Roll of the Dice is a short interview format with a variable amount of questions. A Pair of dice is rolled and the total, between 2 and 12, is the amount of questions we can ask. All questions are given to the interviewee(s) at once, and no follow-ups are allowed. The interview may be lightly edited for content and clarity.
M(h)aol (pronounced male) are ready to take off on the wings of the new album Attachment Styles, due 3 February (pre-order). The post-punk quintet took time out before the release to join TGEFM’s Roll of the Dice interview series to discuss the new record, staying positive in the face of everything going on in the world and what’s next.
Thank you so much for agreeing to this interview. Congrats, in advance on the upcoming release of Attachment Styles. It’s one of the most anticipated albums of 2023 so far, the Gender Studies EP came out of nowhere and then “Asking For It” has completely blown me away. For the uninitiated, can you tell us a little bit about M(h)aol, how you all came together and about the album?
(Connie Keane, She/Her): The band started with me and Róisín and a friend of ours called Orla who was the first bassist. I was really annoyed with how I was being treated as a woman in the Dublin music scene and wanted to start a band to make boys in bands feel uncomfortable in green rooms.
(Jamie Hyland, She/Her): I had known Connie vaguely beforehand and knew that a punk band formed by her would be really cool so when I heard that they were looking for a replacement bassist I was really keen to get involved. Luckily Zoë had already joined so I just got involved as a recording engineer at first.
(Róisín Nic Ghearailt, She/Her) I truly don’t think I would have agreed to join when Connie asked me if it hadn’t been for Kathleen Hanna and the documentary The Punk Singer. I’d never seen anything like it and it 100% planted a seed!
Which song off the new record are you most excited to be playing live and why?
(Connie): I always love performing “Kim is a Punk-Type Dog” because I wrote the lyrics about my dog Kim who was almost 18 years old when she died and the most punk dog I’ve ever met. It makes me so happy that we were able to capture her spirit forever in a song.
(Jamie): “Cowboy Honey” I think is going to be a favourite. At the moment “Therapy” and “Period Sex” are already so much fun to play live, they’re all just such nice little grooves and I’m quite happy with those arrangements as something to push us out of the box that I worry the “punk” label might put us in otherwise.
(Róisín) Me too! “Therapy” and “Period Sex” are my current faves. I also absolutely love playing “Clementine” live because we all sing together. Playing “Óró Sé do Bheatha Baile” in Ireland always gives me goosebumps, it’s such an incredibly powerful song.
Whether it’s the UK or the US or anywhere else on earth, the world has seen some serious shit and, if we’re being honest, as a father of two young girls concerned with the future they grow up in, a lot of what has been happening scares the piss out of me. What advice or learning avenues does M(h)aol embrace to help society progress beyond this open proliferation of toxic douchebaggery?
(Róisín): I stopped reading books by straight, white, cis men about five or six years ago. In the interim time I’ve learnt that life has often been terrifying and circumstances harrowing but people have always managed to build community and find hope. It has been an honour these last five years looking to other communities for examples of better living or thinking. For your girls I think it is of upmost importance to recognise that while being a woman can come with a lot of complications it also comes with so much joy and freedom.
I try to look outside of the gloom, while keeping it in my peripheral vision, and empower myself with both contemporary and historical examples of people creating a better future. I recently finished reading A Ghost in the Throat by Doireann Ní Ghríofa which examined the life of Eibhlín Dubh Ní Chonaill a poet in Ireland in the 1700s. Ireland is an excellent example of extraordinarily dark circumstances and oppression (whether by the British Empire or the Catholic Church) and yet there has always been the flame of hope. What examples are you setting your girls? I like to think of history as a series of brave people doing something that might not benefit them but has ultimately benefited us. This sounds very vibey but we talk a lot about intergenerational trauma which is extremely important but there is also a rich tapestry of intergenerational care, women who’ve come before us who have passed down their courage.
(Jamie): Ro often says that once people are open to listening, learning and questioning their own acts/beliefs then there is hope. I think giving space to being wrong and learning to be better is such an important quality that more people could embrace.
One of our obligatory questions in these interviews also tends to be the one I have found most important on a personal level. Who are some bands on your radar that TGEFM readers may not know about, but you think they should?
(Connie): Big Joanie are my pick.
(Róisín): A band called Antia supported us in London and they were incredible. They are currently in the process of recording their debut EP.
Beyond the release of Attachment Styles, what’s next for the members of M(h)aol?
(Connie): I run the label that our music comes out on, called TULLE, so I’ll be working away on that. I’m also writing the second record for my solo project – Fears.
(Jamie): I have a solo project too which is basically 15 years worth of music of all sorts hiding on old hard drives and an album I made between 2020-22. I’m also in the process of opening a mixing and mastering studio under the same pseudonym – Caskré.
Bad Dad (occasionally called Ed) has been on the periphery of the punk and punk-adjacent scene for over twenty years. While many contributors to this site have musical experience and talent, Ed’s musical claim to fame comes from his time in arguably the most punk rock Blockbuster Video district in NJ where he worked alongside members of Blanks 77, Best Hit TV and Brian Fallon. He is more than just an awful father to his 2 daughters, he is also a dreadful husband, a subpar writer, a terrible dresser and has a severe deficiency in all things talent… but hey, at least he’s self-aware, amirite?
Check out the pathetic attempts at photography on his insta at https://www.instagram.com/bad_dad_photography/
