The Rolling Stones, Metallica, AC/DC, Alice In Chains, Foo Fighters and Aslan – all bands you will find in record shops and all bands that continued after losing a band member.
The death of Aslan frontman Christy Dignam in June 2023 saw the Irish music industry lose not only a consummate character but also a distinctive voice.
The passings of Sinéad O’Connor and Shane McGowan later in 2023 capped a difficult year for Irish music, but there is one fundamental truth about music: “it’s too good to let die.”
Those aren’t the words of Hunter S Thompson, those are the words of Aslan guitarist Billy McGuinness.
“The songs work – so we keep going.”
In early 2024, the band made the decision to carry on with singer Lee Tomkins and has begun the process of writing and recording a new album.
March saw the group release their first new material with Tomkins, the single Hear Your Call, with fan response being positive and the song getting a good response when it was played at the Olympia on St. Patrick’s Weekend.
Fresh from that Olympia gig, the group has now turned their sights to an outdoor gig at Malahide Castle on May 31.
The gig will serve as their first outdoor outing since 2019 and will see them perform in front of 2,000 people.
McGuiness said there is no discernable difference between playing an indoor gig or an outdoor gig – rock music has versatility that other genres don’t.
The death of rock music has become the favourite topic of music journalists; the current crop of writers who came up with Kings of Leon, The Killers and Arctic Monkeys have found that rock music no longer dominates the cultural conversation in the same way it once did.
Fontaines DC, Idles and Sam Fender have made a spirited attempt to shift the cultural needle back in rock’s direction, and Aslan were asked about the current state of rock music.
Aslan were formed in 1982, the same year The Clash fired drummer Topper Headon and Ozzy Osbourne bit the head off a bat he thought was made of rubber.
In 2025, rock music doesn’t quite have the same cultural cache, but Aslan are still determined to help the next generation break through.
As part of the Malahide show, the victor of the Battle of the Bands competition at Gibney’s in Malahide will have the chance to open for Aslan at their May gig.
Tomkins said that the Battle of the Bands is a “fantastic showcase of local talent; we’re excited to see the winners bring their energy to the West Lawn.”
Guitarist Joe Jewell said the band want to give bands just starting out the chance to play in front of a big crowd, because the band knows how hard it is to get a break.
“Rock music itself hasn’t changed,” he noted, but the way a band makes money has changed.
He said that pubs, a traditional starting point for bands, don’t have the money to pay bands in the modern era and have decided it is cheaper to just hire one person with an acoustic guitar.
Anyone who has looked at the music charts or the headliners at various Dublin music venues over the last decade can attest to this.
“Tradtionally, pubs have done more to help up-and-coming bands than anywhere else, but that isn’t happening anymore,” he explained.
He said that playing a live show is the equivalent of 10 rehearsal sessions and was the number one thing any young musician should seek to do.
With the proliferation of privately educated musicians or musicians with famous relations becoming a talking point in music, Aslan’s status as the Dublin working class boys made good makes them a blueprint to follow.
Drummer Alan Downey said, “any band, of any class or background, can break through” and inferred that the social media era has made it easier than ever for a band to find an audience.
McGuinness added, “when we were starting out we wanted to be on Top Of The Pops; now the desire is to go viral.”
The St. Patrick’s weekend gig at the Olympia was well received by fans and by the band themselves; they said it was heartening to see so many young people in the crowd, and that was proof that rock music still had relevance in the modern era.
“You know, when The Beatles started out they had this rep for writing silly little pop songs like I Want To Hold Your Hand, but look at how they ended up; a few years out from The Beatles breaking out, you had acts like Led Zeppelin with a real blues bite to them,” McGuinness explained.
“Rock music evolved from rock and roll into hard rock, and there’s no reason to believe that rock can’t keep evolving now.”
A force of nature like Christy Dignam would be hard for any group to replace, but Tomkins gave the impression of not being intimidated about stepping into the role of frontman.
“I’m from the same area as the lads, my friends and family all listen to Aslan, I listen to Aslan, but at the same time I want to put my own stamp on things.”
The idea of stepping out in front of 2,000 fans doesn’t phase Tomkins.
He said that he has been a musician for long enough that his brain shifts into what he calls “gig mode” and the nerves don’t manifest.
Tomkins has been quick to establish himself in the group, taking part in songwriting sessions with his new bandmates.
Jewell said the writing process is a “free-for-all” with a lot of room for experimentation.
That doesn’t mean that Aslan will be going all Pink Floyd or Peter Gabriel-era Genesis on listeners, however.
Tomkins said, “before you ever set out to write a song, you have to ask what will the song be about,” and said that some songs are written melody first, others are written lyrics first.
“It’s all about finding that little spark and building the song around that,” he added.
The notion of a rock band going through hell and back and still playing to thousands of fans is the kind of romantic idealism that keeps the genre going.
Aslan are living proof of that.
Aslan will play Malahide Castle & Gardens on May 31. Tickets are available from www.malahidecastleandgardens.ie