Shane MacGowan’s bandmates from The Pogues have defended the late singer against an ‘insulting’ misconception about him.
The beloved Irish singer-songwriter died from pneumonia on November 30, 2023, aged 65, after enduring a series of health problems in the months prior.
He was also diagnosed with encephalitis, an uncommon but serious condition which causes inflammation of the brain.
However, The Pogues’ Jem Finer believes MacGowan’s struggles with addiction are clouding the Fairytale of New York hitmaker’s legacy.
‘I think it’s quite insulting anyway, “the drunken artist”,’ the 69-year-old singer told The Times. ‘It’s not someone who is perpetually drunk: it is someone who enjoys drinking.’
He insisted that MacGowan was not ‘always drunk’ and was someone who worked ‘rigorously and hard’ for their music.
The song A Pair of Brown Eyes went through different iterations, thanks to the singer’s hard work, having started life as a protest against the Falklands War.
In 1991, MacGowan left The Pogues mid-way through their tour supporting Dylan, reportedly being dismissed over his substance abuse struggles.
He was said to be a regular no-show for gigs, culminating in the exit midway through the Japanese leg of the tour.
Jem explained: ‘It just became impossible. He didn’t want to be doing it any more, and because he didn’t want to let anyone down, he wouldn’t say that he needed a break, which was reflected in the way he behaved and it was untenable.’
He insisted that there was no bad blood between the bandmates, evidenced by the fact that after 10 years away, MacGowan rejoined The Pogues.
The group stayed together until 2014 when they split once more, with the iconic frontman again reiterating that they are all still friends — just tired of touring with each other.
Despite his loud stage persona, The Pogues shared that MacGowan was secretly quite shy.
Even when Fairytale of New York skyrocketed the band — with the late singer as the face of it all — to fame, he remained a little uncomfortable in the spotlight.
Spider Stacey told The Times that there was an attention shift away from The Pogues as a whole onto MacGowan himself.
‘The fact is, Shane was actually rather shy,’ he revealed. ‘He was in a punk band before the Pogues, which was not for the faint of heart, but I think he was shy about doing Irish music because on our first tour of Ireland he was very reticent about how people were going to react, which I understand.
‘I mean, playing the tin whistle to Irish people … it does come with a certain degree of impostor syndrome.’
MacGowan’s death left a sizeable hole in the band’s lineup for their UK tour this year, which was filled by guest artists for certain songs.
When Metro asked about the possible use of AI to bring back Shane’s vocals, similarly to the Beatles’ track featuring John Lennon, the Pogues gave a resounding ‘no’.
‘It’s very easy to sit here and go, “oh no, never,” but, I mean, probably no, never,’ replied Spider. ‘I think I know where you’re going, and the answer, really is no.’
James Fearnley and Jem gave equally strong replies of ‘Oh no’ and ‘I don’t like that idea.’
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