For almost a hundred years, it was illegal to sell intoxicating liquor in Ireland of a Good Friday – a bizarre decree that resulted in millions of lawless house parties, all stocked up with strong booze and raw sedition.

At one such saturnalia, 20 years ago, in Kells, in the royal county of Meath, a band was born, possessing a handle that would become one of the most contentious in the history of Irish rock and roll – HamsandwicH.

Famously, Bono pleaded with them to change it. HamsandwicH firmly replied ‘No!’, thus kicking off two decades ploughing their own furrow and releasing records on their own label – the majestically named 109A Records, immortalising the Dublin/Kells bus route.

Hot Press meets two thirds of HamsandwicH - frontwoman Niamh Farrell and guitarist Darcy (the missing third, Podge McNamee, wonderfully barges in for the final minute) – backstage in Doyle’s on College St., an hour or so before they are due to perform at the Ruby Sessions, the acoustic music night that has been held in Dublin every Tuesday since 1999.

Three days hence, HamsandwicH will release their fifth album and first live album – perfectly capturing this most incendiary of live acts, who have been igniting audiences for two decades. That’s a long time in any currency, but in the music industry, it’s rare as hen’s teeth.

“Of course, it’s massive,” Niamh agrees. “Not many do 10 years, it’s a huge achievement. We’ve been in the belly of the beast watching everything in the music industry change. It’s amazing to have that opportunity and also to still stay independent for those 20 years. Nobody wanted to sign us, so…”

Darcy takes up the tale.  “Record companies back in the day would see a band and think, ‘They are rough but we can mould them’. I just think we were too rough!”

“Too individual as well,” Niamh continues, “and maybe a bit too fucking bonkers, a bit too much going on.”

Where did that uniqueness come from?

“I think it’s because when we started off, a lot of bands were from Dublin,” says Darcy.

“There was a scene going on and we were always on the outside – we’ve always been independent. We called ourselves HamsandwicH, and I don’t know why to be honest. But that gives you an independent spirit, which makes you work harder. There was an ethos of that from the very start. I think because of the stupid name we gave ourselves, you’re always fighting against yourself – ‘You’ve a terrible name and you’re from the country!’”

Safe to say, there was no long-term planning. “We just did it for the craic, for a few drinks,” says Darcy.

“I hadn’t seen most of Ireland when I joined HamsandwicH, and then we’re going to these places. That was so exciting, going to places like Glastonbury, having adventures together.”

“I don’t think any of us at the beginning would have thought 20 years later, we’d still be doing it,” adds Niamh.

“We took it seriously from Wild Fox,” Darcy explains. “We started writing differently, to play live and maybe to get on radio. And then with the third album, Stories From The Surface, we took the songwriting even more seriously. And when that got to Number 1, we were like, ‘What else we can do?’

“So, from that point of view, I didn’t know if we were going to continue after that, because there’s only so much you can do as an independent band. You can’t really spread your wings out of Ireland without huge financial backing and we didn’t have that.”

HamsandwicH by Ian Oliver at Indiependence festival in 2007

“Then I think with Magnify, we went back to just having the craic with writing music,” Niamh reflects.

“Trying different things, just to keep it really interesting for ourselves.” There were other aspects too.

“We were maybe writing less for radio,” suggests Darcy. “I think we might have got into a bit of a radio rush – ‘Let’s write verse-chorus-verse in three minutes’ – because we were writing for being on Today FM, 2FM and Phantom FM. But radio now is totally different. So, for our fourth album Magnify, we’re like, ‘Well, if we’re not going be on radio, will we write music for ourselves?’ Because if we enjoy the music, it might translate. If it doesn’t it’s fine, but hopefully the people who come to the gigs will get it.”

Using that logic, the band knocked out a corker. On The Live Album, you hear fans deliriously greeting new songs from Magnify.

“Definitely,” Niamh agrees. “It was one of those things where we didn’t really know how fans of the band were going to take to that album. And for the majority, it was great. We had a few funny online comments, like, ‘This is ridiculous. I want to hear the heartfelt lyrics!’ I’m like, ‘Listen man, I’m not fucking 20 anymore, crying over my emotions, I have a better handle on life.’

It was more about the different sounds we could get rather than what they were about, essentially. And people seemed to take really well to it, so we were delighted.”

The aforementioned Stories From The Surface was the first album by an unsigned band to debut at number one in Ireland, and was also was nominated for the Choice Music Prize.

What would the band include among their other career highlights? “There are loads,” says Darcy.

“We played on the Main Stage of Electric Picnic on a Friday, in front of 15 or 20 thousand people. It was very last minute. We were playing another stage and MCD rang up and said, ‘Would you open up the Main Stage?’ It’s probably the biggest crowd we ever played to. And we were good.

“We definitely earned a lot of admirers from that gig. We probably got the Olympia from that. Forbidden Fruit was another one. We played ‘Ants’ for the first time on a festival stage and people were singing it back to us, because they had heard it on Phantom FM. It was the first time we felt connected to a festival properly.”

Niamh, meanwhile, has her own favourite memories. “The times we played at the Olympia,” she says. “And one of the years at Electric Picnic, when we played in the Electric Arena. For ‘Ants’, I brought my sister up on stage. She was eight or nine years old and it was just a magic moment. My dad has a photo up on the wall in his kitchen, where I’m holding my sister’s hand. That was unbelievable. Also, recording the last album, Magnify, at Black Mountain Studios. I just absolutely loved that.”

Recording The Live Album at the Olympia gig must have brought pressure?

“We thought the October gig at the Olympia was the best opportunity,” Darcy explains. “Because I feel the band is at its peak at the minute. We’ve a fantastic rhythm section – the drummer, the keys, everything is fantastic. There wasn’t dud song on the night, so it was a perfect storm.”

“I totally forgot it was being recorded, so did Podge,” Niamh laughs.

“I knew!” Darcy affirms. “Because I didn’t really move, I was like Marty McFly on the stage! But it was great, I had more family than usual in the crowd and there were a lot of regulars upfront, which was deadly. Over the years, you see them at all the gigs. That’s some dedication to one band, they’re fantastic for doing it.”

“It’s a cool way of doing a ‘Best Of’ album,” Darcy adds.

“You’re presenting yourself in the truest form. Otherwise you could just be lazy and pull the four albums together and say, ‘There you go.’ You get 18 songs together on an album with a bit of chat – you can hear Podge and Niamh having the craic.”

Unfortunately, the well documented recent closure of Ireland’s only vinyl manufacturer, Dublin Vinyl, has resulted in a delay to the release of The Live Album on double vinyl until further down the line. For now, it is available to stream, to whet your appetite for catching a HamsandwicH live gig.

I finish up by asking Niamh and Darcy if they’ll be still going in 2o more years? Queue the boisterous entry of Podge, whom Darcy asks, “Do you want to say something about The Live Album, just for a soundbite?” ‘Were ye not there yis pricks?’ he replies. ‘There’s your headline,” Niamh finishes.

• The Live Album is out now.

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