The Section Quartet is a string quartet founded by Eric Gorfain that performs cover versions of rock songs. History Eric Gorfain founded the quartet after working for the 1996 tour of Robert Plant and Jimmy Page. He said the quartet fulfilled h ...
, with whom he had previously performed in Dublin, about playing the arrangements and the quartet agreed to a recording session at Studio Two in
London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
's
Abbey Road Studios Abbey Road Studios (formerly EMI Recording Studios) is a recording studio at 3 Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London, England. It was established in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of British music c ...
. Gregory was invited to conduct the quartet during the sessions. Gregory also wrote the string arrangement for the song I Want You Back in My Life which appeared on ''Jollity''. This led to Gregory introducing Walsh to Andy Partridge, following which Partridge went on to co-write the song "Anchor" with Walsh. The album would also feature contributions from US artists Eric Matthews,
Graham Hopkins Graham Hopkins (born 20 December 1975) is an Irish drummer. He was the drummer in The Swell Season, The Frames and rock band Therapy?. Biography Early years Hopkins was born in Dublin and was brought up in Clane, County Kildare in a musica ...
(ex-
Therapy? Therapy? are a Northern Irish rock band from Larne, formed in 1989 by guitarist-vocalist Andy Cairns and drummer-vocalist Fyfe Ewing. Therapy? recorded their first demo with Cairns filling in on bass guitar. To complete the lineup, the band r ...
),
Johnny Boyle Johnny Boyle is the former drummer of Irish band The Frames.
He first came to the attention of the Irish music scene when he joined
(
the Frames The Frames are an Irish rock band based in Dublin. Founded in 1990 by Glen Hansard, the band has been influential in the Dublin rock music scene. The group has released six studio albums. In addition to Hansard, the band's current line-up incl ...
), Duncan Maitland (formerly of Picturehouse) and Tosh Flood (of Irish band Saville), among others. ''Jollity'' was released on 1969 Records in Ireland on 23 September 2005, and on Karmic Hit in Australia on 10 October 2005. It was met with numerous glowing reviews. In mid-2006, Pugwash was invited by radio DJ
Rick O'Shea Paul Crossan (born 7 May 1973, also known as Rick O'Shea) is an Irish radio personality. He was born in Drimnagh, Dublin 12, grew up in Crumlin, and attended Drimnagh Castle Secondary School and later UCD. He has been a presenter on RTÉ 2fm s ...
to take part in a fund-raising concert in aid of
Brainwave Neural oscillations, or brainwaves, are rhythmic or repetitive patterns of neural activity in the central nervous system. Neural tissue can generate oscillation, oscillatory activity in many ways, driven either by mechanisms within individual ne ...
, the Irish epilepsy association. While the concert subsequently fell through, Walsh decided to record a charity Christmas single in aid of the association. Walsh invited Eric Matthews, Dave Gregory,
Mundy Edmond Enright (born 19 May 1975), known professionally as Mundy, is an Irish singer-songwriter and founder of the independent record label Camcor Records. Biography He released his debut album ''Jelly Legs'' in 1996 on the Epic Records label ...
and
Dave Couse Dave Couse (born 1965) is an Irish musician, producer, and radio presenter best known for being the lead singer and main songwriter with the band A House. Couse has also released three albums as a solo artist. Early career and A House Couse w ...
to take part in the recording of the single. He also contacted
Neil Hannon Edward Neil Anthony Hannon (born 7 November 1970) is a Northern Irish singer and songwriter. He is the creator and front man of the chamber pop group The Divine Comedy, and is the band's sole constant member. Hannon wrote the theme tunes for t ...
of
the Divine Comedy The ''Divine Comedy'' ( it, Divina Commedia ) is an Italian narrative poem by Dante Alighieri, begun 1308 and completed in around 1321, shortly before the author's death. It is widely considered the pre-eminent work in Italian literature and ...
, and Hannon's contribution became the first of many collaborations between him and Walsh. The track " Tinsel and Marzipan" was released under the Pugwash & Friends moniker in December 2006, and reached number 23 in the Irish charts. Walsh announced he had started recording the follow-up to ''Jollity'' in May 2007 and that Keith Farrell and Johnny Boyle were returning as bassist/engineer and drummer respectively, while Stephen Farrell was also assisting. Later that month he revealed the working title of the album was '' 11 Modern Antiquities'' and that Neil Hannon was taking part in the recording sessions. Towards the end of the year, the band posted rough versions of a number of tracks and revealed the album was due to be released in February 2008. That date was eventually pushed back to 23 March. The album once again featured contributions from Jason Falkner, Dave Gregory, Eric Matthews, Tosh Flood and the Section Quartet and also included
Brian Wilson Brian Douglas Wilson (born June 20, 1942) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer who co-founded the Beach Boys. Often called a genius for his novel approaches to pop composition, extraordinary musical aptitude, and m ...
collaborator
Nelson Bragg Nelson Bragg (born August 14, 1961) is an American percussionist, vocalist and songwriter based in Los Angeles, California. Biography Nelson Bragg was born in Dover, New Hampshire on August 14, 1961. He played in several bands from 1979 to 19 ...
, acclaimed US singer-songwriter
Michael Penn Michael Daniel Penn (born August 1, 1958) is an American musician, singer and composer. He is noted for the 1989 single " No Myth", a top 20 hit in the US and successful in several other countries. Early life Penn was born in the Greenwich Vi ...
and Andy Partridge. Partridge also co-wrote two of the tracks, "My Genius" and "At the Sea". ''Eleven Modern Antiquities'' was once again met with acclaim by critics. In January 2009, it was announced that Pugwash had signed a five-year deal with Partridge's Ape House label. The band's first release on Ape House was the compilation album '' Giddy'', a collection of songs from Pugwash's four studio albums as selected by Partridge, accompanied by digital download releases of ''Almond Tea'', ''Almanac'' and ''Jollity''. A planned expanded CD re-release of ''Eleven Modern Antiquities'' was due for release in 2010, but did not materialise. 2011 saw the dissolution of the Pugwash/Ape House contract and its releases withdrawn and deleted. Following a hiatus during which Walsh recorded and toured as
the Duckworth Lewis Method The Duckworth Lewis Method are an Irish pop group formed by Neil Hannon of The Divine Comedy and Thomas Walsh of Pugwash. The Duckworth Lewis Method is also the title of the group's first album, which was released on 3 July 2009, a few days b ...
with Neil Hannon and also signed a worldwide publishing deal with Sony/ATV, Walsh announced in August 2010 that a fifth Pugwash album was in progress. The first single from the new album, "Answers on a Postcard", was released in June 2011 to coincide with the announcement that Pugwash had signed to EMI Ireland for the release of the new collection, titled '' The Olympus Sound''. Pugwash's line-up had now settled as a quartet, featuring Walsh, Tosh Flood, Shaun McGee and Joe Fitzgerald. ''The Olympus Sound'' featured guest appearances from
Neil Hannon Edward Neil Anthony Hannon (born 7 November 1970) is a Northern Irish singer and songwriter. He is the creator and front man of the chamber pop group The Divine Comedy, and is the band's sole constant member. Hannon wrote the theme tunes for t ...
, Dave Gregory and
Andy Partridge Andrew John Partridge (born 11 November 1953) is an English guitarist, singer, songwriter, and record producer who founded the rock music, rock band XTC. He and Colin Moulding each acted as a songwriter and frontman for XTC, with Partridge writi ...
, as well as US singer
Ben Folds Benjamin Scott Folds (born September 12, 1966) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and composer, who is the first artistic advisor to the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., since May 2017. Folds was th ...
on piano. It was released in August 2011 on
EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 201 ...
in Ireland and in March 2012 on
Lojinx Lojinx is a British independent record label and Music publisher (popular music), music publishing company established in 2004 in South London, United Kingdom, UK. It was voted as one of the top ten "Best Record Labels of 2010". Based in London ...
in the UK and Europe. A second Duckworth Lewis Method album, Sticky Wickets was released in July 2013, featuring guest performances from
Stephen Fry Stephen John Fry (born 24 August 1957) is an English actor, broadcaster, comedian, director and writer. He first came to prominence in the 1980s as one half of the comic double act Fry and Laurie, alongside Hugh Laurie, with the two starring ...
and
Daniel Radcliffe Daniel Jacob Radcliffe (born 23 July 1989) is an English actor. He rose to fame at age twelve, when he began portraying Harry Potter in the film series of the same name; and has held various other film and theatre roles. Over his career, Rad ...
, and the band supported
Matt Berry Matthew Charles Berry (born 2 May 1974) is an English actor, comedian, musician, and writer. He is best known for his roles in comedy series such as '' The IT Crowd'', ''Garth Marenghi's Darkplace'', ''The Mighty Boosh'', ''Snuff Box'', ''What ...
on a UK tour. As newer fans of the band emerged, unable to obtain the early material, for limited periods during 2013 and 2014 followers of Walsh's Facebook page were given the opportunity to purchase a limited edition 15th anniversary re-release of ''Almond Tea'' (featuring new artwork), plus home-made reprint editions of ''Almanac'' (housed in surplus packaging left over from its 2002 release). September 2014 saw a US deal with Omnivore Recordings and a new compilation, ''A Rose in a Garden of Weeds: A Preamble Through The History of Pugwash'', bringing the band to the North American market for the first time. A new album ''Play This Intimately As If Among Friends'' was released on 4 September 2015. In 2017 Walsh disbanded the group line-up and returned to being a solo artist under the Pugwash moniker. Walsh announced the seventh album would be recorded in Los Angeles with
Jason Falkner Jason Falkner (born June 2, 1968) is an American songwriter, musician, and guitarist who was a member of the bands Jellyfish (band), Jellyfish, the Three O'Clock, and the Grays (band), the Grays. Since 1996, he has released six solo albums, start ...
in the producer chair.
Lojinx Lojinx is a British independent record label and Music publisher (popular music), music publishing company established in 2004 in South London, United Kingdom, UK. It was voted as one of the top ten "Best Record Labels of 2010". Based in London ...
released the first single ''The Perfect Summer'' on 15 September and second single ''What Are You Like'' on 27 October. The album, titled ''Silverlake'', followed on 24 November.


Discography


Studio albums

*''Almond Tea'' (1999, limited re-release March 2014) *''Almanac'' (June 2002) *'' Jollity'' (September 2005) *'' Eleven Modern Antiquities'' (March 2008) *'' The Olympus Sound'' (August 2011) *'' Play This Intimately (As If Among Friends)'' (September 2015) *'' Silverlake'' (November 2017)


Live albums

*''Live in Dublin 2011'' (April 2016, limited edition)


Compilations

*''Earworm'' (2003) *'' Giddy'' (September 2009) *''A Rose in a Garden of Weeds'' (September 2014)


Singles

From ''Almond Tea'': *"The Finer Things in Life" (2000) From ''Almanac'': *"Apples" (April 2002) From ''Jollity'': *"It's Nice to be Nice" (2005) *"This Could Be Good" (March 2006) As 'Pugwash and Friends': *" Tinsel and Marzipan" (December 2006) From ''Eleven Modern Antiquities'': *"Take Me Away" (February 2008) *"At the Sea" (2008) From ''The Olympus Sound'': *"Answers on a Postcard" (June 2011) *"Fall Down" (November 2011) From ''Silverlake'': *"The Perfect Summer" (September 2017) *"What Are You Like" (October 2017)


Awards

''The Olympus Sound'' was nominated for the Choice Music Prize in January 2012. , - , 2012 , , ''The Olympus Sound'' , , Irish Album of the Year 2011 , , , -


References


External links


Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pugwash (Band) Irish pop music groups Musical groups from Dublin (city) Lojinx artists