Meryl Streek, the solo project of long-time touring musician Dave Mulvaney, are an atypical but notably modern act. With a distinctly boisterous, political bent to his spoken (/ shouting)-word lyrics, Mulvaney forcefully delivers his points over a backdrop of a laptop. Nonetheless, he’s more powerful in style than many more involved musicians, heavily echoing punk roots in the way his stage-front and audience-inhabiting performances punch pointedly through the static.
With second album ‘Songs For The Deceased’ out now, he’s still performing for a relative pittance (his upcoming Whelan’s shows are priced at just €15, and even his vinyl release is on the affordable end of the spectrum), a nod to Mulvaney’s ‘punching up’ identity, a ready-made man of the protesting people.
“I didn’t expect this reaction,” he tells us of the much-hyped record. “I came to this from 15 years playing drums touring, and I kind of lost faith in it. There’s no money in touring bands anymore. I was looking at Sleaford Mods on the stage dancing to a laptop, and I thought if these lads can get away with it… that’s where it comes from.”
“I don’t necessarily understand or trust people who don’t have things to say in these modern times,” he says of his punchy lyrical content. “I think the album gets the attention it does because a lot of people are struggling across the board. I think a lot of bands are afraid to have a voice, as the music industry can forget you very quickly if you don’t say the right things. I don’t really care about this stuff. It’s not my intent to impress people like the BBC. I want to hit with a younger generation in a certain way.”
“Eight years ago Kneecap were banned on RTE,” he says by way of example. “It took them eight years to care. Now I’m going to see them on the fifth night of a Vicar Street sold out run. That support is needed at the start, though, not now. That’s Ireland in a nutshell for me. We could have been here 3 or 4 years ago.”
His own progress has been a learning curve. “I went from being that drummer to teaching myself to use all this electronic equipment and record online, at the start of lockdown. For the second album I was more comfortable getting other people involved. It just naturally happened that way. All these people have been so nice to me since the start, so I wanted to use that opportunity. Bands like Benefits who do their own thing, follow their own purpose. They have a similar stance to me.”
For all the pointed politics – and we’ll let you discover that yourself – it’s Mulvaney’s uncle Paddy who is perhaps the star of the record. “He was my ma’s brother, one of those people who I swear was so smart it was insane. He spent his whole life reading, loved his wine… he was one of those supersmart characters who did it on his own terms, but he was disconnected from society. He shouldn’t have been, he could have accomplished a lot. He was like those old society writers.”
“Paddy’s father, my grandad, brought me up. I’ve always had this love for movies, so I have this horror movie ambience now in my stage show. You’re going to get an experience, your money’s worth. Something a little bit different. I’m not 100% sure what it is yet, but it’s definitely an experience.”
“I’m not angry all the time, not at all,” he says of the moody angles. “I go out of my way to help people. It’s just one of those things, I strongly disagree with the rock n’ roll lifestyle of acting like a prick. But I have to be angry on stage, it’s what the music is.”
