Culture
18 Jun 21

VIDEO PREMIERE: Hermitage Green join forces with Canadian act The Trews on 'Ishmael & Maggie'

Taken from The Trews' sophomore album, 'Ishmael & Maggie' was recorded by the two bands after playing together in Cork in 2019.

Hermitage Green and Canadian band The Trews have together released 'Ishmael & Maggie', the first single from the Irish outfit’s forthcoming third album Hi Generation - out this autumn.

The Limerick folk-rock group have also announced a series of live dates around Ireland for the end of this year. The ‘Hi Generation Tour’ will run from October 9th to December 30th.

'Ishmael and Maggie' is an original song by Ontario-based rockers The Trews, which featured on their 2005 album Den of Thieves.

According to Hermitage Green vocalist Barry Murphy, the song was one that brought the two bands even closer while touring together in Ireland and Canada.

"When I first heard ‘Ishmael & Maggie’ the words and the story grabbed me straight away. Performing it in 2019 at Danforth Music Hall in Toronto is still one of my favourite moments I’ve had on stage," said Murphy. "The connection we made with The Trews grew further when they toured Ireland with us later that year and we again performed it every night at a packed St. Luke’s Church in Cork".

In between performing those multiple sold-out dates at St. Luke’s church in Cork in 2019, the two bands found time to get into the studio to record the track together. The music video is made up of footage from the live shows where the two bands performed the song together and that recording session, and captures perfectly "one of the best days we’ve had in the studio", Murphy said.

A "classic east coast drinking song" - according to The Trews singer Colin MacDonald - 'Ishmael and Maggie' is a perfect amalgamation between Irish and Canadian music, and with its infectiously catchy chorus, will surely be a celebratory track of the summer as countries begin to reopen. Look forward to belting out the refrain "we're all broken-hearted here" with your arm around a stranger in a packed pub at closing time.

"We're from the east coast of Canada, where Irish and Scottish music figures prominently into the culture," MacDonald explained. "We wanted to write a classic east coast drinking song. When we ended up making our way over to Ireland to open for Hermitage Green in 2017 and 2018, Barry and the guys took a shine to the tune. When I heard Barry sing 'these final words her majesty had to say’, I felt like he was born to sing the song."

"'Ishmael & Maggie' is a song that brings people together. It’s beautifully written and for me connects people with one another in a way that only music from the heart can. I’ll only drink with friends and total strangers. We’re proud to have it on the new record,” said Barry.

"We had a great camaraderie and musical chemistry with the Hermitage lads and it felt like the perfect song for our bands to sing together," added Colin. "During an amazing, sold out, four-night stint opening for Hermitage Green in an old church in Cork[...]in the ‘before times’, we took a day to head into the studio and lay down a big ol’ Canadian/Irish mash up of ‘Ishmael & Maggie’. It was an amazing day and we captured all the magic and fun on video as well. Beautiful memories and some great music, who could ask for anything more?"

Tickets for Hermitage Green's 'Hi Generation Tour' go on sale Monday June 21st and will be available at hermitagegreen.com. See below for the full list of dates.

Watch the video for 'Ishmael and Maggie' below, or stream it here.