Shame: "When has music not been political?"

Shame have barely been in the country 24 hours, but they’ve already found time to tick off some Irish bucket-list essentials: a visit to Collins Barracks, a swim in the Forty Foot, and a bizarre interaction with Louis Walsh.

Of course, for the South London band, it was less of a ‘visit’ to Collins Barracks and more of a two-night, sold-out run of outdoor gigs at the historic site, alongside headliners Wunderhorse. Backstage, just a few hours before they take to the stage for the second of their famously raw, balls-to-the-wall sets, Shame fill me in on their encounter with one of the opening night’s more surprising attendees.

“Louis Walsh was here!” guitarist Sean Coyle-Smith laughs. “He very quickly suggested that we should be managed by Sharon Osbourne… I thought that was a slightly strange comment.

“But maybe you’ll see Shame or Wunderhorse on The X Factor,” he adds. “We’ll see what happens…”

The band’s visit to Dublin comes just a few weeks ahead of the release of their fourth album, and their first with Grammy-winning producer John Congleton, Cutthroat. They describe the new project as “back to basics”, with the band re-embracing some of the elements that made their lauded 2018 debut, Songs Of Praise, so special – and marked them as one of the most captivating emerging forces in a sudden swarm of innovative guitar bands, when they were barely out of their teens.

“The last two albums were quite internal,” vocalist Charlie Steen says of 2021’s Drunk Tank Pink, and 2023’s Food For Worms. “This one is similar to the first album – where it’s more social commentary, and looking out. And, I would hope, a bit more playful in general.”

“It feels like we exorcised a few of our demons on the last album,” Sean nods. “This one was a bit more effortless. We have a tendency to overcomplicate things – but John would just be like, ‘Why?’”

“A benevolent dictator”, as Sean describes him, Congleton’s straight-to-the-point input was crucial for a band (rounded out by guitarist Eddie Green, bassist Josh Finerty, and drummer Charlie Forbes) made up of childhood friends.

“We needed someone to be a paternal figure, basically, and say, ‘This is good, this is shit,’” Charlie elaborates. “Through knowing each other for so long, it’s quite democratic – and that, at times, isn’t always the best thing. He understood that, and very much steered the ship.”

Of course, the band members also consider themselves fortunate to have those close, deep-rooted bonds.

“We know quite a lot of people who are thrown together into bands with people they didn’t know,” Sean remarks. “And then, without realising, it’s almost like you’re getting married. If you’re going to do albums together, you’re going to spend an insane amount of time together. So I think we’ve been lucky in that regard.

“And as we’ve gotten older, we argue less and less,” he adds. “A lot of us are less hot-headed these days, and we don’t party as much. It’s a lot more wholesome, I’d say, when we’re touring.”

Shame at Collins Barracks on August 19th, 2025. Copyright Abigail Ring/ hotpress.com

Cutthroat, which is populated by a range of complicated characters (or, as Charlie calls them, “naughty people”), also draws inspiration from the writings of Oscar Wilde.

“I’d read The Picture Of Dorian Gray a few years ago, and I had this collection of five or six of his plays,” Charlie tells me. “He’s so funny as a writer, and it’s all about these contradictory characters and situations – so I knew I wanted to write about paradoxes.

“There’s obviously characters that we see on TV too, who are contradictions: the gangster who goes to church, the socialist who takes cocaine and eats in McDonald’s…” he continues. “I like those characters, where you’re aware of their flaws, yet you’re able to empathise with them, through the process.”

During the Cutthroat roll-out, Charlie also unveiled a new look of his own – featuring a priest collar, suspenders, and not much else.

“I’m a Catholic boy!” he grins. “My mum said my gran always wanted a priest in the family – so now they’ve got one. There’s an Aussie film called Bad Boy Bubby, which I really like. I got this Japanese poster of it, and I was like, ‘That’s such a cool outfit.’ I just thought it was quite funny!

“I was raised Catholic, and it does seep into you,” he continues. “Like, I’m sure, with many other religions. Having a crucifix on your wall for your entire childhood is going to do something to you. And in certain songs, it’s fun to play with that. Even in ‘Spartak’, saying, ‘cast the first stone’ – a lot of people were like, ‘What does that mean?’ But growing up, I’d hear certain sayings like that so much.”

From their earliest shows over here  – including a now-legendary Tivoli Theatre gig in 2018, where they were supported by Fontaines D.C. and The Murder Capital – Shame have built up a special relationship with Ireland, and its artists. But both Sean, whose mother is from Dun Laoghaire, and Charlie have noticed “a bit of a mass exodus” of Irish creatives in recent years.

“The first few times we came here, we made so many friends,” Charlie reflects. “And now it’s sort of strange, because the large majority – I’d say 30 – of those people now live in London. So we do see them quite a lot! But it’s interesting coming back – there aren’t as many people as we knew used to be here, and that’s just the way it is.

“It’s sad,” Sean nods. “A lot of the creatives I know from Ireland, especially if they’re starting out, don’t really see a future for themselves as an artist, if they stay here. And that’s a shame, because Ireland has always produced some of, if not the best music in the world. Dublin, albeit a small city, is an amazing city.”

Shame are also long-time fans of KNEECAP, who supported them at The Troxy in London, and appeared as special guests on their shamestation podcast back in 2023. Our conversation happens to fall on the same day as Mo Chara’s second court appearance in London, on a ‘terror’ charge the Irish trio have described as a “carnival of distraction” in the midst of genocide in Gaza.

With Shame having played fundraisers for Palestine as some of their very first gigs, back when they were 17 – as well as supporting Medical Aid for Palestinians with a benefit show in London last year – Sean describes the UK’s current crackdown on peaceful protesters and activists as “insanity.”

“And the thing that’s even more insane, is that we have what’s supposed to be a left-wing government that’s perpetuating all of this almost dictator-like behaviour, in favour of this genocidal Israeli regime,” he states. “It’s just madness.”

He’s also frustrated by the increasingly popular argument that “music shouldn’t be political.”

“I see so many artists coming out with this statement as well – like that bullshit from Matty Healy, being like, ‘I don’t want my legacy to be political’, or whatever,” he resumes. “Standing up for what you believe in is just the bare minimum you can do. And when has music not been political? Sinéad O’Connor quite literally sacrificed herself back in the ‘90s, and basically put her whole career on the line, for politics. You see the same thing happening now with KNEECAP.

“There’s been a lot of older artists who’ve shown their true colours as well, trying to have a toe in both camps,” he adds. “Like the recent statements from U2, which I thought was just pathetic. Bono once again wants everyone to like him – same with Radiohead. It’s just disgusting, really. Have some courage.”

SHAME at Collins Barracks on August 20th, 2205. Copyright Abigail Ring/ hotpress.com

As for Shame’s next move, following the release of Cutthroat, the plan is to “plough straight on.”

“Once your album’s out, you just go on tour for 18 months – and when you’re in that musical environment everyday, soundchecking all day and playing every night, you can get a bit sick of music,” says Sean. “So I’ve always had a lot of respect for the likes of Grian from Fontaines – because where does he find the time to write, when they’re constantly on tour? But he does it.

“I’m quite keen to try it this time round – and not take our foot off the gas. So by the time we finish this touring, we can have another album ready to go into the studio...”

• Cutthroat is out now. Shame play the National Stadium, Dublin (November 12) and Cyprus Avenue, Cork (13).