An Emotional Fish

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An Emotional Fish
OriginDublin, Ireland
GenresAlternative rock
Years active1988–present
LabelsMother Records
Atlantic Records
East West Records
MembersGerard Whelan
Enda Wyatt
David Frew
Past membersMartin Murphy
Websitehttp://www.anemotionalfish.net

An Emotional Fish are an alternative rock band from Dublin, Ireland. An Emotional Fish were formed in 1988, and consisted of Gerard Whelan (founding member, lead vocals, percussion), Enda Wyatt (founding member, songwriter, bass, vocals, keyboards), Martin Murphy (drums, percussion) and David Frew (guitars, vocals).[1]

Their musical influences include The Clash, The Doors, David Bowie, Iggy Pop, and T. Rex.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, An Emotional Fish were signed to Mother Records in Ireland, Warner Bros Records in Europe, and Atlantic Records in America. They were personally signed to Atlantic by Ahmet Ertegun, after seeing them play a sold-out concert at the Baggot Inn. An Emotional Fish supported U2 and Simple Minds on tours of Europe, also supporting Blondie, Depeche Mode and others.

Career

The vocalist Gerard Whelan met bassist Enda Wyatt in a band that Whelan was auditioning for. Whelan joined the band, but it broke up soon after. After the break-up, Whelan and Wyatt formed their own band. They originally performed alone, and recorded their works on a four-track tape recorder. After a year, Whelan brought his friend David Frew into the band. Whelan and David Frew had attended the same school and lived in the same housing estate. In 1988, they decided to name the band An Emotional Fish. For a few months, they performed with a drum machine, but soon added drummer Martin Murphy as the final member of the group.

In 1989, they signed to independent Mother Records to release their first single "Cry Like a Baby/Grey Matter".[2] It was followed by "Celebrate",[3] which hit the top 10 in the Irish chart. It also peaked at No. 46 in the UK Singles Chart in June 1990, where it remained in that listing for five weeks.[4] College radio stations began to pick up the song. It received significant airplay, and eventually reached the Top 5 in the US Modern Rock Tracks chart. Atlantic Records signed the band, re-released "Grey Matter" in the US,[5] and released their debut album internationally.[6]

"Celebrate" was covered in Italian by the singer-songwriter Vasco Rossi in his 1993 album Gli Spari Sopra[7] which went platinum 10 times. The song lyrics are largely a phonetic translation of the original (prominently the chorus verse "this party's over" is changed into the eponym "gli spari sopra", which means "the shots above" and is entirely unrelated to the original lyrics).

After a tour to support the debut album, An Emotional Fish returned to the studio to record Junk Puppets.[8] The songs were recorded over eight months, and four of the songs were produced by David A. Stewart. In 1993, the album was released, and An Emotional Fish opened for U2 on the Zoo TV Tour. In 1994, the band were signed to German label ZYX Records and their third album Sloper was released in Europe. The album was released in the US two years later.[9]

Break up

In 1999, after a few years of relative inactivity, the band played a short tour of the Netherlands in spring, and a single date in Dublin in December. Their final show was in the following December in Dublin' Isaac Butt's[10] with the band breaking up soon after.

In 2002, Whelan formed a new band, Jerry Fish & The Mudbug Club, with a new style and musical presence, in which he continued to work with Enda Wyatt. They co-write the first album Be Yourself[11] and three songs on the second album The Beautiful Untrue.[12] The band has a rotating line-up of collaborators and plays gigs around Ireland regularly.

David Frew performed on The Marigolds Abbey Street EP which was released in 1998. More recently he has been playing with former Marigolds frontman Paul Woodward. David performed a series of low key gigs in Scotland at the end of 2011.

Reunions

On 30 March 2012. the band played in the Olympia Theatre in Dublin at a concert in aid of Barretstown alongside such other Irish bands as Engine Alley and Republic of Loose.[13]

The band played a five-song set at the Féile Classical festival on September 22, 2018,[14] and dedicated their song "Julian"[15] to their late drummer Martin Murphy. Two of the songs from this performance were later released on Feile Classical: The Live Album.[16]

Martin Murphy died in January 2017.[17]

Enda Wyatt died on 26 November 2022, in Dublin.[18]

Discography

Albums

  • An Emotional Fish, 1990 - UK No. 40[4]
  • Junk Puppets, 1993
  • Sloper, 1994 (UK), 1996 (US)

Live albums

  • Celebration Live, 1991
  • Live Bait, 1991

Videos

  • An Emotional Fish, 1990 (VHS edition)

Singles

Year Title Chart positions Album
Irish Singles Chart US Modern Rock
1989 "Cry Like a Baby" 23 - non-album track
"Grey Matter" 28 - An Emotional Fish
"Celebrate" 10 4
1990 "Lace Virginia" 4 -
"Blue" 30 -
1991 "Grey Matter" (remix) - 18
1993 "Rain" 11 15 Junk Puppets
1994 "Time Is on the Wall" 22 - Sloper
"Aeroplanes" - -
1995 "Superman" - -
"Summertime" - -

References

  1. ^ Colin Larkin, ed. (1992). The Guinness Who's Who of Indie and New Wave Music (First ed.). Guinness Publishing. p. 19. ISBN 0-85112-579-4.
  2. ^ "An Emotional Fish - Cry Like A Baby / Grey Matter". Discogs. Retrieved 10 February 2021.
  3. ^ "An Emotional Fish - Celebrate". Discogs. Retrieved 10 February 2021.
  4. ^ a b Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 23. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
  5. ^ "An Emotional Fish - Grey Matter". Discogs. Retrieved 10 February 2021.
  6. ^ "An Emotional Fish - An Emotional Fish". Discogs. Retrieved 10 February 2021.
  7. ^ "Vasco Rossi - Gli Spari Sopra". Discogs. Retrieved 10 February 2021.
  8. ^ "An Emotional Fish - Junk Puppets". Discogs. Retrieved 10 February 2021.
  9. ^ "An Emotional Fish - Sloper". Discogs. Retrieved 10 February 2021.
  10. ^ "Search for setlists: an emotional fish | setlist.fm". www.setlist.fm. Retrieved 10 February 2021.
  11. ^ "Jerry Fish & The Mudbug Club - Be Yourself". Discogs. Retrieved 10 February 2021.
  12. ^ Jerry Fish & The Mudbug Club – The Beautiful Untrue (2009, CD), retrieved 10 February 2021
  13. ^ kevmeagher (23 February 2012). "An Emotional Fish reform for Barretstown Inspirations gig | News". GoldenPlec. Retrieved 10 February 2021.
  14. ^ "An Emotional Fish Setlist at Semple Stadium, Thurles". setlist.fm. Retrieved 10 February 2021.
  15. ^ "It's been emotional: Féile comes full circle for Jerry Fish". independent. Retrieved 10 February 2021.
  16. ^ Feile Classical The Live Album (2018, CD), retrieved 10 February 2021
  17. ^ "The former An Emotional Fish drummer, Martin Murphy, has passed away". Hot Press. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
  18. ^ "Death Notice of Enda Wyatt".

External links

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