Twilight of Irish metal's demi-gods

Being ignored by your own can be frustrating, but Irish metal groups can point to fanbases in many other countries, writes LAUREN MURPHY

KEITH FAY cuts an inconspicuous figure as he walks through a Dublin pub bustling with lunchtime patrons. His long hair is pulled tidily into a ponytail, his shirt and jeans neatly pressed, his demeanour friendly. This isn’t how frontmen of internationally successful metal bands are supposed to be. Then again, most frontmen of such bands don’t have day jobs as IT systems administrators.

“You say to people ‘No, honestly – I am in a famous band’ and they’re like ‘Yeah, yeah, pull the other one’,” he laughs. “Although nowadays, with Facebook and that sort of thing, our friends and family can see the evidence. They say ‘Wow – Keith hasn’t been lying for the last 20 years.’”

Fay has fronted Cruachan for two decades, but the folk-metal band aren’t exactly a household name. Well, not in Ireland, anyway. Since forming in 1993, their blend of folk, extreme metal and Irish mythological lyrics has won them loyal fanbases in parts of Europe and South America. In Ukraine, where they are treated like demi-gods, they need security when they go on tour.

They have been the first western band to play Siberian cities such as Arkhangelsk (where the lord mayor of the city turned up at their gig wearing a Celtic jersey), pressings of their latest album Blood on the Black Robesold out quickly in Japan and the United States, and an invitation to play an event at the Irish Embassy in Moscow a few years ago has led to further opportunities in that part of the world. Next month, they will headline the St Patrick's Day festival in Moscow in front of thousands of metal-loving Russians waving little tricolours.

“A lot of Irish people grow up listening to their parents playing folk music, and it’s not a ‘cool’ thing,” he explains. “Around the rest of the world, it’s a very different story; folk is considered ‘cool’ and ‘hip’. We’ve never really been appreciated in Ireland. We’ve a gig coming up, and I’d say a good 60 per cent of the audience will be foreign nationals.”

A glance at Cruachan’s Facebook page corroborates that claim, with calls for gigs in El Salvador, Mexico, Uzbekistan and Australia from fans.

Success in Ireland, when it came in the past, has been fleeting. The band's 2002 album Folk-Lorewas co-produced by Shane MacGowan, who also guested on a cover of Ride On from the same album. The song broke the Top 40, but even so it was more of a "novelty thing", Fay glumly explains. "It was a soundbite sort of thing – 'Shane McGowan singing with this metal band'. Nobody researched who we were or what we'd done before that. Half of that song is folk and the other half is metal, and you'd hear the radio DJ switch off as the metal part started," he laughs.

Being ignored by your own can be frustrating, particularly when returning to the daily grind after successful tours in Eastern Europe. There’s definitely an element of Clark Kent to the whole thing: mild-mannered office worker by day, rock hero by night. “It is bizarre,” he agrees. “We all have families, mortgages, that type of thing. But when we go away, we get treated with such respect and have so many fans around us, signing autographs all over the place – so that when we come back to Ireland and slot back into normality, all of us sink into this kind of depression for a few days. And then you get back to your normal life. It is bizarre to just switch from one to another – from regular bloke to international rock legend.”

Primordial are a band in a similar position. Formed in the early 1990s, their success has been on an uphill trajectory for the last 20 years. Last year, their seventh album, Redemption at the Puritan's Hand, charted in Finland, Germany, Sweden and Switzerland, and next month they'll head out on a European tour. They are one of the most successful Irish bands in recent memory – just not in Ireland.

"Realistically, Primordial is the biggest Irish heavy metal band since Thin Lizzy released Thunder and Lightning, which is a heavy metal record, whether anybody likes it or not," says frontman AA Nemtheanga, aka Alan Averill. "And that's a fact. And yeah, we are ignored in our own country, because somehow rock has become a dirty word, despite the fact that if you listen to Irish radio, it's the most anodyne, safe, conservative stuff. It used to frustrate me 10 years ago, but now we're too old. We just don't care any more," he laughs.

It’s hard not to feel bitter about being overlooked at home, but both musicians agree things have improved over the last few years, with the opening of metal venues such as The Pint in Dublin, record shops like Into the Void and the success of independent Irish metal labels such as Invictus and Sentinel Records.

“The simple fact is that I could be sitting here from any band in the subculture that’s selling well, and Irish people just don’t give a f**k,” says Averill. “And they gave even less of a f**k about real music when they had money. The Celtic Tiger probably ruined more things creatively and artistically than it helped nurture. People were just more interested in flatscreen TVs and buying expensive shoes and investing in houses they can’t afford. We were here before all of that, so it doesn’t really bother us.”

Finding a balance is the key to staying sane, concludes Fay. “Sure, we’d love to do [music] full-time, but a lot of bands who do live off their music – big bands like Opeth – they’re probably not getting much more than somebody on the dole would get. We have the best of both worlds; we can’t tour for six months of the year, but we fit them in around vacations and weekend festivals and stuff like that.” Of course, support and encouragement from all quarters is a crucial factor. “My boss is a fan too,” he smiles, checking his watch before returning to work. “So he’s very understanding – as long as I keep him supplied with free T-shirts.”

Cruachan play The Village on April 14th

The best

Irish metal bands you've never heard

CRUACHAN

Formed in 1993 by the then 16-year-old Keith Fay, Cruachan were one of the first bands credited with splicing Horslips-style folk music with extreme metal. Their most recent album was released on the UK’s Candlelight Records, one of the biggest independent metal labels in the world.

Download track: I Am Warrior

PRIMORDIAL

AA Nemtheanga – aka Alan Averill – joined Primordial at 15 and the Skerries band have gone on to better things ever since. After seven albums, the band clocks up sell-out shows in Europe.

Download track: The Coffin Ships

MAEL MÓRDHA

If the name Mael Mórdha rings a bell, blame Eurovision. The doom metal Dubliners made an unsuccessful bid to represent Ireland in 2005 on TV show You're a Star;considering Europe's love of metal, there have been worse ideas. Successive deals with Dutch and German labels have kept the quintet busy since.

Download track: Godless Commune of Sodom

MOURNING BELOVETH

Another doom-metal band that formed amid the second wave of metal that hit Ireland in the early 1990s, this Kildare outfit have toured extensively in the UK, Europe and the US.

Download track: The Sickness