The Pogues back together; plus Black 47
By ANNIE ZALESKI
FOR THE JOURNAL NEWS
March 17, 2006
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Things were much different for Irish punk-folksters the Pogues when they last toured America in 1996. Tin-whistle player Spider Stacy was handling vocal duties, as mercurial singer Shane MacGowan had been fired in 1991 and was now fronting a new band, the Popes. And while the Stacy-fronted group had a substantial hit with 1993's "Tuesday Morning," their latest album, "Pogue Mahone," was sinking without a trace.
Unsurprisingly, the band dissolved the same year as those U.S. dates. But flash forward to today, and the reunited Pogues are in a much better place.
MacGowan (with his distinctively strained, ragtag brogue intact) is back at the mic, and the group has several years of overseas gigs under their belts — making it not at all surprising that Stacy is itching to return to the States.
"It'll just be really good to get there, you know?" he says. "It seems that there's a real buzz about it, and that's kind of nice to walk into that kind of atmosphere.
"I'd be a liar if I didn't say that St. Patty's night in New York should be pretty good. The whole thing's looking pretty good."
Stacy's laid-back attitude about the whole endeavor represents the biggest difference between the Pogues tour now and their previous treks: a lack of pressure.
"We're doing it for ourselves now — rather than having to haul our carcasses around the world in order to write some album for a record company," he says. "Which was fun for awhile before, certainly, but after a bit it got a bit draining, you know? Now we're doing it for ourselves, it's done in a much more relaxed way."
The Pogues first formed in 1982 in London and released their landmark sophomore effort "Rum, Sodomy & the Lash" three years later.
That disc's mix of originals and traditional songs — dressed up in punk riffs and Irish instruments — created a unique sound that eventually helped the band reach the top 5 of the U.K. charts (with 1988's "If I Should Fall From Grace with God" album).
The Pogues' first full-fledged reunion after their 1996 split came in 2001, when MacGowan rejoined for some shows during the Christmas season. A U.K. holiday tour followed in 2004, along with a trip to Japan and still more Christmastime gigs last year.
So what prompted the band to reconvene? Give credit to the band's business manager, of all people.
"I guess he felt that the time was right," Stacy says. "We deserved another day in the sun. He was speaking to this guy Simon Moran who's a big promoter over here, and put it to him. And Simon went for the idea.
"It's kind of taken off from there. It certainly feels like we're playing as well as we ever did, if not better. The audience reaction has been brilliant, actually."
Does this mean that new Pogues music is imminent? Stacy, not ruling anything out, is choosing to take a "wait-and-see" attitude.
"We get asked this question quite a lot," he says. "What I've been saying is, had you asked me seven years ago, 'What are the chances of the Pogues ever getting back together onstage again?' I would have said, 'I wouldn't hold my breath.' "
Indeed, the band seems content to enjoy its surging popularity and continued critical acclaim — not to mention commercial success: A reissued version of its Christmas duet with the late Kirsty MacColl, "Fairytale of New York," hit #3 in the U.K. in December.
The Pogues' influence also continues to grow, as legions of kids have discovered the band through Irish-punk groups such as the Dropkick Murphys — who not only toured with the Pogues this winter, but proudly claim the band as a major influence.
"What was quite telling at Christmas, the number of kids in the crowd with Dropkick Murphys T-shirts on (who) had come to see them — but came to see us as well, if you know what I mean," Stacy says.
"They'll come for the Pogues through the Dropkick Murphys. There's a whole generation like that."
Another man that can't speak highly enough about the Pogues is Black 47 singer/songwriter Larry Kirwan, whose band opened for the Pogues in New York and London soon after they formed in 1989.
"It's really nice to see that they're all back playing together again," Kirwan says. "They were very good to us when we started out, and I've played with Shane over the years.
"They were just one of the great live bands in the world. It was just something they had. I'm sure it'll all come back onstage around St. Patrick's Day."
Kirwan's band is busy today itself, with two shows at the Knitting Factory: an earlier all-ages affair that usually draws entire families and a later one that he promises will be "wilder."
The Wexford, Ireland, native isn't just losing sleep over rock 'n' roll, however. He's a published author of two (soon to be three) books, including last year's well-received memoir, "Green Suede Shoes: An Irish-American Odyssey."
But Kirwan's also busy supporting Black 47's new album, "Bittersweet Sixteen," a collection of sixteen songs from the NYC band's first sixteen years in existence.
The career-spanning set features demos, rarities and new tunes, including versions of the first song they ever recorded, "Home of the Brave," and their biggest radio hit, "Funky Ceili."
"We meet the people after gigs, they say, 'What CD should I buy?'" Kirwan says. "And I think, 'Well, I don't know.' It's like saying which of your children you like best. This is a way to introduce people to the band. and what it has done and not done over the years."
Besides showing the musical growth and evolution of Black 47, "Sixteen" attempts to shed some light on the thoughts and experiences of the band's many fans.
For instance, Kirwan cobbled together the tune "Downtown Baghdad Blues" from the content of e-mails he received from troops overseas
"One of the lucky things being in Black 47, to have fans over there, you're getting the feeling of what's going on," Kirwan says. "You try to put it into a song and let people see what's going on, rather than trusting TV and government."
This close connection the band has with its admirers (see sidebar) is one Kirwan definitely takes care to cherish and cultivate, however.
"We don't barricade ourselves in dressing rooms after the show," he says. "We come out and talk to the people. There's always been this real symbiosis between us — which as a writer, it's just really invaluable. You find out what they're thinking, rather than looking at a sea of faces."
Black 47 fans certainly let the band know what they were thinking when the group started speaking out against the Iraq conflict when it began in 2003: Kirwan says that the band "took a lot of heat" for their anti-war murmurs at first and had many who disagreed with their political stance.
Still, the band's staunch refusal to budge from their opinions still brought them grudging respect from detractors.
"People appreciated the sincerity of that, whatever it is, that we were just going to say what we were going to say anyway," Kirwan says. "It didn't make any difference whether it was popular or not popular. People appreciate the fact that we were speaking out against this war.
"We stood by our guns and said that, even though it wasn't popular in the beginning. That gives people a certain trust factor or loyalty factor. Quite often we'll have fans who don't agree with us politically. But they'll say, 'Well, you guys are crazy, you say what you want to say. I still like the music.'"
