As a carnival creator, event organiser and ringmaster for the Jerry Fish Electric Sideshow Circus, Jerry Fish has spent the last few decades giving a safe haven to those in the country who consider themselves outsiders, alternatives, and mavericks.

It makes sense, then, that Jerry would be the man to do a tribute album to Daniel Johnston, whose lo-fi music and upfront battles with mental health issues gave him cult status among outsiders on the American alternative scene.

Jerry’s connection with Johnston’s music dates back to the 1990s. As the frontman for An Emotional Fish, he shared the stage with Nirvana, and remembers Kurt Cobain famously wearing a t-shirt featuring “Jeremiah the Innocent” from Daniel’s album cover,Hi, How Are You?

From first discovering him, Jerry’s relationship with Johnston’s music grew over the years. In 2019, he began working with composer and friend Cian Boylan to do a tribute version of what is perhaps Daniel’s most famous song, ‘True Love Will Find You In The End’. Fish was working on recording the song when he heard the news of Daniel’s tragic passing in September 2019, due to a suspected heart attack.

“When Daniel died, I had already recorded with Cian,” he explains, speaking from his Carlow abode. “Then, when I released the song, we got quite a lot of airplay, and it came to the attention of Tom Gimbel, Daniel’s manager. We got to know each other and he asked me would I run a ‘Hi, How Are You?’ day event in Dublin. These events are celebrations of Daniel’s life and try to open up the conversation around mental health.

“I only had a couple of months to do it, but it was just such good craic and it was a special night. We had CMAT that first night – I think it was her second ever show. Then Junior Brother. And Glen Hansard came along. Glen had met Daniel, so having him there felt beautiful.”

Daniel Johnston.

‘Hi, How Are You?’ became an annual event, increasing in popularity with each year.

“I think Daniel’s story is one that will continue to get bigger,” he says. “It has so much scope to be retold and revisited. I don’t think you’re simply a Daniel Johnston fan – you’re a Daniel Johnston fanatic. It’s like being part of a cult, once he gets into your brain and under your skin.”

In particular, Jerry believes that Daniel Johnston’s raw approach to documenting his mental health struggles has made him an iconic figure.

“He’s someone who can, in this very pure way, put down what it feels like to be depressed or lonely,” he reflects. “I see him as representing the outsiders who are wondering to themselves, ‘Am I okay? Will I get through this?’ He asks those important questions. I don’t know if there’s another artist who captures that feeling of isolation, that very real human condition.

“There’s humour in what he does as well. He’s quite playful. And then, if you’re a bit of a punk rocker like me, he’s also got this punk sensibility in his music. It’s left of field, which is maybe why so many of the leftfield bands end up covering his songs.”

Jerry Fish at MusicZone & Coughlans. Copyright Trevor McGrath.

For Jerry, making the album was a labour of love. The artist hasn’t released a studio collection in 15 years, and has been vocal about the costs – literal and emotional – of trying to make good music when the industry is so precarious. A KickStarter helped fund this tribute.

“A lot has changed since my first experience of the music business in the ’90s,” he said of the KickStarter campaign. “The most obvious has been how people consume music, as most people now listen to it on streaming services. It seems we now expect music for free. Quality production and recording is still an expensive business, and streaming services sadly do not pay enough for an artist to recoup their recording costs.”

The album is magnificent, doing full justice to Daniel Johnston as an artist. Recorded at Camden Studios in Dublin, with Cian Boylan as producer, the 13 songs on Jerry and MayKay’s album are beautifully produced. They offer rich new versions of Daniel’s originals, reinterpreted by the duo and the artists working with them.

The vocals were recorded live –“Which I’ve never done before,” Jerry notes – giving you the feeling of being in the studio as it’s happening. The approach brings out the emotional heft in Daniel’s powerful lyrics.

“Daniel’s lyrics just run so deep,” says Jerry. “Even as you’re singing them, it’s like you’re hearing new meaning. I know how that goes with my own songs. Obviously, ‘Celebrate’ has been around forever and, lyrically, I’m still deciphering what the fuck I was on about. And, you know, every now and then, I hear new angst in the words, like I’m listening to a new song and not one that I’ve already written. What I’m saying is, when you write a song…

“Look, you suffer for your art. And Daniel certainly did. This is why the AI thing is not really gonna hack it, you know? It will maybe give us better pop songs than the pop artists are writing. But writers with any depth, writers who explore suffering – that can’t translate on AI. I love that line in Daniel’s song ‘Peek A Boo, “I have to live these sounds forever.” There’s all sorts of emotions mixed up in that line.

“The wonderful thing about Daniel was that, although he had massive insecurities, he had an incredible self-confidence. He kind of played songs in his room as if there was an audience of, you know, 100,000 people roaring at the end of them. I don’t think I’ve ever recorded something that make me cry every time I hear it. It’s just such a confessional song.”

MayKay

Jerry Fish has nothing but praise for Fight Like Apes singer MayKay, who has been an important part of the ‘Hi, How Are You?’ events, – and who sings on many of the songs on the tribute album.

“MayKay is such a warrior,” he says. “She’s so super-intelligent as an artist. I brought Fight Like Apes to Electric Eicnic to play my SideShow stage and, fuck me, it was unbelievable. There was that same punk sensibility. And her voice is just… she could sing anything. A lot of people will know of her at the moment because of her activism and her warrior stances, but it’s worth remembering her voice – I’m not sure we’ve got a better female singer in this country.”

• Jerry Fish’s Dreaming Of Daniel, featuring MayKay, is available to order on vinyl now, via Jerry Fish’s Kickstarter website. Catch them live in the Button Factory, Dublin (November 28); Purty Kitchen, Dun Laoghaire (December 14); and Whale Theatre, Greystones (21). See jerry-fish.com for New Year dates.