Shifting sounds and shaking stages - Enola Gay tease their explosive All Together Now set

Extra.ie​

4 days ago

Belfast's Enola Gay are not here to make easy listening.
The Irish noise-punk four-piece have built their name on blistering live shows, searing political lyricism, and a refusal to play it safe, and this weekend, they're bringing that uncompromising energy to All Together Now.
Slotted into the ever-curated Jameson The Circle stage, the band promise a set that's as loud and confrontational as ever. Belfast's Enola Gay are not here to make easy listening.
Ahead of their much-anticipated performance, Enola Gay sat down with Extra.ie to talk sound evolution, why indie acts need backing from homegrown brands, and what first-timers should expect when they stumble into the eye of their storm.
As anticipation builds, the band have also been vocal about the importance of platforms like The Circle Stage in supporting emerging Irish talent — especially at a time when independent artists face increasing challenges.
' I keep saying this repetitive thing of like, 'oh, Ireland's having its year. Ireland's having its year' and I personally feel that Ireland is consistently always dominating the market when it comes to music,' guitarist Joe McVeigh stressed. The Irish noise-punk four-piece have built their name on blistering live shows, searing political lyricism, and a refusal to play it safe, and this weekend, they're bringing that uncompromising energy to All Together Now.
' There's just such a great amalgamation of f*cking artists that are going about at the moment,' he urged, noting the likes of Cliffords, Curtisy and Makeshift Art Bar as some notable standouts.
Chiming in, bass player Adam Cooper noted the need for Irish brands to platform not only bands from the republic, but the immense amount of talent trickling down from up north.
' We were talking earlier there about the kind of like explosion of bands from the north of Ireland specifically. I feel like culturally and to do with the arts, obviously the United Kingdom has a history of defunding the arts, specifically Northern Ireland. It's the province in the UK that has had one of the starkest kind of changes in the last five years towards funding for artists. View this post on Instagram
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' So for a festival like All Together Now to make a point of including so many artists from the north as well and bringing them into the Irish scene at large is really, really important.'
Enola Gay are a band that thrive in extremes. The four-piece have forged a distinctive sound that refuses to sit neatly in any one genre; careening between abrasive noise rock, pulsing post-punk, industrial textures and moments of spoken word with a hip-hop edge.
' Our sound has developed from track to track. Like, we do not have any intentions of writing the same song twice,' Joe laughed. ' It just does feel like a cohesive evolution and I f*cking cannot wait to play these new tracks at All Together Now for the audience.' Slotted into the ever-curated Jameson The Circle stage, the band promise a set that's as loud and confrontational as ever.
' All four of us pull in from so many vast different styles and like genre preferences and things, and they all find a home with the tunes that we're writing. So we're all coming from a wide depth of places,' Adam added.
For All Together Now, Enola Gay are bringing the full force of their high-octane live reputation. Known for sets that are as intense as they are immersive, the band approach performance as a visceral release — an unrelenting surge of noise, sweat and tightly wound energy.
' If you wanna come and if you want to use full access to your body, you know what I mean? You've got organs that are pumping, you've got veins, you've got lungs full of oxygen. You have a heart that is going at 120 miles per hour.
If you want to feel every f*cking minutia, and cell and atom of your being, and we want you to sweat that out at our gig. That is going to be exactly what you get and then you're gonna leave and be like, 'I can't hear sh*t'.'
Festival-goers can apply via Eventbrite for a chance to attend a secret mystery act at The Circle Stage 2025.
Successful applicants will collect a pager from The Circle Stage area and receive performance details through an exclusive WhatsApp group when the pager activates.
Gemmed Dublin, in collaboration with Jameson, will be offering free custom gems to elevate your festival look, while the Jameson Album Cover Studio returns with iconic outfits, wind machines, pro photographers, and frame-worthy custom covers. All experiences have limited availability – book via Eventbrite here.