Dublin alternative punk outfit Gurriers have been making quite a lot of noise around the capital’s alternative scene these past few months. Ever since the return of live music, their name has become a codeword for hard-hitting riffs, energetic instrumentation and vicious vocals from lead singer Dan Hoff. They’ve impressed all who’ve been witness to their power, and are now gearing up for a hectic summer. 

Before then, however, their got their brand new single ‘Boy’ to contend with. Dripping in a roaring, drenched out guitar line and frantic drumming, it’s the band’s most up-tempo work to date. It’s more energetic than their debut single ‘Approachable’, which was released in August of 2021 and more confident than it’s successor ‘Top of The Bill’. ‘Boy’ is the sound of a band growing into its own style and reputation.

“For me though it’s that bit of rawness, that bit of punk, it’s completely uniquely Irish” drummer Pierce Callaghan notes of their style, “I want people to think it’s going to be rowdy but it’s gonna be a bit of us”.

Gurriers is made up of five best friends, roommates and co-workers Dan Hoff, Emmet White, Ben O’Neill, Mark MacCormack and Pierce Callaghan. Speaking via Zoom, Callaghan and MacCormack recall growing up together in Castleblayney in Monaghan, before they both made the big more to the capital.

“It’s funny to myself and Mark that we’ve ended up in punk instead of post-punk,” Callaghan smiles as he recalls their shared musical interests, “Even the original meaning of punk is rebellious considering where we’re from”.

“My first ever gig was ten years ago this week,” he reminisces, “We both went to see Ramstein with Marks dad, it blew my mind, it was fucking crazy. After that we went to a cinema to see a livestream of Metallica in Newry of all places and it went from there”.

In the winter of 2019, conversations began with friends on forming a band. Determined to put in the hard work, they began practising in January 2020 and were in the middle of a rehearsal in MacCormack’s parents house in March 2020 when news broke of the impending COVID regulations.

Since then, the band have been practising on and off whenever possible through rolling lockdowns. Rather than go down the Zoom sessions, however, the band simply took their time to perfect their instruments individually and throw some ideas together in the hopes of writing their first tracks upon their return. For everyone, it was just a case of plugging away until they were able to get back in a room together.

“We always felt that there was such an appetite for something new and something fresh, we were well set up to be that, because we worked so consistently,” Callaghan explains of the band’s dedication, “We sat on the social media and plugged away in the background, we've hit the ground running".

When regulations eased, the band made the conscious decision to practice as often as possible in case opportunities, such as gigs or support slots, would arise unexpectedly. Within a number of months, the strategy has proved effective as they’ve been one of the busiest bands in the city and have been called in with little to no advanced notice on numerous occasions.

“There's a great quote, luck is when hard work and opportunity intersect, and like Pierce said, we worked our asses off,” MacCormack adds, “I had no job over lockdown and I just focused on writing riffs and music every day and it's going well so far!". 

"I think we've always been open to saying yes to stuff on short notice” Callaghan adds, “Thanks to COVID, people have unfortunately had to pull out at the last minute of things, I was thinking about this the other day, we have to be ready at all times to jump on stuff and be opportunistic. Sometimes the best opportunities land when you least expect it”.

One such example of a last-minute booking was for their biggest booking to date, as support for South-London Post-Punk band Goat Girl.

“We only learned about that one the night before,” MacCormack recalls of a hectic 24 hours, “We had only played our first gig three weeks and a day before. That weekend we had played on the 20th with Enola Gay in Belfast and Pierce had to go home to play football in Dublin. We stayed in Belfast that night but left really early and got back to our rehearsal space to unload the gear. Then Hoff comes in panting saying that Goat Girl’s support dropped out of the gig so we spent that entire night texting everyone we knew trying to get on the bill. Then at half eleven that night we got a text saying we got the support slot".

“I had a GAA championship the next morning, we won and we all went out on the piss and I was only half looking at my phone”, Callaghan adds of his side of the story, “At half eleven, I looked at my phone, absolutely pissed and I realise, oh shit I have a gig tomorrow! Like I said, we have to be opportunistic and it was the biggest gig we played yet. It was fairly full even at the support slot. For us being so new, I found there was such a great appetite".

With the band’s name quickly rising up the post-punk ranks, there’s little doubt that Gurriers will need all the rehearsal time possible for what we can only imagine will be a very busy year. ‘Boy’ is the next step in the band’s journey to become one of the leading names in an already thriving musical community. The road starts here, and Gurriers are more than ready to give it everything they’ve got.