Bring Your Own Hammer (BYOH), in partnership with Dimple Discs, presents ‘The Black Maria, O’, a remarkable new collaboration between acclaimed British music legend Luke Haines (The Auteurs, Baader Meinhof, Black Box Recorder) and Irish musician, songwriter and producer Mike Smalle (Cane141, Augustus & John, B-Movie Lightning).
Accompanied by a superb animated video by visual artist and filmmaker Jules Hackett, the song reaches back to New York in 1887, where an original song of the same name by Irish-American lyricist Edward Harrigan and composer David Braham was performed as part of the musical comedy ‘McNooney’s Visit’. Haines and Smalle take this long-forgotten piece of Irish-American musical history and transform it into a striking 21st-century re-interpretation of long-forgotten but superb lyrics, retaining the extraordinary language and atmosphere of Harrigan’s lyric while placing it within a radically contemporary musical setting.
‘The Black Maria, O’ evokes the criminal underworld of late 19th-century America, with references to the slang term “Black Maria”, used for police wagons, and to the prison on Blackwell Island near to Manhattan. This is a vivid example of the approach at the heart of Bring Your Own Hammer: taking historical sources, forgotten stories and voices from Ireland and the Irish diaspora and reinterpreting them through contemporary music.
A musician, songwriter and author, Luke Haines has recorded music under various names and with various bands.. His books include the bestselling “Bad Vibes – Britpop” and “My Part in Its Downfall”. His latest solo album, ‘Izzy Wizzy Let’s Get Busy’, is out now on Cherry Red Records.
Hailing from the west of Ireland, Mike Smalle has, in the past two decades, released a wealth of music under various names, exploring a wide range of styles from ambient and folk to pop, electronic, and experimental music. In 2021, he released the album ‘Pagan Pulse’ under his ownname. He has also collaborated with Cathal Coughlan, Jah Wobble, Simon Fisher Turner, and Mark Eitzel.
The single is the latest preview of ‘From The Tombs’, the forthcoming second album in Bring Your Own Hammer’s ambitious Music & History Series following “My Grief on the Sea”, a collection of songs about the sea, maritime voyages, and migration to and from Ireland during the 1800s, dedicated to the memory of Cathal Coughlan (Microdisney, Fatima Mansions), one of Ireland’s most revered artists, who was also involved in this project. This barnstorming 21-song double album is a journey through the history of crime, law and order in Ireland and among the Irish Diaspora in the 19th century.
Bring Your Own Hammer is a masterclass in collaborative artistry that unites historical scholarship and contemporary composition. Curated by Dr. Richard Mc Mahon (lecturer in History at MIC, Limerick and currently a visiting fellow at the Institute of Criminology, University of Cambridge), BYOH explores forms of invented history, rooted in historical sources from Ireland and overseas, with support from Dr. Niall Whelehan (senior lecturer at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, who has written widely on the history of modern Ireland and the Irish diaspora with a focus on the 19th century).
Bringing some of Ireland’s and Britain’s finest songwriters together with historians to create new and original song cycles based on historical sources and to interpret song material rooted in the history of 19th-century Ireland and of the Irish Diaspora. Not a band, nor an ensemble or even a collective, Bring Your Own Hammer is a faction – one that is armed with voices and instruments and dedicated to re-interpreting historical material in song form.
Smalle also spearheaded the album’s title track ‘From The Tombs’, honouring its tragic subject matter through the lens of high-calibre, polished indie-pop. He is joined by June Miles-Kingston (Fun Boy Three, The Communards, Everything But the Girl), Bernard Butler (Suede, McAlmont & Butler, The Tears), Fergal Lawler (The Cranberries), Marcus Holdaway (The High Llamas), Ian Catt (Saint Etienne) and Terry Edwards (Madness, PJ Harvey, Nick Cave, The Near Jazz Experience).
The most recent release from this landmark record is “Quinn the Adventurer”, performed by celebrated Irish songwriter Adrian Crowley, bringing an extraordinary true story from Ireland’s past vividly into the present through song.
Other contributors to the album include Sean O’Hagan (Microdisney, Stereolab, High Llamas), Audrey Riley, Cian Nugent, Linda Buckley, Tony Higgins, SJ McArdle, Michael Walsh, Lisa Lambe, Miriam Ingram, Hugh Bunker (Fatima Mansions), Damian O’Neill (The Undertones), Brigid Mae Power, Anne Gilpin (Morton Valence), Lavinia Blackwall (Trembling Bells), Inni-K, NQL. Kelsey Michael, Neil Farrell (Toasted Heretic) and Michael J. Sheehy.
‘The Black Maria, O’ is available on digital platforms, including Apple Music, Spotify, and Bandcamp. The previous singles can also be found there, along with the ‘My Grief On The Sea’ album on CD and limited edition vinyl.
CREDITS
Music by Mike Smalle
Words by Edward Harrigan
Luke Haines – vocals and guitars
Mike Smalle – electric guitars, Korg MiniKorg 700s, programming
Produced by Mike Smalle
Mixed by Mark Saunders
Publishing – Copyright Control
Video by Jules Hackett
Released by Bring Your Own Hammer & Dimple Discs
Publicity by Shauna McLarnon at Shameless Promotion PR