Just Mustard on ‘We Were Just Here’ & Irish Music Scene

Last Updated on 2025-12-20 by a-indie

The Musical Power Generated by the Small Island of Ireland

The Thriving Irish Rock Scene and Coexistence

-Yuuki Takita: Next, I’d like to ask about the current Irish music scene. Of course your band is one of them, and alongside Fontaines D.C. and Inhaler—both mentioned earlier—are gaining global attention. Especially since 2020, the Irish rock scene has been thriving more than London or America, wouldn’t you say? From your perspective, how do you view this situation? From my observation, the Irish music scene seems to foster coexistence across genres, and there appears to be significant interaction between bands.

Shane Maguire: It is difficult for us to gauge how Irish rock bands are being perceived further abroad, being in Ireland ourselves, but we’re always happy and even proud to see Irish bands finding success internationally. Fontaines D.C in particular seem to be the standard bearers at the moment in terms of how far a modern Irish rock band can go. Generally though we’re more excited about all the newer, younger bands that are coming out all the time (maybe list some bands?)

In terms of the Irish scene, the co-existence of bands from different genres is likely due to the fact that we are such a small country. You don’t have to drive further than 3 or 4 hours to be able to play the length and breadth of the island, so even though there might be little pockets of scenes in different cities and towns, the whole Irish scene feels very tight-knit, and festivals big and small would have a huge array of different genre bands playing. One cool example is Grian from Fontaines and Radie from Lankum (amazing irish folk group) both featuring on tracks on Kneecap’s latest album, who are a hip-hip group.

Just Mustard’s Roots

-Yuuki Takita: In our previous interview, you shared three albums that represent your roots—Warpaint, Aphex Twin, and Girl Band. This time, I’d like to know: are there any bands or artists you’ve been conscious of recently, or any that have inspired you or resonated with you?

David Noonan: Daniel Avery, PJ Harvey & Dean Blunt are three artists that I was listening to a lot and getting a lot of inspiration from while writing WWJH.

The New Album ‘WE WERE JUST HERE’

Multi-layered Interpretation of the Album Title

-Yuuki Takita: Now I’d like to ask about your latest album. First, could you explain the meaning behind the album title ‘WE WERE JUST HERE’? The album materials mentioned that “depending on which of the four words you emphasize, the title takes on different meanings.” Could you elaborate on that? Additionally, on Bandcamp, both the album title and all track titles are in capital letters. Is there an intention behind this?

Technicolor and Layered Visuals

David Noonan: We wanted this album as a whole to feel a lot more technicolour and layered rather than explorations of one theme or mood, as per heart under. We found the artist Anton Reva and loved his work and felt he could bring this to life. Which he did. We let him take control of the visual work and also inputted some video portraits of ourselves also.