Episode Notes

Episode fifteen of To Here Knows When - Great Irish Albums Revisited focuses on A Fierce Pancake by Stump.

In episode five of the podcast Dave Long and I talked about Into Paradise’s time on Nigel Granige’s Ensign Records. In an interview back in 2015 Nigel Grainge spoke to me about why he ended up working with so many Irish bands:

“Meaningful songs have always been the core of my interest, I’ve always been drawn by songs with real life experience. Ireland has an amazing heritage of songs coming from that background. It was only something I realised pretty much after having success, certainly initially with Thin Lizzy and then The Boomtown Rats, I thought, what’s drawing me to Ireland? It was really funny because things I would be offered that I actually liked were Irish. I started to work it into a project where I then decided to come over to Ireland and start exploring and that’s when I found Sinéad. It continued later with Into Paradise and of course before that I signed the legendary Stump.”

In December 2015 I was finishing production on a documentary about Stump when Mick Lynch, the band’s enigmatic lyricist and frontman, sadly passed away. Lights! Camel! Action! - the story of Stump was first broadcast on UCC 98.3FM in early January 2016. For episode fifteen I’m revisiting the documentary.

Lights! Camel! Action! - the story of Stump tells the story of the Irish-English experimental, rock band from the 1980s. In the documentary the members of Stump and key figures in their story (legendary producer Hugh Jones, journalists Simon Reynolds and John Robb, Nigel Grainge from Ensign Records, Elvera Butler from the Downtown Kampus at the Arcadia in Cork, "Irish" Jack Lyons and others) tell how the band went from the NME’s C86 cassette to topping the Indie charts and releasing the influential A Fierce Pancake on Ensign Records.

I first met Mick Lynch in the early 90s when his post-Stump band Bernard played The Village, the long-forgotten venue under Sir Henry’s in Cork. It was one of my first nights working with Shane Fitzsimons, the gig’s promoter, so I got to stay back and have a late pint with the band. Mick was a gent and patiently answered all of my fanboy questions. I remember we had a chat about the making of the ‘Charlton Heston’ video. I wanted to know where all the frogs had come from and Mick was happy to indulge me. I worked alongside Mick for many years at various gigs loading PA and equipment in and out of venues (I’ve posted an old memory of a Van Morrison gig we crewed below). I interviewed Mick years later for my documentary Get That Monster Off the Stage about Finbarr Donnelly and his bands Nun Attax, Five Go Down to the Sea? and Beethoven - I always found Mick to be a gent, I enjoyed his company, he was witty and highly intelligent and most definitely didn’t suffer fools - ní bheidh a leithéid arís ann.

Lights! Camel! Action! — the story of Stump forms the second part of a Cork Trilogy. Part one, Get That Monster Off the Stage, tells the story of Finbarr Donnelly and his bands Nun Attax, Five Go Down To the Sea? and Beethoven. Part three, Iron Fist in Velvet Glove — the story of Microdisney, tells Cathal Coughlan and Sean O’Hagan’s story from meeting in Cork in 1979 to disbanding in 1988. All three stories have their roots in Cork’s post-punk music scene that coalesced around Elvera Butler’s Downtown Kampus at the Cork Arcadia in the late 70s. I intend to revisit the Microdisney and Five Go Down to the Sea? stories in future episodes of the podcast.

For Further Listening/Reading:

For the Irish Examiner’s B-Side the Leeside series I’ve written about A Fierce Pancake…

I’ve written extensively about Stump over the years and I’ve archived all of those articles below:

Lights! Camel! Action! - the story of STUMP (Pt 1)
22,000 words (85 minute read)
(a comprehensive longread Oral History featuring extra interviews, background information, photographs, ephemera and cultural and historical context.)

Lights! Camel! Action! - the story of STUMP (Pt 2)
2,200 words (10 minute read)
(A postscript to the Oral History featuring 2021 interviews and Rob McKahey’s photographs of Berlin in 1987.)

Lights! Camel! Action! Stump's bright spark bows out
by Paul McDermott
Sunday Independent - 15 December, 2015
(Mick Lynch obituary)

A Fierce Pancake is not available on any streaming services. Below you can hear Does the Fish Have Chips the 2014 Cherry Red compilation which compiles Mud on a Colon EP, Quirk Out mini-LP and various post-Pancake recordings.

Further Listening:

As mentioned in the outro to the Episode, when I spoke to Nigel Grainge about Stump we also chatted about his career in the music business. Nigel Grainge passed away on 11 June, 2017 and in tribute to him I present this edited version of our interview as a special tribute - it was first broadcast on my Dublin City FM radio show - Songs To Learn And Sing. Nigel founded Ensign Records in 1976 and released albums by Sinéad O'Connor, The Waterboys, World Party, Into Paradise, The Boomtown Rats and Stump. He tells some great stories.

And finally an old Facebook post…