MacD on Music: Boiling Point

Derry, as everyone knows, is one of the greatest musical towns in Ireland (and, let’s be honest, the world). With many great venues to choose from, we’ve hosted some of the best up-and-coming artists hoping to get their names out there.

Groups such as NewDad, Pillow Queens and CHERYM have all played our fine city in recent years (it doesn’t hurt that CHERYM are actually from here, but that’s beside the point). This week, I’m talking to the Galway-based Kettle Boilers, who are going to be playing Bennigan’s on the 24th this month.

Kettle Boilers are Evan "The Shred" Costelloe (Acoustic Guitar, vocals), Jack "Stick Flips" Niland (drums, vocals), Connor "Goonz" Laffey (electric guitar, vocals), Pablo “Chilean karate champion 2013" Pallavicini (bass, vocals), Sophie "Is Ghaelgóir mé" Ní Choimín (vocals), and Luke "Reggie" Murphy (Banjo, fiddle, guitar, vocals) and have been cutting their teeth on the Galway pub scene over the past two years. I spoke to Luke, Evan and Sophie about the group and the upcoming gig:

Luke: “In September 2022, a couple of us got together to play a few tunes. There wasn’t really any idea for it to turn into anything. Me and Evan and Connor Laffey started meeting up. I had recently moved to Galway, and I met these two lads at a house party one night. We were vibing loads together so we were like ‘we’ll go for a few jams’. We kept playing experimental rock stuff at the start, I suppose just anything. Then Sophie moved from Clane in Kildare, and I invited her one time when we were busking in town.”

Sophie: “I was like ‘definitely not’ and then I did eventually cave. Everyone was just mad, and I was like ‘why would you go anywhere else?”.

Luke: “We had one drummer at the start, we had various members come and go, but kind of the same five-ish people, six now at the minute. I was learning the fiddle at the time. I’d picked it up that year, so I didn’t really know what I was doing, just screeching.”

Sophie: “That’s when it became Celtic Punk, when you started playing the fiddle.”

Evan: “We went to see the Mary Wallopers live in Róisín Dubh, they were playing two nights and I had to go to the two of them because I couldn’t remember the first night. For me, that was probably the defining moment when I wanted to play this kind of music and bring that kind of energy on stage.”

Sophie: “It also opened a new market because we realised we could put on two gigs in the one weekend and if we got rowdy enough then maybe people would buy a ticket twice.”

Next, we spoke about the Bennigan’s gig itself: Luke: “It’s not a full Ireland tour, it’s just an east and north-west kind of thing [so basically just the highlights]. I organised most of the tour myself, just sending out emails here and there to whoever would take us.”

I asked them about their thoughts on the other acts on the bill that night, String Cut Puppets and the Jobseekerz: Sophie: “I’m a longtime Jobseekerz fan. I was working in a pub in Galway when they were playing a show and one of the lads was just running around without a shirt on being like ‘everybody get inside!’. I remember at the end of the night I gave them my tip money because they were like ‘we’re looking for enough money to get us back to Cavan’ so I gave them my tip money and they gave me a copy of their CD and some ‘merch’ because no one had bought it. I just remember, ever since then, I was like ‘these guys are class’ and I love the songs. ‘Rock’n’Roll on the Dole’ was my life for a couple of months there.”

Luke: “String Cut Puppets, they’re a three piece and they’re very heavy. I remember, there was one night I was gigging. At some stage in my set, I’ll shout ‘Up Donegal!’ and the boys in the back started cheering. There’s a good energy about them and they’re lovely lads as well.”

Sophie: “We basically look out for bands that are mighty craic and very sound. This tour has been a good opportunity to call up the roster of people we’ve been playing with for the past three years and be like ‘we’re coming to your neck of the woods. Let’s go!’.”

And that’s it for Kettle Boilers. They’ll be in Bennigan’s on the 24th May with support from Jobseekerz and String Cut Puppets so get your tickets now.

Finally, onto other business. A few weeks ago, I discovered the group Strange Gravity featuring Derry man William Carson (aka William Vincent) and Grant Strang. Featuring a sound that has been described as “If Kraftwerk had made an album with David Bowie”, the group have recently released their second album ‘Music for the Metaverse’, available now on Bandcamp.

So that’s us for another week. Only one thing left, the socials. Strange Gravity can be found on Instagram @strangegravitylondon and Kettle Boilers @kettleboilers. Their latest single ‘Buckfast’ is out now.