Pugwash

Pugwash emerged as an Irish ensemble that gradually earned a devoted international audience among admirers of vintage British Invasion and power pop textures. Thomas Walsh, born in 1969 in the Dublin suburb of Drimnagh, started the group after developing an intense admiration for XTC, the Beach Boys, the Beatles, and Electric Light Orchestra and later winning admiration from several of those same figures. At age 15 he took up the guitar after observing his brother perform, then grew skilled enough to construct a backyard shed that he equipped with improvised recording equipment and turned into a personal studio. Once he had recorded dozens of compositions, Walsh sent selections to Hot Press, Ireland’s foremost rock publication, which named his submission Demo of the Year. That recognition prompted American producer Kim Fowley to contact Walsh, appoint him his Irish representative, promote his songwriting, and pair him with fellow Irish songwriter Andy White.

Walsh created Pugwash to showcase his material and recruited bassist Keith Farrell together with drummer Johnny Boyle. The band signed with the Irish independent label Velo Records and completed its first album, Almond Tea; weeks after the 1999 release, Hot Press ranked the record twenty-third on its list of the best albums of the millennium. Following support tours with Glen Tilbrook and Jason Falkner, Pugwash returned to the studio for its second album, Almanac, issued in 2002. When Velo Records ceased operations, the third album, Jollity, appeared in 2005 on 1969 Records; Walsh and Farrell were joined by numerous session players, among them Dave Gregory of XTC, and the track “Nice to be Nice” so struck Beach Boys founder Brian Wilson that he requested a meeting with Walsh during a Dublin stop on a U.K. tour.

Eleven Modern Antiquities, released in 2008, again found Walsh and Farrell surrounded by guests that included Dave Gregory, Andy Partridge of XTC, Neil Hannon of the Divine Comedy, and American pop figures Michael Penn, Jason Falkner, and Eric Matthews. In an interview Partridge stated, “Pugwash, at their best, are almost Beatle-like in their greatness…they are that good,” and arranged to reissue earlier Pugwash albums on his Ape House imprint; although those reissues never reached stores, Ape House did issue the 2009 career retrospective Giddy. For The Olympus Sound in 2011 Pugwash introduced a revised lineup consisting of Walsh on vocals, guitar, and keyboards, Tosh Flood on guitar and keys, Shaun “Mac” McGee on bass, and Joey Fitzgerald on drums and percussion, with additional piano contributions from Ben Folds.

Despite accumulating a loyal following, the band had placed little material in the United States until Omnivore Records issued the 2014 compilation A Rose in a Garden of Weeds: A Preamble Through the History of Pugwash, prepared with Walsh’s involvement. In September 2015 Omnivore released Play This Intimately (As If Among Friends), which contained appearances by Ray Davies and Neil Hannon plus a spoken greeting from Walsh’s hero Jeff Lynne. After that album the lineup disbanded, so for the 2017 project Silverlake Walsh collaborated with Jason Falkner, who produced and performed most of the instrumental parts. Outside Pugwash, Walsh and Hannon record and perform as the Duckworth Lewis Method, an acoustic duo devoted to cricket-themed songs.