For Johnny Mac, frontman of Johnny Mac and the Faithful, Shane MacGowan and The Pogues were never simply another band. Growing up in Glasgow to Irish parents and grandparents, Johnny was immersed in traditional Irish and rebel music from an early age. It was part of everyday life, with records constantly spinning and musicians regularly gathering at home. Add a strong family allegiance to Celtic Football Club and Irish culture was firmly in his DNA.
When punk rock arrived, Johnny and his peers embraced it, but it was The Pogues who ultimately brought everything together. For him, they represented the perfect marriage of punk rock attitude and traditional Irish roots. It was, as he describes it, an epiphany – a natural musical home that connected two worlds.
That connection would eventually lead to a friendship and creative partnership with Shane himself, one that Johnny remembers with enormous affection.
Ahead of the release of the all-star tribute album “Shane McGowan – 20th Century Paddy” on November 13, which Johnny Mac and The Faithful appear on, Johnny Mac spoke with Australian Musician editor Greg Phillips about his heartfelt connection with The Pogues’ Shane McGowan.
MORE ABOUT THE INTERVIEW
Johnny’s introduction to Shane came through a charity recording for Celtic Football Club. Having enlisted an impressive collection of contributors, including Rod Stewart, Noel Gallagher and Echo & The Bunnymen, he was determined to get Shane involved. Knowing Shane was also a Celtic supporter, Johnny reached out and was delighted when he agreed.
The first meeting came with a typically entertaining Shane MacGowan twist. Shane was supposed to arrive in Glasgow for a performance at Celtic Park but, being Shane, turned up four days late. With the event attracting plenty of media attention and thousands of Celtic supporters eagerly anticipating his appearance, Johnny was beginning to wonder whether it would happen at all. Shane eventually arrived the night before the game, the pair promptly went out drinking, and the following day he took his place in the middle of Celtic Park in front of 62,000 fans. There was even an altercation with the club’s mascot, the Huddle Hound, along the way.
It was the beginning of a friendship that would last for years, involving visits to Dublin, London and Glasgow, plenty of time in the pub and several musical collaborations. Among them were recordings for Celtic and the co-written song ‘Tomorrow Belongs to Me’. They also worked together on a Christmas album with three Catholic priests signed to Sony Records, producing a memorable version of ‘Little Drummer Boy’.
Johnny’s memories of writing with Shane are particularly fascinating. Their songwriting sessions were often anything but conventional, frequently beginning in the pub and continuing over several days before eventually making it into the studio. He recalls working on ‘Tomorrow Belongs to Me’, when Shane began asking about his upbringing in Milton, a tough area of Glasgow where poverty, gangs and crime were part of everyday life. Shane was interested in the details, including the names of local gangs, old girlfriends and Johnny’s childhood memories.
After a couple of days of conversation, they eventually assembled the musicians in the studio. Johnny, modestly describing himself as a four-chord guitar player, began strumming while Shane hummed and sang. Suddenly, Shane started turning those earlier conversations into lyrics, weaving together the stories and details Johnny had shared.
“It just turns into poetry,” Johnny recalls. “And it’s just from chat.”
For Johnny, witnessing that process was magical, offering a firsthand glimpse into the extraordinary songwriting instinct that made Shane such a singular talent.
While Shane’s reputation as one of the greatest songwriters is rarely questioned, Johnny believes another aspect of his artistry deserves greater recognition: his singing. Having performed so many Pogues songs himself through his own tribute show, he knows just how difficult it is to approach Shane’s material. Trying to replicate his delivery simply doesn’t work; eventually, you have to find your own way into the songs. That, Johnny believes, is testament to just how distinctive Shane was as a vocalist.
He also feels the public didn’t always get to see the man behind the familiar image of the hard-drinking, unpredictable punk poet. Having spent considerable time with him, Johnny remembers someone incredibly humble, intelligent and generous, with little interest in money or celebrity. Shane loved a good drink, a chat and a laugh, but he was also someone who would readily give money to people in need. It was a beautiful side of his character that Johnny feels was often overlooked by the press.
That personal connection makes Johnny’s involvement in the forthcoming Shane MacGowan tribute album 20th Century Paddy all the more meaningful. His contribution is a live version of The Pogues’ ‘Fiesta’, recorded with Johnny Mac and the Faithful during one particularly raucous night in Glasgow.
Following Shane’s passing, Johnny had been in America touring and felt compelled to do something to honour his friend when he returned home. That inspiration led to For the Love of Shane McG, a live show initially conceived as a small tribute tour, performing Pogues songs with a raw, punk-influenced approach reminiscent of the band’s 1985 era.
The performances quickly found an audience, growing from a handful of dates into a much bigger undertaking. During one particularly lively Glasgow show, the band recorded ‘Fiesta’. Given the song’s inherent party atmosphere, Johnny felt the live version captured something that a studio recording might struggle to reproduce. Rather than revisit it in the studio, they simply mixed the performance for the tribute album.
“It sounds like an absolute, you know, the maddest party ever,” he says. “And we were that kind of night in Glasgow. So we kind of got a little bit of that. Maybe not quite to the Pogues’ standard, but we certainly got the essence of it.”
Johnny is understandably proud to find himself among the impressive collection of artists contributing to 20th Century Paddy. Bruce Springsteen, Steve Earle and Primal Scream are among his personal heroes, while he also singles out contributions from Moya Brennan, The Libertines, Liam Ó Maonlaí, Johnny Depp and Imelda May. He particularly loves Ó Maonlaí’s haunting interpretation of ‘The Broad Majestic Shannon’, as well as The Libertines’ uplifting take on ‘Sayonara’ and Moya Brennan’s beautiful contribution, ‘Mother Mo Chroi’.
The album’s artwork is another highlight for Johnny, featuring Shane’s own distinctive visual creations. He describes it as wild and beautiful, capturing something of Shane’s extraordinary imagination and personality.
Johnny believes the enduring appeal of Shane and The Pogues comes from their ability to take traditional Irish music and present it to the world in an entirely new way. Before The Pogues, Irish traditional music was often considered old-fashioned, something belonging to grandparents rather than the contemporary music scene. Shane and the band changed that perception, combining traditional instruments and melodies with punk’s energy, attitude and rebellious spirit.
They brought Irish music to the masses in a way that was both authentic and exciting, wearing their cultural identity proudly at a time when doing so was a bold statement. Add Shane’s extraordinary songwriting and complete indifference to celebrity or what anyone thought of him, and Johnny believes they had something truly special.
The success of For the Love of Shane McG has provided another way for Johnny to keep that music alive. What began as two farewell performances in Glasgow and London evolved into a multimedia celebration incorporating previously unseen photographs, video footage and personal stories alongside the music. Initially booked for just three nights at the Edinburgh Fringe, the show eventually expanded to around 16 performances, selling out and subsequently travelling to Amsterdam, Denmark and France.
Performed with Johnny Mac and the Faithful, the production has become a joyful celebration of Shane’s life and music, with the support and encouragement of Shane’s partner Victoria and his sister Siobhan. For Johnny, sharing those personal stories and memories is just as important as performing the songs themselves.
He’d love to bring the show to Australia, a country he has yet to visit despite having a surprisingly strong musical connection here. Through his songwriting and production work, Johnny has been involved with artists including Bardot, Bachelor Girl, Blue, Westlife and Sandi Thom, whose hit ‘I Wish I Was a Punk Rocker’ was also one of his songwriting credits. An Australian visit is firmly on his wish list, and he sounds more than enthusiastic about the prospect.
As for 20th Century Paddy, Johnny hopes the album will offer something fresh even to lifelong Pogues fans, with its different interpretations, arrangements and vocal approaches giving familiar songs a new dimension. More importantly, he hopes it will encourage people who know the big hits, such as ‘Fairytale of New York’ and ‘Fiesta’, to explore the depth of Shane’s catalogue, including the earlier Pogues recordings and his work with The Nips.
For Johnny Mac, the album is a rejuvenation of music that was already brilliant, and an opportunity to introduce Shane’s work to another generation of listeners. Having known the man, shared the pubs, written the songs and experienced the magic firsthand, his contribution comes from a particularly personal place.
And while the world may remember Shane MacGowan as punk rock’s great Irish poet, Johnny Mac remembers the humble, generous friend behind the legend. It’s a fitting tribute to a remarkable songwriter whose music, as Bruce Springsteen suggests, will still be played a hundred years from now.
20th Century Paddy is relaesed on November 13, 2026. https://shanemacgowan.ochre.store/