Bio provided by artist:
Oh Boland is the scum-pop song writing of Niall Murphy. Oh Boland came up through the rural bar scene of the Irish west coast threading effervescent power pop through a mess of blown out guitars and flying nun jangle. The latest LP, Western Leisure (out May 31st 2024 on Madrid’s Meritorio Records) draws from a recent past in the rural Galway town of Tuam and the present in Dublin city, a montage of oblique images and characters. Western Leisure traces a landscape of balding florists under ceiling fans (Grass Walls), a guilt-wracked panel beater soothsaying future accidents in his steelwork (Order Of Malta), and the parasitic jukebox-conman who drowns in his children’s paddling pool (A Power Of Wides). Somewhere between sad, hysterical, and nonsensical, these characters cross paths with more tactile memories of depression and loss. The half-cocked ballads of the west of Ireland run alongside observations of place in Dublin amid a housing crisis, and the exploitation of people’s right to have place in their lives by the parasitic landlord class (Western Leisure Pt.2).
The songs were written in 2021 in the vacuum of successive lockdowns, leaning heavily into spontaneity and the possibilities of overdubbed home recording over writing for a band. The material marks a significant development in the band’s sound with the typical garage punk confection tempered by Kevin Ayers and the Whole World weirdness (Cult Of A Western Rail Corridor), free jazz skronk (Western Leisure Pt 2), faux Steely Dan mockery (A Parting Thing) and loping Bakersfield Country (Western Leisure). Still, Murphy hasn’t lost any joy for straight ahead rock n roll with Grass Walls, Order Of Malta and Power Of Wides keeping things centred on The Clean, meets Protex, meets Replacements concoction that’s been his main squeeze from the start. Western Leisure follows 2022’s sophomore LP Cheap Things which was featured on Post Trash (Brooklyn, NY) , received significant airplay on WFMU (New Jersey) and was featured on Merge Records best of list for 2023 (release discovered in 2023) and debut Spilt Milk (Volar Records, San Diego) which was included in Pitchfork’s Top 20 Garage Punk albums of 2016.
With two US tours in 2016 and 2018 culminating in appearances at legendary punk label Goner Records’ festival Gonerfest in Memphis TN, a 2017 UK tour supporting Detroit post punks Protomartyr and performances with Metz, Parquet Courts, and Sheer Mag Oh Boland have honed their on-record noise pop into a perfect on-stage mess of bar band lunacy, Westerberg rock- stompers and Crazy Horse shred workouts. The current lineup of Murphy backed by Ross Hamer (Music City/Hamer Place) and Jack Condon (Search Results) are on tour in support of Western Leisure and are very excited to play their first Rotterdam shows this year at Left Of The Dial.
Bio provided by artist:
Oh Boland is the scum-pop song writing of Niall Murphy. Oh Boland came up through the rural bar scene of the Irish west coast threading effervescent power pop through a mess of blown out guitars and flying nun jangle. The latest LP, Western Leisure (out May 31st 2024 on Madrid’s Meritorio Records) draws from a recent past in the rural Galway town of Tuam and the present in Dublin city, a montage of oblique images and characters. Western Leisure traces a landscape of balding florists under ceiling fans (Grass Walls), a guilt-wracked panel beater soothsaying future accidents in his steelwork (Order Of Malta), and the parasitic jukebox-conman who drowns in his children’s paddling pool (A Power Of Wides). Somewhere between sad, hysterical, and nonsensical, these characters cross paths with more tactile memories of depression and loss. The half-cocked ballads of the west of Ireland run alongside observations of place in Dublin amid a housing crisis, and the exploitation of people’s right to have place in their lives by the parasitic landlord class (Western Leisure Pt.2).
The songs were written in 2021 in the vacuum of successive lockdowns, leaning heavily into spontaneity and the possibilities of overdubbed home recording over writing for a band. The material marks a significant development in the band’s sound with the typical garage punk confection tempered by Kevin Ayers and the Whole World weirdness (Cult Of A Western Rail Corridor), free jazz skronk (Western Leisure Pt 2), faux Steely Dan mockery (A Parting Thing) and loping Bakersfield Country (Western Leisure). Still, Murphy hasn’t lost any joy for straight ahead rock n roll with Grass Walls, Order Of Malta and Power Of Wides keeping things centred on The Clean, meets Protex, meets Replacements concoction that’s been his main squeeze from the start. Western Leisure follows 2022’s sophomore LP Cheap Things which was featured on Post Trash (Brooklyn, NY) , received significant airplay on WFMU (New Jersey) and was featured on Merge Records best of list for 2023 (release discovered in 2023) and debut Spilt Milk (Volar Records, San Diego) which was included in Pitchfork's Top 20 Garage Punk albums of 2016.
With two US tours in 2016 and 2018 culminating in appearances at legendary punk label Goner Records’ festival Gonerfest in Memphis TN, a 2017 UK tour supporting Detroit post punks Protomartyr and performances with Metz, Parquet Courts, and Sheer Mag Oh Boland have honed their on-record noise pop into a perfect on-stage mess of bar band lunacy, Westerberg rock- stompers and Crazy Horse shred workouts. The current lineup of Murphy backed by Ross Hamer (Music City/Hamer Place) and Jack Condon (Search Results) are on tour in support of Western Leisure and are very excited to play their first Rotterdam shows this year at Left Of The Dial.