Comments on: Great Irish Bands Part 20 - Virgin Prunes / Gavin Friday

By: Seán Báite

Seán Báite — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 17:05:13 +0000

Seems this post is garnering responses at about my average reaction time :-> Hydragenic - hadn’t heard that quote from GF - but I seem to remember that the period when everyone in Ireland wanted to be the Waterboys went on for an agonisingly long time… Caroline, thanks for linking to my humble post - I have to disappoint you in telling you that I didn’t post from Ireland (although it is an Irish blog) and have been undergoing begrudgery management therapy since I left Ireland 10 years ago - not sure I’m getting value for my money.
It’s ironic they should have chosen Lipton ‘VILLAGE’ as the name for their teenage confraternity for it seems to me that it’s Ireland’s (and esp. Dublin’s) village mentality that generates the sort of kneejerk begrudgery you mention.
In even the largest village, it doesn’t pay to stand out too much (or even at all).

By: Conor McCabe

Conor McCabe — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 13:30:01 +0000

Caroline, that’s an excellent point. The fact that they are all still friends, still in touch, should be celebrated, not derided. Having said that, I have seen Gavin Friday live, I enjoy some of his work - not all, though - and I cannot listen to the Virgin Prunes for more than 30 seconds at a time. I think they’re awful. but, it’s more the fact that I’m not a fan of the type of music/performance they made, along with a series of other similar bands in the 1980s.

By: Caroline

Caroline — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 13:02:42 +0000

@donagh A lot of the aggro towards GF is definitely the result of the company he keeps. Most Irish people that slag him off don’t know his work at all and have never seen him play live. The criticism is a little unfair as the friendship is older than the fame. Should he have stopped being Bono’s friend just because the guy went mega? I think it’s interesting that three childhood friends, Gav, Guggi and Bono, have managed to remain just that for such a long time. Such a hard thing to do in their line of work. The dynamic is fascinating. I think it’s something to celebrate, rather than begrudge. But I guess as a fan, I would say that.

By: Dublin Opinion » Blog Archive » GREAT IRISH BANDS, PART 22 : THE HARVEST MINISTERS

Wed, 05 Mar 2008 22:29:27 +0000

[…] Harvest Ministers are a far more discreet outfit than my own last choice for this series GIB 20 - Virgin Prunes / Gavin Friday but they don’t escape from the beautiful losers label, I suppose. The founding preacher goes […]

By: Hg

Hg — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 00:29:05 +0000

I’ve always liked this quote, from Mr Friday himself, in an interview in The Face in 1990:

“Irish people are into a more communal thing. They love the idea of community, communal music. That’s why everyone wants to be The Waterboys and nobody wants to be the Virgin Prunes. Community and confrontation don’t go well together, which is fair enough but a bit cosy.”

By: Donagh

Donagh — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 09:36:49 +0000

Ego… everybody has one
Fair enough and I think extrovert maverick does describe him well. So point taken. I suppose I’m reacting, following on from your point above about Hansard, mainly because these days he’s better known in Ireland as the flamboyant satellite of the richest man in rock.

By: Caroline

Caroline — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 18:57:21 +0000

I’m not Glen Hansard’s biggest fan, but he was talking about playing live gigs abroad and getting really into it and there’d always be someone shouting ‘wanker!’ and they’d always be Irish, whereever you played in the world. He called it ‘Being Irished’. Perhaps with his recent Oscar win he won’t have to suffer that anymore.

re: Ego… everybody has one. You couldn’t be a singer and have a 30 year career and not have an ego. Having an ego is the reason to get up on a stage, whether you’re a shoegazer or an extrovert maverick like Gav.

By: Donagh

Donagh — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 14:16:04 +0000

All you’ve said is true. It would be typical of the parocial small mindedness of the Irish to say that Gavin is just too full of himself to be of any worth. Better to say fair dues to him for trying, and often much of what he did was great for what it was and for when it was being done.

Of course how much of it is ego though. If you think you’re simply fab you’re also going to think that everything you produce is simply wonderful. But I’ve alway thought that Friday was alright, probably because of the Fall connection, and especially like the cabaret panache of the Brel stuff which seems to suit his theatrical nature, but its just a pity that some of it is a great steaming pile of ….

Love the Late Late clip, and last word on this, I have the Peter and the Wolf CD, which Hannah listens to all the time. The style of it suits him perfectly and Maurice Seezer’s arrangment is brilliant.

By: Caroline

Caroline — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 09:12:39 +0000

*applause* I don’t often see a good (and positive) Prunes/Friday write up coming out of Ireland. Didn’t know this site before, will bookmark.

By: Conor McCabe

Conor McCabe — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 00:13:14 +0000

Good stuff, Seán. Love the clip from Friday. A great version of Brel. and as for the Late Late clip.. I had come across that before, and bloody hell! all I could think while watching it was “Andy Kaufman was hailed a genius for this kind of thing.” They had balls alright. I mean, they were hardly thinking of a career when they made THAT appearance.

It´s funny, I saw a clip of an interview with Kevin Shields of My Bloody Valentine recently, when he said that when they started out as a band they lived up in Finglas and they used to see Gavin Friday all the time. One day they walked up to him and said that they were in a band and, you know, had he any advice. He told them to get the fuck out of Dublin for a start. This was the 1980s, they took his advice and sure, we know the rest. For that alone, man, he´s got to be praised. Also, he backed Aiden Walsh as well - without doubt, one of Ireland´s true originals.