Dundalk takes center stage: A night of pride and performance at Other Voices

“Do you want to just riff on Dundalk for a solid minute” opens MayKay, host and former Fight Like Apes frontwoman, while chatting to Dundalk’s The Mary Wallopers at Other Voices: Home at the Guinness Storehouse on Wednesday, November 13th.

Taking refuge in the hallowed Storehouse building since 2020 - initially as means to bring people together in the world of Covid - this year’s edition saw a showcase of Dundalk favourites making their Other Voices return.

The night played host to a variety of exceptional talent from around the country, spanning Derry’s SOAK to Kerry’s Pádraic Keane, Tolü Makay, Niamh Regan and Dundalk’s own Just Mustard.

The Mary Wallopers played the first-ever Other Voices Home in the Storehouse, in the midst of the pandemic in 2020. After shooting to acclaim while keeping fervent audiences entertained with their ‘Stay at Home with The Mary Wallopers’ live streams, the trio of Seán McKenna, and Charles and Andrew Hendy made up an early days version of the band.

Having grown to a ballad super troupe of six, recruiting Ken Mooney, Róisín Barrett and Finnian O’Connor along the way, The Mary Wallopers return five years later, boasting a myriad of successes in the time since their initial appearance.

From a performance on Jools Holland’s Hootenany to playing Glastonbury two years in a row and touring the length and breadth of the world, the band have brought Dundalk, and the ballad tradition global.

The Dundalk stronghold was increasingly played up during a brief chat between sets. “It’s a great place, it’s the greatest place in the world,” Andrew Hendy beams with joy given the chance to talk about the town.

“We’ve got Just Mustard, we’ve The Mary Wallopers, we’ve the Mo Chara lads. Is that a Seeking Judy dress Tolu’s wearing?” Highlighting how the cultural outputs of the town in recent years have very much placed the location on the map.
Charles follows with a spiel about Dundalk’s Mo Chara pub - pointing out the three owners and childhood friends Cillian, Vinny and Paul who sat in the audience.

“They own a pub in our town,” Charles tells MayKay proudly, “and they followed us” he jokes. But MayKay joins in on waxing lyrical about the town. “What’s happening in Dundalk, it’s bubbling at the minute.”

Men and women of few words, but makers of immense shoegaze tunes, Just Mustard’s Katie Ball and David Noonan speak on having Robert Smith as a fan of theirs after supporting The Cure on their latest tour.

“It’s nice, it’s cool like” says Noonan every so casually. “He’s a lovely fella”, Katie adds. The pair tease at new Just Mustard music in the works, saying that they’ve just finished up with the creation process.

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The night carried music from across the country. Galway boasted singer Niamh Regan while Kerry’s Uilleann Pipe professional Pádraic Keane brought tradition to the fore, playing a set of 200-year-old pipes which were made in the heart of the Liberties. Regan played ‘Record’ which references her move from teaching to musicianship, and features Derry’s SOAK, who worked as a collaborator on producer Fred Again’s latest album ‘Ten Days’.

Speaking on the surreal experience, SOAK says “I did a spoken word piece for the first time and put it out in lockdown. Fred heard it. I got a random voice note and thought it was a friend messing around.” The track, called ‘just stand there’ has raked in 12 million streams on Spotify and brought SOAK’s work to a new, more dance inspired audience.

Tolü Makay made her return to the Guinness Storehouse, after opening for electronic dance brothers Disclosure at the same venue in May of this year. Performing an astounding cover of ‘Danny Boy’ and a rendition of a new spoken word piece, Makay captured the audience in silent adoration.

Dundalk’s reputation has never been better on the music and cultural front. From The Mary Wallopers bringing the ballad tradition into the modern day and making it cool again, to Just Mustard’s flawless shoegaze noise creation, Seeking Judy’s showing at Dublin Independent Fashion Week and Mo Chara’s continued innovation and enthusiasm for life itself, the town has its people to thank. As Andrew Hendy himself said; “Dundalk, it’s owning the place now. Very soon it’ll be the capital of Ireland.”