Opened in 1989, Whelan’s which has welcomed the legend Jeff Buckley is a venue dedicated to the international scene and the promotion of local artists. Also, it is currently possible to hear on its website pop rock treasures like Sleep Thieves, The Dudley Corporation or Robotnik. As for movie lovers, Whelans was used for a scene of "Ps : I Love You" filmed by Richard Lagravenese. (Launched in 2007, this film brought together Hilary Swank, Gerard Butler and Lisa Kudrow from Friends.) On top of these reasons and beside the fact that pints of Guiness are always fresh there, Whelan’s is a must see because it is one of those warm places where you feel home instantaneously whether you are in Dublin for a short or longer stay.

Fragil : Can you tell us more about your career ?

I’m currently the music supervisor of Whelans, ALT and the Village. That’s my day job and I have also a company called Foggy Notions which is my labour of love. It’s a really personal thing that lets me promote with my friends the music that we are all really interested in.

I started promoting concerts when I was a teenager. I used to make a punk rock fanzine and I became a music journalist for 15 years. I wrote for the Irish Times, american magazines and online magazines. I became a television presenter then for 3 years, presenting a music television show in Ireland called No Disco.

When I was doing that, I made a documentary about a seventies traditional group called Planxty. I was really interested in this music and I’ve never really seen a documentary talking about it. That was a success because the group reformed after 25 years when they watched it. And then I wrote a book about them, a biography called The Humours of Planxty.

During this time, I also started promoting a magazine called Foggy Notions. The promotion of concerts came later. We made it to be a magazine that the reader would like to keep rather than one that you’ll throw away. It is very expensive to do it, so we stopped doing the magazine to focus on concert promotion. But, we will do it again later.

Fragil : You are the music supervisor of Whelan’s, ALT and the Village, could you introduce them to us ?

A man called Frank Gleeson is the manager of these 3 venues. He owns Whelan’s and the Village. It is different for ALT because he got the lease in 2007. Before that, ALT was a place dedicated to drama.

Whelans is 20 years old this year. It has its own history and besides, we have people who are coming here for 20 years. In this pub, it is all about live music and songwriters.

The village is probably catering to a more trendy crowd who will dress up a little bit more. ALT has a warehouse feel to it and caters more for electronica and underground music. Four Tet and Birdy Nam Nam played there this year.

Having said that, it depends of what the artist is playing. For example, ALT crowd could come to enjoy a rock band playing in Whelan’s and vice versa.

Fragil : With your team, how do you select artists for venues ?

Well, you know, you just have to know what music is out there. I’m doing it for a long time I suppose and we work with lot of independent promoters as well as the bigger ones. We couldn’t do all on our own. That’s impossible, I mean Whelan’s has two shows 7 days a week , so that’s a minimum of 14 shows a week and we have late shows in the small room over there as well as the main venue. In total that represents 30 to 60 artists playing every week.

Fragil : Irish culture is really music oriented. There are always live concerts everywhere and anytime, in pubs, in the street, in parks… Does the irish government help a lot all these talents to develop ?

The Arts Council of Ireland runs a lot of projects to support emerging artists. Their support of musicians is ambiguous however, because their idea of music is confined to classical and jazz and they don’t consider styles like rock and hip hop. I don’t know, it is a little bit controversional but I don’t think there is a lot of support for bands which don’t fit their mould. I would like them to support more irish artists. I would like them to support artists in a similar way to how Canada supports its artists. In Canada, governmental support is amazing, here you really have to do everything on your own.

Fragil : Yesterday, it was Arthur’s day i.e Guiness 250 years anniversary celebration, how was it for you here ?

Hard work ! If you think about it in terms of contemporary irish culture, it was like St Patrick’s day.

Guiness has a massive heritage which is well exported globally. It is probably the most famous irish product and symbol all over the world whether you view that negatively or positively. Obviously, the negative aspect is irish people have the reputation of being drunkards and that’s true, they are, but probably not more than british people or australian people, I don’t know. But, in any case, there is in this country alcoholism and alcohol abuse.

It is a tricky subject in Ireland because in one hand, we tried to become more conscious of alcohol abuse especially for drunk driving, domestic abuse and all the other bad effects of drinking problems. But, at the same time our biggest exported brand is Guiness, an alcohol brand which is really integrated to our sports and our musical culture. So, it’s a little bit weird to cut off from it.

Fragil : You talked about the massive heritage of Guiness. But Whelans which is 20 years old this year has it’s own heritage in music. On top of launching new artists, the venue has hosted many famous artists, even the legendary Jeff Buckley. So, what is your objective for Whelan’s in the future ?

The thing is Jeff Buckley wasn’t that famous at that time he played here. He played twice and well, people was started to talk about it I guess. The whole thing is when any artist plays here, we treat them like all bands who come here. For us, the objective is anyone who goes away from here will have a good memory of the venue.

The way we do that is everyone who works here is interested in music, even the accountants. The bar staff who have to communicate with musicians are also interested in music. I mean musicians, for the most part are generally crazy people. But that’s the reason why they are so talented. So, we have to communicate with them in the way they will feel comfortable and happy.

In fact, for every artist, painter, musician, writer, or no matter what he creates, his work is not fulfilled until it’s listened to, read by, or appreciated by a public. I know as well that it is really tough for a musician to achieve that.

For example it’s tough to travel all around the world in a van and sleep on the floor although you are very tired. So, that’s why, I like to make Whelan’s like a homely and comfortable place where they can feel at home.

And when they’ll prepare their itinerary to come back to Europe, maybe they’ll remember Whelan’s a rock venue where they enjoy their time and talk to their agents about it. So, even if they are bigger artists than the 1st time they played in Whelans, they can play 2 nights or 3 nights maybe. So, here is the main objective, just trying to establish friendships with them. It’s actually like every start of relationship you hope which continue.

Fragil : Have you planned many events to celebrate Whelan’s birthday ?

Yes, of course ! We scheduled surprises until the end of the year like welcoming artists who played here over the past 20 years. But, the truth is 2009 is a difficult year for everybody because of the recession. So, even if the situation is not too bad for us, we all want it to do not stop and Whelan’s to continue to develop and welcome new artists next years.

Émilie Bonet

Pictures : Whelan’s, Émilie Bonet

Links :

Whelan’s website

Myspace of Sleep Thieves

Myspace of The Dudley Corporation

Myspace of Robotnik