Brògeal have today announced that their debut album, Tuesday Paper Club, will be released on October 17th via Play It Again Sam. Alongside the announcement, they have shared the album’s title track.
Tuesday Paper Club is a bubbling cultural cauldron set to boiling point. The album’s sound is rich with instruments such as accordion, banjo, bouzouki, mandolin, and perky penny whistle. It blends ancient folk traditions with an indie Gen Z sensibility, creating a sound that laughs, sings and dances in the face of 21st century darkness.
The album was recorded at Black Bay Studio on the Isle of Lewis. This residential studio, a refurbished fish processing factory, offers stunning bay views. The five members of Brògeal stayed at the studio with producer Richie Kennedy, an Irish Producer/Engineer/Mixer based in London. Kennedy’s previous credits include work with artists such as The Libertines, Cardinals, The Last Dinner Party, Interpol, Dua Lipa, Kylie, and U2.
Frontman Daniel Harkins talks about the new single:
“I wrote ‘Tuesday Paper Club’ initially as a poem when I worked behind the bar at an old man’s boozer in Falkirk called the Wheatsheaf. It was a Tuesday and there was about 3 punters in, all sitting in silence reading the papers. So out of boredom this little poem came about and ended up being more about older people’s views on the young and how they can be so bitter about us as if they weren’t doing the same, if not worse when they were younger. I added some chords to it later and took it to the lads and it instantly became an absolute foot stomper and it’s one of our favourite songs to play live now.”
“Tuesday Paper Club” follows previous releases “Vicar Street Club” and “Friday On My Mind”, the first singles from the band since signing with Play It Again Sam. Brògeal released their eponymously-titled EP in 2024 and have already been featured by Stereogum, Brooklyn Vegan, The Independent, Rolling Stone UK, DIY, Dork, Clash, The New Cue while also performing with with The Mary Wallopers, The Lathums, Paolo Nutini and The Wolfe Tones.
The rambunctious Celtic folk of The Pogues, the story-telling charm of The View, the lush pop harmonies of Teenage Fanclub, the jangly delicacy of the Smiths, the yearning of a classic Oasis B-side and a Scottish brogue as defiant as the Proclaimers… Brògeal have it all – and make it their own.
From small-town Falkirk in central Scotland the folk-punk-indie-pop five-piece have big ideas, with a reputation as one of the best live bands in Britain, their communal, sing-along, delirious anthems igniting mosh-pit madness throughout the UK, Ireland and beyond. Everybody loves them.
“The thing about our music is that it transcends all age groups,” notes vocalist/songwriter/guitarist Daniel Harkins. “You’ve got 14-year-old boys with their mums, they’re all going mental, you’ve got old punks, middle-aged women, young adults, old people, everybody’s digging it, you know? There’s something for everybody because you’ve got your folky influences, The Pogues, with this indie edge and pop sensibilities.”
Brògeal (pronounced Bro-gale) got here via the old-school, DIY route. Borne from a friendship on a bus – Daniel and fellow songwriter Aidan Callaghan (vocals, banjo) met on journeys to Celtic football games – they formed a typically ramshackle school punk band, Shiva, who were “shit”, but the passion remained. Traditional folk fans forever, loving The Dubliners and The Pogues, ideas for a folk band evolved, soon joined by Sam MacMillan who taught himself to play his grandad’s accordion. When Covid struck in 2020, more self-taught musicianship filled the void, learning their folky craft on curious older instruments, two meters apart, in Daniel’s back garden under a leaky Asda gazebo. Emerging from Covid, two new recruits joined – local studio engineer Euan Mundie (bass) and Luke Mortimer (drums) – and the distinctive Brògeal sound took shape: fearlessly merging traditionally raucous Celtic folk with deft, harmonious songcraft, pop nous and the indie noughties energy they grew up on. “We never set out with a [musical] plan,” notes Daniel. “Whatever we bring to the band, no matter what genre, it always ends up sounding like a Brògeal song anyway.”
They made their first EP for themselves, Dirt and Daydreams (2023) released on their own winningly titled CraicDen label, followed by an eponymous EP in 2024 on Is Right Records, leading to a signing with revered independent label Play It Again Sam (PIAS, home to Nick Cave, The Hives).
“We’ve always been kept busy and it just kind of got bigger and bigger at a really natural rate,” says Aidan. “It’s the stuff of dreams. You think, ‘Oh, that could never happen’, and we’re doing it!”
“Aidan’s being kind of humble there,” interjects Daniel. “Because we had the belief from the very start. That we’d be massive!”
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