Northern Irish trad merchants Beoga have been added to the bill for Ed Sheeran’s sellout Irish tour next month.
The band, who collaborated with Ed on divide mega-hits ‘Galway Girl’ and ‘Nancy Mulligan’, will be plugging their new single, ‘We Don’t Have To Run’, which drops on May 4 and features a guest turn from fellow Ulsterman, Ryan McMullan.
“He’s such an amazing talent,” enthuses Beoga bodhrán man Eamon Murray. “Ryan has a long and glorious career ahead of him.”
It’s the first fruits of an extended spell in a London studio with Johnny McDaid, the Snow Patrol man who’s also one of the world’s most in demand songwriters.
“He’s an impressive dude,” Eamon notes. “We built a melody with Johnny and the lads, which is very different to how we did things in the past as a self-contained, DIY sort of a group. It’s quite a drawn out process that involves a degree of compromise, but we’re loving it.”
Johnny McDaid isn’t the only A-Lister contributing to the single’s parent album, due in early 2019.
“There are still a few ideas kicking around from the writing we did last year with Ed, and Foy Vance is also a major part of the team. As conversations are had and the process evolves, a lot of different people are coming on board.
Beoga are allied to Spirit B-Unique, the London label and publishing company whose roster also includes John Newman, Olly Murrs, James Bay, Naughty Boy and Tiggs Da Author.
“The label are saying, ‘You’re the first band we’ve had in a while where we’ll have to look at pressing some vinyl!’” Eamon laughs. “It’s a really interesting time at the moment. The notion of ‘trad’ music belonging in a museum is being challenged by the likes of ourselves and The Gloaming and Lankum who have an anarchic side that all the punks are drawn to.”
Beoga talk more about Ed Sheeran on page 29 of our new issue.