Last year yer girl writing this piece got to see two of her favourite bands in one night – Sisters of Mercy supported by The Virginmarys. This year, after seeing them support 90’s giants who keep on truckin’ Ugly Kid Joe in Nottingham’s Rock City, no word of a lie, she’s spent the last three hours trying to write the perfect intro to her interview with Ally Dickaty (guitar and vocals) and Danny Dolan (drum destroyer) of visceral, loud, brutally honest, brilliantly sharp The Virginmarys.
The thing is, doing these boys justice is hard. They bare their souls lyrically and play their hearts out live. Ally’s voice sings, shouts and screams story-telling lyrics of frustrations and mental illness. He communicates what is within to those listening, who take it all in and in turn take this band into their hearts. Danny beats seven shades of God knows what out of his drum kit. As a power duo on stage, they pound the crowd with their urgently paced, incisive songs.
Backstage they are friendly, mild mannered and an absolute pleasure to speak with. The Virginmarys gain more and more fans wherever and whenever they play and could fill this venue on their own. So how can Devo explain that these boys, who have been around for over a decade and have almost 30,000 monthly listeners on Spotify (plus track ‘Just A Ride’ that’s been streamed more than four million times) are a band you need to see, hear and, well, worship??? And that looking on the socials there seem to be a lot of people making a pilgrimage specifically for their sets. Well, she should probably let Danny and Ally do the talking shouldn’t she… Oh, and packing in the tedious religious gags would help no end…
‘I’d say maybe the support slots that we’ve had have helped us gain more fans,’ says Ally. ‘And sound-wise since we’ve been a two piece there seems to be a lot more of a fierceness to things.’ Danny agrees, telling Devo, ‘Since we became two piece two years ago, I feel like peoples’ reactions to us have been a bit more direct. And I think the songs are really good too! When we supported Sisters of Mercy, we weren’t really sure how we’d go down. I spoke to a guy I know who went on tour with them in a band called Oceansize. I would’ve thought they’d have gone done quite well with the audience, but they said they got bottled off stage, and I was pretty worried about that! But when we toured with them every night was great.’
Live, The Virginmarys show their instruments no mercy, so is there a particular song they most enjoy playing? ‘The new single ‘Where Are You Now’ probably initially stood out when we were writing new material,’ says Ally. ‘I like playing that one because I know it’s going to go down well, and it has nice light and shade, and variation of vocal expression and dynamics, which I think is what the band is about.’ ‘I’d probably agree,’ adds Danny. ‘It seems like that one’s really connected with the audience.’ It’s also massively popular on Spotify, with almost 60,000 streams.
The band are mid-way through recording their new album which is scheduled to be released in October. Danny tells us, ‘We’ve got six tracks down and another six to go. We wanted to spend more time getting into the recording, but when the opportunities came to gain more fans, we couldn’t really turn them down.’ So how did this most recent support slot with Ugly Kid Joe come about? ‘Chris Catalyst [who is playing guitar with the headliners on this tour] played with Sisters of Mercy and he put us forward.’ Throughout out chat gravelly and tuneful bursts of, ‘Happy birthdaaaaaaaaay!’ keep coming from Ugly Kid Joe’s dressing room – because it’s Danny’s 41st birthday. Congrats! But erm, …
Devo was under the impression singers liked to preserve their voices. Speaking of which, how’s Ally’s voice holding out? ‘Because it’s not a perfect voice I get away with things a lot more! Even if it’s wrecked it’s just more wrecked than it already is,’ he smiles. ‘The more you sing like this the more your voice gets used to it.’
Sorry to keep going on about this, but this duo fill the venue with sound and the stage with their presence. Losing a couple of members over the years has somehow made the band become smaller but their sound become bigger. What do Ally and Danny think about it being just the two of them? ‘It’s nice being on the road and having more people to bounce off, but on the whole I totally prefer the simplicity of just me and Danny,’ explains Ally. Cliché incoming… are you like brothers? Danny: ‘We’re more like a divorced couple looking after the baby together! It’s probably a bit of a cliché, but I think me, and Ally have been together so long we don’t need to speak when we go into the rehearsal room, for example. We know our roles pretty well.’
The Virginmarys come with a message – they bring ‘Peace Love Truth Music’. Was there ever a chance this adage (and their music) was never going to be heard? Nope. Ally tells us, ‘I’ve never had a Plan B, and that’s helped us to get where we’ve got to. But not having one comes with other problems, like the stress and pressure of having nothing to fall back on.’ Danny and Ally’s music is their life. And their life experiences are expressed in their music. There is nothing manufactured to see here. This is raw, real and incendiary stuff from a duo who deserve their place in the rock world – and in record collections across the land.
Interview by Jo Wright
Live Photos by Gabi Kowal