Music Editor Barry Fenton sits down with Wobblin Jude to discuss live performance, genre-bending and the blurry lines between sincerity and satire.
Part 1 - Gig Preparation and Performance
Interviewer: Hello, hello! So you’ve got your gig in two days.
Wobblin Jude: Yeah, I do.
Interviewer: How’s preparation going for that?
Wobblin Jude: It’s good, good. I’ve been trying to reinvent - not reinvent, but like, I’ve kind of stuck to a certain formula for most of the gigs I’ve done so far. So the last few days I’ve been trying to rework it, figure out how to do it fresh. Similar thing to what I’ve been doing, but fresh for people who have seen me before.
Interviewer: What does preparation kind of look like for you generally? Like, are you in a rehearsal studio with a band?
Wobblin Jude: No, no, no, it’s all in my bedroom or my kitchen, honestly, because I just use my decks and my laptop. So it’s a lot of just - my set doesn’t stop, you know? So when I practice, it’s all the way through. And then maybe there’s one song I need to work on, or maybe it’s a certain transition - I might practice that bit over and over again. I like to have things very much planned a certain way in the ways I can, and then certain parts of spontaneity. And doing it that way, I get to have all the transitions in my head down. So like, even just walking back and forth in my kitchen now, acting like I’m on stage.
Interviewer: And what makes, in your view, a good Wobblin gig?
Wobblin Jude: If I can see that the crowd is taking in what I’m doing and reacting to it. All that matters is the crowd.
Interviewer: Would performance be your favourite aspect of being Wobblin Jude?
Wobblin Jude: I’ve played gigs where I felt I was terrible, but I could see in the crowd that I was good enough - good enough to make the crowd feel something. I like to see them dancing; you can tell when a crowd isn’t interested. Like I’ve gone to a lot of gigs and you can see when crowds are there for support rather than to experience a gig.
Interviewer: Sure.
Wobblin Jude: I want to make sure that even if there are people there only for supporting me, that they’re going to come away being like, “Oh, that was more than I expected.”
Interviewer: Yeah. That’s a funny thing I’ve noticed with your gigs - they’re actually filled with genuine fans. Like genuine people that are going to see the music, they don’t know you personally. They just know Wobblin Jude.
Wobblin Jude: No, it’s incredible the way that happens. I was very lucky with the tune [“Trickle Down Economics”] blowing up the way it did.
Interviewer: Was there like a strategy with that at all?
Wobblin Jude: It was a strategy, but it wasn’t like I knew it was going to take off the way it did. The strategy was: post TikToks at a certain time of the day. The algorithm’s going to boost it. And then it started doing way more than I expected.
Interviewer: Right.
Wobblin Jude: But there wasn’t much strategy behind it besides the fact of, okay, I’m doing a release, I’m making these TikToks, I’m releasing them at this time, and I’ve got this much time to promote it.
Interviewer: Oh ok, so more of a timeline?
Wobblin Jude: That strategy was there, but not with the mind that I’m going to get a song that goes semi-viral. That wasn’t planned at all.
Interviewer: You’ve talked about hate comments, where do you think that comes from? Do you think it’s people around Dublin, or just online trolls?
Wobblin Jude: Yeah. People around Dublin. It could be - it could come from anywhere. The thing is, my music’s kind of different. It doesn’t sound like a lot of music. And I am trying to do something new. So when there is something new, things get a bit heated when it comes to feedback and reactions.
Interviewer: That’s kind of the burden of it.
Wobblin Jude: That’s the burden of it. But it’s also like - if you’re not upsetting anybody, what are you doing? Art is meant to confront the audience.
Interviewer: Absolutely.
Wobblin Jude: Yeah.
Part 2 - Performing, Poetry and The Creative Process
Interviewer: I was looking at your Instagram and saw one of the songs you’d done - it was more of a spoken word poem. Is your set a mixture of that?
Wobblin Jude: Yeah. I’ve always loved writing poetry. I always wanted to write poetry books, but I don’t have the attention span to sit down and do that. So I always liked the idea of mixing poetry - you know, like Jim Morrison did it. And then obviously your man from For Those I Love [David Andrew] is absolutely incredible at doing it.
So I started, and a big part of the idea of my songs and my set is to mix techno with this indie music I make. I started off on “Belfast” by Orbital, and up until now I’ve started producing my own techno tracks to do the poetry over.
Listeners will note his Spotify bio consists of a simple: “Indie Techno or sum like that”.
Interviewer: Right.
Wobblin Jude: So the start of the set is poetry, and the music builds up. The poetry gets a bit more aggressive, or energetic, or angry, visceral - the imagery gets a bit more intense. There’s a poem about the cost of living, poems about Palestine, poems about family stuff. It’s kind of to give this idea that the show isn’t just to play a set of songs I’ve written and people can enjoy. The idea of the set is to show people the formation of what goes on in everyone’s head.
It’s a multi-faceted thing. Nobody’s one-dimensional. So the show reflects that too. It’s not just a gig. A big part of my mission is to put on performance art rather than just a set. I want things to be emotionally evocative. You start off feeling one way hearing the poetry, the music rises, and the songs start to come in.
It’s thought out in a way. Every song, every poem that leads into the next, they’re all written separately but can sound like they’re together as one big poem.
Interviewer: Like an epic poem.
Wobblin Jude: Exactly. It’s like a concept show.
Interviewer: You talk about performance and your intentions. When you’re performing, how accurate or genuine is that to your personal self? Is this kind of a David Bowie-esque separation?
Wobblin Jude: No, I wouldn’t say it is at all. It’s not a detachment. I’d actually say it’s more true to myself than most conversations are.There’s the conversational Wobblin Jude, the conversational me - not necessarily stoic, but like, keep moving, keep working, get on with it. Then the music and performance is the expulsion of the thoughts and emotions going on in my head.
Interviewer: Yeah. So when you’ve got that kind of attitude towards making music - I found from what I’ve listened to, the lyrics are jagged, the flow’s unstructured, and it all just kind of comes together out of nowhere. How do you know when a song is finished, then, if it’s spontaneous like that?
Wobblin Jude: It gets to a point where I don’t think of anything else to add.
Interviewer: I see.
Wobblin Jude: Once I feel like I’ve run out of ideas, then I start to fine-tune everything.
Interviewer: Right.
Wobblin Jude: It’s very much the fact that I’ve run out of ideas.
Interviewer: So is it that each song is an idea in itself. It’s just an idea stretched to its limit - to what you can do with it
Wobblin Jude: Yeah. So I get some inspiration, say, I’m working on a song this morning that you’ll hear in the set called “Torn to My Side”. It sounds crazy. Kind of like Young Lean. Went for a Young Lean idea, explored that, ran out of ideas – then it’s ready.
Interviewer: Ah I see.
Wobblin Jude: Yeah, you know, it’s like painting. Finishing a song is really just when there’s nothing else to add. It is what it is. There’s nothing more to do. Like when a relationship ends - you’re always looking for a reason to hold onto it, and then you never even see the person again. The universe stopped this thing from evolving any more.
Interviewer: That makes a lot of sense actually.
Wobblin Jude: Yeah.
Interviewer: It’s funny that you mentioned Young Lean because I was telling my friend I was interviewing you, and he asked, “What kind of music is that?” I said, somewhere between PinkPantheress and Young Lean. Would you say that’s accurate at all?
Wobblin Jude: Yeah. PinkPantheress was an early influence when I started producing. I always kind of say it’s a mix of indie and techno. But I think if I had to describe it, it’s like: take The Killers’, then put it into the brain of a kid who just discovered Logic and electronic sounds.
I don’t know. It’s weird. The influences are so wide and varied. Growing up, I’d ask my dad who his favourite band was, or favourite genre, and he never gave me an answer - he’d say he doesn’t have one. So it’s hard for me to compartmentalise influences.
Interviewer: Okay.
Wobblin Jude: Maybe for specific songs I can do it. But as an overall sound, it all just mushes together and comes out the other end. It’s like a salad.
Part 3 - Influence, Originality, and Writing as Catharsis
We get on to discussing various influences – the sound of Wobblin Jude and what shaped it..
Interviewer: You’ve mentioned a lot of different artists - from modern hip-hop to Van Morrison in the seventies. That kind of surprised me, to be honest. How do you think that mix shows up in your music?
Wobblin Jude: Someone said to me recently that there’s a punk element to my performance. I was a big Sex Pistols and Clash fan when I was a teenager - from about 13 to 17. You can hear that clearer in the live shows, because there’s less polish in the vocals.
Van Morrison would’ve been a huge influence when I was younger too - that ability to roar, that real rawness. I’m not even talking about his solo work, I mean Them, you know, “Gloria” - that real rock and roll thing. Patti Smith, Jim Morrison.
The arrangements are shaped by that energy. It’s funny - I heard a critic talking about Cameron Winter’s solo album - that you can hear the seventies soul in it, but it’s not like paint on wood, it’s like a stain that’s become part of the wood.
That really stuck with me. I think with the music I’m making, the electronic stuff is new - it’s fresh and exciting to explore. But the music I grew up on has already stained the wood. The electronic music goes over the stain, but the stain is still there.
So all the analog stuff I grew up on is the base, and the electronic side is like the varnish. If you play the melodies on a guitar with distortion, they’re rock and roll. I write them on guitar most of the time, then work the chords out and build from there.
Interviewer: I hear you can take any of The Strokes music and play it in a folky/accoustic arrangement and it kinda works.
Wobblin Jude: Exactly. That’s what it’s like. You can strip it all back and it still stands. Same with Dylan. You can take something like “Mr. Tambourine Man” - play it with a full band, and it’s still the same song, just with new paint on it.
My dad used to say, “Behind every punk singer is a ballad writer.” Look at Joe Strummer - he did “Redemption Song” with Johnny Cash. Before he was Joe Strummer, he went by Woody, because he wanted to be Woody Guthrie. Everyone called him that when he was living in a squat.
All music is just another rendition of something someone’s done before. That’s what I’d say about my music. I’m doing exactly what’s been done before - I’m just putting new paint on it.
Interviewer: So would you say your music’s original?
Wobblin Jude: Yeah. Because of the paint. Once you put that paint on it, it’s a new gaff. You paint your room - it’s a new room.
Interviewer: I think when you start acknowledging how derivative everything is in art, it can almost hinder you, because you feel like you have to make something completely original.
Wobblin Jude: Yeah, it’s impossible. But I used to think that way. Everyone is influenced. That’s the most interesting part of music - finding your own way of saying something that’s already been said.
Interviewer: So you don’t think you’re creating something completely new - it’s more like an evolution?
Wobblin Jude: Exactly. Everything’s an evolution.
Interviewer: I found your music kind of blurs between intention, satire, and chaos. There’s real honesty in the lyrics too - do you know where each song is going to go?
Wobblin Jude: Not really, to be honest. I’m always surprised when I finish a song about the direction it took.
Interviewer: John Mayer once said you need insane bravery every time you sit down to write. Bob Dylan said something similar - that he doesn’t even know how he did it. Do you find it hard to write music?
Wobblin Jude: No, not at all. It’s hard to explain. It’s like Dylan said - he didn’t know how he did it. For me, writing separates into two things: music and lyrics.
Lyrically, I’ll write something and think I know what it means in my current life, and then three months later I’ll look back and realise, “Oh shit, that’s what I meant.” A lecturer in BIMM once said, “You don’t know what your lyrics mean until three months later.” You think you do, but you don’t. It’s like you’re predicting your own emotional future.
That really stuck with me. It’s catharsis. But you can get lost in it too - like a drug. You start overanalysing your life, and that’s when it gets hard. When it doesn’t come out naturally. That’s the only time it’s hard - when you’ve exhausted yourself. Otherwise it’s necessary.
If I’m at work, I’m writing lines in my head, singing random phrases. And sometimes I catch gold. Then when I get home, I put that gold to work.
Interviewer: How do you know when you’ve caught something worth keeping?
Wobblin Jude: I realised that if I’ve written a verse and there’s no lyric that tells me what it’s about, I don’t work on it. Sometimes it starts from a line - like in “Torn to My Side,” the lyric was “you’re a wonderful thorn in my side.” That juxtaposition caught me. A good oxymoron is the best lyric to start on.
Interviewer: Like “a terrible beauty.”
Wobblin Jude: Exactly. You build from that. Sometimes I don’t even know where it’s going until it’s done. Formula is a weird thing - it can be your saving grace or your downfall. If you follow it too much, it stops being creative. It becomes maths.
Interviewer: Right.
Wobblin Jude: But then maths and creativity are linked. There’s maths in music. I’m not a mathematical person, but I love the maths of music. It’s about using all the tools in your toolbox. If you’ve got a screwdriver, you might as well use it.