by MacRua Wed Oct 29, 2008 12:23 pm
No pain, no ShaneSHELLEY MARSDEN talks to the legendary Shane MacGowan
The Irish World
28/10/08Full URL Shane MacGowan needs little introduction.The Paddy in the Smoke, the notorious alcoholic, the frontman of The Pogues, is not just an entertaining drinking partner whose incessant mumble makes him difficult to make out.He is a gifted songwriter, who has written some of the most beautiful songs of recent times.
The post-punk icon is holed up in Ireland somewhere when I call him. From the background noise, it may well be the corner of a cosy old pub – at least that’s the picture that forms most comfortably in the mind.
I tell him (I’m not sure why, for clemency?!) that it’s my 30th birthday and he replies “Well done” very succinctly, leading me to believe this little chat is going to be at least a lot more coherent than I thought it would be. Immediately after, he breaks into a wheezing, toothless cackle, a sound which will punctuate our brief telephone conversation regularly.
Ronnie Drew of The Dubliners, who passed away recently after a hard-fought battle with cancer, was by all accounts a close friend of Shane’s. I ask him about Drew but he seems reticent, though he agrees he was a friend and his death was a great loss.
What exactly did The Dubliners mean to Shane? Not particularly warming to the fact that I’ve just used the past tense here, or perhaps simply true to form, MacGowan mumbles something. I ask him to repeat it, and he tells me – like I’m a little daft – that there are still three original members in the current band. OK.
But… his personal and professional relationship with Drew surely had a huge impact on Shane and his band of anarchic folk punksters? “Yeah, it did; in life and in music. Ronnie was… like… a big influence on me.” With their traditional-
sounding songs The Pogues are, more than any other ‘Irish’ band, like a rock and roll version of The Dubliners. The London-born Tipperary man agrees. At least I think he does. So far so good.
MacGowan himself has been an influence on a whole new generation of artists. Ill-advisedly worded in hindsight, I ask him if there’s anything of himself ‘in’ Pete Doherty, you know – their friendship is well documented, they are both tortured poets, both fighting (or not) the demons of drink and drugs. The answer, needless to say, is unprintable and I tell him, like he doesn’t know already, that he’s a difficult character.
“Yeah, well I can be quite difficult to be around, that’s true.” Some say it stems from the fact he’s actually a very shy person, but he’s not buying this. “Isn’t everybody shy? No?”
For the full interview with Shane, see this week's Irish World. © Irish World Ltd
[size=150]No pain, no Shane[/size]
[i]SHELLEY MARSDEN talks to the legendary Shane MacGowan
The Irish World
28/10/08[/i]
[url=http://www.theirishworld.com/article.asp?SubSection_Id=11&Article_Id=7342]Full URL[/url]
[indent]Shane MacGowan needs little introduction.The Paddy in the Smoke, the notorious alcoholic, the frontman of The Pogues, is not just an entertaining drinking partner whose incessant mumble makes him difficult to make out.He is a gifted songwriter, who has written some of the most beautiful songs of recent times.
The post-punk icon is holed up in Ireland somewhere when I call him. From the background noise, it may well be the corner of a cosy old pub – at least that’s the picture that forms most comfortably in the mind.
I tell him (I’m not sure why, for clemency?!) that it’s my 30th birthday and he replies “Well done” very succinctly, leading me to believe this little chat is going to be at least a lot more coherent than I thought it would be. Immediately after, he breaks into a wheezing, toothless cackle, a sound which will punctuate our brief telephone conversation regularly.
Ronnie Drew of The Dubliners, who passed away recently after a hard-fought battle with cancer, was by all accounts a close friend of Shane’s. I ask him about Drew but he seems reticent, though he agrees he was a friend and his death was a great loss.
What exactly did The Dubliners mean to Shane? Not particularly warming to the fact that I’ve just used the past tense here, or perhaps simply true to form, MacGowan mumbles something. I ask him to repeat it, and he tells me – like I’m a little daft – that there are still three original members in the current band. OK.
But… his personal and professional relationship with Drew surely had a huge impact on Shane and his band of anarchic folk punksters? “Yeah, it did; in life and in music. Ronnie was… like… a big influence on me.” With their traditional-
sounding songs The Pogues are, more than any other ‘Irish’ band, like a rock and roll version of The Dubliners. The London-born Tipperary man agrees. At least I think he does. So far so good.
MacGowan himself has been an influence on a whole new generation of artists. Ill-advisedly worded in hindsight, I ask him if there’s anything of himself ‘in’ Pete Doherty, you know – their friendship is well documented, they are both tortured poets, both fighting (or not) the demons of drink and drugs. The answer, needless to say, is unprintable and I tell him, like he doesn’t know already, that he’s a difficult character.
“Yeah, well I can be quite difficult to be around, that’s true.” Some say it stems from the fact he’s actually a very shy person, but he’s not buying this. “Isn’t everybody shy? No?”[/indent]
[b]For the full interview with Shane, see this week's Irish World.[/b]
© Irish World Ltd
