AN (EDUCATED) RAW WAIL FROM THE BOTTOM OF THE GUTS / FEMALE HERCULES - PAINKILLER
At a certain point maybe a year before the ‘Crush’ gigs (described in an earlier post) started in late 93, I harboured ambitions of being a music journalist covering the Dublin punk beat. Again this was in connection with the Dropout publication which Donal Scannell was editing, and which was largely being produced at the table of the house where we both lived in Phibsboro. I had read my Mr. Bangs about raw wails from the bottom of the guts etc and set out to track some local versions of these raw wails down. I had already come across some by accident in Fibbers at the Anarchy Night Cafe by that time - notably those being made by Tension and the Mexican Pets. However I must admit that these bands seemed so kind of big and downright scary that I never even thought of trying to get to interview them. Ger from Tension was absolutely incredible on stage - but (and you have to remember I’d seen precious few club gigs in my life at this point) the vibe from them came across as hard and unapproachable. I barely knew who Fugazi were at the time so I didn’t really understand the ‘hardcore’ aesthetic that the Pets and Tension were drawing from.
Somehow at the time I heard about Jam Jar Jail and their noteriety for wild unpredictable gigs and barrings from venues and I somehow got in touch with them by phone. The call was really my first direct contact with the Dublin scene I would spend the next few years in and around. It was a good first call as these guys were very very central to the live scene at that time. I visited Shane and Frances at the house where they lived at the time to interview them. It was great and Shane was his usual mile (or three) a minute with Frances also getting her spake in. They gave me an excellent demo tape at the time and I also took their photo. This all resulted in a feature article in Dropout which helped me get access to other bands at the time.
The next band I wrote about were Female Hercules. I worked in TCD at the time (on a FAS scheme) and I’m pretty sure I saw Female Hercules first in the JCR where I often went for cheap grub at lunchtime. I had no friends in TCD at all so any time there was a band on in there at lunchtime - I was able to give them my undivided attention. Female Hercules made quite an impression on me at the time. Heavy music. Screaming. Wild guitar player (Aengus). White power afro guy up front!
I reckon I got Conzo’s number from Shane or Frances from Jam Jar Jail and I got in touch with him. He arranged to meet me in (I think) the philosophy department in Trinity. I was impressed with that. This ‘raw wail’ was an educated response to the ills around at the time I started to think. He’d have a lot to say! The interview was an absolute disaster though as the tape recorder when it appeared put him in the mood to unleash a series of non sequiters and confusing long and unfocused non-commital ramblings. Still - I was able to save the day because of the demo he handed me at some point during proceedings. I could rant about how amazing the first track on it was for the magazine. The track was called ‘Painkiller’. It’s available at the top of this post This recording was later released by Blunt Recordings as part of a five track EP. It’s archived in full here.
I have another Female Hercules story that this was all leading up to involving flypostering, an overenthusiastic cop, ‘political’ arrests, the Store Street cop shop, my mate Joe, a mysterious character called ‘Gonzo’ from TCD and the policing of perceived expressions of opinions on abortion, but this is enough for now. I’m laughing too much thinking about the story to write it coherently right now anyway. I’ll do it tomorrow - all going well.
Thanks BTW to those helping me out as I’m going along with this. It is very very appreciated. I’ll be making use of some of this help by also posting more of the list of ‘Johnny Cash’ performances which I started out on (in the post below) tomorrow. That’s Conzo from Female Hercules below with the hair in full flower.
