Whipping Boy: the once-future kings of Irish rock’n’roll remember 'Heartworm'
‘Heartworm’ is one of Irish music’s most acclaimed albums but it brought Whipping Boy little success. Twenty years on, the former band members reflect on its complex legacy
Tipp top: Fearghal McKee onstage with Whipping Boy at Feile '92 in Thurles, Co Tipperary. Photograph: Frank Miller/The Irish Times
Myles McDonnell sighs at each passing compliment feted upon Whipping Boy’s second album, Heartworm. It’s not an impolite gesture. The former bassist couldn’t be more proud of the esteem in which his band’s 1995 album is held. His resigned response is borne out of years of frustration – years of thinking, what if?
Released just over 20 years ago, Heartworm is a record beset by what-ifs. A relative commercial failure on release, it has since become regarded as one of the great Irish rock albums. From the menacing disdain of We Don’t Need Nobody Else to the inebriating nostalgia of When We Were Young, how Heartworm didn’t spark a career beyond the band’s split in 1998 remains, for many, incomprehensible.