AN EARLY WORMHOLE FAN WRITES / JOHNNY’S VIBE
The following account was sent to me by Steve Rennicks, a longtime Wormhole fan. He was actually the first person to buy a Dead Elvis release. He’s written in detail about the history of Wormhole in the past. I’ll be posting about his extensive account of their history later on. I’m working through this account and adding stuff in brackets and italics where I think relevant. The short track above is Johnny’s Vibe. It was on one of Wormhole’s early demos recorded with Johnny Heydon* and eventually ended up as a track on ‘Chicks Dig Scars’. The photo below is of Steve and it dates from sometime in the 90s.
* Anyone got a contact for Johnny? If u have please get in touch through the contact form.
I moved to Dublin in September 1992 to start an apprenticeship as a printer in the Cabra area of the city. The first gig I went to now that I was living fulltime in Dublin was Mercury Rev and Rollerskate Skinny at The Rock Garden that November. I mention this as I’m pretty sure Wormhole and many of my future friends were at this pivotal and shambolic show.
I remember going to some Hope gigs next like Lungfish at Barnstormers and at Bolton St. D.I.T., which I was attending on what my company called ‘Block Release’, began seeing lunchtime performances by local bands of the day like Flexihead and Pet Lamb. I had done a few music fanzines in my teens and through this had contacted Eric Scott of a Dublin group called Vains and often now went to see them play at places out in Inchicore where they were from and The Rock Garden, Barnstormers and once in The Earl Gratten. None of these venues exist anymore.
The first time I saw Wormhole play was in April 1993 when I was going to meet Eric in the Attic and they just happened to be first on the bill. It was my first time at that venue as well and I went by the time on the poster, which means very early, and they were still sound checking. I got talking to Johnny Heydon at the bar who had already recorded them on 4 track and may have been there to do their sound that night and for some reason he introduced me to Dave who was just passing and that was it. They were on a bill which included In Motion and Unease, two other important bands of the time whose members I would also become friendly with over the next few years.
I liked Wormhole a lot but maybe no more than the other two groups that night. But they did stick in my mind because they had put on a show, were loud, were certainly entertaining and seemed for real. As they played a lot at this time, doing supports mostly, I ended up seeing them a lot and I grew to like their music. One of their mates was Joss Moorkens and he became a friend of mine too and he would play their demos on a pirate radio station called Alice’s Restaurant and I remember listening to his shows a lot and thinking these songs were incredible.
Joss and a mate of his had planned to release some of the Johnny Heydon demos as a single. Finally at about the fifth time I saw Wormhole, again at the Attic in October 1993 when they were finally headlining, I got introduced to Anto by a mutual friend, Dave from Bayside, and we became friends. Then I gradually got introduced to the rest of the band and we all got on so well even to this day for some weird and hard for any of us to explain reason. I remember very well that Anto was shocked that I would consider myself a fan of the band and had actually come that night especially to see them. Although I also remember him telling me at this early stage that other people were already interested in working with the band, I’m not sure if Eamonn Crudden was in the frame yet. I remember trying to advise him but I didn’t have a clue so we talked about music we both liked no doubt.
(When I first met Wormhole the Wiijja label had already expressed an interest in releasing something by them. They had played on a bill with Huggy Bear sometime in 1992 or 1993. I didn’t know about Joss and his mate’s plans until Steve sent me this.)
I only went to ‘Crush’ in Fibbers which Eamonn was running (was it ever called Smash?) a few times from September 1993 onwards and saw local bands there like In Motion, Sunbear, Groundswell, Tucker Suite and Female Hercules although I remember often going to Fibbers for the nightclub and late drink experience as they had an amazing outdoor area. I don’t remember speaking with Eamonn or noticing him at these gigs. I did meet Marc Carolan and was in the basement studio of 147, which they were calling Fuse, while equipment was still arriving in January 1994.
(It was never called ‘Smash’)
I was there as a guest of Eric’s band The Vains who were doing a probably one day demo session. I never had to be asked twice when an opportunity for doing something new like this would come up. I remember Eric telling me they were the first band to record there. I’m not sure if that’s accurate. I still wouldn’t have met Eamonn yet or anyone else connected to 147 apart from Marc. Marc was certainly totally relaxed, very funny and totally professional at this time. He also could play anything; I remember there was a keyboard beside the desk which he played on one of their tracks. This was amazing for me to see how a song was recorded as I would have been 21 at the time. I’m even more amazed now to find that Marc was only 17 or 18, he definitely seemed about my age to me.
(I have a feeling the Vains might have been the first band to record in the studio when it was set up in the basement of 147. Marc will know this I’m sure. About Marc’s age. I looked at his some of his pages and I am pretty sure now that he had just turned 20 at the time. I was exagerating his youth in earlier posts. He seemed like a nipper at the time I suppose because he was my friend’s younger brother.)
I gradually must have met Eamonn not long before Wormhole’s album ‘Chick Dig Scars’ came out. I can remember bumping into him and buying it in some venue or other as he had some copies with him in a plastic bag. This would have been in early May 1994 as the very next weekend I took the train to Cork to see Wormhole support Mexican Pets in The Village. This was an amazing trip for me and most of us stayed at the infamous house of the Cork group The Shanks. This was the night I really got to know Graham, Dave and Eamonn as well. We didn’t really sleep, way too uncomfortable but we were all buzzing. The next weekend Wormhole launched their album in Whelan’s in Dublin to a full house and it all went to another level for them. Fantastic times.
(I’m pretty sure Steve attended some or even most of the recording sessions for ‘Chicks Dig Scars’ in 147. That’s probably how we actually got to know each other to any degree initially.)
