“WE RECONNECTED WITH OUR LANGUAGE AND IT JUST CLICKED” | BACKSTAGE AT TRNSMT WITH CHASING ABBEY

INTERVIEW | CHASING ABBEY by Anne Kelly

Irish trio Chasing Abbey are redefining the boundaries of traditional music. By fusing the ancestral Celtic sounds they grew up on with the modern electronica they became acquainted with later in life, the group has pioneered a genre uniquely their own. Having recently announced the release of their highly anticipated new album, Cyber Celt, we sat down with the band at Glasgow’s TRNSMT Festival to talk about our mutual Celtic bond, the power of reclaiming the Irish language, and finding the perfect harmony in the chaos of trial and error.

The trio – Ted Conway, Ronan Bell and Jonathan Byrne – feel right at home in Scotland. “I think there’s a big overlap between Scottish and Irish traditional music,” the band explains, reflecting on how easily their sound translates across the Irish Sea. “A lot of the tunes we play actually have Scottish roots; there’s just so much crossover there.”

Continuting “They respond to it in a very similar way to an Irish crowd. We have very similar cultures,” they say, adding with a laugh about their antics the night before: “We were even out last night for the match—sorry about that!” (a cheeky reference to the first of Scotland’s tragic World Cup losses.)

This cultural fusion is the heartbeat of Cyber Celt, the band’s brand new album which is set for release this September and is already available for pre-order. Asking about the journey it’s taken to get here, the band say that while the album itself took exactly twelve months to finalise, they notes that the groundwork spans a lifetime. “I guess it’s been in the making since we were born, to be honest,” they reflect. “When we were kids, we learned traditional Irish music. Then when we got a little bit older, we started to get into dance music and hip-hop and started to produce our own tracks.”

For years, these two musical identities existed in parallel. “We had these two things that we had equal passion for, and we pursued both separately for a while, and then we decided we needed to bring them together.”

Marrying the two genres proved to be an intense creative hurdle. “It’s a harsh contrast trying to get electronic music and traditional Irish music to sound good together without doing either of them an injustice,” the band admits. They liken the studio process to a chaotic science experiment. “It was like some fella in a lab just doing trial and error: ‘Is this good? No. Is this good?’ Cyber Celt is the accumulation of all of that. We actually wrote the album in one year, nearly to the day, but the process has been a lot longer than that—learning the whole craft and making lots of mistakes. It’s all about mistakes and having a bit of resilience. I think that’s what got us to this point.”

The real breakthrough came when they connected more deeply with their roots. The band has become well-known for weaving Gaeilge (the Irish language) into their lyrics – following a path paved by groups like Kneecap. It’s a creative choice they describe as a total game-changer. “It’s funny because that was literally the missing piece. We reconnected with our language probably over a year ago, and for some reason, that helped us join the dots between the electronic and traditional sides. I don’t even know exactly how it worked, but it did.”

While they are here to perform, Chasing Abbey are also keen to champion their peers on the TRNSMT lineup, shouting out fellow Irish acts on the bill. “Madra Salach“ they enthusiastically recommend. “We won’t be here tomorrow, unfortunately, because BIIRD are playing then, and we missed Cliffords yesterday” they add – proving that the modern Irish music scene is tighter and more supportive than ever.

Scottish fans won’t have to wait long for their return, either. After a whirlwind few months ahead, the trio will be right back in Glasgow. “We’re out in the States for a couple of months, and I think we go from there to Ireland and then back over here,” they say. “We’re back in November at SWG3 – I can’t remember the exact date off the top of my head, but we’ll be back!”

With a groundbreaking new album on the horizon and music that bridges generations and borders, Chasing Abbey are proving that tradition has never been more relevant. Our conversation never hit a lull. Packed with plenty of banter and a contagious passion for what they do, these lads from Tullamore have a lot to be excited about. While the clock ultimately forced an abrupt end to the interview, we parted ways promising another round in the near future.

Cyber Celt by Chasing Abbey will be released 18th September 2026: Pre-order HERE

You can catch the band live in the UK this November – Tickets on sale NOW