For the guts of a decade this site has been about other people's drumming. Thirty-two of them ended up in Irish Drummers Volume 1 — the players, the gigs, the kits, the near-misses and the long roads. I asked the questions. This autumn, for a change, I'm on the other side of it.

I've been playing percussion with Giuliano & Friends, and we have a new CD released.

Who's in it

Giuliano Gnagnatti is on vocals, guitar and songwriting. He founded his first rock band, The Spirituals, at fifteen back in Italy — and remarkably, that band is still going with its original line-up. Since 2015 he's been a familiar face on the Mayo folk club circuit: Westport, Ballina, Killala.

Ray McHale plays guitar. Ray is from Ballina and spent the Britpop years working the Irish and UK rock and folk scenes, and it shows — there isn't a song you can put in front of him that he doesn't find the right shape for.

Donncha Butler is on double bass, an instrument he came to in retirement after concluding that an acoustic bass guitar without an amplifier is mostly a rumour. Hard to argue with the logic.

And I'm on percussion.

The music

We released our first single on 14 August: an acoustic reworking of "The Way We Were". Taking on a Streisand standard is either brave or foolish, depending on the day.

The EP of original songs follows in late autumn, recorded at Clew Bay Studio in Westport. I'll put the details up here the moment we have a date. Don't forget if want to order the book or CD then drop me a line. irishdrummers@gmail.com 

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Slane 2027: Mayo’s Tom Coll Takes On the Biggest Stage of Them All

 

There are gigs, and then there is Slane. So it was a special morning for Irish drumming when Fontaines D.C. confirmed they will headline Slane Castle on Saturday, June 26th 2027 — with a second night, Sunday, June 27th, added within days after phenomenal demand. That is 80,000 people a night on the banks of the Boyne, and it makes Fontaines D.C. only the third Irish act ever to top the bill at Slane, after Thin Lizzy in 1981 and U2 in 2001. Serious company.

And behind the kit for all of it: Tom Coll, from Parke, Co. Mayo.

A Mayo man at the back of the biggest stage in Ireland

We first featured Tom on Irish Drummers back in 2018, when Fontaines D.C. were a hungry Dublin band with a handful of singles and a debut album still in the works. He talked then about growing up around trad music and pipe bands in Mayo, getting his first kit at 12, and studying at BIMM in Dublin. Eight years, three Grammy nominations, a Mercury nomination and a run of chart-topping albums later, he is heading for Slane. Fair play does not begin to cover it.

Tom is not the only Mayo connection either — bassist Conor Deegan hails from Castlebar. Two-fifths of one of the biggest bands on the planet, straight out of the West.

The playing

What makes Tom such a joy to watch is how much space he leaves. He drives the band without crowding it — the drums serve the tune. His influences say plenty about that approach: Levon Helm, James Gadson, Mark Guiliana, Brian Downey and Jojo Mayer. 

His advice to players, from our chat with him, still stands up: surround yourself with good people who fulfil you creatively and personally. That is how original work gets made.

The details

• Dates: Saturday, June 26th & Sunday, June 27th 2027, Slane Castle, Co. Meath
• Support: Hayley Williams, Damien Dempsey and Madra Salach
• Tickets: on general sale now
• New album: Dopamine Chamber, out October 16th 2026

Two nights, 160,000 people, and a Mayo drummer counting it in. We could not be prouder. Roll on June 2027.

Read our 2018 interview with Tom https://www.irishdrummers.com/2018/05/tom-coll-drummer-with-fontaines-dc-be.html

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