The Pogues Tickets

Short Biography
The Pogues have been an indelible high watermark on the fickle tide of popular music for the last 30 years. Lead by the charismatic Shane MacGowan, The Pogues command an army of die-hard fans the world over, captivated by the power and conviction of
one of the last true punk rock bands. For Australian members of said legion, the 23 year wait to see The Pogues on home shores will soon to be over, with the band - including Shane MacGowan, Jem Finer, Spider Stacy, James Fearnley, Darryl Hunt, Andrew Ranken, Philip Chevron, Terry Woods - announcing their first Australian tour since 1989.
The Pogues, or Pogue Mahone (kiss my arse in Gaelic) as they were then known, came kicking ...

Short Biography
The Pogues have been an indelible high watermark on the fickle tide of popular music for the last 30 years. Lead by the charismatic Shane MacGowan, The Pogues command an army of die-hard fans the world over, captivated by the power and conviction of
one of the last true punk rock bands. For Australian members of said legion, the 23 year wait to see The Pogues on home shores will soon to be over, with the band - including Shane MacGowan, Jem Finer, Spider Stacy, James Fearnley, Darryl Hunt, Andrew Ranken, Philip Chevron, Terry Woods - announcing their first Australian tour since 1989.
The Pogues, or Pogue Mahone (kiss my arse in Gaelic) as they were then known, came kicking and screaming into the world in 1982 when founding members Shane McGowan, Peter 'Spider' Stacy,  Jem Finer and James Fearnley united for a show in Kings Cross, London. From the outset it was clear to see that this band were something different. Whilst hordes of young hopefuls at the time were cranking amplifiers and expounding the politically charged lyrical fixations of punk rock, The Pogues instead did away with thrashing about on electric guitars and mustered their power through an arsenal of traditional Irish instrumentation and folk storytelling- creating a genre so entirely their own it would become legend. 
The seminal album Red Roses for Me soon followed, and with the follow-up Rum Sodomy & the Lash, critical accolades began to appear for front man MacGowan as he hit his lyrical straps- and in doing so became known as one of the most poetically adept storytellers of his generation. The next two albums - If I Should Fall from Grace with God and Peace and Love- brought the band commercial success, but cracks soon began to appear resulting in MacGowan being cast adrift immediately after the recording of the band's 1990 studio effort Hell's Ditch.
The band continued on with punk godfather Joe Strummer filling in for McGowan for a time, until Spider Stacy took on the bands vocal duties. Two further albums were recorded, being Waiting For Herb and Pogue Mahone, before he and the band decided to call last drinks in 1996.  Just over a decade after MacGowan's departure The Pogues reconvened in 2001 with their front man refreshed, yet as wild as ever, and this April will bring their own brand of fiery, literate, celtic punk rock to Australia.

In-depth Biography
By demonstrating that the spirit of punk could live in traditional Irish folk music, the Pogues were one of the most radical bands of the mid-'80s. Led by Shane MacGowan, whose slurred, incomprehensible voice often disguised the sheer poetry of his songs, the Pogues were undeniably political -- not only were many of their songs explicitly in favor of working-class liberalism, but the wild, careening sound of their punk-injected folk was implicitly radical. While the band was clearly radical, they also had a wickedly warped sense of humor, which was abundantly clear on their biggest hit, the fractured Christmas carol "Fairy Tale of New York." The group's first three albums -- Red Roses for Me, Rum Sodomy & the Lash, If I Should Fall From Grace With God -- were widely praised in both Britain and America, and by 1988 they had earned substantial cult followings in both countries. Yet MacGowan's darkly romantic, wasted lifestyle, which was so key to their spirit and success, ultimately proved to be their downfall. By the end of the decade, he had fallen deep into alcoholism and drug addiction, forcing the band to fire him if they wanted to survive. The Pogues carried on without him in the early '90s, playing to a slowly shrinking audience, before finally disbanding in 1996.

Shane MacGowan, an Irish punk inspired by the Clash, formed the Pogues in 1982 after playing with the London-based punk band the Nipple Erectors, a group which was later called the Nips. MacGowan met Spider Stacy in a London tube station, where Stacy was playing a tin whistle. The two began working together, drafting former Nip Jim Fearnley to play guitar. Naming themselves Pogue Mahone -- a Gaelic term meaning "kiss my ass" -- the trio began playing traditional Irish tunes in London pubs and streets, eventually adding Jem Finer (banjo, guitar), Andrew David Ranken (drums) and Cait O'Riordan (bass) to make it a full band. As the group developed into a sextet, they added MacGowan's original songs to their repertoire, and began earning a reputation as a wild, drunken and exciting live act. Shortening their name to the Pogues, the group released an independent single, "Dark Streets of London," in early 1984 and supported the Clash on their summer tour. By the fall, they had signed with Stiff Records and had released their acclaimed debut Red Roses for Me.

Red Roses for Me was a critical hit, establishing the Pogues as one of the most vital, and certainly one of the most political, bands in Britain. Early in 1985, they added guitarist Philip Chevron and recorded Rum Sodomy and the Lash with producer Elvis Costello. The album was an underground success and was widely praised, especially for MacGowan's songwriting -- not only in the U.K., but also in the U.S., where they were becoming college radio staples. Instead of following Rum Sodomy and the Lash with a new album, the Pogues took nearly a full year hiatus from recording, releasing the Poguetry in Motion EP in 1986 and appearing in Alex Cox's film Straight to Hell in 1987. By 1988, O'Riordan had left the band to marry Costello, and she was replaced by Darryl Hunt; banjoist Terry Woods was also added to the band. Early in 1988, they signed to Island Records and released the Steve Lillywhite-produced If I Should Fall From Grace With God later that year. The album became the group's biggest hit, generating the number two U.K. single "Fairytale of New York," which featured vocalist Kirsty MacColl.

Although the Pogues were peaking in popularity, Shane MacGowan's relentless drug and alcohol abuse was beginning to cripple the band. Although neither the 1989 hit single "Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah" or Peace and Love (also '89) were noticeably affected by his excesses, MacGowan missed the Pogues' prestigious opening dates in 1988 for Bob Dylan and stalked the stage like a madman during a pivotal Saturday Night Live performance. By 1990s Hell's Ditch, Spider Stacy and Jem Finer began singing the bulk of the Pogues' material. Despite positive reviews, Hell's Ditch was a flop, and the group wasn't able to support the record because of MacGowan's behavior. Consequently, he was asked to leave the band in 1991; three years later, he returned with a new band, the Popes. For subsequent tours, the Clash's Joe Strummer filled in as lead vocalist, but by the time the band recorded their comeback Waiting for Herb in 1993, Stacy had become the permanent vocalist. Waiting for Herb was kindly reviewed, yet was also ignored, as was 1995's Pogue Mahone. In 1996, the Pogues decided to disband after 14 years in the business, though in 2001 the group reunited (with Shane MacGowan in tow) for a short British tour. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi