Ye Vagabonds: ‘We’ve actively tried to de-leprechaun ourselves when we go to the States’
The acclaimed folk duo talk about a cultural representation of Irishness that they can fully get behind for this year’s St Patrick’s Day, and the hoops they have had to jump through to record their third album
Like everything else during the pandemic, our national holiday will feel very different this year. The parades will be virtual and all the cultural and entertainment activities that happen either side of St Patrick’s Day have been moved online.
Ye Vagabonds — the acclaimed folk duo comprising Carlow brothers Brían and Diarmuid Mac Gloinn — are not mourning the Paddy’s Day so many of us had come to dread.
“In general,” Diarmuid says, “St Patrick’s Day is like, ‘Get out of town, don’t take gigs’. It’s become something gross — puke-covered streets. I don’t think that’s anything to do with culture. It’s all to do with consumerism. I think most Irish people don’t love that image of Irishness.”
Next week, there will be few of the social problems that have marred the annual celebration for many in recent years. Instead, a long list of online offerings have been put in place by the St Patrick’s Festival organiser. The theme of this year’s festival is Dúisigh Éire — Awaken Ireland.
One of the more compelling events is Barróg Lá Fhéile Phádraig, which airs on the evening of March 17. It features a sterling list of Irish folk acts including Lisa O’Neill, Colm Mac Con Iomaire and Rónán Ó Snodaigh, as well as Ye Vagabonds. All performances were filmed at the storied Whelan’s venue in Dublin by Tiny Ark, the slick production company that captures Other Voices for the screen.
The Mac Gloinns enjoyed the experience and say it is the sort of cultural representation of Irishness they can fully get behind. But it’s not always so easy. Ye Vagabonds have toured America — they were there just before lockdown came into effect last year — and Diarmuid says he and Brían try to resist stage Irish tropes at every turn. “We’ve actively tried to de-leprechaun ourselves when we go to the States.”
Brían, the younger sibling, continues the theme: “When you start touring as an Irish act outside of Ireland, you have to be very careful about what level of Irishness you present, especially when you’re playing traditional music. Too often, they’re just hearing ‘green’ and ‘pints’. We try to steer well clear of the pint-selling Irishness in our music and performances.”
“We’ve no interest in Paddywhackery,” Diarmuid says, “and nor do bands like Lankum. That image of Irishness was invented by other people. It was invented by the English first, a by-product of colonialism. That stage Irishman thing — the silly, lazy Paddy.”
Their brand of folk could never be branded Paddywhackery. It’s certainly not the sort of diddly-eye toe-tapping pub fare aimed at getting tourists to consume more alcohol. The brothers make music that is strongly informed by the Ulster folk tradition as well as the ancient sounds of England and the Appalachians.
They’re part of a new generation of Irish acts — including the aforementioned Lankum and Lisa O’Neill — who are taking folk into interesting new territory. Theirs is one that defies easy categorisation, something the pair are pleased about.
“We’re interested in all sorts of music,” Brían says, “and hopefully that’s reflected in the music we make.” Their interests veer from obscure folk songs passed down over centuries to the latest offering from LCD Soundsystem.
Diarmuid and Brían Mac Gloinn of Ye Vagabonds. Photo by Steve O’Connor
Several of their songs are sung as Gaelige. Their native tongue is vitally important to the brothers. They went to a secondary Gaelscoil and their mother — a native of Donegal’s Gaeltacht — did not speak English until she was 12. “We spent a lot of summers on Arranmore,” Diarmuid says of the island off the Donegal coast where their mother grew up, “and it was somewhere where we weren’t just exposed to Irish, but to music too and it really stayed with us.”
Although they had been making music in their teen years in Carlow, their commitment to the cause picked up when they moved to Dublin. Brían studied film and broadcasting in DIT Aungier Street (now TU Dublin) and Diarmuid journalism in the same college (although he left after a year to pursue music full-time).
Video of the Day
The pair started playing in one of the city’s great trad pubs, the Cobblestone in Smithfield, but it was their residency in Walsh’s, in the neighbouring district of Stoneybatter, that saw their bare-boned folk getting noticed. The pub soon became a go-to destination on Monday nights with the likes of Lisa O’Neill and Lankum regularly playing there.
“It’s great to have that community of musicians,” Brían says. “And that’s something I really miss in this pandemic. When you’re exposed to different music and ideas, it really helps the music you yourself make. Getting to do that again is one of the things I’m most looking forward to doing once this is over.”
Together with O’Neill and Lankum, Ye Vagabonds are signed to River Lea, an offshoot of the seminal Rough Trade label. And another alumnus of the Stoneybatter folk scene, John Francis Flynn, signed to River Lea last summer. The Mac Gloinns believe his debut album will be special.
Geoff Travis, the founder Rough Trade Records, has been an enthusiastic supporter of his Irish family of musicians. “Geoff and Jeanette [Lee] are brilliant people,” Diarmuid says. “They don’t push us in any way, but we feel supported in making the album.
“They come along to loads of our gigs in the UK,” Brían says. “And here in Ireland when they’re over here. It’s just great to have been on their wavelength when you consider the catalogue of people that they’ve worked with.” The Smiths, the Strokes, Arcade Fire and Belle and Sebastian are just some of the luminaries signed by Travis.
Right now, the Mac Gloinns are holed up in Brían’s house in the Wicklow countryside and are hard at work on album number three. A double A-side single, I’m a Rover/The Bothy Lads, was released to much acclaim last month and its a pointer of what is to come.
“It’s the first week of real work on it,” Brían says. “We’ve been writing a lot over the past few months and we’ve had this week as a bit of a deadline to be writing towards.”
He says the process of making it will be considerably different to their last album, 2019’s The Hare’s Lament, which was recorded and mixed quickly.
“We’re having the craic with this one,” Diarmuid says. “We built up a lot of expectation for this week because we haven’t been in the same place for a long time. I took a Covid test and Brían is taking one at the end of the week and we had to get letters drafted up to allow us to travel [Diarmuid lives in Dublin with his Syrian wife]. Brían’s partner — who usually lives here — has vacated the place to allow us to work. So, with a lot of organisation gone into it and only having this allotted seven days, we’re having to make the most of it.”
Brían produces a rectangular board. The bottom part is festooned with Post-it notes. “We’ve all sorts of ideas that we’re trying to work out when it comes to making this album and hopefully by the end of the process, the board will be full.”
There is a way to go yet, but if it’s anything like their first two albums, the end result could be special. “We’re just glad,” Diarmuid says, “to be able to make music together that excites us both — and has found an audience, and not just in Ireland. That’s something we don’t take for granted.” Irish music, not Oirish music.
Ye Vagabonds perform on Barróg Lá Fhéile Phádraig on Wednesday, St Patrick’s Day, at 8pm. The programme can be viewed on the Oireachtas TV channel and on stpatricksfestival.ie
