Punk nostalgia is all the rage this summer.
The release of Danny Boyle’s Sex Pistols miniseries opened a time capsule to that old 70s’ show of energy and anarchy. Munster23!Gael
But it left a gnawing question hanging in the air, whatever happened to all the anger? Forty years since the damburst of punk there is no doubt there is a lot for music to vent about.
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A generation is faced with a series of social, environmental and financial plagues that have left it pressed against the glass staring as life goes on inside.
One economist even suggested the Irish are being hit harder with inflation because they don’t complain. So It’s high time someone started to shout about it.
And that’s exactly what avant-garde punks Meryl Streek are doing. Loudly.
Never mind the nostalgia, here’s cutting edge pop-punk without the misty-eyed memories, a sound from a 21 st century suburb where the promise of the Republic has failed.
A first single ‘False Apologies’ is released next week and takes aim at a familiar foe, the Catholic Church.
When punk was in its prime the Church-State nexus in Ireland was also enjoying its own high watermark with the visit of Pope John Paul II.
But the musical storm was long blown out before the darkest secrets of abuse and the holocaust inside Ireland’s industrial home system was exposed in the 90s.
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By then Irish music had entered its boy band years and it was mostly left to folk singers to vent the anger, or Sinead O’Connor ripping up a picture of the Pope on live TV.
‘False Apologies’ takes those ripped fragments, chews them, spits them out and takes a flamethrower to what’s left.
Meryl Streek, (a pseudonym for the musician who wrote and produced the project) explains: “ ‘False Apologies’ was a way to deal with my anger about the atrocities committed by the Catholic church against the young women and children of Ireland, specifically the mother and baby homes. Sadly not their only crimes, it made me sick that the government and church not only allowed this to happen but have actively tried to erase it from history.”
The result is art as searing testimony, a damning verdict on what for many is becoming a failed state. The lyrics are as raw as it gets, recorded in one take.
If the words scream from the soul, the music is jarringly melodic. As if like Irish society you can look the other way and try to forget what’s happening in the darkness before it pulls you back in.
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The lyrics were produced with the help of Dan Doherty who has worked with Fontaines D.C. and Damien Dempsey with whom Meryl Streek shares a very Dublin sensibility.
Meryl Streek has been gathering friends, collaborators and admirers by word of mouth including guitarists Phil Weir and Benny Finnegan, singers Molly Vulpyne and Cheryl Murphy on guest vocals with artwork by Roisin Nolan and David Whelan.
A stunningly cinematic and atmospheric video accompanies ‘False Apologies’ , directed by Peter Kingston and starring rising young Irish actor Jack Galvin who will features in moviemaker John Connors upcoming film about the Church.
It’s the first single from album ‘796’ which will be released in November by Venn Records, the label founded by Laurent ‘Lags’ Bernard of iconic UK punk outfit ‘Gallows’.
The label describes it as: “An emotionally volatile and heart-wrenching collection of cutting-edge punk that pushes genre boundaries.”
Meryl Streek says: “It’s a pop album with punk lyrics to get to people listening. I wanted to create a beautiful melodic pop album and then when my vocals start have them realise they’ve made a terrible mistake!
“I've always been drawn to bands that say what they think loudly and clearly. I grew up hearing A House, Guernica and Sack speaking their minds, the punk movement too. I'm coming from the same place but with melodies and pop music so hopefully people will stop and listen to what I’ve got to say.”
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The album connects the chalked white lines from the crime scenes of the church to those of the state’s own homelessness and housing shame. And to the punch and Judy show of Irish politics, Fianna Fail and Fine Gael, that hover over it all.
“I am really frustrated with Ireland,” Says Meryl Streek.
“I just can’t see this country ran by these outdated politicians. It’s 20 years of the same mistakes. The whole message with this album is that there is always going to be someone who will get the message out there. There is a lot of people rallying about it through anger. There is more of us than there is of them.”
Punk may have a new antichrist.
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