Quiz Question

Name two artists who released an album with the same name on the same Irish record label within 12 months of each other in the early 00s.

God damn it, how come I never get asked this kind of question at a pub quiz?
Answer at the bottom of the page!

“I wanted to write about Kerry, and where I’m from, but through the lens of Tim Buckley - sort of Lilac Time, sort of Go-Betweens - the music that I liked.”
John Hegarty on Twilight.

On this episode I’m joined by John Hegarty for a deep dive about Twilight, his debut album from 2000.

It’s a long episode that mentions all of the following:

Gram Parsons, My Bloody Valentine, Female Hercules, The Harvest Ministers, The Stars of Heaven, The Jubilee Allstars, The Great Western Squares, Micky Greaney, Independent Records, Pernice Brothers, producer Bob Lamb, UB40, The Lilac Time, Mighty Mighty, Ocean Colour Scene, Lisa Mallett (Bentley Rhythm Ace), Martin Furey, Glen Hansard, Kevin Murphy, Cian Nugent, Adrian Crowley, Dinah Brand, Let’s Get Lost, Barry McCormack, Stephen Shannon, Joe O’Leary of Fred, Levis’ of Ballydehob, Béal na Bláth and loads more.

On Episode 45 I was joined by Pat Barrett of The Hedge Schools and during our chat we mentioned that Never Leave Anywhere (INDCD74), the first Hedge Schools album, had been released on the Dublin record label Independent Records in 2008. I said to Pat on that episode, “There’s a good few more albums you could easily feature on this podcast that were released on Independent Records.”

And so it is with this episode.

Independent Records was a Dublin based label which had started releasing records in the mid-90s. The label put out records by Engine Alley, Luggage, Mexican Pets, and The Revenants. And then its 10th release was Overcome by Happiness (INDCD10) by the Pernice Brothers and this started a period for the label of specialising in licensing US albums for the Irish market and continuing to release Irish music too.

John Hegarty’s debut album Twilight was also released on Independent Records. I went back and had a look at the label’s discography and there it is the 27th release on the label with the catalogue no. INDCD27. Twilight is nestled between Joe Pernice’s Big Tobacco (INDCD26) - that’s the album that gave us ‘Bum Leg’, one of my favourite songs from that period - and Kiss it Goodbye (INDCD28) by the great American singer-songwriter Chris Mills.

About half the songs on Kiss it Goodbye were produced by Jon Langford of the Mekons. Another hero to this podcast, not least for his recordings with Five Go Down to the Sea? and his album artwork for Microdisney. I love all these threads and connections!

On Episode 28 of the podcast we had all four members of Jubilee Allstars discussing their album Lights of the City (INDCD25) which was also released on Independent back in 2000. John Hegarty plays on most of the songs on Lights of the City. Before contributing to the Jubilee’s album John was in Female Hercules, the great Dublin band, who put out a few killer 7”s in the 90s.

Since then John has continued to work with loads of artists and bands. He has contributed to records by Adrian Crowley, Cian Nugent, Seti the First, The Great Western Squares, Barry McCormack and loads of others. Alongside this session work John has also played in the bands Dinah Brand and Let’s Get Lost and he’s also released four albums under his own name, the most recent of which, Daydreaming, one of my favourite Irish albums of 2024, came out a few months ago.

But for this episode we return to John’s debut album - Twilight. In the press release that accompanied the album all those years ago it said that,

“John began writing the Twilight album when he returned to Ireland from England in the mid 90s. He settled in Limerick and he found the city and his proximity to his native Kerry a great inspiration. He decided to make the lives of people in West Munster the material for his work and began a book of short stories about urban life on the West Coast. But instead of finishing the book, he transformed these initial stories, into a set of songs, all set at sunset, with the kind of musical and lyrical unity he had been trying to achieve.”

The blurb continued:

“The album was produced by Bob Lamb whose previous work included producing UB40’s Signing Off and more importantly The Lilac Time’s debut album.”

So, I think Twilight is an album that owes as much to the West Midlands in England as it does to West Munster.

For Further Listening/Reading:

Twilight is available on Bandcamp.

Daydreaming, John’s latest album, is also available on Bandcamp.

Below: Various reviews, click on each image to enlarge.

Quiz Answer: