By J.T. Griffith originally published in 1996 Jam!: You have used the words “dreamscape” and “new world” to describe your music and Shag Tobacco as a project. I was wondering what such a canvas allows you to do as a artist or a performance artist, if you don’t mind that label. Gavin Friday: Well, in this day and age, one of the most ugly things about music, entertainment, movies, writing or any form of expression is the A to Z mentality where everything has to be fuckin’ explained, ya know? And the mystique or everyone’s imaginations are being bottled up…

by Greg Friedman MARCH 12, 1996 HOW DID THE FIRST THREE SHOWS GO? Good. We played Boston and Philly and New York. Boston and Philly were a bit fucked up because there was three feet of snow and blizzards. . . A good turnout but I wouldn’t have gone out [laugh]. Three feet of snow and blizzards! That part of the world has got really bad weather. You guys have got it to but not as bad as Boston. It was weird arriving in a snow storm from a country that is suppose to be cold called Ireland. . .…

As a longtime bosom buddy of U2’s and as the driving force behind Ireland’s Virgin Prunes, Gavin Friday has long been known by the company he keeps. But beginning with Adam ‘N’ Eve (Island), his 1992 solo debut, and continuing with Shag Tobacco, his brand-new follow-up, he has begun to emerge as a formidable performer in his own right, one intent on reconnecting pop music to its long-neglected past, even if he has to singlehandedly lead the postmodern vaudeville revival he believes the world needs in order to draw new nourishment from old roots. “For me, albums are like little…