interview by Brad Balfour
Poguetry/Lost Bayou Ramblers 2020 Tour
March 5 – City Winery, Boston MA
March 6 – City Winery, Philadelphia, PA
March 7 – Black Cat, Washington DC
March 8 – Rough Trade, Brooklyn, NY
March 12 – City Winery, Atlanta, GA
March 13 – City Winery, Nashville, TN
March 14 – Ready Room, St. Louis, MO
When The Pogues emerged out of London in the early ‘80s, it pulsed with a sound that merged punk rock edge and Irish lyricism, merging accordions, banjos and tin whistles a tight rock rhythm section. Under founder Shane Patrick Lysaght MacGowan’s shambling leadership, the ensemble acquired passionate fans which included such notables as Tom Waits, Bob Dylan and The Clash’s Joe Strummer — who even fronted the band at one time. Part of its charm was MacGowan’s emotional lyrics and rampant display of various addictions — especially a love of alcohol. Sometimes hindering the band, other times providing its narrative, it became a legend.
Original Pogues member Spider Stacy had relocated to New Orleans 10 years agoto continue slowly working on a Pogues Musical with The Deuce and The Wire production team David Simon and George Pelecanos, and New York Times best-selling author Laura Lippman. Along the way, he formed a band playing the iconic songs of the Pogues under the banner of “Poguetry.”
Having recently added Cait O’Riordan, another original Pogues member, Poguetry is accompanied by Grammy-winning Cajuns, Lost Bayou Ramblers, and will be playing live as part of their first proper tour of select U.S. markets.In addition, The Ramblers will be playing their own set to kick shows off.
Stacy had been singing and playing tin whistle backed by the Ramblers since 2015 and in 2018; then he added O’Riordan after they played together again at Shane MacGowan’s 60th birthday celebrations at the Irish National Concert Hall that year.
Said Stacy in the press packet, “I saw the Ramblers play back in 2011 and immediately recognized them as kindred spirits. I felt they’d be a fantastic vehicle to give the old songs some new life. I’m not ready to stop playing live but at the same time I don’t think the world needs any new music from me, so this works nicely. Bringing Cáit in just took us up another level.”
This pairing gave stand out performances at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Fest, Lafayette’s Festival Internationale and raucous annual Christmas shows in New Orleans. Lafayette, Louisiana’s Grammy-winning Lost Bayou Ramblers just celebrated their 20th anniversary as a group and released a deluxe DVD/CD package comprising the On Va Continuer! documentary on the band and its mission to preserve and promote the Cajun French culture and language through their music. Other film credits include contributing to the Oscar-nominated Beasts Of The Southern Wild.
Born in Nigeria to Irish and Scottish parents, O’Riordan moved to London when the Nigerian Civil War broke out in 1967. Subsequently, she met future Pogues’ frontman Shane MacGowan, who was working at Rocks Off Records, where she went to buy the The Nips’ song “Gabrielle.” In ’82, MacGowan to asked her join his new band Pogue Mahone and she landed on the first two releases, “Red Roses for Me” and “Rum Sodomy & the Lash,” the EP “Poguetry in Motion,” and several early singles, before leaving in ’86. Besides bass playing, she did the vocals on “I’m a Man You Don’t Meet Every Day” on “Rum…,” and on “Haunted” for director Alex Cox’s film “Sid and Nancy.” The Pogues’ most commercially successful song, “Fairytale of New York” (from “If I Should Fall from Grace with God”) was written for O’Riordan and MacGowan, but was eventually recorded with Kirsty MacColl singing the female part. When Elvis Costello was producing a Pogues album she got involved with him and that diverted her into performing with the legendary artist. In 2004, she joined The Radiators, Pogues’ guitarist Phil Chevron’s band; that year she toured with the Pogues for the first time in 18 years. Then she left the Radiators. After that long hiatus, she’s back doing this Pogues material under a new guise. Recently she chatted by phone about her recently re-engagement with her original Gaelic punkitude.
Q: What made you decide to do this expansion of the Pogues legend?
CO: I had a lot of fun reuniting with Spider at a big party we had last year in Ireland for Shane’s 60th birthday. I hadn’t seen Spider or played with him in a long time, but it went great. Spider was telling me about how he started working with these Cajuns and did I want to check it out? I did and it was fantastic.This Louisiana band are just superb and interesting. Same songs as the Pogues just translated through another filter.
Q: How much do you veer from original versions of songs or adapt them?
CO: There’s no banjo, which is a huge part of the Pogues sound, obviously. But what we’ve got is these two maestro level Cajuns. We got a fiddle player and an accordion player. Then there’s younger members who are very technical minded and comfortable with pedals and such. They have production mentality so they’re adding flavors and layering sounds; meanwhile me and Spider are just doing our post-punk thing. All around us the Louisiana musicians are building this incredible sound. The first test of how it really went over was when we played Brooklyn last year and all the old Pogues fans showed up and they loved it up. So if it’s good enough for the old school fans…
Q: Even without Shane being there, you’re extending the Pogues’ history and chronology.
CO: It used to be difficult to champion Shane. People didn’t understand how important he was. People just bought the visual and thought he was a messy alcoholic. They totally missed the fact that he was one of the great Irish poets and a superb songwriter. It’s really good for me just doing my bit to be making sure these songs keep getting heard and we show that the same songs are so good that they can survive thousands of miles and being put into a culture that doesn’t rely on that Irish American heritage. Just seeing the songs come to life from these young Louisiana musicians is beautiful. They’re all Pogues fans too.
Q: Shane and the Pogues’ music really can go Celtic one way and punk another.
CO: Shane’s music really reflects the same attitude as one of original Sex Pistols geeks from 1976. But he was also the child of Irish immigrants to the UK and grew up singing the old songs as well.
Q: Which Pogues songs do you feel strongly as more Irish or more punk? Is it the themes or moods in the poetry?
CO: It’s all there in a Shane MacGowan song.
Q: Which songs touch you personally?
CO: We just figured out last week how to play “Maggie May” which wasn’t in the Pogues’ traditional set list. Shane’s my favorite writer in the whole world. They’re all great to me. We do this one called “White City” that’s on the other end. It’s about this crazy drunken day at the dog tracks where you lose all your money. There’s so many moods. For me there’s nostalgia to it because I remember the old London where these old places used to exist. You could be poor in London back then.
Q: Like in NYC. You could afford to live there.
CO: You could live there with all the other poor people who were trying to figure things out and we managed and got by. That London is gone, there’s nothing left of that London. There’s nostalgia, there’s a bit of sweet element to it. I love all the emotions in those songs.
Q: Is there a thematic thread in those songs you pick?
CO: I watched Spider and [Lost Bayou Rambler] Louis put the set together and they didn’t use a lot of words. They were so in sync with what they want the Pogues to be that they’d point to a song title and say yeah or nah. It kicks into place with so few words because they have a vision. Remember, I got added in later, so the set list already existed. They didn’t need me in the band, they just added me in and I guess having me in frees up the other guys to add more layers of sound. Spider knows what’s going on.
Q: You’re also the one living here and it’s good to have a female voice and perspective.
CO: That’s always important. The best part of any show for me is afterwards when a woman will come up and say it’s great to see a woman up there or a guy will come up and say my daughter loves what you’re doing and I brought my kids to see you. That’s the absolute best thing.
Q: Have there been times when people don’t know how to react to Shane’s songs? Maybe some women don’t always relate to his themes but having you sing you provided your insight.
CO: No women has ever come up to me and said, “I don’t like Shane’s songs.” If somebody doesn’t like a song by somebody, there’s ten million other fucking songs to listen to.
Q: Of Shane’s songs, is there a particular song that is important to you on a personal level?
CO: The fact that Shane let me put “I’m the Man You Don’t Meet Every Day” on an album turned out to be really important in my life. It turned out to be a way of connecting with people everywhere in the world. The Irish are all over the planet and no matter where I’ve been that song connects with people. Even though it’s not one of Shane’s songs, it’s an old old song. The fact he let me put it on my album, it’s such a beautiful gift he gave me. That kind of calling card for people around the world.
Q: Is there a particular Irish song, not just one by Shane, that you’d consider a benchmark in your life in some way?
CO: Anything by the Dubliners. They do this version of Phil Coulters The Town I Loved So Well, which is actually about Derry, that’s a very important song. It’s impossible to choose one aspect because we’re all multi dimensional beings and life’s multidimensional. I never got this thing of putting things into lists or hierarchies or how anyone could say what their favorite song is. That’s so alien to my experience of being a human.
Q: How did you meet Spider?
CO: I knew Shane because Shane worked at a record store I used to go to after school. Then he said, “my mate Spider is coming for a drink after work.” We’d meet with Spider, then we go to clubs in London and there’s Spider and he’s talking about his fans. Him and Shane were a great team. It was great to listen to them banter.
Q: How long have you lived in New York?
CO: I got a three year work Visa, so I’ve been working at the Irish Art Center here for three years, but my Visa expires in July, so I’m gonna be packing up and going home in a few months are re-applying to come back.
Q: Anything you’d like to add?
CO: Anyone that wants to hear some great songs come down to Rough Trade on Sunday. Just listen to what these Cajuns are doing with these songs. They have history and culture as French speaking Cajuns from Lafayette Louisiana who are playing punk music. You just can’t stand still.