Dundalk’s finest The Mary Wallopers, who are Charles Hendy, Andrew Hendy, Ken Mooney, Róisín Barrett, Finnian O Connor and Catriona Gribben, have announced details of their third album – produced by The Coral’s James Skelly and packed with their own songs – a new single and the band’s biggest headline tour to date, including arena shows in Scotland and Ireland.
‘Paddywhackery’ follows up 2023’s hugely acclaimed ‘Irish Rock’n’Roll’. That album saw the band grow in confidence, writing their own songs for the first time. ‘Paddywhackery’ finds them leaping forwards to create an album that sounds like it’s been made by a band with a tightness and a power that’s unparalleled in music right now.
Recorded in an intense two-week period in Liverpool with producer James Skelly and engineer Chris Taylor, ‘Paddywhackery’ lets the band’s grand wildness shine through and allows their songs to flow out of the speakers with the kind of verve and potency that will make you – the listener – press play again, and again, and again.
Andrew and Charles Hendy on the album: “It’s mainly about the fact that people would call us “paddywhackery” because we are too Irish or whatever, but it’s all very f*cking hip to be Irish the last couple of years, and maybe that’s performative too, it’s very sincere. If all you do is serious songs, it sterilises everything. It becomes like there’s only one human emotion and its seriousness. People are terrified of being laughed at. If people are going to call us paddywhackery anyway, we might as well just call the album ‘Paddywhackery’. So its more of a “f*ck you” than anything else. We want to spread like a virus and destroy anyone who thinks they are above The Mary Wallopers”
Before ‘Paddywhackery’ arrives, The Mary Wallopers have released a new single. ‘Crowns Of England’ is an observer’s view of England in 2026 that beats along with the glorious power of a ‘London Calling’-era Clash at kicking out time.
Charles Hendy on ‘Crowns Of England’: “The song is about being in England and feeling like an outsider in all that colonialism. And it’s about Irish people who move to London and then assimilate by trying to get away from being Irish. That outsider status could apply to immigrants generally, or even people from small towns moving into cities. England remains an archaic place in a lot of ways. There is still a monarchy. Every pub is called The Crown. There are flags everywhere. When we sing rebel songs in England, people don’t know how to react, so you feel like such an alien because it’s geographically so close but culturally there’s a massive gap. I mean, I went to Wembley to see Oasis once and a woman asked me if we had televisions in Ireland…”
The video for the ‘Crowns Of England’ sees Danielle Galligan (House of Guinness, Game of Thrones, The Walsh Sisters) wandering around the streets of London drinking in establishments called The Crown, but longing for home. Directed by James Slater (Jamie T, Sam Fender, Blossoms), it shows how isolating it can be in a city where the Monarchy is omnipresent, even when you just want to get a pint. Watch the video for ‘Crowns Of England’ HERE.
Paddywhackery features:
‘Crowns Of England’
‘The Juice’
‘Seán Na Sagart’
‘Smuggling The Tin’
‘Castlecoe Hill’
‘The Big Mixer’
‘Worker’s Song’
‘Banks Of The Roses’
‘Landlord’s Demise’
‘Kit Kat Club’
‘Micky Dam’
‘Paddywhackery’ is released on BC Records on 18th September 2026. The album will be released on vinyl, CD and digital formats – Find your copy HERE.
Following the release of the album, The Mary Wallopers will play a huge series of dates in the autumn. These gigs take in dates in Scotland, England (including a date at the Brighton Centre) and Wales before ending up with two huge arena gigs in Dublin and Glasgow.
THE MARY WALLOPERS TOUR DATES:
Tue 13th Oct Edinburgh Corn Exchange
Wed 14th Oct Newcastle O2 City Hall
Fri 16th Oct Cardiff University
Sat 17th Oct Brighton Centre
Mon 19th Oct Sheffield Octagon Centre
Tue 20th Oct Cambridge Corn Exchange
Thu 22nd Oct Liverpool Olympia
Fri 23rd Oct Manchester O2 Victoria Warehouse
Mon 26th Oct Nottingham Rock City
Tue 27th Oct Leeds O2 Academy
Thu 29th Oct Birmingham O2 Academy
Fri 30th Oct London O2 Academy Brixton
Thu 10th Dec Dublin 3Arena
Sat 19th Dec Glasgow OVO Hydro
The Coral support in Brighton (17th Oct), Dublin (10th Dec) and Glasgow (19th Dec). Tickets for all shows go on sale on Friday 12th June and will be available via HERE or from marywallopers.com, ticketmaster.co.uk and gigsandtours.com.
