The Jimmy Cake

The Jimmy Cake
The Jimmy Cake
Origin	Dublin, Ireland
Genres	Post-rock, experimental
Years active	2000–present
Labels	Pilatus, Penske Recordings
Website	www.thejimmycake.com
Members	Vincent Dermody; Lisa Carey; Dara 'Dip' Higgins; John Dermody; Thomas Parkes; Diarmuid MacDiarmada
Past members	Jurgen Simpson; Rory Carr; Simon O'Connor; John Brown; Paul G Smyth; Alex McMahon;

The Jimmy Cake are an Irish experimental musical collective, formed in 2000, based on an expanded version of the band Das Madman, which had briefly existed in the late '90's.^[1]^[2] The band have released five albums and an EP and are active in the Dublin live scene.

Biography[edit]

Formation and early years[edit]

In the late '90's Vincent and John Dermody (guitar and drums respectively), Lisa Carr (clarinet), Dara Higgins (bass), Paul G Smyth (keyboards) and Rory Carr (percussion) started playing together in Dublin, releasing one song on a compilation album in 1998.^[3] After splitting up briefly, they reformed in 2000 under the name The Jimmy Cake, with the addition of accordionist and composer Jurgen Simpson, guitarist Simon O'Connor, trumpeter John Brown and Diarmuid MacDiarmada on saxophones and percussion. Their style, mixing folk and orchestral instruments with core rock instruments, veered from a whimsical folk via contemporary classical to a heavy rock sound.

Early releases[edit]

Their first album Brains was released in 2001 on the Pilatus label,^[4], immediately garnering widespread attention and becoming "one of the fastest-selling independent releases of 2001".^[5] It was quickly followed by a second album in 2002, Dublin Gone. Everybody Dead.,^[6] and a 2003 EP Superlady.^[7] The first phase of their activity culminated with the ambitious 2008 album Spectre and Crown,^[8] in which the band were augmented by strings, a brass section and a number of additional musicians, an album which was described as "superb" by Harry Guerin for RTE^[9], and "unforgettable ... their best work yet" by the Irish Times.^[10]

Hiatus and reformation[edit]

After Spectre & Crown the band went on a 7-year hiatus before the release of their next album, by which time the band had undergone something of a transformation with several members leaving the group, including Simpson. The group now had a new sound, dispensing with the folk/classical instruments, and now concentrated on the core rock instruments reinforced with heavy synthesisers (Lisa Carey swapping her clarinet for keyboards) and samplers. Stylistically the band were now concentrating on a gothic post-rock sound, with intense tracks that could last up to 40 minutes.

Master and Tough Love[edit]

The first album to appear with their new sound was Master, released in 2015, consisting of three tracks, including the 32-minute Death Can Fuck Off, and described by Cathal McBride in The Thin Air as "a thrilling change of pace and an absolutely relentless tour-de-force"^[11]

This was followed in 2017 by Tough Love, a single 40 minute track, divided into two parts ("an album that follows the old two-sided vinyl format",^[12] described by the Irish Times as music that "grows from synth atmospherics to a full-pelt psychedelic chase, to a dirge of noise and a piling lament of sonic layers",^[13] and by the band themselves as "part kosmische post-punk dystopia, part time-lapsed motorik stoner rock."^[14] The album was described by Hot Press as "their best record yet".^[15]

Members[edit]

Current members[edit]

Vincent Dermody (electric guitar, 12-string guitar, vocals)
Lisa Carey (clarinet, synthesiser, piano, vocals)
Dara ‘Dip’ Higgins (electric bass, double bass, guitar, vocals)
John Dermody (drums, percussion)
Thomas Parkes (trumpet, percussion, sampler, synthesiser, vocals)

Former members[edit]

Jurgen Simpson (accordion, trombone, keyboards, piano, programming)
Michael Fleming ( Guitar )
Patrick Kelleher ( Synthesizer, Guitar, Vocals )
Rory Carr (percussion)
Simon O'Connor (guitar, glockenspiel, bouzouki)
John Brown (trumpet, banjo)
Diarmuid MacDiarmada (saxophones, percussion, piano, guitar )
Paul G Smyth (piano, keyboards, synthesiser, sampler, violin, vocals)
Alex McMahon (saxophone, clarinet)

Additional musicians[edit]

Other musicians to have appeared with the Jimmy Cake include: Judith Ring, Michelle Finan (vocals); The Lismorahoaun Singers; Michael Fleming (acoustic guitar, 12-string guitars) Enda Collins, Kevin O'Hara (French horn); Colm Kelly, Rossa O'Neill (trombone); Charles Cavanagh, Jane Hilliard, Vincent Kennedy (trumpet); Gavin Warren (tuba); Gillian Williams, Emily Thyne (violin); Cora Venus Lunny(viola); Kate Ellis (cello); Patrick Kelleher (synthesiser, guitar, vocals).^[16]

Discography[edit]

Albums[edit]

Brains (Pilatus 2001)
Dublin Gone. Everybody Dead. (Pilatus 2002)
Spectre & Crown (Pilatus 2008)
Master (Pilatus 2015)
Tough Love (Pilatus, Penske Recordings 2017)

EP's and singles[edit]

The Opposite of Addiction (7" split with Daemien Frost) (Road Relish 2001)
Superlady (EP) (Pilatus 2003)
Limestone Tiger / Are You Alright? (EP split with Demotic) (Earsugar 2004)

References[edit]

This article "The Jimmy Cake" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:The Jimmy Cake. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.

[1] "Irish Rockers".

[2] "Last FM: The Jimmy Cake".

[3] "Discogs: Saccharine".

[4] "Discogs: Brains".

[5] "The Irish Times: Having Their Cake".

[6] "Discogs: Dublin Gone. Everybody Dead".

[7] "Discogs: Superlady".

[8] "Discogs: Spectre & Crown".

[9] "RTE, June 3, 2008".

[10] "Irish Times review of Spectre and Crown".

[11] "The Thin Air: review of Tough Love".

[12] "The Last Mixed Tape: review of Tough Love".

[13] "The Irish Times: review of Tough Love".

[14] "Penske Recordings".

[15] "Hot Press review of Tough Love".

[16] "Discogs: The Jimmy Cake".

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