Irish punksters Slyrydes recorded their debut album What Happens If You Get Happy? five years ago, and then the world shutdown. This summer it was finally released digitally, followed by a vinyl release last month via Blowtorch Records. Slyrydes themselves drifted apart due to the constraints of the pandemic. Not a conscience decision, life simply took the 4-piece in different directions. However fans of the band were delighted to see not only the album released, but two live dates in Ireland. Firstly in Dublin’s The Grand Social followed by Mike the Pies in Listowel. It was at the latter gig that God Is In The TV Zine sat down with lead singer Mark Raftery (Rafto) and bassist Eoin Reilly (Fuz) to learn about more about the rekindling of the Slyrydes flame. The band is completed by Mark Comer (guitar), and Daniel Doherty of Darklands Audio Recording Studio is currently on drums.
First of all, I have ask to about last night at The Grand Social in Dublin. How was it to play together live for the first time in so many years?
Rafto: It was nerve wracking, wasn’t it?
Fuz: It was, yes. It feels great now, and it felt great a little bit after, but we had a sound issue right before. We all stood up on stage. It was a big moment, literally five years building up to us being on stage again. There was a good turnout. We felt pretty powerful, and then Mark’s guitar didn’t work! The lights were down, and we were just standing there, and it crept into, like, two minutes! There was a lead missing. In a fucked up way for me, it broke the ice, it took the seriousness out of it. You said some jokes and stuff, and then I want to say there was some big, like cathartic release, but I don’t know…..
Rafto: Even approaching the mic for me was a really big deal. The very first time I approached the mic, my heart was beating out of my chest, because I really don’t deal with the bit before the gig very well, never have so I was really nervous. But it’s kind of like jumping off a cliff. Once you’ve jumped, you’ve started, and you have to run with it, you know. You found it cathartic?
Fuz: Eventually. It’s weird I probably enjoyed it more than I’ve enjoyed any gig. I said that earlier, and I don’t know why, I felt home, I felt a relief or something. But I felt it more when we were in the chipper 10 minutes ago, and I felt it more at moments in the car earlier. And those kind of moments that aren’t on stage. Me and Mark and Rafto, we drove down the three of us together. We didn’t turn on any music.
Rafto: No, we just talked nonsense for two hours.
Fuz: And there’s the catharsis for me.
Rafto: Talking about The Beatles .
Fuz: and talking about Irish wildlife! Mark has all these facts about stoats! We know a little bit about a lot!
Rafto: We should have our own podcast!
How did it come about that your debut album What Happens If You Get Happy? was released this year?
Rafto: Eoin (Fuz) sent me a text message, and said, do I fancy it again? And I just said, yeah, it was really that simple. I had done absolutely nothing musically, nothing at all. I hadn’t even listened to music since we split in 2020. I hadn’t even listened to the record. It took me a full year to even go onto YouTube. I didn’t want Slyrydes to end the way it possibly could have done. Whatever happens now, there’s going to be a full stop on it. If we wrap it up, it’s a full stop. We’ve done it. We finished it. When we started out, we knew we were never going to Take That or whatever, right? We were never going to shift loads of records. But I always wanted to be in a cult band, and I think we sort of achieved that, but I didn’t want it to end so loosely, and with an album ready to go and not released. We never necessarily fell out. We just stopped talking. The first time we met up again in Darklands, it was like we’d not spoken for a week. We’re still mates you know, which is the most important thing about it.
Fuz: That is the most important thing about it. We are mates. And we were mates before we did Slyrydes. And what made us do Slyrydes was the fact that we got on so well. Me, you and Mark, we really enjoyed spending time together. I did a music project for my girlfriend’s brother earlier on in the year, a band called Petrel. I recorded two songs for his production course. Their producer asked me “Hey, is your band Slyrydes, still around?” I was like, “No”. We recorded those songs, and it was fun, but that’s what sparked it for me, because I was also afraid to listen to music, and I was also afraid to play music, and I was really hurt by everything, just the situation, because we didn’t talk to each other. So when I was doing the music thing again, I was like, something’s missing here. I texted three of them together.
Rafto: Yeah, it was just a Saturday afternoon. I think I said yes, pretty much straight away.
Fuz: We hadn’t spoken at all in four years.
Rafto: I think Mark said the same as well. And then we had the issue because Paul (Clarke, original drummer) now lives in Spain, so that became awkward. So we got Dan to step in for us. Dan recorded the record. The drums are mad complicated, so it would have taken six months to get someone in fresh to learn that stuff, and Dan knew it. So it just makes sense for Dan to come in for us.
Fuz: And he was always a part of our band anyway.
When you then listened back to the album, did you release it as it was originally recorded?
Rafto: It didn’t need to be changed. We knew it was good when we did it, and had there not been a global pandemic that might have changed things big time, but there was a global pandemic. We had some pretty big gigs lined up that particular summer 2020, and obviously it didn’t happen. There was some mad stuff happening, but it wasn’t just us, it was every band on the planet, but we reacted particularly badly to it. We weren’t seeing each other at all. We weren’t communicating. That’s the biggest thing.
Fuz: So we just stopped.
You must feel incredibly proud that five years later, you can look at that body of work and think this is us.
Rafto: When I went back to it, it was like listening to a different band initially. I was kind of removed from it. I didn’t listen to it for ages, like ages and ages and ages. So when I heard it again, it’s wasn’t so much a different band, but I didn’t feel particularly close to it. I knew it was good, but it might even be a good thing that there was a bit of a separation between it now and then. It felt like putting on Idles record, or something, because it was so long ago. But now that we’re playing it again, I do feel closer to it. But initially I didn’t have any real sense of pride at all. There was a lot of regret around it as well for a long time, why didn’t we finish this off? I don’t know if angst is the word, but there was a bit of a distance between me and the record. It’s not there now, but there definitely was for a while.
The lyrical content is just staggering. The songs cover personal issues, community and Irish society. The poetry of the words creates the imagery in ones mindeyes. ‘Boy in the Debs Suit’ is a particular example.
Rafto: The worst thing about it is it’s still relevant. Even more so possibly. Nothing’s changed in five years, nothing’s got better, in fact it’s probably worse. So if you look at it from that point of view, it’s really depressing. I don’t know. I just write them down. I never really thought about the process at all. I get a notion I want to talk about something. The lads send me stuff, and I had time to play with them. So I would get pretty much the finished product and I wasn’t trying to make something up in front of the lads in a rehearsal studio, which is how it was done previously. I was by myself so it’s a little bit easier to be a bit more introspective, I suppose. You’ve more time to think about it as well.
I have ideas but I don’t really elaborate on them until I have to. You get a feeling off the record, you know where it’s going to go, by how aggressive it is, or you know the groove of the record or you get a feel for how the lyrics should work. But I don’t really jot things down in a journal or anything.
You announced just two gigs initially: The Grand Social in Dublin and now tonight in Mike the Pies. However did I see mention of a gig at Castlebar?
Fuz: We’re going with our gut here. The Dublin stuff came from MCD. They wanted to do gigs with us. Aiden (O’Connor, Mike the Pies) is a fan of ours, we’ve played here before and it was brilliant. And now Castlebar with Finbar Hoban. We’ve never done shows with him, but he’s one of the first dudes to write about us as far as I recall. So at the moment we are reacting to the people who get it. We’re not really into going cap in hand to people asking for stuff. We’re following the positive vibes and that’s it. Once we had The Grand Social locked in, and once we had here (Mike the Pies) locked in, I started to think, we don’t have this is gonna go, so let’s get these gigs done and see where we’re at, because it would be shit if it wasn’t working. But Finbar came at us, he’s quite tenacious but we so looking forward to it.
And it’s a compliment isn’t it, from someone who has supported you from really early doors.
Fuz: We are fucking proud of that record. We don’t have a lot of fans, but the fans we do have are really fucking serious. Some of the people in that room last night, like what you’re saying with the lyrics, and with Rafto, we just connected. I remember talking about this in the car, one of the times I really copped that Slyrydes were what we meant it to be, a weird cult band. I remember we played the Workman’s in Dublin a few years ago, and there was fuck all people there, which is fine, because we’re from Galway. But I remember the handful people that were there had driven from different parts. People had made trips, and they knew our shit and they wanted us to sign stuff. You know, that’s cool. So we’re kind of following that vibe.
Rafto: We’re not going to make any money out of it, realistically so we might as well just enjoy it.
Fuz: And play to people who also enjoy it
And you have a vinyl release on Blowtorch Records who are based in Galway. Richard (Burke, who runs it is) is incredible with his support for emerging artists.
Rafto: Yeah, the effort he puts in for literally no reward. He’s a really good guy.
Fuz: That’s who we want to align ourselves with. I’m not saying we’re as cool or as good as Richard, but certainly, when someone like Richard makes an amazing offer like that, of course it’s gonna get us excited and it makes it all real.
Fuz I know you have said “we wanted to make important music, the kind that matters to people.” And I think that with the album and the fact there has been this gap, you could still release this body of work as is because you stayed true to that.
Fuz: It’s the truth, it’s honest. That’s what it is. That’s the art. We’re not trying to get famous. This is important. He (Rafto) sings about important shit, and we fucking agonize over the three chords or 10 chords. We really fucking care so we made a record that we all care about. It wouldn’t be the truth if we changed it.
There’s not many bands who would’ve been able to record something five years ago and then still stand by it. But because of how you approach your creativity you have been able to do that.
Fuz: We’re genuinely not trying to be anything. And look we’re not like an exception, lots of bands are like this, but we are just very serious, probably too serious, yeah, definitely too serious about what we do sometimes. But hey, we’re talking about new stuff now. We’ve got Dan Doherty and that’s a fucking asset. Dan’s family to us, and Dan’s the one driving it I would say: “Let’s do a new song. Let’s do a new song. Let’s do a new song.” and we’re like “Yep, alright!”.
I was going to ask but I wasn’t too sure if you wanted to have the gigs done and dusted before making any decisions. So is there a possibility of new music?
Rafto: I’d say it’s almost certain at this point.
Fuz: I know there’s a tentative air about us, but that’s just because, you know it’s like going to sleep at a house party and then joining the party again. It’s a bit loud, and you don’t talk to people, that’s where we’re at. But we’ll do it properly. It’s gonna happen. I have no idea what it’s gonna sound like…..
And that is the best place to end this conversation, with the prospect of new music by Slyrydes.
Slyrydes Live Dates
3 April 2026 – The Garbo’s Venue, Castlebar, IRL.
For more information on Slyrydes please check their facebook and instagram.
