Pugwash (band)

History

Thomas William Patrick Walsh came into the world in 1969 in Drimnagh, Dublin. After a childhood accident, he used the compensation money to build a recording studio in a shed at his parents’ house. He later said the idea came from learning that his musical hero Andy Partridge of XTC had stopped touring and was making music in his own shed. In the early 1990s, Walsh started performing under the name Pugwash and recorded around 150 demos on a 4-track machine.

In 1995, one of those demos was named Demo of the Year by Hot Press, an Irish music magazine. That recognition got him an introduction to American producer and musician Kim Fowley, who had Walsh play guitar for him both live and in the studio. Fowley then introduced him to Irish singer-songwriter Andy White, and Walsh ended up touring with White. Taking what he learned from those experiences, Walsh focused fully on writing and recording as Pugwash.

In 1997, he signed with the now-defunct Vélo Records. Two years later, Pugwash released the debut album Almond Tea, co-produced by Walsh and Keith Farrell. Within a month of its release, Hot Press ranked it number 23 on a list of the top albums of the millennium.

After positive reviews, Pugwash went on a long tour of Ireland, opening for acts like Television and Grant-Lee Phillips. In 2002, the second album Almanac came out, again co-produced by Walsh and Farrell and featuring Jason Falkner, who had worked with Air and Beck. The album kept up the melodic, retro pop style that drew comparisons to 1960s and 1970s music. It caught the attention of Andy Partridge, who called the single “Apples” the most exciting track he had heard that year.

Another track from Almanac, “Anyone Who Asks,” later appeared prominently in the 2008 Hollywood film Pride and Glory, starring Edward Norton and Colin Farrell. In 2003, the Australian label Karmic Hit put out Earworm, a compilation of remastered tracks from the first two Pugwash albums. That same year, Pugwash went back into the studio to work on a follow-up to Almanac and helped set up 1969 Records with Daragh Bohan. That label would go on to release the next two Pugwash albums.