Gavin Friday & Guggi interview from Dutch tv

Hadn't seen this before, interesting.

2011 interview with Fionan (Gavin):


He plays up the "when I was a young fella Ireland was a third world country" thing a bit, but I suppose one can make allowances for the artistic tendency to dramatise.

When was the first interview from?  I would guess the 90s....i can appreciate the anger and the "fuck off" sentiment and the blunt manner in which he speaks.

I haven't made it all the way through the second video but it appears around 2011 and its interesting to see how his demeanor has changed,  which happens to most of us as we get on a bit. 

Pretty sure first is indeed from 1990s.

First world country my arse. What a tool.

It's just the old story of poor young men who want to escape the shithole they grew up in.  It's an old story.  I never felt the need to do that because I didn't come from a shithole.

When I was a kid you guys were all old... and now I'm old and you're still old!

He certainly overplays the 'fings were tough growing up' narrative, you weren't a starving urchin street kid, you had a tv in the house Gavin, how else did you learn about all these new musical bands like T-Rex and Bowie, by watching Top of the Pops every Thursday evening obviously, you mention buying records, so obviously your dad was not such a tyrant that he didn't give you a bit of pocket money.

But he was, like Sinead O'Connor, ahead of his time in his criticisms of the Catholic Church, they were vindicated on that. He's also not exaggerating when he says you couldn't legally purchase contraceptives in Ireland when he grew up, that was the case until well into the 1980s IIRC.

I love the Virgin Prunes but calling Dublin a ‘third world country’ is the same type of crappola bono chats when he claims his band is ‘punk’. U2 are the opposite of ‘punk’ in every conceivable way, and always have been. The VP’s on the other hand, were genuinely transgressive, at least at the time.

The VP’s on the other hand, were genuinely transgressive, at least at the time.

True. In fact - and I'm no expert on the VP - but one of their songs features a lyric that directly refers to the early gay rights movement in Ireland.

Whatever happened to Emancipation Act '73?
I think it's lost, yes it's lost

Homosexuality was not decriminalised in the Republic of Ireland until 1993.

I think I'd allow for some dramatic licence on the part of Friday/Hanvey, when he talks of Ireland being a third world country in his youth, I think he means in terms of social changes, institutional Ireland was decades behind most of Europe and the US and so on.

But Ireland wasn't a third world country in the 60s/70s/80s, and even if parts of it were, Cedarwood Road (a nice suburban road, admittedly situated in close proximity to some dodgy and heroin-infested tower blocks) certainly wasn't. I'm younger than Gavin but I'm old enough to remember on family holidays to rural Achill in the early 1980s and my dad pointing out the odd house (occupied, not derelict) which had no electricity. If he'd grown up in one of those homes, Gavin might have a point.

I grew up relatively posh by the standards of the time, but I can remember during the 1980s recession my parents deciding to start home making wine as the family budget was quite stretched and they couldn't really afford to buy a bottle and didn't want to turn up at the various south side suburban dinner parties they were invited to without a gift. But that's not third wold, or even poverty. Relative poverty, at most.

Quote from: Larry Lovebucket on August 06, 2024, 12:43:25 PM

The VP’s on the other hand, were genuinely transgressive, at least at the time.

True. In fact - and I'm no expert on the VP - but one of their songs features a lyric that directly refers to the early gay rights movement in Ireland.

Quote

Whatever happened to Emancipation Act '73?
I think it's lost, yes it's lost

Homosexuality was not decriminalised in the Republic of Ireland until 1993.

I think I'd allow for some dramatic licence on the part of Friday/Hanvey, when he talks of Ireland being a third world country in his youth, I think he means in terms of social changes, institutional Ireland was decades behind most of Europe and the US and so on.

But Ireland wasn't a third world country in the 60s/70s/80s, and even if parts of it were, Cedarwood Road (a nice suburban road, admittedly situated in close proximity to some dodgy areas) certainly wasn't. I'm younger than Gavin but I'm old enough to remember on family holidays to rural Achill in the early 1980s and my dad pointing out the odd house (occupied, not derelict) which had no electricity. If he'd grown up in one of those homes, Gavin might have a point.

I grew up relatively posh by the standards of the time, but I can remember during the 1980s recession my parents deciding to start home making wine as the family budget was quite stretched and they couldn't really afford to buy a bottle and didn't want to turn up at the various south side suburban dinner parties they were invited to without a gift. But that's not third wold, or even poverty. Relative poverty, at most.

I am an expert on the VP’s. One of my all time favourite bands. Even so, GF does not have a point. Having no access to clean water, sanitation, shelter and food is living in a third world country. Living in Ireland in the 70s or 80’s is demonstrably not the same thing, I can only conclude Friday is on U2’s payroll and is compelled to talk the same crapolla as bono.

I am an expert on the VP’s. One of my all time favourite bands.

Ok. What are your top 5 favourite tracks by them?

Quote from: Larry Lovebucket on August 06, 2024, 03:08:26 PM

I am an expert on the VP’s. One of my all time favourite bands.

Ok. What are your top 5 favourite tracks by them?

In no particular order

Come To Daddy
Caucasian Walk
Din Glorious
Decline and Fall
Red Nettle

Album wise, A New Form of Beauty, Over the Rainbow and If I Die, are top tier. They also released a decent live album called The Hidden Lie

Quote from: walktothewater on August 06, 2024, 01:25:08 PM

Quote from: Larry Lovebucket on August 06, 2024, 12:43:25 PM

The VP’s on the other hand, were genuinely transgressive, at least at the time.

True. In fact - and I'm no expert on the VP - but one of their songs features a lyric that directly refers to the early gay rights movement in Ireland.

Quote

Whatever happened to Emancipation Act '73?
I think it's lost, yes it's lost

Homosexuality was not decriminalised in the Republic of Ireland until 1993.

I think I'd allow for some dramatic licence on the part of Friday/Hanvey, when he talks of Ireland being a third world country in his youth, I think he means in terms of social changes, institutional Ireland was decades behind most of Europe and the US and so on.

But Ireland wasn't a third world country in the 60s/70s/80s, and even if parts of it were, Cedarwood Road (a nice suburban road, admittedly situated in close proximity to some dodgy areas) certainly wasn't. I'm younger than Gavin but I'm old enough to remember on family holidays to rural Achill in the early 1980s and my dad pointing out the odd house (occupied, not derelict) which had no electricity. If he'd grown up in one of those homes, Gavin might have a point.

I grew up relatively posh by the standards of the time, but I can remember during the 1980s recession my parents deciding to start home making wine as the family budget was quite stretched and they couldn't really afford to buy a bottle and didn't want to turn up at the various south side suburban dinner parties they were invited to without a gift. But that's not third wold, or even poverty. Relative poverty, at most.

I am an expert on the VP’s. One of my all time favourite bands. Even so, GF does not have a point. Having no access to clean water, sanitation, shelter and food is living in a third world country. Living in Ireland in the 70s or 80’s is demonstrably not the same thing, I can only conclude Friday is on U2’s payroll and is compelled to talk the same crapolla as bono.

He has been on the U2 payroll since the 80’s as a creative consultant. Bono has allowed him to live a pretty good life.

He has been on the U2 payroll since the 80’s as a creative consultant. Bono has allowed him to live a pretty good life.

That's true. He more or less admits to it in one of the interviews that when he meets Bono for a few pints, Bono pays.

But I think that in this case, the labourer is worthy of his hire. Imagine how much less interesting of a band U2 would have been without Fionan Hanvey as a creative consultant. They'd probably have ended up as a kind of cross between a second rate Van Halen and a Creed type of band, and the world doesn't need that.