Wheatus still keeping it fresh two decades on from Dirtbag

Groove Tuve with Cian O’Connell

It is rare for the frontman of a successful band to continuously face questions about a song he released eighteen years ago; rarer still is a long career that revolves around such a song – a fan base that seems to grow with every new teenager that discovers it.

Brendan B. Brown, founder and lead singer of Brooklyn pop-rock group Wheatus, recorded Teenage Dirtbag, their debut single, in 2000.

They play Monroe’s on Wednesday November 28, bringing their UK and Irish tour to a close.

The song is unashamedly adolescent – centred around the reliefs and anxieties of school and early relationships. It’s catchy and emotive; the chorus is joyous and euphoric. Teenage Dirtbag is a generational anthem that has stayed relevant and relatable.

“I would’ve been in a band writing other songs,” Brendan says, imagining life had the single never been released.

“I wanted to have a band above all things since I was about ten or maybe even nine years old. I started worshipping Angus Young [AC/DC] – I just wanted to be in a band like he was.”

In just the last six months, Teenage Dirtbag has forged a connection with the Irish language; Wheatus feature in RTÉ 2FM’s Ceol 2018 alongside artists like the Coronas and Picture This in the annual compilation of contemporary tracks performed ‘as Gaeilge’.

“RTÉ reached out and said they wanted to do Dirtbag in Irish,” Brendan reveals. “They flew over to our studio in New York and they kind of coached me through it phonetically.

“In a kind of a weird irony, my grandmother was from Roscommon and I’ve been told that her first language was Irish. She came to the States in maybe the 1930s or the ‘20s but she died very young and I never had a chance to meet her.

“It was kind of weird singing in what I knew was probably her language, but not quite understanding it myself,” he says.

Galway is one of a string of Irish dates for Wheatus this November – and the affinity this country has with the band goes back a long way.

“Australia was the first place that really understood us and put Dirtbag in the charts – England followed and then Ireland followed them,” Brendan recalls.

“It’s from way back in March 2001 when we played our first show in England and Ireland shortly after. It’s still fresh. Every time we come over it still feels that way.”

Things stay busy off the stage too, with a seventh album is in the works. The band have released two singles in the last year and a half – Tipsy and Lullaby – and they spend little free time outside of the studio.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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