Their riotous repurposing of Irish folk captivated a generation, but the good times couldn’t last…

Backstage, November 1984: (l-r) Shane MacGowan, James Fearnley, Jem Finer (standing), Andrew Ranken, Spider Stacy and Cait O’Riordan

STEVE RAPPORT/GETTY IMAGES

THE Pogues often gave the impression that they somehow managed to pull together a career out of chaos and disorder. As it transpires, Pete “Spider” Stacy thinks the band were more thoughtful in their approach than it may have otherwise appeared. “Every step we took seemed to be a logical continuation of the journey,” he says, as he looks back at the band’s discography. Originally the band’s tin-whistle player, Stacy co-founded the Pogues with Shane MacGowan, Jem Finer and James Fearnley in North London in 1982, going on to become their reluctant frontman after MacGowan left in 1991. By then, The Pogues had recorded five studio albums and one outstanding EP. Two more albums followed before they broke up in 1996.

After reforming with MacGowan in 2001, the band focused on live performances until MacGowan’s death in 2023. But The Pogues live on. In May 2024, Stacy, Finer and Fearnley performed under their old name at Hackney Empire, to mark the 40th anniversary of their debut album, Red Roses For Me, where they were joined by a slew of guests who included members of younger bands inspired and liberated by The Pogues’ approach to traditional music. In May, they tour the UK to celebrate another landmark anniversary – this time for Rum, Sodomy & The Lash. “I struggle to call us ‘The Pogues’,” admits Finer. “It doesn’t feel right without Shane. The posters for the next tour are worded as ‘a celebration of The Pogues’ but the words ‘The Pogues’ are in rather large letters. But we aren’t a tribute band. Spider, James and I are very particular that we want to expand on the sound and add instruments, so it has the original power and feel but with a ceilidh sound.”

PETER WATTS

RED ROSES FOR ME

STIFF, 1984

World-building mix of traditional songs and originals that doesn’t quite capture their live power

JAMES FEARNLEY, ACCORDION: We practised really hard. Jem was herding everybody in a room and making us go over the songs. Then we went to the studio in Wapping to make them real. Our producer Stan Brennan tried to discourage us from attending the mixes, but I am a busybody and felt one of us had to show up. He put reverse echo on our very first song, so that’s the first thing you hear of The Pogues – Shane’s voice saying the first syllable of the first line in reverse. It’s a bit of an anticlimax but it is also quite charming.