The Mary Wallopers have announced new album ‘Paddywhackery’ and dropped the lead single ‘Crowns Of England’. Check it out below, along with details of a new UK and Ireland tour.
Set for release on September 18, the new record will be the third from the Dundalk band – following on from the critically acclaimed 2023 album ‘Irish Rock’n’Roll’. Visit here to pre-order.
While that sophomore record saw the band launch into writing their own songs for the first time, this upcoming release see them take things up another notch. They recorded it during an intense two-week period in Liverpool with producer James Skelly (The Coral), with the aim of striking a balance between their creative, unrestrained spirit and a new sense of tightness between the instruments.
Today (Thursday June 4), the band drop the first taster of the album with ‘Crowns Of England’. Rich with uplifting melodies and tongue-in-cheek lyrics, the song serves as an observer’s view of England in 2026, and makes subtle nods to punk pioneers like The Clash.
“The song is about being in England and feeling like an outsider in all that colonialism,” said Charles Hendy. “And it’s about Irish people who move to London and then assimilate by trying to get away from being Irish. That outsider status could apply to immigrants generally, or even people from small towns moving into cities.”
The frontman continued: “England remains an archaic place in a lot of ways. There is still a monarchy. Every pub is called The Crown. There are flags everywhere.
“When we sing rebel songs in England, people don’t know how to react, so you feel like such an alien because it’s geographically so close but culturally there’s a massive gap. I mean, I went to Wembley to see Oasis once and a woman asked me if we had televisions in Ireland…”
As for the title of the album, the band explain that the name is a jab towards naysayers.
“It’s mainly about the fact that people would call us ‘paddywhackery’ because we are too Irish or whatever… but it’s all very fucking hip to be Irish the last couple of years, and maybe that’s performative too, it’s very sincere,” said Andrew and Charles Hendy.
“If all you do is serious songs, it sterilises everything. It becomes like there’s only one human emotion and its seriousness. People are terrified of being laughed at. If people are going to call us paddywhackery anyway, we might as well just call the album ‘Paddywhackery’,” they added.
“Its more of a ‘fuck you’ than anything else. We want to spread like a virus and destroy anyone who thinks they are above The Mary Wallopers”.
The Mary Wallopers will be heading on tour later this year, kicking off the shows in Edinburgh on October 13, before making stops in Newcastle, Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds and more throughout the month.
Other shows include a slot at London’s O2 Academy Brixton, before a slot at Dublin’s 3Arena on December 10 and a show at Glasgow’s OVO Hydro on December 19.
The Coral will support in Brighton, Dublin and Glasgow, and tickets go on sale next Friday (June 12) at 10am local time. Visit here for tickets.
The Mary Wallopers tour dates are:
OCTOBER
13 – Edinburgh Corn Exchange
14 – Newcastle O2 City Hall
16 – Cardiff University
17 – Brighton Centre
19 – Sheffield Octagon Centre
20 – Cambridge Corn Exchange
22 – Liverpool Olympia
23 – Manchester O2 Victoria Warehouse
26 – Nottingham Rock City
27 – Leeds O2 Academy
29 – Birmingham O2 Academy
30 – London O2 Academy Brixton
DECEMBER
10 – Dublin 3Arena
19 – Glasgow OVO Hydro
Before the headline tour kicks off, Mary Wallopers will be joining Kneecap at their biggest live show to date at London’s Crystal Palace Park on Saturday June 27. Other artists on the bill include Fat Dog, Biig Piig, Gurriers and Madra Salach.
Last year, the band played a pair of festive gigs in Ireland too, as well as a ‘Five-Night Stand’ residency at Glasgow’s Barrowland Ballroom in the lead-up to Christmas.
Their last single before ‘Crowns Of England’ was ‘The Juice’, which arrived in July 2025. Before then, they shared a three-track EP titled ‘Home Boys Home’.
Speaking to NME in 2024, the band’s Andrew Hendy explained that “there needs to be a voice that’s giving the rowdy side of folk back to people”.
