The Wormholes: To Infinity

On the cover of The Wormholes 1999 album 'Parijuana' it states, 'Four Years in Captivity'. This line was a reference to the long lay off between their 1994 debut 'Chicks Dig Scars' and the fact that the tracks on the album were spread over that four-year period. The idea of the band being held against their will and being forced to come up with the goods for this long promised follow up is an image that has more truth to it than I think the band themselves realised. Their captivity still continues but it is self-imposed and so do the recordings.

This is a story about a band, a musical group, like so many others come and gone, but one that has its own story-just like the others-but it's the only one I'm interested in telling. It's also a story without an ending, as they continue so does the story. The best way to tell their tale is to explain their records, the evidence, it's what others and I know best and what remains and will outlive them and us all. I will not indulge in myth making, if anything I plan to explode the myths and I will not shy away from criticism when they make a blunder but will try to put these in context.

The basic facts are of twin brothers Dave Carroll (drums), Anthony Carroll (bass) and a friend of theirs getting together in 1991 to jam and rehearse in a local warehouse that would hire out a room for £2 a day, what you did in that room was up to you. They quickly got to the point where they wanted to play live but the guitarist didn't have the bottle so he got the axe and Graham Blackmore, the younger brother of one of their mates, was brought in to replace him. The only music that united the three of them was Fugazi, they were all major fans. The first self arranged gig in the Baggot Inn in June 1992 was a pay to play rip-off but didn't deter them and they slowly made contacts in Dublin while developing their sound and song writing. Graham was just 16 at this gig and Dave and Anto were 22. They made a crucial contact in Leagues O'Toole, then booking bands at The Fleet pub and from this time on, July '92, they played almost once a week at either The Fleet, The Attic, Fox and Pheasant or The Earl Gratten supporting all the local bands of the time. This was a period of enthusiasm that would produce fruit sooner than most bands would experience. Why was this? I guess it was the quality of the songs and the excitingly chaotic live shows. They could usually keep it on the right side of chaos but while the tracks might have an elongated improvised ending, at most, the tracks were being played as rehearsed and were hitting the target more often than not. In fact they were so serious about playing well that if they didn't this would trigger the verbal rows they would have on and off stage, not to mention the breaking of instruments. If a show went well all was peaceful. They were getting a reputation more for the spectacle than the music at this point and were gaining a following without realising it. It was at a gig at the Attic in October 1993 that I ended up getting introduced to Anto for the first time by a mutual friend. He was shocked to hear that I had been attending their gigs specifically to see them and throughout the next few months we'd just say hello to if we passed in the crowd, but as we got to know each other we started to have more to say. Leagues did the band another good turn by getting them to record a demo with his mate Johnny Headon. Leagues went on to present respected Irish TV music show No Disco and is a respected music journalist.

Dave, Dec 1998

They did two tapes, the second in October 1993 came to the attention of Gary Walker from Wiiija who liked it and was interested. In February 1994 he arranged for Wormhole to come to London and support Cornershop at The Garage. They slept on his floor and Graham stared out Billy Corgan who came to the gig. Myles Leonard from Roadrunner saw them play too and was also now interested.

Back in Dublin, since early 1993 the band were already talking with Eamonn Crudden who'd they'd impressed when they'd played at the club he was running in the basement of Fibber Magee's. The club was called 'Crush' and he lived across the road in a building that was having a studio built in its basement. He was starting a label, which turned out to be Dead Elvis, and Wormhole was looking like the first act. Eamonn Doyle, Og Crudden and Marc Carolan were the other people behind the label at the time. In April 1994 they started to record initially what they thought would be an EP but things were going so well they just kept recording more tracks. The studio, Fuse, was still being built around them; they in effect were road testing the gear on unlimited studio time. However, no more than 7 days were actually spent recording. They were working with first time producer/engineer Marc Carolan. I'm not sure how finished the studio was by the time the album was finished, I was there by coincidence in January, 3 months before, just sitting in with a friend's band and equipment was still arriving. Marc Carolan was again behind the desk and that's where we first met. Marc has to date been the real success story of that Dead Elvis scene after a hard apprenticeship producing so many Irish bands album and going on tour doing sound for Sack to now working all over the world doing sound for JJ72 and Muse and producing increasingly higher profile acts. When he's at home he still finds time to work with the much loved The Last Post.

'Chicks Dig Scars' came out on Dead Elvis in May 1994 on CD only and cost £5. This was totally groundbreaking, Dead Elvis had discovered a CD-ROM pressing plant in Dublin called Sonopress that were willing to do music CDs, result! Although the altruistic pricing policy was down to Crudden. The flood gates opened after this and so many labels and bands started to release CDs it seemed like a genuine boom time for Irish music and Wormhole totally got the glory for being first off the blocks and that album was pretty special. I bought mine before they even launched it when I bumped into Eamonn who was now managing the band, in Fibber Magees one night and he had a bag of them. It’s an album that totally puts me back in 1994 when I hear it today, just memories of hearing those songs live I guess, the production and the playing just work, it has that special quality that you can't quite put your finger on, all I know is that it touches me on a gut level when I hear it. "Tryen Alone", "Rooftops", "Leave The Blanket In", "12am", "Dylan", "44 Bulldog" there’s basically nothing that does'nt belong here. A few things dated from earlier times, recordings with Johnny Headon, like "Collide", "Butterflies" and "Johnny's Vibe" and even they sound good, but they were more like snippets between songs. Gary Walker had introduced them to the music of Royal Trux by now and this was something they'd often do.

Graham, Dec 1998

The album drummed up some interest from abroad, Vertigo offered to put them on the road 365 days a year if they wanted, they were already working with Irelands Kerbdog but mainly because they seemed so fixated on "Leave The Blanket In" as the definite hit single they imagined it being and didn't seem to care about the other tracks they never pursued this deal. Gary Walker was still interested at this stage but as it turned out never actually came across with an offer. Myles from Roadrunner on the other hand was still very into the band and soon they were offering a deal. In September 1994 they brought them to London for 2 gigs and one month later Myles flew to Dublin and they all signed a recording and publishing deal in Dave and Anto's bedroom. Myles went on to sign The Verve, The Beta Band and is currently head of EMI! Ironically while they were in London the month before they made the acquaintance of Jon Tye of Lo Recordings who loved what he heard and kept in touch with the band. Basically at the time there was only one deal they considered, Vertigo had desperately wanted them, supposedly some A&R guy that had been left in charge of chasing the band while his superior was on holiday got fired when he came back to hear Wormhole were now off the market. I guess they believed Roadrunner would somehow overcome their metal image and that they could market the bunch of indie bands they were signing. Dublin rockers Pet lamb also went with Roadrunner and they had shared many a stage together and were friendly so this must have been a factor in their choice as well. As it turned out Roadrunner were fairly successful in winning over the British press to their new bands but the public never really bit.

Two tours of the UK happened in 1995 in April and October and two EP's with accompanying videos were released. These EP's 'Lay it on' and 'Chopper' really continued the high song-writing standard on 'Chicks' and all well worth tracking down. "Little Miss", "New", "White Coat Illyad", "Avoiding Me" and "Soul Searching in The Library" all great tracks right up there with anything from 'Chicks'. All but the last one listed came from a single session on Halloween night 1994 at Fuse with Marc. This post 'Chicks' songs show them at the height of their powers to date. When Roadrunner re-released 'Chicks' they unwisely allowed the band tamper with it. They decided to change the second track “12am” as Dave felt his vocal wasn't that good. “12am” had been one of the many highpoints on the album and was now substituted for a stripped down version recorded with one microphone in Grahams house onto a DAT machine. Grahams family lived in part of a church and the band often rehearsed in a hall attached to it called The Library, hence the track "Soul Searching in the Library". I remember Graham telling me he'd overdubbed some guitar noises to it (12am) at Fuse later. I thought it was kind of cool to do another version but changed my mind when I heard the re-release. The momentum of the album is altered immeasurably by this simple change. Absolutely nothing on the record sounds remotely like this version of "12am" either sonically or tempo wise. It makes what was an almost perfect album into one with a very obvious flaw just one song in. It’s still a great album and only 500 people in Ireland would ever know but should serve as a lesson not to tamper with a record that had already succeeded and proved itself as it had been. The secret track was also removed from the Roadrunner version, don't know why?

Dave, Oct 1999

The first UK tour was a support to Truman's Water and a few headliners along the way. I saw then support Sub Pop band Pond at the Garage in London just before the Trumans dates started and they were doing the songs justice and were doing consistently good shows on tour and were generally holding there end up when attendances and money was low. This was what they had wanted all along and they were going for it. However Roadrunner wanted them to go for it a bit more, but that's to be expected. Initially they had hoped the band would move to London and even once offered to clothe them ala Dog Eat Dog, at the time one of their biggest bands. Wormhole elected to stay based in Dublin and keep their own clothes but after a year of promoting the album it was harder and harder to get money to cover tour expenses. They were offered a London support to Supreme Dicks which was denied but did get the money to support higher profile shows like The Fall at The Forum, their biggest show outside a very low billing on the Phoenix festival's second stage. Things were looking even grimmer after the second UK tour booked for them was a headliner. The band pleaded to do another support tour, as at least they'd have an audience. Nothing changed, probably too late and they were right, very low attendances with the only ray of light being a few Cornershop dates. The band was excited to be bringing over so many new songs with them but it was tough out there night after night. This tour finished them with Roadrunner and with hindsight may have begun a change in their attitude.

One consequence of joining the big league was learning that for their records to be released in the States they would have to alter their name, the band choose Wormhole Star, this was just the start of their name problems. Eventually around 1996 they decided to change it again, this time to The Wormholes. This is a lot like messing with the tracks for 'Chicks', if it ain't broke don't fix it, but the name issue was somewhat out of their control, but it did make the whole thing seem less special, not to mention confusing. Also since befriending Truman's Water on tour there was an offer to release new versions of "Drive Dead Slow" and "Out of Place" both from the post 'Chicks' 1994 Fuse session as a 7" on a label Truman's were involved with. It came to nothing; Truman's Water had fallen out of favour with the UK music press by now and was hardly doing any better than Wormhole. This version of "Out of Place" would eventually appear on 'Parijuana', but tantalizingly "Drive Dead Slow" which the band today consider the definite version and has never seen the light of day.(See Downloads section).

Anthony, Oct 1999

Pet lamb had always been a few months ahead of Wormhole with Roadrunner, having signed first and when they got their advance for recording their second album, Wormhole had to make do with about £900 to record 3 demo's for theirs. I remember that there was a lot of talk from the band of wanting off Roadrunner and there seemed to be an expectation of being dropped and that this was the last money they'd see so they might as well record the full album now. Today Dave remembers that he at least fully expected Roadrunner to like the next album and didn't expect to be dropped. They were probably just hedging their bets; at least they would have an album whatever happened label wise. They recorded it at night over seven days in March 1996 in Sun with Marc Carolan again producing and engineering. Dave fell and cracked a front tooth while carrying equipment down the stairs to the studio on the first night. This was a terrible start. I appeared on the scene for the last two days of the session. They were mixing and I knew I wouldn't be in the way and might even be of some use. I was working nights at the time and would arrive about 6am and stay till whenever they left. Marc was drinking pints of water, Eamonn was trying to sleep and Dave and Graham seemed in good spirits. Anto had decided not to be present for the mixing. This is the lost album, the proper follow up to 'Chicks', these are the songs they wrote after 'Chicks' and played live and would continue to play till their live sets morphed into something else entirely. What an album it would have been. The title 'Parijuana' was on every bodies lips and it totally suited the mood caused by tour fatigue and the dejection in the face of the public's and their label's disinterest. That last morning the final DAT copy was played back while it was taped onto a cheap cassette that would end up quite a contentious subject in the coming days. It sounded great on the studio speakers and it was a real step on from 'Chicks', a total progression in ability and the same high standard of song writing. To Marc's credit he pulled off an excellent job on a tiny budget with very little studio time and with a band that was pissed off and increasingly unpredictable. It wasn't called 'Parijuana' for nothing. If Marc had to be short with the band and make decisions without consulting them it was purely to get the job done in the limited time they had but all of this would come to the surface in the days to come when the pressure was off. If Dave or Graham had any doubts about the album they weren't showing it at the last playback that went on hours after the session should have ended. Luckily no one had booked for that day and Eamonn smoothed things out with the owners or there wouldn't have been a copy tape for them to play at home.

Maybe that would have been for the best as the next time I spoke with them they had decided the album was shit. The copy they had was on a cassette Graham had got from his Dad's collection, so basically their album had just been taped over something else. So lets just say the quality was not good, a CDR was attained a few days later but it was too late, the seeds of doubt had been sown and now it was thought that the mix was bad, too clean, the album's fate was slowly being sealed. A real shame. Anyway, three so-called 'demos' were sent to Roadrunner who rejected the proposed album and promptly dropped the band. Pet Lamb were also dropped after they submitted their finished album around that time as well. Their original A&R man Myles was no longer at Roadrunner by now which had a major bearing on the situation. Rescued from the album was another version of "Out Of Place" which turned up on a compilation of Irish bands called 'Zip up your Boots for the Showbands'. For the record the tracks recorded were "Out Of Place", "Drive Dead Slow", "Riotman", "Hotel Cash", "No Second Chance", "Go Under", "Radio Rock", "Blame Superstition", "Ashtray Blues", "Headbanger", and "Marshmallow".

Graham, Dec 1998

Events take a strange turn at this point in the story. In October 1996 an old friend of the band Shane O'Reilly from Jam Jar Jail had been living in the States and came home for a visit. Being a man of action and a major fan, friend and supporter asked them if they'd do a record for the label he was starting. They agreed and so begins a very odd tale. It all happened so fast I don't believe Wormhole really knew what they'd done. Although roughly 6 months had gone by they were all still smarting from the perceived negative experience of doing 'Parijuana' with Marc. This time recording took just 3 days in all, first day doing demos with Stano at Grahams house then a week later 2 nights at Pulse again with Stano. Shane left almost as soon as the recordings were done, taking the tapes with him. Their enthusiasm for this new album was also the final nail in the original 'Parijuana' coffin. Eamonn had never given up on 'Parijuana' and kept trying to convince them it was amazing but by the time 'Scorpio' was done Eamonn was around less and less. They'd enjoyed this recording experience with new producer Stano and had also got to record on a porta studio in The Library . This was their dream album come true, no one telling them what to do in the studio, total free forming and recording at home they got exactly what they wanted. That really sums ‘Scorpio’ up, the band got their own way, if this hadn't been in the wake of such a perceived negative experience with Marc at Sun it might have been a good album. Shane undoubtedly meant well and it is only with hindsight that even I can see why it turned out the way it did. It was only recently I found out from Dave that Shane begged them not to include the version of Blame Superstition that was recorded in The Library. You can't hear the drums and it's just a bad recording, but they were insistent, they had become very bloody-minded. Home recording was the new buzzword and they would do plenty of it in the coming years but the main problem with home recording a band like The Wormholes or any band with amps, a drum kit and singer is that it just does not work. "Marshmallow" was a full on rock song with vocals and it sounded like you had your ear pressed up against the guitar amp, any other frequencies only got through on a break. "Blue Tears Music" wasn't even a band track, Dave's girlfriend's younger brother did it on a keyboard, and while it does have its own charm its place surely didn't belong on the album. The locked groove idea, a skip from the vinyl version of 'Chicks' was about twice too long and as for the digital watch tones of the standard made famous by Frank Sinatra "My Way", first track and played backwards as the last, please. "Been Fucked Over" left you feeling just that. Another quibble would have to be that some of the gaps between the songs were just too long, this is just the last straw, even things out of their control were done wrong. There are a few good tracks on this album if you have the patience to find them. "Bee Mee" and "Freak Franco" are two of the good ones while "Go Under" is easily the best track and just as good as the version they'd done with Marc at Sun. "Kontinental Kop" is flawed and overlong, another home recording but not worthless. It should be pointed out that Stano did the home recordings, surprisingly; I doubt he thought they'd ever see the light of day. To his credit his mixes of the studio tracks are pretty bloody good and some of the playing on these tracks is inspired. There are at least three styles of music on display here too which didn't help matters, the short very weird inconsistent pieces, the long sprawling Pink Floyd sounding tracks and the short rockers that nodded towards what might have been. Confirmation of my view is that Jon Tye tried to cherry pick the better tracks for an EP on Lo. Its worth pointing out that this was a good friend of the band putting out an album by his friends with his own money and feeling passionately about how good they could be. It’s also worth pointing out that they were by now big Ween fans and having an album of inconsistent styles and recording methods was something they now saw no problem with. The fact that it was recorded so quickly and that all discussions about running order, artwork etc were done by transatlantic telephone calls makes me think the project just ran out of control and nobody had time to say stop before it was done. The band stood by the album when it came out but now they admit its flaws. It finally emerged to a fairly negative reaction in January 1997 and was the first use of the name The Wormholes. Also in January of that year their Scottish friends Pilotcan asked them to tour with them in Scotland, 6 headlining gigs in 11 days.

If Lo Recordings couldn't get their hands on the best of 'Scorpio' they did something better in bringing the band to London during the Summer of 1997 where they did a few shows but the main thing from the label's point of view was to put them in what turned out to be the Warm Jets rehearsal room with one of Lo's artists, Richard Thomas and his DAT recorder. I'm sure The Wormholes jammed away to their hearts content as Thomas recorded everything, even Eamonn asking directions for the nearest fish and chip shop. Of course this turned up on the track "Directions". Thomas took the tapes home with him and the band went back to Dublin. 'Seven Point Plan to Destroy Astrology' came out a year later and is a good listen, totally avant-garde. All the other Lo Recordings stuff was done at a distance. ‘Headbanger’ was actually from the original ‘Parijuana’ sessions; Tye must have been sent a copy of the session and its very telling that he picked the weirdest track, the only non-vocal track in fact. This appeared on their 'United Mutations' vol. 3(1996) and had been one of only two releases during that difficult year. Around this time Tye asked them to remix a Thurston Moore guitar piece for what eventually came out as the fairly high profile 'Root' compilation. Pity they never got it together to meet the deadline. They must have been also sending new recordings to Tye as he used an edit of a home recording called "Can't Play For Shit E" on their 'Further Mutations' vol. 4(1997). In 1999 the final release on Lo came out and was a bit of a gem, a 12" called 'Of Your Mind'. The Decal collaboration was the obvious highpoint, everyone else was just remixing whatever they had been sent and they were Third Eye Foundation, Richard Thomas, Downpour, Echo Park and VI Tone. One of the last idea’s mooted long before that final 12" might have been the greatest folly or triumph yet. Jon Tye had great connections and had Graham Coxon of Blur interested in producing an album for them to come out on Lo. Why this never came to fruition is unknown by the band, we can only guess.

Alan Lambert, Oct 1999

Chicks made an impression in a world just before everyone seemed to have access to the internet so when fans would get in contact by writing it always seemed more personal, people were always quite passionate about the band they knew from 'Chicks'. Having their address on the Roadrunner releases was good thinking, guess it didn't fit into Lo's highly stylised sleeves, a shame. People have been known to turn up right on their doorstep from the UK and Europe. Sometimes expecting to find a label where they can get another copy of 'Chicks' or just to say hello or do an interview for their webzine. No one leaves empty handed, I'm always shocked to hear that they've given away their own last copy of things. There was a time when they had no copies of 'Chicks' and I remembered they'd given me the US Wormhole Star version once, I gave it back and they immediately sent it off to some guy from Europe that had been the month before whose copy had been in his walkman when it had got stolen, he'd been trying for years to replace his favourite album. At least it got a good home. On the Scottish leg of a 1995 tour they were supported at one date by Dead Cat Motorbike, which was fronted by a young guy called Stuart, a major fan of theirs. After he saw their show he was inspired enough to break up his band and the next time they toured there his new band supported them, they were called Mogwai. When Mogwai made it to Dublin the first time it was of course The Wormholes they called on to open up. Cornershop have also dug what they're doing and have kept in touch sending promos and offering support slots since the early days.

Dead Elvis went out of business sometime in 1997. In late 1999 Eamonn decided to reactivate the label as Dead Elvis (and a hunka Lisa-Maire) and went to work with the band in collating the four years worth of music that would make up the long delayed ‘Parijuana‘. Was the title still relevant? Not really but it seemed important to finally get this stuff out there. A flawed masterpiece as it turned out, in my opinion. Taken as individual tracks the standard is pretty high, the tracks are also concise with good production and performances, there is only one that you might call a jam track. Does it work as an album? Well its too inconsistent but it could hardly be otherwise spanning 4 years. It should be seen as a compilation really and it works much better as individual tracks. The highpoints are many, the home recordings "Mission Hall" and the full length "Can't Play for Shit E". The two examples of what the original 'Parijuana' might have been are contained in "Drive Dead Slow"; Fergus Kelly did a fine job playing Chennai over the original '96 recording, also "Radio Rock (Sound Check Check)" which remains as it was. "Ashtray Blues", "Turkish Prison Dance", "Blame Superstition", "Mark Chapman's Revolver" and "Riotman" all hit the mark, all but "Turkish Prison Dance" and "Mark Chapman's Revolver" had featured on the original album, these are very different versions but still sound great. These and some others were done with Stan Erraught at Dirt Studio's and Sun during '96, just before Scorpio. This was their first positive experience since Marc and while they got their own way I feel they had a lot of respect for Stan and probably were less wayward with him than they would be with Stano a few weeks later. Also they'd just done many of these songs for the second time and by now the only new tracks they were writing were jam tracks. Although "Marshmallow" and "Go Under" would be done for the third time with Stano. "Unhealthy" was a home recording with a friend of theirs Joe Carolan doing vocals, an ok song. The bad are very bad, "Hard to Capture" and "You Never See the Stars When It Rains" remind of the worst excesses on Scorpio but are actually even worst than anything on that. "Prick" was just a bafflingly bad home recording, what were they thinking? It's interesting to think of so many recording sessions being undertaken with no solid outlet until ironically the ‘Scorpio’ session. ‘Scorpio’ was definitely seen as a separate thing, Eamonn probably saw it as between Shane and the band and that all the other recordings were going to come out with his guidance, it would just take a bit longer than he thought.

So that was 1999, the discography is suspiciously empty after this point, what happened between then and now? Graham Blackmore wasn't a member when 'Parijuana' came out, he'd lost interest and was told he was out by Dave and Anto. The period from that point of Graham leaving (lets date it to his final show at Temple Bar Music Center 9th January 1999) and now is the most undocumented era of the band. It potentially could be its most something but with no new records and the live shows being so sporadic its hard to define them as clearly as before. No labels are interested and so there is no focus for recordings, which are about as consistent as their gigs. Eamonn withdrew from managing them long before he officially told them in 2000. A continuation of sorts does occur from the beginning of 1999 with the formation of Memory Cells. This does tie in perfectly with the sudden end of The Wormholes discography but had nothing to do with that as evidenced by the break-up of Memory Cells in 2001 and the continued silence from The Wormholes camp. This is not the place to write about Memory Cells save to say the line between the two bands was very blurred at times. Apart from the fact that Anto was a member, Dave often sat in on drums but we never choose to release any of those tracks, we used a lot of their gear, we rehearsed at their house, we used their address for the label. Apart from what we called a collaboration between the two bands that appeared on the ‘Poisonhats’ compilation, the track 'All Wells Are Poisoned' which was never consciously approached as a collaboration it was just one of those recordings with Dave that we decided to submit. However the way the third Memory Cells album was shaping up it's almost certain Dave would have drummed on more than one track.

Alan Lambert worked with them on guitar and keyboards for a short period leading up to the launch gig of 'Parijuana' in 1999 and then sometime in 2001 Dave and Anto began to play at Lazybird, an improv club, with Fergus Cullen on guitar, which has now developed into a more permanent arrangement. An example appears on Lazybird Live Volume 1 from 2002.

It's amazing how the years go by without the focus of records or goals of any kind. Dave and Anto see The Wormholes as more of a way of life than ever before and the music they create is perhaps at its most personal right now. Too personal to pursue deals and a career, its just what they do when no ones watching.

Stephen Rennicks
Dublin
December 2002