Ireland's The Mary Wallopers are simply one of the greatest doing it at the moment, with a discography consisting of a tantalising blend of originals and re-workings of traditional Irish folk.
They've also made headlines recently, after their set was cut short just moments into their first song at Victorious Festival in the UK for displaying the Palestine flag.
The band, who describe themselves as "rock and roll meets traditional Irish music, taking old songs and bringing new raw energy," return to Australia next week. It's only been a year since the band last toured Australia, and in general, the last few years have been fairly full on for The Mary Wallopers.
"It's a strange thing – 80 per cent of touring and playing music is just travelling," founding member Andrew Hendy says, "but the adrenaline buzz and the energy gets you through to the next one [gig] you know what I mean – it's worth it for the gig as corny as that sounds, it is worth it for the gig."
The upcoming shows are sure to be fantastic, and the band can't wait to be back in Australia. "It's gonna be great – we all loved that last tour [2024] in Australia, we thought it was great. For a lot of us it was our first time in Australia."
Since that tour, the band has embraced a new direction with their music. "We have a good few new songs on the way. We're trying to focus on writing our own songs and pushing things in a bit of a different direction."
Their most recent release 'The Juice' is a danceable, high-tempo original for exhausted people still managing to find a bit of fun in life. I tell Andrew it's my fave song of theirs at the minute.
"Thanks a million," he says. "We've only done that one [live a couple of times] – that's kinda the way we wanna go [with our new music]; we need to find a way to push our agenda more in our music, so we have to write our own songs now – some of the ballads don't cut it!
"The melody of that song that's been played on the guitar, that's a traditional Irish tune we just started playing on the electric guitar. We're trying to blend garage rock and traditional Irish music and anti-establishment values."
The folk-infused original jaunt is a direction the band is trying out more and more in the lead up to their third album. It's a unique blend, and one that's grown as they have: the band has evolved a lot since their beginnings in 2019.
It can be easy to get shoe-horned into a particular genre, but The Mary Wallopers have very much carved their own, experimental, space I hypothesise. Hendy agrees.
"For awhile I was definitely worried, like 'oh we're playing ballads, we have to write ballads, we have to keep it in the kind of traditional sphere' and like – ultimately any ideas of tradition or whatever – firstly, they're not as old as people think they are, and second they change with the modern time they're in anyway.
"I think you have to just ignore that. . . some of the songs we play are like hundreds of years old and I think the reason they've kept relevance is because they have changed over time."
Regardless of the form of their music, strong values and morals are infused in everything the band produces and stands for. Recently, The Mary Wallopers made headlines as their set at Victorious Festival in Portsmouth was cut short after they unfurled a Palestinian flag onstage and called for a free Palestine.
Clearing up misinformation about the festival incident, Hendy shares: "We were told just before we walked onstage not to bring a flag onstage, and it was like in this contract we later found out that was not true at all.
"We start recording and lo and behold someone came onstage and took the flag off the stage. We have every second of us being onstage on camera. . . the reason we put that up is just to have transparency. There's so much misinformation going around at the minute, especially if you criticise Israel in any way.
"There's all this whitewashing going on of genocide, and you know if you say anything's going on you're antisemitic, or you're racist or they'll try and find any dirt they have on you to spin it.
"It's important to us to just put the whole video up so if anyone wants to see it, it's fairly plain as punch what happened. . . It's interesting to be told to keep politics out of music because every single band and song that I've listened to and been touched by is in some way linked to either frustration or direct confrontation with politics."
The chat then morphs into the link between art and politics in general and what advice they have for any creatives or musicians speaking out and being true to their values?
"People are dying and starving to death by the thousands [in Gaza]. I think it's more important than your job to just say the right thing and I want to also say – we did the bare minimum. It's not like we're doing any major thing; we just stood by what we believe in and I think everyone should do that.
"I think when you're an artist or a creative person, musician, whatever, there's often people who try and pressure you to do what they want you to do by threatening you that you won't perform, or you won't be able to show your art.
"If people are threatening you to not let you express yourself because they don't like what you're saying, it's worth sticking to your guns. If you've taken the risk to put all your time and energy into a creative pursuit, you can't compromise what's right in your gut – you might as well not bother."
Controversy aside, there's excitement in The Mary Wallopers' future, including their upcoming third album. "It's a work in progress but it's exciting when it starts coming together," Hendy says, who shares they plan to return to the studio after the Australian tour.
As for the Australian shows, Hendy is keen to see our faces. "People will probably be throwing drinks at you. They'll probably be crowd surfing. They'll be dancing. There'll be chants saying 'f... the government'.
"There'll be people singing along. There'll be dancing. Most people will be having a good time unless you're a billionaire and you're at one of our gigs, [you're] probably not gonna be having a good time – but other than that you'll probably be alright." Sounds like a great time to me.
The Mary Wallopers 2025 Tour Dates
Tue 9 Sep - Astor Theatre (Perth)Fri 12 Sep - The Princess Theatre (Brisbane)
Sat 13 Sep - Enmore Theatre (Sydney)
Wed 17 Sep - Anita's Theatre (Wollongong)
Fri 19 Sep - Forum Melbourne
