Fat Sam’s Dundee
14th December 2023
It’s a cold December night and I’m off out to photograph one of the rising stars in Irish music, The Mary Wallopers. Yes, a strange name I hear you saying, well, for anyone interested the name means “a mad person” according to the band.
The Irish seven-piece band from Dundalk consists of brothers Charles and Andrew Hendy, Sean McKenna, Roisin Barrett on bass, Brendan McInery on drums, Seamus Hyland on accordion and Finnian O’Connor on tin whistle, set off on their UK tour at the start of November promoting their second album ‘Irish Rock and Roll’ which was released on October 6th.
The band’s first album was released in 2020 and was nominated for Irish album of the year, but it was during the Covid lock down period that the band gathered a new wealth of fans when Charles, Andrew and Sean started livestreaming gigs from their home studio.
In some sectors of the media the band have been labelled as the new Pogues and as someone who witnessed The Pogues a couple of times back in the 80’s, then I expect tonight’s gig to be nothing more than a mass riot of sweaty bodies stomping round the floor to punky/Irish folk music.
Arriving at the venue I was surprised to see how quiet it was outside. Usually, I’m greeted by a large queue formed round the corner waiting patiently to get in, but not tonight. It wasn’t until I ventured into the venue that I could see that a large crowd had already gathered at the bar as others had rightly claimed their place at the front or the stage waiting patiently for the main event.
First up to get the crowd going was Sam Shackleton, also known by his moniker name, Sorley the Bard. He showed the crowd his musical oral traditions from Scotland, Ireland and the United States throughout his set-list.
The Marry Wallopers took to the stage at 8.45 to a massive roar from a now packed-out venue. The crowd seemed to be a mixture of young students drinking shots and an older generation of fans who grew up listening to bands such as the Pogues and the Dubliners.
The band went straight into Bold O’Donaghue followed by Love Will Never Conquer Me and The Richman and the Poor Man a song that highlights the differences between the wealthy and the poor in society announced Charles. Drummer Brendan McInery and Roisin Barrett on bass took a break from the stage to let Sean McKenna, Charles and Andrew Hendy do a few solo songs each which calmed the crowd down for a while.
As the other members re-took to the stage, a massive roar roamed out from the crowd when Charles shouted out “let’s all get pissed for Shane”. This was an acknowledgment on the passing of The Pogues legend Shane McGowan. Another tribute to Shane was raised further into the set when the band played The Pogues song Streams of Whiskey which nearly lifted the roof off the place as the crowd pogoed around the venue.
As the set flowed, fans favourites, The Blarney Stone, Holy Ground, Eileen Og, Cod Liver Oil and the Orange Juice and Frost is all Over were played before sending the fans home happy on a cold December night.
