Jerry Fish & the Mudbug Club are an Irish alternative lounge band that made its debut in 2002. The band is led by vocalist Gerard Whelan, the former lead singer of An Emotional Fish, an Irish rock band from the 1990s. Founded in 1988, An Emotional Fish made their eponymous album debut in 1990 on U2's label, Mother Records. The band subsequently opened for U2 on the Zoo TV tour and released two more albums, Junk Puppets (1993) and Sloper (1994), before breaking up. After the disbanding of An Emotional Fish, Whelan took some time off, devoting himself to family rather than music. In 2002 he returned to music, founding Jerry Fish & the Mudbug Club in Dublin, Ireland. The band made its debut late in the year with the full-length album Be Yourself (2002) and the Top 20 hit single "True Friends." Follow-up singles included "Upside Down," "Anyway the Wind Blows," and "Be Yourself." In addition to Whelan, the band was initially comprised of Conor Brady (guitar), Simon Farrell (bass), John Wilde (drums), Stefano Stallion Muscovi (trumpet, harmonica, background vocals), Princess Mischa (saxophone), and Pat Corless (trombone, tuba, background vocals). The live CD/DVD Live at the Spiegeltent (2004) filled the long gap between studio albums for the band. Eventually released in 2009, seven years after its predecessor, second album The Beautiful Untrue was a Top Ten hit on the Irish albums chart. The album includes the single "Back to Before," a duet with Carol Keogh. ~ Jason Birchmeier