The 10-minute film tells the story of a chance meeting between a man and a lone Irish fisherman. It is based on a story of when Weatherall met a fisherman from Cork named Gerard Sheehy, and it explains the origins of Weatherall’s love of the phrase “Fail we may, sail we must.”

The film is produced by studio The Tenth Man and directed by Grizzly, a director duo comprised of  Trev Whelan and Rua Meegan. Weatherall’s close friend and Collaborator Sean Johnston features in the film along with Cian Ó Cíobháin, the person credited with helping find Sheehy.

Set to premiere at Irish nightclub The Sugar Club on February 16th, the premiere will also include a live discussion featuring Cíobháin, Johnny Moy, and Billy Scurry centering on Weatherall’s links to Ireland. Scurry will also perform a live DJ set. All proceeds from the evening will go to Weatherall’s family as well as charities that he supported. It will then premiere via Mixmag on February 17th, the second anniversary of his passing.

Andrew Weatherall was a key figure in the late 1980s acid house movement in the U.K. He passed away in London on February 17th, 2020, at the age of 56.

The band and the late producer shared a symbiotic relationship. Screamdelica marked Weatherall’s first go leading production duties in a major studio work. In turn, Weatherall’s idiosyncratic fusion of electronic music and the band’s rock sonics drove the album’s critical acclaim. The finished project pushed both acts into the mainstream as a result.

Screamadelica‘s commemorative release series comes in three parts. Andrew Weatherall’s newly debuted rework appears in a 12-inch vinyl box set of album singles and remixes, out September 17th. A double-vinyl picture disc will also be released. Finally, Demodelica arrives on October 15th with a series of early LP demos.

“Shine Like Stars” is the third track to receive Weatherall remix treatment. He also took on two other Screamadelica singles, “Dont Fight It, Feel It,” and “Loaded.”

The line, called Love & Sabres, was produced by Weatherall’s longtime friend and production partner, Radioactive Man (real name Keith Tenniswood), and was inspired by a photograph Tenniswood took of Weatherall in 2004. Tenniswood announced the line of t-shirts and sweatshirts on April 6th, the late producer’s birthday.

“I’d got some of these printed for friends at Christmas and wanted to make them available to all, and raise some money for charity which he’d supported too,” Tenniswood wrote. Roughly 50% of sales will benefit charities that Weatherall supported, including Amnesty International, the MS Society, Thrombosis UK, Crisis and The Trussell Trust. The remaining profits will support Weatherall’s partner.

Tenniswood also appeared on a tribute EP entitled A Lonely Place (A Tribute To Andrew Weatherall). It released via Rotters Golf Club on February 17th, the one-year anniversary of Weatherall’s passing. “It’s hard to put into words what Andrew achieved in his life and what he meant to so many people, not a day goes by without thinking about him,” Tenniswood said.

The EP, titled In A Lonely Place (A Tribute To Andrew Weatherall), released via Rotters Golf Club today, February 17th. It includes a title track by Ian and IDWG (real name Duncan Gray) that reimagines the 1987 New Order song of its namesake as a slow-burning house groover. Also included are remixes by David Holmes, Keith Tenniswood and the Hardway Bros, whom Resident Advisor notes were Andrew’s close collaborators.

Cíobháin, meanwhile, went to great lengths to track down the Cork, Ireland fisherman who, according to legend, uttered the words that Weatherall had tattooed onto himself and used as a track title.

According to Cíobháin’s Facebook post, Gerard Sheehy had driven Weatherall to a Cork gig in 2008 and regaled him with stories from the sea. Sheehy recounted telling Weatherall about the time he and a friend had to oversee a ship after his father, the captain, broke his leg – even though Sheehy was only 18 at the time. When Weatherall asked him, “Are there times when you get up in the morning and you can’t be arsed?” the fisherman responded, “Fail she may, but go she must” – which Weatherall then adapted into “Fail we may, sail we must.”

The Legacy of Andrew Weatherall

Andrew Weatherall is widely celebrated as an artist and label boss who pushed music forward – especially during the acid house explosion of the late ’80s and early ’90s. He worked closely with the band Primal Scream on their 1991 album Screamadelica, which blurred the lines between rock and electronic, in addition to co-founding the zine Boys Own.

Weatherall’s integrity remained intact up through his passing; he signed EP’s by no-name artists strictly due to their musical merit in addition to releasing experimental works of his own. In December, defunct dance music magazine Jockey Slut published a tribute book dedicated to the late talent including previously untold stories from his early career.

Proceeds from In A Lonely Place (A Tribute To Andrew Weatherall) will be split between his partner, Lizzie, and Thrombosis UK.

The book, which runs 160 pages and was edited by John Burgess, will include 10,000 words of previously untold stories from Weatherall’s early career. It will also chronicle his involvement in acid house nights Shoom and Sabresonic, the zine Boys Own, and bands Primal Scream and The Sabres of Paradise. Interviews with the likes of Danny Rampling, Anna Haigh and Terry Farley will be included, as will several that Jockey Slut conducted with Weatherall in its lifetime from 1993-2004.

Weatherall died in February at age 56 of pulmonary embolism. Denise Johnson, a co-collaborator on Primal Scream’s definitive album, Screamadelica, also passed away the following July.

All proceed from Andrew Weatherall – A Jockey Slut Tribute will go towards the late tastemaker’s charities of choice: Multiple Sclerosis Society, Crisis, Thrombosis UK and Amnesty International. Pre-order is available ahead of the book’s December 10th publication via the Jockey Slut website.

Hosted by Chris Madden, the panel saw Weatherall collaborators Justin Robertson, Sean Johnston and Joe Muggs discuss the late DJ, producer and label boss’ contributions to music from the vantage point of several releases with which he had been involved. Among them were “Radio Babylon” by Meat Beat Manifesto, “Prepare to Energize” by Torch Song, and Weatherall’s own mix of “Soon” by My Bloody Valentine.

Weatherall remained working on music in the months leading up to his passing. Last month, his posthumous four-song record, Pamela #1, arrived by way of Pamela Records.

COVID-19 notwithstanding, the 2020 edition of inner city electronic is still slated to take place in Leeds, U.K. over a 24-hour window from June 6th-7th.

Weatherall produced the album alongside singer/songwriter Nina Walsh, with whom he had collaborated since the ’90s, in a studio they affectionately called Woodleigh Research Facility. Walsh is credited with co-writing and contributing samples.

“The great thing about not being signed to a major a label is that it’s liberating,” Weatherall said in a quote obtained by Resident Advisor. “No deadlines, no restraints, no pressures. The result—the creative process is completely free. There’s a blank canvas in the studio, you can pretty much go anywhere you want.”

Weatherall, who died of pulmonary embolism at 56 on February 17th, remains sorely missed by the dance music community. Perhaps best known as one of the co-founders of the zine Boys Own or his work alongside rock band Primal Scream, his uncompromising approach led him to continue innovating well into his final years.

Pamela #1 will arrive by way of Pamela Records “next week,” but no specific release date has been announced at the time of writing. Sample clips of the the record can be streamed via Phonica. 

Apple Knife / Wisdom of Rumi consists of songs from a CD Dobson handed to Weatherall on a dance floor, according to a handwritten letter by the latter artist. Both are low BPM industrial dance tracks with understated, antiquated appeal. More interestingly, Weatherall points out rather cryptically that Dobson has no online presence, “so her identity is vague even to me.”

Weatherall himself is a veteran of early dance music, having launched the zine Boys Own alongside Terry Farley, Cymon Eckel and Steve Mayesin the late ’80s – before the acid house explosion even took hold. He continues to release music of his own, like last year’s 13-song album, Consolamentum.

Zu Dobson‘s Apple Knife / Wisdom of Rumi comes out on Bird Scarer Records July 14th. Find sample clips from the EP here.

Source: Resident Advisor