Introducing: Brògeal

With a reputation for blowing the roof off any venue they step into, Brògeal are fast becoming one of the UK’s most essential live bands. Hailing from Falkirk and riding the wave of a Celtic punk resurgence—while injecting it with indie swagger and a sharp lyrical bite—they’ve already caught the attention of The Independent, Rolling Stone, and Dork.

Now, with their latest single ‘Vicar Street Days’ out on Play It Again Sam, the five-piece are diving headfirst into their chaotic, formative years—nodding to sticky ceilings, cheap pints, and the kind of youthful recklessness that breeds lifelong memories (and maybe a few regrets). We caught up with Brògeal to talk about hometown mischief, songwriting nostalgia, and what comes next for the band who’ve turned “feedback and debauchery” into a mission statement.

Vicar Street Days” feels like a chaotic love letter to your youth — what’s it been like turning those wild nights into something melodic and nostalgic?(Follow-up: Do you ever miss the messiness of those early days in Falkirk?)

It’s strange looking back on something that in reality was only a few years ago, but honestly it feels like another life. It was its own place in time, and so it had to be written about. It’s weird. We miss it a lot in a rose-tinted way, but we want to keep moving forward.

2. Dork described you as “riding a resurgent wave of traditional Celtic music but blending it with your own indie sensibilities.” Was that fusion intentional from the start, or did it evolve naturally out of your influences?

We started as a three piece, and as we were learning the traditional instruments as we went along it definitely started with more of that sound. But we always wanted to put our own mark on the tunes and make them authentically ‘us’ so we looked a bit further afield for inspiration.

3. You’ve been called “one of the best live acts” and “capable of cooking up absolute bangers” — what’s the secret to a Brògeal live show? What do you want people to walk away feeling?

It’s undoubtedly true, we’re some boys. We put our all into every show, and we can only be ourselves. There’s no frills or funny business, just tunes played to the best of our ability. We want people to join in and have a riotous time- we feed off their energy. “Rock n Roll shows without the fans are nothing”

4. Your path to Play It Again Sam has been a proper grassroots journey — bus meetups, DIY gigs, leaky gazebos — what’s kept you grounded through the chaos and momentum?

It’s never felt like a case of ‘too much too soon’, we’ve always had a goal in mind and there’s always something to do and look forward too, so the progression has felt natural and the graft is paying off, We’re ambitious and know that you have to take the good with the bad. There’s been some crap gigs in the middle of winter in a town far away to not a lot of people, but it simply needs done. We’re close, we believe in ourselves and we know what we want to do. We enjoy ourselves. 

5. With the release of “Vicar Street Days” and a summer stacked with festival dates, where do you see this next chapter of Brògeal taking you — both musically and as a band of mates?

It will take us down some strange and dingy alleys, through golden fields, across the sevens seas. As long as it can be articulated in a good song, it can take us where it likes.