About Me
Courtesy of Rolling StoneShane MacGowan was born in Kent on Christmas Day, 1957, when his parents were visiting relatives in England. Three months later he was back in Ireland, where he lived with his mother's family in northwest Tipperary, on the Galway/Clare borders, until he was six and his parents relocated to England.They moved around a lot with his father's job, living in Kent and several houses in London, but never really settled anywhere. His mother was a prize-winning traditional Irish singer and his father a frustrated office worker who aspired to be a professional writer. Their house, Shane remembers, was always full of books: "Yeats, all the Irish poets, The Ginger Man by J.P. Donleavy, Graham Greene, Catch 22. When I was about ten, I started reading stuff like Animal Farm and Steinbeck, Hemingway and Joyce. I even read Ulysses that took me a while."When he was 12, Shane won a semi-scholarship to Westminster, a top boys' school. Shortly after settling there, he attended his first gig: Mott The Hoople at a Fulham pub in 1971. He was instantly hooked and by the ninth grade, he had grown his hair and was listening to the MC5, the Stooges and the New York Dolls.It was in 1975 that things started to come together for Shane: "I got this impulse to cut all my hair off and started wearing it like a '50's greaser. Then I got into the tail end of the pub rock scene Eddie And The Hot Rods, the 101ers. It was at a 101ers gig at the Nashville when I first saw the Pistols. I just couldn't believe it. There it was. The band that I'd always been waiting for, playing stuff by the Stooges and Dolls. I just thought, This is what I'm about, and I started following them."During the early months of '77, Shane formed his own band, The Nipple Erectors: "Everybody was forming bands; it was such a laugh. It was like a competition: What's your band called then?" The group went on to release one single and developed a large live following but broke up in the middle of 1979.Shane worked on and off in a record shop for a few years and played in another band, The Millwall Chainsaws. One night in 1982, Shane and fellow band members, Spider Stacy and drummer Ollie, decided to stage an impromptu performance of a couple of rebel songs at Cabaret Futura. Stirring up strong feedback, they teamed up with King's Cross Pub drinking partners Jem Finer, James Fearnley and Andrew Rankin to form a new group, Pogue Mahone (Gaelic for 'kiss my arse'). Cait O'Riordan, an avid Nipple Erectors fan, completed the line-up.Their first single, "Dark Streets of London," was released on their own Pogue Mahone label in 1983 and, after a diplomatic name-trim, The Pogues signed on to Stiff Records. The following year saw the release of their internationally acclaimed debut LP Red Roses For Me.Having supported Elvis Costello on a month-long UK tour, Elvis went on to produce The Pogues "Pair of Brown Eyes" single and their second LP, 1984's Rum, Sodomy & The Lash.The summer of '87 saw The Pogues as special guests on several of U2's stadium shows, culminating in a Madison Square Garden date; December that year saw them reaching Number 2 in the UK Christmas charts with "Fairytale Of New York," a duet by Shane and Kirsty MacColl. Their next album, If I Should Fall From Grace With God, came out in early '88 and went on to sell over a million copies worldwide.They followed it up with 1989's Peace & Love, an album accompanied by a number of acclaimed live dates supporting Bob Dylan in America and touring Australia, New Zealand and Japan. Shane's last album with The Pogues was Hell's Ditch, which was released in 1990.Shane left The Pogues in September 1991: "They got very progressive and all the rest of it I preferred it when it was just loud and fast and simple and funny." Since then he's been seen and heard in a series of walk-on parts with the likes of The Dubliners, Nick Cave, Van Morrison, The Jesus And Mary Chain, and even Breton harpist Alan Stivell. Shane's songwriting skills have been requested by a remarkably motley bunch including U2 and, just as unlikely, Lisa Stansfield.In 1993 Shane formed The Popes to record his album 'The Snake' released in 1994.From that original line up are Paul (Mad Dog) McGuinness, on vocals and guitars, and Tom MacAnimal on Banjo (from London Irish band 'The Storm'). They first toured with Shane playing his new solo material as well as his songs from his time with The Pogues. The Popes line up was completed with Bob Dowling on bass and Andy Ireland on drums.Shane then recorded the 'Crock Of Gold' album in 1997 with The Popes.He has been constantly touring, playing live around the world.He recently released 'Across The Broad Atlantic' a live album recorded in New York, St Patrick's day, on Eagle Rock Records and is currently in the studio recording tracks with The Popes for his new studio album, scheduled for release later this year.2004 is proving a very busy year fro Shane. Apart from many gigs. Festivals and performances he is featured in new British film 'THE LIBERTINE' along with Jonny Depp and John Malkovich.
