Swearing, song writing, sell-out shows and, erm, tattoos (or lack of). What else do you discuss with Ally Dickaty and Danny Dolan? Separately; stellar musicians and the sweetest of souls. Together; an unstoppable storm of hard graft, grit, guitars and beats also known as The Virginmarys.

How about the success of their new album being beyond the boys’ belief, and seeing 2024 out with a bang? A ‘Bang Bang Bang’? Right, seeing as your host for this interview Jo Wright should be let nowhere near a computer or a rock star with that sort of pun based around one of the band’s best-loved songs, let’s ask Ally (vocals and guitars) to describe The Virginmarys instead…

‘I would say that it is a connoisseur’s choice of rock band…’ Erm, can you rephrase that slightly please Ally? Jo can’t even spell connoisseur, let alone write it in shorthand. ‘The Virginmarys are a music lover’s choice of band, who doesn’t just listen to one genre,’ Ally obliges. ‘There’s nothing wrong with liking just one type of music, but The Virginmarys incorporate a lot of different vibes and styles. It’s the thinking person’s rock band. There’s depth to it. People can tell that we’ve listened to stuff from the 1950s onwards, rather than just being brought up with ACDC - who I love - for example.’

Is there a particular period in music that influenced him the most? ‘I don’t have a favourite musical era, but I’d say the 60s is up there,’ Ally says. ‘Maybe it’s the most impressive because there was nothing like that before. The 90s was my era through school. That kind of rock and grunge – that was what made me excited about that time.’

‘The House Beyond The Fires’ is touchingly dedicated to the memory of and named for Danny’s dad Tommy. It’s almost forty minutes of raw punk rock power, musical pleasure and heart-aching pain. And it’s been massively well received by fans, reviewers, radio… ‘I can’t ever remember us having such an amazing reaction to one of our records,’ says drummer Danny.

The Virginmarys are one of the hardest working bands ever to band, so unsurprisingly, everything – every single aspect of ‘The House Beyond The Fires’ was considered, crafted, worked, reworked, reconsidered, and then perfected. Over and over again. This includes the track listing, which comes courtesy of Danny. ‘There was a lot of discussion wasn’t there,’ he says to Ally, adding, ‘It was a bold move to start with ‘White Knuckle Riding’.’ The Spotify streaming figures say a lot too. Rock radio regular ‘There Ain’t No Future’ is currently sitting at 46,000 streams, and live favourite ‘Where Are You Now?’ is well on its way to 150,000.

How do Virginmarys’ songs take shape? ‘The music comes first,’ says Ally. ‘I’ll pick up a guitar and do it for fun most of the time, and then I channel other things. It’s kind of a bit of a meditation. I’ll get a hook, and maybe a phrase will come in, then I’ll write around that. Sometimes I’ll really like a line and I’ll base the whole song around it. It can be years that an idea might’ve been lying around for!’

Ally’s lyrics can be pretty cutting – with vitriol aimed not only outwards at the state of the world (‘‘Lies, Lies, Lies’ is based around the Boris Johnson era of Covid,’ he explains) but also inwards, tearing strips off himself, with self-loathing and sorrow, disgust and despair, featuring pretty heavily. Is Ally sometimes shy about ripping himself open and letting others listen to his most intimate thoughts and feelings?

‘I think when it’s done in a performance it’s different. I’m not very good at speaking – I’m far better at writing. Sometimes there’s stuff I feel is close to the bone, but I feel that’s what I want to hear from other bands, and would make you prick your ears up.

‘I suppose the religious swear in ‘There Ain’t No Future’ might upset someone, but I don’t really worry too much about the personal stuff.’ He adds, ‘Sometimes swearing is needed to give you a jolt.’

Let’s talk tattoos. Danny has none (‘I’ve never been able to come up with anything I really, definitely want.’). Can Ally pick a favourite from his collection? ‘My portrait of Martin Luther King. It’s by a tattoo artist in Macclesfield (the boys’ hometown) called Alex Wright who generally does horror art, but his stuff is incredible. I knew about him before he came to Macclesfield and I thought, ‘Wow! I’ll go to that guy’. When I gave up drinking I had lots of time on my hands. I read Martin Luther King’s autobiography and it had a kind of profound effect on me.

‘He is one of the greatest humans I’ve ever come across and read about. His writing is so poetic and so beautiful. He’s very inspirational. We were in America a few years later. We played a show and it was such a long drive we had to stay over in Georgia, Atlanta – where Martin Luther King was from. We were actually staying really close to where he was born. I was like, ‘wow!’ I was right there! I don’t think there’s ever going to be a time when he’s not relevant. What he was saying will always be relevant. I like the message of love and peace.’

The lads launched ‘The House Beyond The Fires’ with a hometown show at Cinemac in Macclesfield, and are excited to go back there for their New Year’s Eve party, which promises covers, confetti and, of course, a gong. ‘We’ve done Christmas shows for the past three years now which have all been amazing,’ says Danny. ‘But this year we just thought maybe it’d be cool to try and do a New Year’s Eve show.

‘Both me and Ally hate New Year’s Eve! But I thought, ‘If there was a gig going on somewhere, I’d probably be up for that! It’s gonna be a different kind of Virginmarys show too, in that we’re going to be letting the fans pick the setlist, we’ll be doing some covers (which we NEVER do!) and then I’ll be ringing in the New Year with the gong to a sea of confetti. What’s not to love?!

‘I’ve already had messages from people who’ve bought tickets and booked hotels from the Netherlands, Germany, France and even the USA. It’s just incredible!’

The band have spent much of the past month touring, and going by the reaction from the crowds, the NYE show is definitely gonna be pretty special. Danny says, ‘Honestly, the tour couldn’t have gone any better for us. It’s been absolutely amazing and overwhelming to see so many people at our shows. It’s felt like such a special tour, and a bit of a turning point for us really.’

The band have a couple more UK headline shows (Bristol on December 7 and London on December 8) followed by a Leeds gig with Eureka Machines on December 14 (tickets make great Christmas presents for the live music fan in your life btw…), before they bid a fond farewell to 2024 and welcome 2025 - in which The Virginmarys’ star is sure to continue to rise. So much so you might wanna reconsider the line ‘There Ain’t No Future’ boys. Oh for the love of God Jo, leave the puns alone.