Kneecap have shared ‘Irish Goodbye’, a tribute to Móglaí Bap’s late mother
The track features on the group's upcoming album 'Fenian' alongside a short film.
The track, written by Móglaí Bap and producer Dan Carey, is taken from the group's upcoming album 'Fenian', due 1st May, and arrives alongside a short film directed by Thomas James.
The accompanying short film features a cast including Colm O'Brien, Barry Dobson, Deirdre O'Kane, Liam Cunningham, Patricia Twomey, Emmanuel Okoye, Callan Cummins, Cúán Hosty-Blaney, Peter Newington, and Joni Morris.
Móglaí Bap has spoken at length about the personal origins of the song, tracing it back to unexpected footage of his family. I never meant to write a song about this. But someone sent my brother a documentary about my Dad in the 90s, when he was president of Conradh na Gaeilge. The film crew came to my house, and we were just kids doing our homework, messing around. We weren’t the kind of family who had films of ourselves when we were young, just photographs, so it was the first time I saw my Ma in a video. And she was happy.
"That had a profound effect on me, seeing her happy. I was so emotional seeing her like that. I had written a song about her before, called MAM, which came out in 2020. She was sick at the time with depression. The idea I had in my head with MAM was, if I wrote it, she’d hear it, and maybe she’d feel her worth, because when you suffer from depression, you can’t see your own value.
"At that time, we went for a walk, and I told her I had written a song for her, but that it wasn’t completely finished yet, so I’d wait until the next week to play it for her. But by then it was too late.
"Suicide is hard. And when someone is sick with depression and dies by suicide, it’s hard to remember the good moments. You get caught up in the dark times.
"Irish Goodbye is about the mundane things me and my Ma did together. I never realised it was the day to day stuff I would miss when she was gone; going for a walk in the park, her giving out to me or keeping me in line, offering me pieces of advice. It’s all the small things that you miss."
Kneecap have a run of tour dates across the UK and Europe scheduled. The dates in full read:
APRIL
29 Liquid Rooms, Edinburgh, UK (out-store, with Assai)
30 Rough Trade East, London, UK (out-store)
MAY
2 The Boilershop, Newcastle, UK (out-store, with Reflex)
3 The Garage, Glasgow, UK (out-store, with Assai)
29-30 AVA, Belfast, IE
JUNE
6 Primavera, Barcelona, ES
8 Santana 27, Bilbao, ES
9 La Riviera, Madrid, ES
11 Primavera, Porto, PT
13 Festi'Neuch, Neuchatel, CH
15 Magnolia, Unaltrofestival, Milan, IT
16 Sequoie Music Park, Bologna, IT
17 Cavea, Auditorium Parco Della Musica Ennio Morricone, Rome, IT
18 Fiera del Levante, Bari, IT
20 Terra Vibe Park, Rockwave, Attica, GR
24 Allas Live, Helsinki, FIN
27 Crystal Palace Park, London, UK
JULY
1 Open'er Festival, Gdynia, PL
2 Roskilde Festival, Roskilde, DK
4 Rock Werchter, Werchter, BE
13 Kino Šiška, Ljubljana, SK
14 Kino Šiška, Ljubljana, SK
18 PhilGood Festival, Plovdiv, BG
20 KüçükÇiftlik Park, Istanbul, TR
30 All Together Now, Waterford, IE
AUGUST
12-16 Boomtown, Winchester, UK
28-30 Reading & Leeds Festivals, UK
NOVEMBER
6 Rockhal, Esch-sur-Alzette, LU
9 BK, Stockholm, SE
10 Oslo Spektrum, Oslo, NO
20 Le Zénith, Paris, FR
21 Docks, Lausanne, CH
22 X-Tra, Zurich, CH
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