Archive Tag: pugwash

30 Apr 2018

Pugwash will release a second 7-incher from last year’s lauded Silverlake album on the 25th May. “Without You” will be released on transparent clear vinyl backed with an intimate alternate version of album track “Sunshine True”. The single release is set to coincide with an extensive run of UK dates supporting Nick Heyward this summer.

Silverlake differs from previous Pugwash albums in one major respect: it’s essentially a collaboration between two men – Thomas and Jason Falkner. As a former member of Jellyfish, respected solo artist, and musician, Falkner – who’s worked with everyone from Paul McCartney to Air – is similarly underrated artist with a hugely loyal international following. For fans of these two cult heroes (and there are plenty) this promised to be a dream ticket and it delivers in droves.

Recorded in Falkner’s LA studio, Thomas wrote all 11 songs, arranged them, and played acoustic guitar. Jason played everything else (except the strings), sang backing vocals and recorded/produced. The result is a classy pop-rock feast featuring Walsh’s endlessly hooky melodies and Falkner’s unmistakeable sonic footprint.

With previous single picked among “Tracks Of 2017” by Radcliffe & Maconie on BBC6 Music, the album a top 5 album of the year in Mail On Sunday, and The Daily Express extolling “Thomas Walsh should be knighted for his services to songwriting”, it might well be a perfect summer ahead after all.

  • 24/05 Brighton, Concorde 2
  • 25/05 London, Islington Academy
  • 31/05 Stockton-on-Tees, ARC
  • 01/06 Birmingham, O2 Academy
  • 02/06 Liverpool, O2 Academy
  • 07/06 Glasgow, Òran Mór
  • 08/06 Sheffield, O2 Academy
  • 15/06 Oxford, O2 Academy
  • 21/06 Cardiff, The Globe
  • 22/06 Sturminster Newton, The Exchange
  • 27/06 Horsham, The Capitol Theatre
  • 28/06 Bath, Komedia
  • 29/06 Eastleigh, The Concorde Club
  • 06/07 Milton Keynes, The Stables

<< lojinx blog
24 Nov 2017

Today’s the day! The new Pugwash album Silverlake is finally here! To celebrate the launch Thomas Walsh and good friend Matt Berry had a bit of fun making this autumnal video for your entertainment.

Get Silverlake! Lojinx Direct | iTunes | Spotify | Deezer | Play

Pugwash - Silverlake (Lojinx)

Vinyl is expected to arrive late November. US stores (including Amazon) will have non-import CD & vinyl available once stock crosses the Atlantic, in a few weeks. Limited edition blue vinyl available only from indie record stores.


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15 Sep 2017

If Brit Awards were handed out to Best Kept Secrets or Lamentably Lost Legends, Pugwash wouldn’t be able to move under the weight of their gongs. In the 20 years since the Irish band was formed by Thomas Walsh – an ELO, XTC and Beach Boys nut from Drimnagh, south Dublin – their reputation has grown by stealth and they’ve caught the attention of almost all of Walsh’s musical heroes, but mainstream success has remained frustratingly, tantalisingly just out of reach.

Well if it’s ever going to happen, it’s now, with the release of their seventh studio album Silverlake. It’s not only Thomas’s best body of work to date, but an album which leaves you marvelling at how effortlessly he can conjure up so many heavenly pop gems after all these years.

“I still live in a small house with nine guitars, a Dansette, a telly and a fuckin’ mellotron,” says Walsh. “I collect records and live hand-to-mouth. We’ve made some great records but most of them have gone nowhere.”

Silverlake differs from recent Pugwash albums in one major respect: it’s essentially a collaboration between two men – Thomas and Jason Falkner. (The four-piece who recorded 2011’s Top 20 The Olympus Sound and 2015’s Play This Intimately (As If Among Friends) has now disbanded). As a former member of Jellyfish, respected solo artist, and musician, Falkner – who’s worked with everyone from Paul McCartney to Air – is another underrated artist with a hugely loyal international following. For fans of these two cult heroes (and there are plenty) this promised to be a dream ticket…and it delivers in droves.

Recorded in Falkner’s LA studio earlier this year, Thomas wrote all 11 songs, arranged them, and played acoustic guitar. Jason played everything else (except the strings), sang backing vocals and recorded/produced. The result is a classy pop-rock feast featuring Walsh’s endlessly hooky melodies and Falkner’s unmistakeable sonic footprint.

“I’ve known Jason for twenty years, so I rang him last Christmas and asked him what his next year was looking like,” Thomas reveals. “He said, ‘It’s fuckin’ full up, but if you’re saying to me we can make a record, I’ll make time.’ That was an amazing thing to hear. The minute I heard that I was hooked. I got excited again. Within a week I’d written all the songs.”

Opening with the irresistible single “The Perfect Summer” and closing with the Beach Boys/ELO homage “Autarch”, Silverlake wears its collaborators’ passion for pop perfection on its sleeve which, at the very least, will consolidate Pugwash’s standing in the eyes of those Thomas most admires.

In 2006 Brian Wilson’s manager David Leaf emailed him out of the blue, mentioning Brian loved the band’s recent single “It’s Nice To Be Nice”. “Brian was coming to Dublin to play and wanted to meet me…meet me!!” Thomas recalls. “He came and I met Brian. He said ‘Hey! You’re the “Nice To Be Nice” guy. I said ‘yes’ and he just said, ‘great song’!! I still think it was all a fantastic dream to honest.”

In the meantime, other ‘celebrity’ admirers got in touch, including XTC’s Andy Partridge who briefly signed Pugwash to his Ape label and co-wrote several songs with Walsh (XTC’s Dave Gregory also played guitar on some of the band’s earlier recordings), The Divine Comedy’s Neil Hannon – with whom he made two best-selling Duckworth Lewis Method albums – and Jeff Lynne.

Thomas Walsh (Credit Graham Keogh)

“I arrived home late one night after an Olympus Sound session, knackered, to find a letter from the States,” Thomas recalls. “I nearly dropped when I realised it was from Jeff Lynne. I grew up worshipping ELO – I could tell you how many hairs there are on Jeff Lynne’s arse. He’s my idol. It was such a beautiful letter in which he said a lot of really nice things about Pugwash. He also said… ‘and I really liked the cricket album (ie, the first Duckworth Lewis album), but I didn’t think it featured you enough’. So I rang Neil straight away and said, ‘Neil, Jeff just sent me a fuckin’ letter. He’s slagging you and all in it, it’s brilliant!” After two decades Thomas has little to prove. Despite certain disappointments, he’s received great acclaim from where it counts – his peers and equals, plus Ivor Novello, Choice Music Prize and Meteor Awards nominations, and two Top 40 albums (with The Duckworth Lewis Method). The only way is up!

As Thomas concludes: “Some people have suggested, ‘Oh why don’t you change the sound of your music?’ But…I love the sound of my records! They ask if I would try something different. I could, but you can’t go out there and make a record just to please other people.”

Silverlake by Pugwash will be released by British indie label Lojinx on November 24th, on heavyweight vinyl LP, CD & digital. Lead single The Perfect Summer is out now on ice-cream swirl coloured 7” vinyl and digital.


<< lojinx blog
01 Aug 2017

Pugwash have been announced as main support for Divine Comedy dates in Ireland, this December.

4/12 – Cork Opera House
5/12 – University Convert Hall, Limerick
6/12 – Millennium Forum, Derry
7/12 – Ulster Hall, Belfast
8/12 – Olympia Theatre, Dublin
9/12 – Olympia Theatre, Dublin

Pugwash single & album details coming soon! Meanwhile keep an eye on Pugwash social media: Facebook, Instagram & Twitter.


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09 Apr 2014

#pugwash #harmony #pies (at The Garage)


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