To Here Knows When - Great Irish Albums Revisited

On this episode I’m joined by Bob Geldof to talk about The Boomtown Rats' second album, A Tonic For the Troops. Our chat goes in many different directions: Ireland of the 1970s, signing to Ensign Records, working with producer Mutt Lange, the Catholic Church in Ireland, The Boomtown Rats at 50, ‘Rat Trap’ hitting No. 1 in the UK and more. Episode notes are ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Stuart Bailie is a former assistant editor of the NME. From Belfast, he played in Punk bands in the late 70s and early 80s. In 1985 he sold his guitar and bought a typewriter. He headed to London and started writing for Record Mirror. He has just published "The Song is Nearly Over: Music Stories 1985-2025". We chat about growing up in Belfast during the Troubles, 40 years of music journalism, some of his favourite Irish albums and a whole lot more. Episode notes are here.

On this episode I’m joined by Matthew Devereux for a deep dive into Here’s One We Made Earlier the debut album by The Pale. We discuss the band’s early days, signing to A&M Records, recording their debut album in 1992, the album’s three singles (‘Dogs With No Tails’, ‘Butterfly’ and ‘Shut Up Venus’), becoming a self-sufficient band post major label deals, absurdity in music, creating a character on stage, the band’s unique sound, fusing Irish and Eastern music, and a whole lot more. We also talk about Keep Sketch, the second album under Matthew’s own name, that he released earlier this year. Episode notes are ⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠.

A short preview of Episode 56 – Here's One We Made Earlier by The Pale

Eileen Gogan joins me to chat about her debut album The Spirit of Oberlin, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. Eileen was in The Would Be’s, The Revenants, The Drays and joined Microdisney for their reformation gigs. We talk about all of that and more including her second album, Under Moving Skies and her collaborations with Cathal Coughlan, Sean O’Hagan, Damian O’Neill, and the Bring Your Own Hammer history project. Not for nothing did Eileen once joke that she was: “Queen of the obscure Indie Irish bands”. Episode notes are ⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠.

Mark Cullen joins me to chat about his bands Bawl, Fixed Stars and Ponyclub. We discuss Bawl's Year Zero album and the three albums he recorded as Pony Club (Home Truths, Family Business and Post-Romantic). We also talk about writing songs with The Lightning Seeds' Ian Broudie, being championed by Morrissey in the early 00s, the mid-90s UK Indie scene, Britpop, writing songs for others and a whole lot more. Episode notes are ⁠⁠here⁠⁠.

In this episode I’m joined by Julie McDonnell, Aidine O’Reilly and Paul Finnegan of The Would Be's. We discuss the early years of the band: forming in Kingscourt, Co. Cavan in the late 80s; being championed by John Peel; supporting Morrissey; being lauded in the UK music press and their first three singles on Decoy Records including debut single 'I'm Hardly Ever Wrong'. We also chat about their brilliant new album HindZeitgeist. Episode notes are ⁠here⁠.

In this episode I’m joined by Cypress, Mine! members Ciarán Ó Tuama, Ian Olney and Mark Healy to tell the story of the band and a whole lot more. Cypress, Mine! formed in 1984, they released three singles and the album Exit Trashtown (Solid Records, 1988), before disbanding in 1989. Morty McCarthy from The Sultans of Ping and Craig Walker from Power of Dreams also contribute their memories of Cypress, Mine! to this episode. Episode notes are here.

A short preview of Episode 52 – Exit Trashtown by Cypress, Mine!

Brian is Ken Sweeney and Understand was his debut mini-album released on Setanta records in 1992. Ken chats about Dublin music in the 70s and 80s, the early 90s indie scene in London, the full history of Brian, Setanta Records, being Irish in London in the 90s, Bring Trouble (the second Brian album from 1999), Ken’s 25+ years working as an entertainment journalist and his great music documentaries. We also talk at length about Needle Mythology’s reissue which they’ve titled Understood, it complies Understand, the Planes EP and more. Episode notes are ⁠here⁠.

A short video preview of Episode 51 – Understand by Brian.

A short preview of Episode 51 – Understand by Brian.

To mark Cathal Coughlan’s third anniversary EP50 isdevoted to his 2021 album, Song of Co-Aklan. It was the sixth album under Cathal’s own name, it was released on 31 March 2021 and this interview with Cathal was first broadcast on Songs to Learn and Sing on 103.2 Dublin City FM on 07 April 2021. Cathal talks about writing the songs for Song of Co-Aklan; what Microdisney’s reunion meant to him; Telefís, his collaboration (as then unreleased) with Jacknife Lee; the documentaries of Adam Curtis and more. Episode notes are here.

A second short preview of Episode 50 – Song of Co-Aklan by Cathal Coughlan.

A short preview of Episode 50 – Song of Co-Aklan by Cathal Coughlan.

Danny Kelly is a former editor of the NME and Q magazine, He’s had a long and illustrious career in broadcasting. He was born in Islington in London, to Irish parents. In recent years Danny moved back to Ireland. In a long conversation we chat about all sorts of things: growing up in an Irish community in London; the Irish diaspora and his Irishness; how he got a start in music journalism; his years at the NME; and the intense rivalry between the music weeklies of the late 80s. And of course there’s loads of talk about music and records. He’s as enthusiastic about new music as he always has been and talks with passion about Lankum, Kneecap and Fontaines DC as well as loads of chat about some of his favourite Irish albums. Episode note are here.

On this episode I’m joined by Brian Brannigan from A Lazarus Soul for a deep dive about the band's fifth album, 2019's The D They Put Between the R & L. Our conversation takes in Brian's first band Sub Assembly and the different incarnations of A Lazarus Soul since the release of the band's first album in 2002. We talk about how Brian's writing has changed over the years, how he eventually found his authentic voice and how he draws inspiration from the Dublin he grew up in. We also discuss the band's latest album, No Flowers Grow in Cement Gardens. Episode notes are here.

A short preview of Episode 49 – The D They Put Between the R & L by A Lazarus Soul.

On this episode I’m joined by John Hegarty for a deep dive about Twilight, his debut album from 2000. Twilight was produced by Bob Lamb, who produced UB40's Signing Off and The Lilac Time's self-titled debut. John has played with Female Hercules and Dinah Brand and has contributed to records by a load of artists including: Adrian Crowley, Cian Nugent, Seti the First, Jubilee Allstars, Barry McCormack and others. All this is discussed including a chat about John's new album Daydreaming. Episode notes are here.

A short preview of Episode 48 – Twilight by John Hegarty.