12-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Examiner
Mike Garry: Manchester poet on Cork connections, Blindboy, and mentoring Morrissey
Spoken word poet Mike Garry's connection with Cork goes back a long way. He's performed in the city many times over the years. Of all his gigs around the globe, he singles out a night at the Cork Singers Club as a favourite.
'It was upstairs in a pub,' remembers Garry. 'There was a ringleader telling stories. Then he'd break off and go, 'Margaret, sing us The Fields of Athenry.' Margaret would get up and sing The Fields of Athenry. Then halfway through the gig, the guy goes, 'We've got a very special guest from Manchester, England here, Mr Michael Garry.' I had to stand up and do a piece.
'I recognised what they were doing was no different to what I do – telling stories about their life, their environment, their world. The sense of place has always been important to me. Think how confusing that gets when my blood is 100% Irish, but I was brought up in the middle of Moss Side.'
Garry, 60, grew up in an Irish household in inner-city Manchester. His parents were raised on farms in Ireland – his mother in south Armagh; his father in Kilskyre, Co Meath.
His ties with Ireland are strong. Fontaines D.C. and The Mary Wallopers, before both bands exploded, were attending his spoken word performances in Ireland.
And Blindboy's podcast has given him great succour, he explains: 'Blindboy has probably done more for my mental health in the last 10 years than the thousands of pounds I've given to shrinks. What Blindboy has done for me is explained my ADHD, explained why I don't like doing festivals. I struggle with touring.
'Everyone thinks touring is glamorous because you're staying in posh hotels and eating in restaurants, but it's not because from the moment you wake up, you're preparing for your gig. Every minute must work correctly, so when you walk onto stage, you're at your optimum.
"It means eating and drinking carefully, being careful about hiring bikes in foreign cities in case you get smashed up, and you go on stage with a broken leg.
'I miss my family, my home comforts. Also, the adulation stuff is difficult to deal with. Blindboy taught me how to deal with those people blowing smoke up your arse all the time. It's easy to go up your own arse in this game.
'I'm constantly checking in with myself, making sure I'm on a level whereby I accept my fallibilities, ensuring I don't batter myself when I make mistakes, recognising I'm a human being. That's what he's taught me more than anything else – to accept myself and accept we're all fallible.'
Garry, who has recorded and performed with the likes of New Order, Orbital and Philip Glass over the years, is back in Cork this week performing with The Cassia String Quartet. He's been performing with them for a decade.
The classical string quartet complements his storytelling. They've topped the UK charts together, for example, with their single St. Anthony: An Ode to Anthony H. Wilson, a tribute to the Factory Records founder and dreamweaver of the majestic Manchester music scene.
Mike Garry during one of his performances. Picture:.
'A lot of [Manchester bands' success] is down to second-generation Irish,' he says.
'Look at the bands, the people organising it. The influence of Irish culture on Manchester and its music is incredible. I also put it down to Thatcher. She hated the North because it represented a world she couldn't understand. She hated football. She hated popular culture.
'Also, Manchester in the '80s was dark. The buildings were black from soot. There was a revolt. We don't take shit. We refused to take slave-picked cotton.
"This was the establishment of our special relationship with America because Abraham Lincoln wrote to the men and women of Manchester thanking them for their support against slavery.
'In all that music, there's protest. The very nature of New Order is a protest – what they do, the sounds they make. I spent time with Morrissey as a kid. I worked with his father, a Dublin lad, in a hospital. His dad said to me one day, 'Sure, will you have a word with my fella? He's just like you – sat in his room reading fucking poems.'
"So, Morrissey came down for me to have a word with. Six months later, The Smiths happened. I worked with Johnny Marr in Stolen From Ivor, a clothes shop in Manchester. That's the integrated relationship between Irish people in Manchester, and music is integral to it all.'
Mike Garry and The Cassia String Quartet will perform at Cork's Crane Lane Theatre, 8pm, Thursday, May 15. See: They will also play Levis in Ballydehob, 8pm, Friday, May 16. See:
