Whipping Boy

Whipping Boy

So when I started this little blog, I wanted to tell the world about some of my favourite bands, bands that have maybe been forgotten about or largely ignored in the annals of rock history and naturally one of the first bands on my mental list was Ireland’s Whipping Boy.
In the mid 90s there were lots of these bands around, signed to a major but not really promoted enough to break through(not like the advertising budgets of the likes of (spit)Kasabian these days)they relied on a couple of things to kickstart the unit shifting, daytime Radio One and getting on TFI Friday, how else can you explain the extended careers of Reef, Ocean Colour Scene et al.
I first heard of Whipping Boy on Later With Jools Holland, they were one of those bands that manage to sneak on there without any previous history. This wasn’t strictly true, Whipping Boy had released an album entitled Submarine in 1992 and a trio of EPs before that, but were unknown outside of Eire. They also evolved from the MBVesque sound of their early stuff to something more listener friendly. Heartworm was that album. Sounding somewhere in between Echo and The Bunnymen, Nick Cave, MBV, Lou Reed and Joy Division(amongst many others)the dark, confessional lyrics mixed well with the abrasive guitars and strings on singles such as Twinkle and We Don’t Need Nobody Else was just what I was looking for in my late teens and I loved this album. They were also a fantastic live act, frontman Fearghal McKee unpredictable from one show to the next. Some shows he would perform stark-bollock naked, some fully clothed but wired, climbing up whatever he could and generally acting the goat. I recall a gig at the LA2(now Mean Fiddler kids!)where McKee didn’t so much as stage-dive more just kind of walk into the crowd, with microphone in a straight line towards the mixing desk. The mic lead soon got dragged back in, without a lead singer or a mic still attatched. They were great. Then they split and posthumously released the eponymously titled album in 2000, while not as good as Heartworm it had its moments, then NOTHING. I scoured around the internet for possible sightings of McKee and could never find a morsel. However a few years back Irish rock magazine Hot Press commissioned a readers Top 100 Irish albums poll where Heartworm finished #7, its good to know that I was right all along because that’s definitely up there in my all time top whatever.
This year there was news of Fearghal making a few live appearances, a website AND a new download single, What You Wanna Start, for me it is back to the style of the Heartworm tracks and a welcome return. And then nothing, AGAIN! So I thought I’d do a little research tonight, googled Whipping Boy and I found out they’ve reformed!!!! With two live dates in December!!!!!!! In Ireland? Yes please
Ryanair!!!

Sample the delights of Whipping Boy HERE(Look out for the elvis cover!)
Download Fearghal McKee’s 2005 single What You Wanna Start? HERE
Buy tickets for the reunion shows HERE