At a festival packed with voices of resistance and catharsis, Meryl Streek still manages to stand out. Fusing spoken-word with deceptively fun sounding instrumentals, the Dublin artist channels grief, rage, and political urgency into something impossible to ignore. We caught up with him backstage at 2000Trees to talk protest music, personal loss, and what it means to scream into the void, and actually be heard.
So for anyone who doesn’t know who you are, can you describe what you do, what your sound is?
Yeah! My name’s Meryl Streek, I’m from Dublin, Ireland. I do a really heavy kind of electronic punk music to social commentary, and mostly my music is about real issues, real people that have suffered through corruption, the Catholic church, alcoholism, drug addiction. It’s very serious music with a kind of poppy element to kind of throw people off.
Obviously you’ve just mentioned that you talk a lot about real life issues, and quite harrowing stuff – do you feel like bringing it to light in an ‘easier to listen to’ way gets people to actually pay attention?
Yeah, it totally does, but the initial trick was to go back to the way Chumbawamba did it. To trick the radio DJs to play my music without realising I’m talking about someone being murdered, you know what I mean? I always tread carefully with these issues and I don’t be disrespectful with it, but I do this because a lot of these cases need to be heard and they need to be spoken about. I wanted that goofy element to it anyway, so I just think the contrast of something really harrowing and then something really poppy or beautiful, it’s a weird combination but I think that’s the trick behind Meryl Streek.
Yeah, I think that’s the massive appeal behind it as well. I feel like you’ve got almost a little bit of a cult following.
Yeah, totally do yeah.
I was at your set earlier today, and the song about your uncle..
Paddy!
Yeah, that was, I think, very moving especially with how you got the crowd to join in.
It gets people very emotional, because we all have a Paddy in our life. But I was up there today, actually, and it was funny – it doesn’t happen often, but just today when I was singing that song, I was like, “if he was alive now, he’d fucking hate it”! I was like “fucking hell”! But you know, it has to be done.
Absolutely. I also wanted to ask, with you talking about real life cases, real life issues, is there ever sort of a plan or formula, or is it more just stuff that, at the moment, has caught your attention or is affecting you at the time of writing?
Well there’s totally that too, but it’s more a case of me getting into the rabbit hole sitting on YouTube till six in the morning, reading about things, and I discover something that really interests me or I feel that needs a bit of attention. Then I’ll focus on that and try to do something for it. But you know, I’m always respectful, I’ll reach out to the people beforehand and ask, “is it okay?”, and if it’s something that they’re interested in. So I don’t just do these and spring these topics on the people that they’re about, but it is just everyday life at this point, the world has gone mad in my eyes and it’s important for people to be speaking up about it.
Kind of speaking of, I suppose, can we expect more music anytime soon?
Yeah, I’ve nearly finished the third album already! I’m just trying to figure out how and when to go about it, I don’t want to rush it out. I’ve just put an album out last October and it’s still doing the rounds, so I’m just taking my time with this one. I have a lot of new music there, I’ve just got a busy year through the end of this year and then a lot to do next year as well, so I’d say early next year for looking to get it out.
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Oh amazing! So kind of veering into more typical festival interview questions now, this isn’t your first appearance at 2000Trees, is it?
No, I was here last year.
What’s it like being back, doing two sets this year?
Last year was so incredibly special, it was mad. Like, 15 minutes before there was no one in the tent, and then I blinked and the tent was wedged. The security couldn’t even get into the tent, it was like two or three thousand people that’d shown up, I couldn’t believe it. After that performance last year, I didn’t think we could top it, but last night’s gig was unbelievable. I’m the one responsible for the barriers now being pushed back 5 feet.
Oh what, no way!
Yeah, there was just people being thrown over the barrier the entire time, it was nuts. And the main stage today, it was quite funny just screaming at people about the worst topics known to man at 11am when they’re hungover. So I think I’ve done alright, you know, and I’m happy anyway.
Yeah, you had very good energy today!
Thank you so much!
Even the little kids up front were having a great time with the wee bits you were giving out!
Ah, you’ve got to look after the nippers. One of my earliest childhood memories is like- my dad’s a drummer and used to give me his drumsticks, so that’s why I do it.
I love that! And our final question, is there anyone you’re hoping to catch this week, or have you already caught?
I would have liked to have seen Witch Fever and La Dispute, but unfortunately I’m not around, I leave tomorrow. Big Special, I’m going to catch them this afternoon, and I’m obviously going to watch Kneecap. Who else have I got? Grade 2 are playing as well, Clobber, they are going to be fantastic. There’s too many bands, too many!
With a third album already nearing completion and a packed schedule ahead, Meryl Streek shows no sign of slowing down. His unflinching honesty and explosive live shows continue to resonate with audience across the UK and Ireland, and with upcoming tour dates on the horizon, fans won’t have to wait long to scream along with him again. Catch one of his live shows while you can – just don’t expect to leave unchanged.
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