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The Pogues

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The Pogues
Background information
OriginKing's Cross, London
Years active1982-1994, 2001 - present.

The Pogues are a very popular British-based English-Irish band. They reached international prominence in the 1980s and 1990s before breaking up in 1996. The band began performing together again in 2001, though they have yet to record new music. They merged traditional Irish music with contemporary punk, essentially inventing Celtic Punk. They were also highly influential on the larger Celtic Fusion scene. Frontman Shane MacGowan described their style as "playing Irish music to a young rock audience".

The Pogues were founded in King's Cross, a district in north London, in 1982 as Pogue Mahone – "pogue mahone" being the Anglicisation of the Irish póg mo thóin, meaning "kiss my arse." The band specialised in Irish folk music, often playing with the energy of the punk rock scene from which several of the members had their roots.

Their politically-tinged music was reminiscent of The Clash, with whom they played (Joe Strummer produced one of their albums and even joined the group briefly), and used traditional Irish instruments such as the tin whistle, banjo, cittern, mandolin, accordion, and more. In the later incarnations of the band, after the departure of Shane MacGowan, rock instruments such as the electric guitar would become more prominent. The first of The Pogues' albums, Red Roses for Me borrows much from the punk tradition of MacGowan's previous band The Nipple Erectors (later dubbed The Nips).

Band history

Shane MacGowan (vocals), James Fearnley (accordion) and Spider Stacy (tin whistle) were the original members of the Pogues, in the days when they busked on the streets of London. They were originally formed when Shane MacGowan, influenced by the Hounslow band JEEP's version of the WILD ROVER when he saw them at the "Anglers Retreat" a pub in West Drayton in and in the presence of Spider Stacy, began to play a breakneck version of an Irish Ballad, at around twice the speed of the original. Stacy believed this to be a wonderful idea - although he has since admitted that he suspects MacGowan came up with it on the spot - and the band began.

Before the rest of the group formed, MacGowan and Stacy were rumored to have played impromptu performances on street corners and city buses which attracted local interest to their talent. They later added Jeremy 'Jem' Finer (guitar, banjo), Cait O'Riordan (bass) and Andrew Ranken (drums). The band rapidly developed a reputation, started releasing independent work, and ended up opening for The Clash on tour in 1984. Shortening their name to "The Pogues" due to lack of radio play for the curse in their name, they released their first album Red Roses for Me that October.

Phil Chevron (guitar) joined the group soon after, then with the aid of punk and new wave forefather Elvis Costello they recorded the follow up, Rum Sodomy & the Lash, in 1985 (The album title is a famous comment attributed, probably falsely [1], to Winston Churchill and others in describing the traditions of the British Royal Navy). The album cover featured The Raft of the Medusa, though the faces on the characters in Géricault's painting have been replaced with those of the band members. The album shows the band moving away from covers to original material. Shane MacGowan came into his own as a songwriter with this disc, offering up poetic story-telling, such as "The Sick Bed of Cúchulainn" and "The Old Main Drag," as well as definitive interpretations of Ewan MacColl's "Dirty Old Town" and Eric Bogle's "And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda," the latter of which has become more popular than the original recording.

The band failed to take advantage of the momentum created by the strong artistic and commercial success of their second album. They first refused to record another album (offering up the 4 track EP Poguetry in Motion instead); O'Riordan married Costello and left the band, to be replaced by bassist Darryl Hunt; and they added a multi-instrumentalist in Terry Woods, formerly of Steeleye Span. Looming over the band at this period (as throughout their entire career) was the increasingly erratic behaviour of their vocalist, principal songwriter and creative visionary, Shane MacGowan. Their record label, Stiff Records, went bankrupt soon after the 1987 release of the single "The Irish Rover" (with the Dubliners).

Success and breakup

The band remained stable enough to record If I Should Fall from Grace with God in 1988 (with its Christmas hit duet with Kirsty MacColl "Fairytale of New York", which has recently been voted the best Christmas song ever in VH1 UK polls) and 1989's Peace and Love. The band was at the peak of its commercial success, with both albums making the top 5 in the UK (nos. 3 and 5 respectively), but MacGowan was spiralling out of control. Following their next album, Hell's Ditch, MacGowan and the band parted company in 1991.

With his departure, the band was thrown into a state of flux. Without their singer, vocal duties were for a time handled by Joe Strummer, before Stacy finally took over permanently. Two politely received albums followed, the first of which, "Waiting For Herb", contained the band's third and final top twenty single, "Tuesday Morning" which became their best selling single internationally. In 1996, the Pogues disbanded with just three original members remaining.

Post breakup

Shane MacGowan remains the sole member of the band in the spotlight, having founded Shane MacGowan and The Popes in 1993. His autobiography, A Drink With Shane MacGowan, co-written with his journalist girlfriend Victoria Mary Clarke, appeared in 2001. Spider Stacy continued to write and record music with various bands, including a short stint with "Spider Stacy's Pogue Mahone", with Stacy fronting Pogues tribute band, Boys from the county hell. Jem Finer went into Experimental Music, playing a big part in a project known as "Longplayer", a piece of music designed to play continuously for 1,000 years without repeating itself. James Fearnley, after leaving the Pogues, moved to America, Andrew Ranken briefly joined Spider Stacy's project The Vendettas, Philip Chevron reformed with former band, The Radiators, Terry Woods formed Woodsband, and Darryl Hunt formed Indie Project Bish.

Re-union

The band, including MacGowan, re-formed for a Christmas tour in 2001 and performed 9 shows in the UK in December 2004. In 2002 Q magazine named The Pogues as one of the "50 Bands To See Before You Die". In July 2005, the band - again including MacGowan - played at the annual Guilfest festival in Guildford before flying out to Japan where they played three dates. Japan is the last place they all played together before MacGowan was originally sacked in 1991, and they have a strong following there. They played a date in Spain in early September. The reunited Pogues played dates in the UK with support from the Dropkick Murphys in late 2005, and re-released their 1987 Christmas classic "Fairytale Of New York" on 19th December, which went straight in at #3 in the UK Singles charts on Christmas Day 2005, showing the song's enduring popularity. On December 22nd 2005 the BBC broadcast a live performance (recorded the previous week) on the Jonathan Ross Christmas show with Katie Melua filling in for the late Kirsty MacColl, the first time the band had played the song live on television. The following week they performed live on the popular music show CD:UK.

In March 2006, the band played their first U.S. dates with Shane in over 15 years. The band played a series of sold-out concerts in Washington D.C., Atlantic City, Boston, and New York. The band played a series of highly aclaimed and sold out gigs during mid-October 2006 in San Francisco, Las Vegas and Los Angeles and the band plans to tour Glasgow, Manchester, Birmingham, London, Dublin, and Nottingham in mid-December 2006.

New Album?

It was rumoured that the band had been writing new music together though guitarist Phil Chevron stated that at that time there were no plans to record new music or an album. Chevron said that one way to keep enjoying what they were doing was to avoid making a new album, although he did say that there still is a possibility in the future for new music, but certainly not in the near future. Terry Wodds has commented that Macgowan has been writing and most of it sounds good.The band was awarded the lifetime achievement award at the annual Meteor Ireland Music Awards in February 2006.

Current members

Shane MacGowan – 1982-1991, 2001-
Spider Stacy – 1982-1996, 2001-
Philip Chevron – 1985-1994, 2001-
James Fearnley – 1982-1993, 2001-
Terry Woods – 1986-1994, 2001-
Jem Finer – 1982 - 1996, 2001-
Andrew Ranken – 1982-1996, 2001-
Darryl Hunt – 1986-1996, 2001-
Ella Finer 2005-present (Vocals of Fairytale Of New York)

Former members

Cait O'Riordan – 1982-1986, 2004
Joe Strummer – 1991
Jamie Clarke – 1993-1996
Dave Coulter – 1993-1996
James McNally – 1993-1996

Discography

Albums


DVD

  • The Pogues: Live at The Town & Counrty Club St Patricks Day 1988 2004
  • Untitled Pogues Live Reunion Concert 2006-2007
  • Untitled Pogues Film/Documentary" 2006-2007

Singles

Year Title Chart positions Album
US Hot 100 US Modern Rock US Mainstream Rock UK
1985 "A Pair Of Brown Eyes" - - - #71 Rum, Sodomy And The Lash
1985 "Sally MacLennane" - - - #51 Rum, Sodomy And The Lash
1985 "Dirty Old Town" - - - #62 Rum, Sodomy And The Lash
1986 "Haunted" - - - #42 Sid And Nancy Soundtrack
1987 "Irish Rover" (Featuring The Dubliners) - - - #8 Irish Rover Single
1987 "Fairytale of New York" (Featuring Kirsty MacColl) - - - #2 If I Should Fall From Grace With God
1988 "If I Should Fall From Grace With God" - - - #58 If I Should Fall From Grace With God
1988 "Fiesta" - - - #24 If I Should Fall From Grace With God
1989 "Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah" - #17 - #43 Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah
1989 "Misty Morning, Albert Bridge" - - - #41 Peace and Love
1990 "Summer In Siam" - - - #64 Hell's Ditch
1990 "Jack's Heroes" (Featuring The Dubliners) - - - #63 Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah
1991 "Sunny Side of the Street" - #23 - - Hell's Ditch
1991 "Rainy Night In Soho (Remix) - - - #67 Poguetry in Motion
1991 "Fairytale of New York" (Re-Issue) - - - #36 If I Should Fall From Grace With God
1992 "Honky Tonk Woman" - - - #56 Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah
1993 "Tuesday Morning" - - - #18 Waiting For Herb
1993 "Once Upon a Time" - - - #66 Waiting For Herb
2005 "Fairytale of New York" (Re-Rel ft. Katie Melua) - - - #3 If I Should Fall From Grace With God

Demos

See also

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