Biography
The Dublin indie rock five-piece Gurriers surfaced early in the 2020s, fusing punk with shoegaze into an urgent, abrasive style whose half-sung, half-spoken vocals carried pointed social and political observations. Guitarist Mark MacCormack and football-obsessed drummer Pierce Callaghan spent their formative years together in Castleblayney, County Monaghan. Although MacCormack initially steered Callaghan toward heavier sounds—enough for the pair to attend a Metallica concert—they also bonded over melodic indie bands such as the Stone Roses and Oasis. Lead singer and lyricist Dan Hoff likewise balanced a teenage fixation on Blur with an awareness that a riff-driven track like Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” could achieve mainstream dominance. Bassist Emmet White and guitarist/backing vocalist Ben O’Neill, who attended secondary school together, later co-founded the Dublin electro-noise outfit YARD in 2018. By the close of the 2010s all five future Gurriers had settled in Dublin and crossed paths; Callaghan recalls meeting Hoff on the same evening MacCormack hosted touring members of Deftones at a mutual friend’s house.
The five musicians gathered in a Dublin pub in late 2019 to plan the band and staged their debut rehearsal the following January. White began capturing their rehearsals, and his production of the crunching “Approachable”—a track that voiced alarm over far-right politics—became Gurriers’ first single in August 2021. He also handled the September follow-up “Top of the Bill” and the March 2022 release “Boy.” Frequent BBC 6Music airplay from Steve Lamacq prompted a hastily arranged run of U.K. shows that same month. The band then made their European festival debut in Spain and the Netherlands, toured the U.K. with Brighton’s Chappaqua Wrestling, and closed the year supporting Belfast’s Enola Gay in Dublin.
A re-recorded version of “Approachable,” produced by Chris W. Ryan of Robocobra Quartet at Belfast’s Start Together studio, arrived in February 2023. May brought U.K. dates alongside the Mary Wallopers and the single “Sign of the Times,” tracked with Alex Greaves at the Nave in Leeds. After performing at Latitude Festival in Southwold, Gurriers returned to continental Europe for festival appearances in Germany, Poland, Belgium, and the Netherlands; on several of those dates friend Charlie McCarthy filled in on bass for White. The discordant, alarm-driven “Nausea” surfaced in September alongside French shows that included a support slot with San Diego’s Crocodiles. November found the band opening for Slowdive in Dublin and Belfast and for Porridge Radio in London during the Pitchfork Music Festival.
By February 2024, when Gurriers issued “Des Goblins,” McCarthy had become White’s permanent replacement; his first official show took place in Lille on a bill with Brighton’s Lambrini Girls. Subsequent months included a visit to Austin’s SXSW and a Brixton support slot with the rising Fat Dog. May’s “Close Call,” which highlighted Dublin’s disenfranchised youth, preceded fresh editions of “Approachable” and “Top of the Bill.” Following festival appearances in the Czech Republic, Germany, and Belgium, the band released their Greaves-produced debut album, Come and See, in September 2024.
The five musicians gathered in a Dublin pub in late 2019 to plan the band and staged their debut rehearsal the following January. White began capturing their rehearsals, and his production of the crunching “Approachable”—a track that voiced alarm over far-right politics—became Gurriers’ first single in August 2021. He also handled the September follow-up “Top of the Bill” and the March 2022 release “Boy.” Frequent BBC 6Music airplay from Steve Lamacq prompted a hastily arranged run of U.K. shows that same month. The band then made their European festival debut in Spain and the Netherlands, toured the U.K. with Brighton’s Chappaqua Wrestling, and closed the year supporting Belfast’s Enola Gay in Dublin.
A re-recorded version of “Approachable,” produced by Chris W. Ryan of Robocobra Quartet at Belfast’s Start Together studio, arrived in February 2023. May brought U.K. dates alongside the Mary Wallopers and the single “Sign of the Times,” tracked with Alex Greaves at the Nave in Leeds. After performing at Latitude Festival in Southwold, Gurriers returned to continental Europe for festival appearances in Germany, Poland, Belgium, and the Netherlands; on several of those dates friend Charlie McCarthy filled in on bass for White. The discordant, alarm-driven “Nausea” surfaced in September alongside French shows that included a support slot with San Diego’s Crocodiles. November found the band opening for Slowdive in Dublin and Belfast and for Porridge Radio in London during the Pitchfork Music Festival.
By February 2024, when Gurriers issued “Des Goblins,” McCarthy had become White’s permanent replacement; his first official show took place in Lille on a bill with Brighton’s Lambrini Girls. Subsequent months included a visit to Austin’s SXSW and a Brixton support slot with the rising Fat Dog. May’s “Close Call,” which highlighted Dublin’s disenfranchised youth, preceded fresh editions of “Approachable” and “Top of the Bill.” Following festival appearances in the Czech Republic, Germany, and Belgium, the band released their Greaves-produced debut album, Come and See, in September 2024.
Albums
Singles
