Irish indie rockers set to bring the noise to Slane with free gig

An Irish indie rock band that formed in the 1980s will take to the stage of Boyle's of Slane on Friday 23rd January for a special free-entry performance.

The band 'Stoat', who now all live between Slane and Garristown, formed in Wexford back in the late '80s. The band consists of John Hearne; guitar and vocals, Cormac Parle; keyboards and vocals, Jamie Evans; saxophone and bass and Stephen Whelan on drums.

While all except one member are originally from Wexford, drummer Stephen being from Dublin, Cormac has called the village of Slane his home for the last 20 years and is a regular at the Wednesday night jam sessions that takes place in Boyle's pub. Cormac was also previously a member of The Wednesday Gang, a well known Meath based band, for a number of years.

The band started releasing music in the early 2000s and to date they have released three albums, with the latest "I Contain Multitudes" being released last July to a lot of acclaim. The album was ranked number 10 in Irish Albums Of The Year for 2025 by Nova radio alongside the likes of other Irish artists such as CMAT and The Mary Wallopers.

Drummer Stephen Whelan said: " We make playful music, trying to cope with the seriousness of reality in a light-hearted way. People don’t listen to us to escape their day-to-day, but to join us in celebrating it.

Our newest album was mixed by Grammy nominees Chris O’Brien and Graham Murphy. The album is about seeing the world as it truly is - the absurdity, the mundane, the whimsy, the dread, the disappointments and the delights - and still managing to love it."

Stream Stoat's latest single 'Things I Learned in Therapy' on Spotify and Bandcamp now. For more information on Stoat's upcoming gigs, please click here.