Mutefish are an instrumental six piece, best know for their street gigs. Dublin has a great tradition of buskers who have gone on to bigger things. This was particularly the case in the 80s, with the scene that spawned the Hothouse Flowers, Kíla and that included the late Mic Christopher and, most successful of all, Glen Hansard.
Mutefish have released a full length album and an EP to date. They are a festival band and they tour internationally as well (they were in Belgium and Switzerland earlier this year), but they opt to continue busking alongside this. They used to play in Grafton Street. When Mike Scott of the Waterboys posted regular - and amusing - busker reports from Grafton Street on Twitter and he mentioned Mutefish favourably more than once. Nowadays the band can be found on the main square in Temple Bar. My guess is that busking in this touristy area enables them to reach new listeners all the time, in a way that playing in venues simply cannot.
I caught them at a headline gig in Whelans, two days after they supported the Damned at the Academy and prior to their three appearances, they inform us, at the Electric Picnic next weekend.
They drew a seizable crowd, some of which were wearing Mutefish T-shirts. Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese were the dominant languages in the audience, although I overheard an American as well, who was saying to his friend: “This is Whelans, this is where it all happens”.
The current Mutefish line up consists of musicians from Ireland, Poland, Lithuania, Ukraine and Portugal. I was not aware that there had been a line up change and I have to admit that I was disappointed to discover that flute player extraordinaire Daithi O'Cearuill is no longer with the band. He featured prominently on the band's first CD, 'On Draught', and since I am quite a flute aficionado I missed his input.
According to the info on the band's website fiddler Pedro Martinho plays flute, whistle and pipes as well, but he did not do so at Sunday's show (except for one very brief part). The line up changes have resulted in a much heavier sound. Mutefish describe their music as progressive techno folk, and on Sunday at least the emphasis was more on prog than on folk.
Once I put my disappointment about the absence of flute aside, I realised that their newer music is actually good. The fiddle is the main provider of the melody and the Portuguese fiddler is also the spokesman for the band. Bo Stelmach (Polish) switched between guitar and mandolin and the mandolin lightened the mood nicely whenever it made an appearance. The rhythm section is made up of Tomas Pupalaigis (from Lithuania) and drummer Philip Staunton (Irish). Ukrainian Peter Karabasoff is another multi-instrumentalist, though he stuck mostly to percussion for this gig and, the sound is rounded out by Marka Lovkil on electric guitar.
At times their music is reminiscent of the Levellers, minus vocals, or of instrumental acts such as And So I Watch You From Afar and Redneck Manifesto. Due to the international make up of the band there is a Manu Chao vibe about them as well.
Their encore was played especially for all the Brazilians in the audience. Apparently it was a cover of a song by a Brazilian band, with a death metal vocal 'sung' by the drummer Philip. It went down a storm and it was a fun end the show.
Mutefish's current EP '360 Hangovers' is available at their busking sessions and via the band's website.
Helen
