Irish music is having somewhat of a renaissance recently. With Lankum and John Francis Flynn giving Irish folk music a new lease of life, as well as Kneecap bringing Trad sensibilities and the Irish language to the world of hip-hop, the generational gap present in Irish music is definitely being bridged. No group, in my opinion, is doing this better than The Mary Wallopers, who’s debut album came out only last week. I was lucky enough to speak to Charles and Andrew Hendy from the band the other week about the new album, Sheffield and Irish music.
Hi guys! Thank you for speaking with me today! How are you both?
I’m really hungover, I was drinking last night.
Ah well that’s the best way to be! This is the sort of rockstar lifestyle I am expecting.
Ah good, well I am glad we could facilitate that!
Have you guys made it over to the UK yet or are you still in Ireland?
We’re coming to England on Friday (28th October) morning at 7am.
Oof, that sounds rough.
Yeah, it’s shite. And then we have to drive for 6 hours to Norwich, after a 3 hour ferry. Why can’t we just do the gig online, we could just sing into this!
I’d be well up for that! Although I have to say I am excited to see you at The Leadmill
We’re excited to go to Sheffield! We’ve never been so we’re really looking forward to that!
What about the rest of the tour, are you excited for it?
Yeah we’re buzzing for it, we’ve had like two gigs in the last two months I think, which is nothing for us. We can’t fucking wait. Obviously we’re excited for Sheffield, and we’re also looking forward to Leeds and Manchester. Just excited to play places we haven’t seen. And Liverpool will be good craic.
How does it feel to have the album finally done?
Yeah, it feels mental, just that with Covid and all, that we couldn’t get it out sooner. The thought of it actually being out in the public is just so foreign at this stage. It just feels weird that people haven’t heard these songs yet, given that we’ve been sitting on them for so long. We’re already working on our second album- but you’re not allowed to buy it unless you’ve bought the first one! It’s all or nothing with us, we’re basically a pyramid scheme, not a band.
I noticed that, on the album, the version of Cod Liver Oil And The Orange Juice is different to the original single- is there any reason for this?
Because we’ve been playing it with the band so much it’s just naturally changed a wee bit, and the reason for rerecording it was because we wanted it on vinyl so we if we hadn’t recorded it wouldn’t have been released, and it felt so weird to have done the song no much and not have it on the album.
That makes sense- as much as I love the original version of the song, it is nice to have a different version of it on the album
Yeah there was no point trying to rerecord it the same way again. We tried to make it sound really like a bawdy and, to be honest we wanted it to sound kind of drunk. We reckon if we can record all the songs and sound kind of drunk, if we get drunk by accident, we can play them drunk and no one will notice the difference! It’ll be more of a freak show than a gig.
I think there’s a tendency for people my age to view Irish folk music as a bit soft and a bit safe. Obviously whilst people like Luke Kelly and Christy Moore were very political, the songs they recorded, by virtue of becoming the the definitive versions of many Irish folk songs, have almost lost their edge. I read recently in an interview with The Irish Times that you said “folk music was never meant to be safe“. Is the more intense, more “punky” sound of your music a conscious decision to bring the edge back to folk music?
Well I suppose it nearly happens by accident, because you listen to different types of music and then you start playing them and you can’t help but add your own twist to it. But then like, in hindsight, we’re definitely trying to put more edge back into them. I suppose if something sounds punchy and rebellious when it first comes out, but then everyone starts playing it the same way, then it just starts to lose it edge. I’d say when The Dubliners were first around, they sounded more intense. It’s the way folk music survives, you know, they pass through so many different hands. People listen to contemporary music, like techno and shit, and then add their own twists onto it and that’s how it stays alive.
It does seem like there’s such a massive surge of really talented Irish acts coming out recently, and the thing that’s really struck me with yourselves, and groups like Kneecap and Lankum, is, the ease at which you can talk about Irish politics, especially Republicanism, without this shame that the older generation seems to have- would you say that’s accurate?
Yeah, definitely you can see a divide between our generation and the older generation, where we can talk about Irishness and Republicanism without being so ashamed of it, whereas you know I think a lot of the older generation can be like “oh no you can’t say that”. There’s almost a self-hate thing.
Has that been something you’ve found at your gigs?
I suppose if they’re coming to our gigs they sort of know what to expect! So not so much at our gigs but we have definitely seen it in other places.
You guys clearly love playing live, and your gigs seem like such an “experience”, would you say you prefer it to recording stuff?
Yeah definitely, it’s such a buzz honestly. In 2019 we did 154 gigs, and every year was like that. We love doing gigs, it’s what we should be doing.
Mary Wallopers are playing Sheffield this Sunday at the Leadmill. Be sure to catch them as it’s definitely going to be one of them best live shows you’ll ever see.