Founder of the Irish indie band Emotional Fish, Gerard Whelan aka Jerry Fish went on to form Jerry Fish & the Mudbug Club. featuring his former band's bassist Enda Wyatt, guitarist Conor Brady, Simon Farrell (double bass), Stefano Muscovi (trumpet) and Pat Corless (trombone), the group inaugurated its discography in 2002 with the album Be Yourself, featuring contributions from Damien Rice, Bronagh Gallagher, John McGlynn, Michael McGlynn, Lynn Hilary, Maria Doyle Kennedy and the band Anúna. The ensuing tour led to the release of the live album Live at the Spiegeltent in 2004, before the frontman took a break to devote himself to family life. The band made a comeback in 2009 with the album The Beautiful Untrue, which reached the top ten in the Irish charts, before several Jerry Fish comebacks for "Celebrate" (2012), "Early to Bed" with Dana Colley (2013), "Barefoot $ Free" (2013) or "My Friend Jim" and "Happy Dog" in 2016, followed by the melancholy "Blue" in 2017. In 2023, singer Wallis Bird accompanies him on the string arrangements of Daniel Johnston's cover of "True Love Will Find You in the End", while "True Friends", taken from the first album, reappears in 2024 in a collective version with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra in aid of Comic Relief.