“It’s an extension of our anger”: Dublin rockers Gurriers won’t back down

A rogue, a rascal, a lout – the Irish word ‘gurrier’ means a few things, but it always spells trouble.

“It’s cool that the word has started to seep into other countries,” Dan Hoff, frontman of noisy Irish five-piece Gurriers , tells NME of their rising international profile.

“Unless in France, where ‘guerrier’ means ‘warrior’.

We found that out quickly.” When we speak to them just ahead of their Cover shoot at a boxing gym in Manchester (a city that most of Gurriers now call home), they seem mild-mannered and thoughtful for a punk band, but it’s on stage where they truly step into the ring.

Every gig, they go to war.

But their battle-ready reputation for kicking up a ruckus won’t be news to you if you’ve caught them live over the last five years, razing club shows to the ground, bothering ever-larger stages at festivals, or opening arenas for the likes of Kneecap , Turnstile and Inhaler .

Gurriers on The Cover of NME.

Credit: Joseph Bishop for NME Live, they’re the aggressive manifestation of their songs of pain, longing, rage and injustice – with set highlights including the socially conscious garage-rock rumble of ‘Dipping Out’ or the modern world horrorshow of ‘Nausea’.

“I think of how we perform as being confrontational in some ways,” shares bassist Charlie McCarthy.

“That fits this idea of what Gurriers is: it’s an extension of our anger.

We’re ready to give that space to breathe and to exist.” Like all great bands, Gurriers look and feel like a gang: Hoff the punk poet, McCarthy a magnetic, fluid-limbed enigma, drummer Pierce Callaghan very much the anchor, and guitarists Mark MacCormack and Ben O’Neill in their own worlds either side.

They’re much more than the sum of their parts with a simple shared mission.

“If you’re coming off stage dry and not sweaty,” says Hoff, “then you’re not doing a good job.” Dan Hoff of Gurriers.

Credit: Joseph Bishop for NME Hoff’s own frontman energy was inspired by two very different extremes.