A Humble Chat With Gurriers: Ireland’s Latest Soundtrack To Life

Gurriers are hard to miss: they really are everywhere. From an electric Glastonbury set last summer to supporting Kneecap more times than you can count, they’re a name you’d be surprised your mate didn’t know, a real “What do you mean you haven’t heard them?” moment, truly. Their sophomore album, ‘Nobody’s Coming To Save You’, will be released on September 25th, and if it makes half the impact that ‘Come and See’ has, it’d be quite the success. 

Dan Hoff (Vocalist), and Mark McCormack (Guitarist) sat down for a casual chat via Zoom. One of Gurriers’ first moments of fame was their tour supporting Slowdive, a run of gigs that cemented them as one of the most confident upcoming bands - a group that could work a room, with the music to support this level of exhilarating stage presence. When asked about their progression since then, McCormack earnestly answered: “There’s always a fake it until you make it element. There’s an element to a live show where you think, f*ck everybody else, we’re the best band in the world for the next 30 minutes, you have to be a little bit delusional”. Hoff then spoke on their major career highlights since they really took off in 2023: “Jools Holland was a big one for us, Other Voices as well, such a massive opportunity, there’s so many things like that, when you look back in hindsight it really fills you with pride.” McCormack then chuckled and reminisced, “About a year ago we were asked what it feels like to have made it, and I burst out laughing in the guy’s face and thought ‘mate, I live with my parents in Monaghan, chill’. But it got me thinking: the definition of ‘made it’ or success - what is it? It’s abundantly clear that these lads aren’t all that caught up in the fame they’ve received recently. It really is just all about creating art that means something, after all, but it’s still inevitable to feel a sense of pride when mulling over their long list of accomplishments. 


Gurriers are constantly being brought up in discussions surrounding rising artists alongside the likes of Basht., and Esmeralda Road, yet Hoff and McCormack think that their fans would like “The North a lot, they look like rockstars, like Arctic Monkeys 20 plus years ago, they’ve really got it”. They also rave about Enola Gay, McCormack exclaiming: “We go way back with them, we’ve played with them a bunch and we will much more, we’re lucky to be really good mates with a lot of our favourite bands”. Back to their own music, however, it’s really not long until the world gets their hands on Gurriers’ brand new record, and when asked to pick three words to describe it, McCormack stated “Dreams, Decay and Desire”, a very alliterative and poetic answer that will suddenly make sense when the album is out. 


It’s absolutely no surprise that there’s been a real resurgence in Irish culture and politics in music recently, not only through the inspiration of identity within the sound of certain artists, but in the attitude and perspective of the lyrics. Hoff tells: “I think one of the main things is just my singing; my voice is very much my accent. It’s very honest; I don’t want to put on anything. I think, outside of music, I’m very proud to be Irish and very obsessed with Irish music, folklore and poetry and even as a creative outlook, but when it comes to writing, I never really think about it”. Within their style of artistry, it’s obvious that a lot more American and British alternative rock influences are heard, but with an earnestness and beauty in the accent that has its own unique aspect. Tying in with this global speak, McCormack tells an anecdote about a fan they met in Boston, an interaction that would make the hardship of touring and working hard all worth it: “He wore a leather jacket with our band name on it, and said he had listened to us when we were at 500 monthly listeners. Similarly, when we were in Paris last year, I met this woman from Pakistan that came to Paris for the show, and it just blew my mind that the music had gone so far, and someone was mental enough to go see us in another country.” 


Finally, they spoke about the future. When asked to manifest and to reveal what the goal is for Gurriers, Hoff simply and coolly responded: “To be one of the biggest bands in the world”, the obvious answer, but the right one. McCormack then added: “I’m always banging on about this, but I’d love to think that someday in the future our debut album would be seen in the same way as Radiohead’s ‘Pablo Honey’ or Deftones’ ‘Adrenaline’ in the sense that this is where the band started and it’s actually quite derivative, not bad necessarily, but primitive compared to where they ended up”. The pride felt about the new album radiated off of Hoff and McCormack, when asked about what song they feel would be the most cathartic to perform, McCormack instantly responds: “‘Drones’ is still Gurriers but it’s quite radically different in the songwriting, structure and this is the kind of song where if you didn’t like the first record and listened to it, you’d think ‘Holy f*ck that’s the same band?’, it doesn’t adhere to any typical formulae, it has some of Dan’s best vocals, it’s our best song to date”.  Hoff then perfectly finished off the conversation with his answer, revealing that “‘Crybaby’ is the most cathartic. We play it live now, it’s the last song on the album, and it’s very personal and dramatic. It has this really nice guitar riff that I love to hear every time it’s played.” Gurriers are shaping up to be one of the most renowned and respected alternative rock acts of the 2020s, and not only that, but they’re also great craic. 


Amy Porter
Image: ‘Nobody’s Coming To Save You’ Official Album Cover


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