SOUNDTRACK: MY LITTLE FUNHOUSE-Standunder (1991).
Drummer has a funny story about joining My Little Funhouse. It’s especially funny given how young he was and how raunchy the band seems.
This album feels like a hair metal band whose second guitarist had just heard of grunge. Lead singer Alan Lawlor sounds bratty and sleazy like an L.A. hair metal stud.
There’s some ripping guitar solos (“Destiny”) and big soaring ballads (“Wishing Well”) and there’s a dumb straight up rocker (“L.S.D.”). There’s even the quiet intro (lighters up in the air) “sensitive” song (“breaks my heart/tears me apart”), “Anonymous.”
The one musical surprise is the summer guitar intro of “Been too Long” which sounds like it belongs to another song all together. Although the bass/drum clap along is pretty apt. “raintown” is another song that is a little unusual here–it feels like a B-side. Lawlor’s vocals are toned way down and the production is much softer.
Perhaps the one thing that sets them apart from the West Coast metal is the song “Catholic Boy.” Yup, it’s just as sexual/ist as a typical metal band, but the specificity of being Catholic seems very Irish to me.
My Little Funhouse opened for Guns N’ Roses when they toured Ireland. And that makes perfect sense. This album is completely of its time (or maybe a year too late). With the right exposure, they would have been huge. But this is the only thing they released before they broke up.
[READ: December 30, 2020] Irish Drummers Volume 1
I received this book at work and thought it would be interesting to look though. I flipped through the names in the contents and was pretty sure I hadn’t heard of any of these drummers. But it turns out I knew a lot of the bands they played in, just not their names.
Gilligan says that he created the website Irish Drummers several years ago. It was an opportunity for him to interview Irish drummers and celebrate them. Gilligan himself is a drummer but never really played with any bands. Probably the most famous Irish drummer, U2’s Larry Mullen, Jr is not in this book, but he is on the website.
Gilligan thought it would be very cool to publish a book and here it is. The interviews are truncated for the book, you’ll get a lot more online.
Each interview has a picture (or two) and three to seven questions.
I have made some notes of interest from the drummers who had something unique to say.
JOHNNY BOYLE [Picturehouse, Pugwash, played for Marianne Faithfull]
He says that sight reading is very important for young drummers.
KEVIN BRADY is one of several jazz drummers in this book.
FRAN BREEN Recorded for The Commitments soundtrack.
BINZER BRENNAN [The Frames]
Says, “I hate to say it but Lars Ulrich influenced me at one stage.”
DARA COLEMAN [Fangclub]
Like many, he is influenced by Dave Grohl, Taylor Hawkins and Matt Cameron.
TOM COLL [Fontaines D.C., Curious Kid and the Hit Machine]
His advice is to be yourself and let your personality shine through behind the kit.
MERVYN CRAIG [The Redneck Manifesto]
Like many of these guys, he says he was tapping and banging on things all the time as a kid. It was when seeing Fyfe Ewing from Therapy? that he made him really want to play. He says it’s very important to learn rudiments early. And to get some decent ear plugs and always wear them while playing. Tinnitus is no fun and your ears will thank you for it twenty years down the line.
STEPHEN D’ARCY [THUMPER, Blades Club]
He recognizes Stella Mozgawa from Warpaint and Anna Prior from Metronomy.
KARIMA DILLON El-Toukhy [Montauk Hotel]
Her list of influences is very long.
BRIAN DOWNEY [Thin Lizzy]
He has a funny comment about drum solos–he likes to hear them but doesn’t want to do one. He grew up playing in a pipe band. When he heard The Beatles he changed his style to rock. They have a good discussion how Phil Lynott used to write complex songs without quite realizing how complex they were. “The Rocker” shifts from 5/4 to 4/4 to fit his singing style. But the band had to figure it out. When Brian first met Phil, Phil was “the biggest star in Crimlin” for the band The Black Eagles. He also says Phil was a super nice guy.
CONOR EGAN [The Coronas}
Hate to say it bit he comes across as such a bad speaker in this interview Lots of “I don’t know”s and “you know.” He says that he likes to watch drums solos but would hate to do one. The band apparently thinks drum break down in their song “Tony was an Ex Con” is a drum solo but he swears it isn’t.
JASON FEENAN [TOUTS]
Cites Zappa and Zappa’s drummers as influences.
JERRY FEHILY [played with Hothouse Flowers, Sinéad O Connor, Tim Finn, Midnight Oil and many more]
Is the only one on the book to cite Neil Peart as an influence. He says that he played right handed until he was thirty two then he thought he could become a better jazz drummer if her re-learned as a lefty. Which he did.
KEVIN FOLEY
Cites Unsane as well as Bad Brains and Cro-Mags as important drummers. Foley played with Sepultura when their drummer was hurt. Hs favorite song is “Against the Grain” by Unane from Visqueen.
BENJAMIN GARRETT [Overhead, The Albatross]*
CONOR GUILFOYLE jazz drummer
Has recorded some diverse musical styles–rare for Ireland. The first salsa recordings in ireland. he also took standard tunes and played them in odd meters which you an download for free here.
EVAN HADNETT [Walking on Cars]
Cites more complex drummers as influences like Mike Portnoy from Dream Theater, as well as Green Day, QOTSA Therapy? and more.
He says trad music has had a big influence on Irish drummers. Everyone is familiar with bodhran beats. Irish drummers are classy not flashy: “The IRish drummer is sound in my opinion.”
MARK HEALY [Cypress, Mine!]
Drum heavy songs he likes are “Atmosphere” Joy Division, “Westworld” by Theatre of Hate, “Hymn from a Village” by James, and “Where’s Me Jumper” by Sultans of Ping (!).
GRAHAM HOPKINS [Glen Hansard, Snow Patrol, My Little Funhouse and Therapy?]
My Little Funhouse had released their first album and were going on tour. They needed a drummer and Hopkins had a friend who knew the band so they contacted him. He had to get his parents’ permission because he was so young. This happened over a weekend. Friday he was in school, the following MOnday he was in the band in Amsterdam. Then infighting led them to break up and he joined Therapy after Fyfe Left.
MATTHEW JACOBSON [F-JOB]
When asked about his kit he only mentions the cymbals and talks at length about a guy he knows who makes custom cymbals.
KAZ [Vulpynes]
I’d never heard of this band (they are really good). They are a duo and since Vulpynes has no bass player, Kaz tunes her drums low to fill in low ends.
NIGEL KENNEDY [Bitch Falcon]
Cites Dave Grohl, Mitch Mitchell, Matt Cameron. He specifically says of Grohl’s drumming on QOTSA’s Songs for the Dead that there are a lot of beats on that album that are basically the “Stairway riff” for drummers.
RACHEL LYONS [Pillow Queens]
Not really a drummer’s drummer–she doesn’t geek out on drums. She joined Pillow Queens on a whim after completing her masters. Cites Soccer Mommy’s Clean and Gemma Hayes’ Night on My Side as hands down her favorite albums.
DAVID LYTTLE
Has lately been listening to Bill Evans, Burt Bacharach and the rapper Curren$y.
CALLUM McADAM [Wild Youth]
Curses a lot (he’s the only one with f*** in the interview). Advice: if you feel you have rhythm and a buried passion for hitting wood with two sticks of wood, get on that shit now.
MORTY McCARTHY [Sultans of Ping]
I always assumed they were just a joke, but here he is. He has also written a book about Cork Slang called Dowtcha Boy.
MARTIN MURPHY [An Emotional Fish]
Murphy died many years ago. His interview is conducted by Davie Frew.
THOMAS O’BRIEN [Deep Sky Objects]
“Irish drummers are among the best in the world, so it’s very encouraging for Irish musicians starting off today.”
JAY OGLESBY
In addition to The Who and Deep Purple says that Snarky Puppy’s Jojo Mayer is the greatest living drummer.
HUE O’NEILL
Fun stories about jamming to Emerson Lake and Palmer on his bed using a folded pillow for hi-hats, a mattress as a snare and the thud of heel on floorboard for bass.
WAYNE SHEEHY
a fascinating story about the Bono intervention of his band 1990. Bono came to see them and didn’t like the band, but liked him a s drummer. They basically told Sheehy that if he joined the band Cactus World News, Bono’s label Mother would support them. He left a lot of friends behind to join CWN.
ROSS TURNER
He is the only person who cites Glenn Kotche (Wilco).
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