James & the Street Dogs

[orrok61]

Hey James,
Thanks for a great week at the Wiltern.I came out from NY & stayed at a Medusans' place for the week who I had met back here in March..again,many thanks for the great memories.Anyhow,I'm sure that alot of Medusans are not aware of the Dogs,but they are an ,outstanding,working class Boston band,whose lead singer was the original Dropkick Murphys vocalist.OK,to my question..why the fuck did you play whistle!!!Doesn't seniority mean anything these days??Don't get me wrong,I love Flogging Molly,but they would not be here if it wasn't for you.Did you offer to play the whistle??I'm just a bit stunned,especially after watching you play "Repeal Of The Licensing Laws" all week.Can we have a little explaination from the player himself??

[Phoist]

I just figured out James did the Tin Whistle bit for 'Shards of Life' on Fading American Dream I had no idea. I just though I had to share my amazement somewhere. How did I not know that for so long?

[JamesFearnley]

I'm not quite sure about the thrust of your question. I'm a friend of Ted Hutt's who produced the Streetdogs' album. He rang me up to ask me if I could play whistle, which I don't much, at all, really, but he's a nice guy and comes to most of the Cranky George gigs and I'd worked with him before on a couple of things and I'd try my hand at anything. The seniority element of your question implies that the whistle might be considered, well, a lesser instrument, maybe. It's smaller, that's true. Do you think I should have been invited to play the accordion?

[The Duke of Ingmar]

Your range of instruments is bloody amazing, Mr Fearnley. Is there any instrument that you tried but failed ?

[JamesFearnley]

The trumpet's proving a bit of a dog to learn, so it's resting in my closet for a while, while I get back to the clarinet for a bit, just so as I'm learning something newish. Fiddle, of course, like 'driving on ice' as Mike Martt from the Low and Sweet Orchestra used to say (about slide guitar, however).

[The Duke of Ingmar]

But you did play the violin on the "Hell´s ditch" LP, didn´t you ?

Btw, I like the clarinet on "Drunken boat" a lot.

[JamesFearnley]

But you did play the violin on the "Hell´s ditch" LP, didn´t you ?

Btw, I like the clarinet on "Drunken boat" a lot.

Well, it's all very confusing: I don't actually play clarinet on Drunken Boat. What you hear is Jem playing the soprano sax. I do play clarinet on a couple of other songs on Waiting For Herb, one of which was I forget which one of Darryl's songs. I was only photographed with a violin for Hell's Ditch. However, I did play the fiddle on a couple of songs on Red Roses For Me.

[The Duke of Ingmar]

Funny, I could´ve sworn that it´s a clarinet. Didn´t know my ears were so bad.

Still, wonderfully played and one of "Herb´s" definite highlights.