You heard U2, now it is time for some FRESH, NEW talent from Ireland: Meet Dublin’s blue collar rock bard The Mighty Stef.
The Mighty Stef, aka Stefan Murphy, is part Punk rocker and part bohemian. His new album ‘100 Midnights’ shows both sides at work, sounding like the result of a session with Johnny Thunders and Scott Walker in the back room of a pub.
When it comes to music, Stef’s heart beats for rock ‘n’ roll. His sound incorporates a big dollop of New York Punk with the flamboyance of Johnny Thunders and a pinch of blue collar rock a la Springsteen. Stef’s lyrics have a dry humour and his put-downs are cutting.
‘100 Midnights’, his second album to date, focuses on the bohemian side of Stef. The selection of songs favours downtempo numbers and the arrangements smell of seedy dive bars.
The best tracks on the album remind me of Scott Walker’s interpretations of songs by Belgian chansonnier Jacques Brel. They are bawdy ballads bursting with life, raucous and sad at the same time. Start with the title track ‘100 Midnights’, then check out ‘I Swear I Have No Feeling For That Girl’ and ‘Kings Of New York’ if you like that style.
Stef enlisted the help of some famous friends in the making of this album. Two members of legendary London-Irish hellraisers The Pogues appear as guest vocalists. Original Pogues frontman Shane McGowan duets with Shane on a cover of ‘Waitin Around To Die’, a song written by leftfield Country singer Townes Van Zandt. And Cait O’Riordain, the original Pogues bass player, duets with Stef on the track ‘Safe At Home’.
The rock ‘n’ roll animal that regularly graces Dublin stages for a bit of impromptu mayhem is largely missing from the album. Try ‘Safe At Home’ with Cait O’Riordain for a taster or the ace bubblegum Punk ballad, ‘Downtown’, that would have made Joey Ramone proud. This is real sing-a-long, fists in the air stuff.
‘100 Midnights’ is a great after hours listening album that captures that elegantly wasted feeling like no other.
Stef and his band are currently on tour in the US. They are due to hit the stage of the Mercury Lounge in New York on 7th March and will play three gigs at the prestigious ‘what’s hot in alternative music’ festival SXSW in Austin, Texas, between 19-21st March.
See The Mighty Stef On Video Here!
This video predates the new album, but it’s still a must see…
The album ‘100 Midnights’ is already out on CD in Ireland. It is due to be released on CD in the US and the UK on 6th March.
Musos’ Corner: For all you record collectors and train spotters out there, if you like The Mighty Stef’s ‘100 Midnights’ then you should look up Johnny Thunders (RIP) achingly sad solo album ‘Hurt Me’ (1984) on French label New Rose. I was lucky enough to see Thunders live before he died back in 1991. A totally awesome performer.
Another great lost artist who had that elegantly wasted feeling is Nikki Sudden. Formerly with UK post-punk pioneers Swell Maps, Nikki re-invented himself as a Thunders-meets-Keith Richards guitar slinger in the mid Eighties. Sudden and his band The Jacobites played trashy rock full of hungover melancholy. Check out their albums ‘The Jacobites’ (1984) and ‘Robespierre’s Velvet Basement’ (1985).
We say: 
US Readers - Buy The Mighty Stef’s ‘100 Midnights’ As MP3 Download Here!
UK & Ireland Readers - Buy The Mighty Stef’s Album As MP3 Download Here!
