Michael Tierney, better known as Mick Pyro, is an Irish musician. He is best known as the frontman of the

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

funk rock Funk rock is a fusion genre that mixes elements of funk and Rock music, rock. James Brown and others declared that Little Richard and his mid-1950s road band, The Upsetters (American band), the Upsetters, were the first to put the funk in the ...

band

Republic of Loose Republic of Loose were an Irish rock band from Dublin. Formed in 2001, the band formerly consisted of lead vocalist Mick Pyro, bassist and vocalist Benjamin Loose, keyboardist Deco, guitarists and vocalists Dave Pyro and Brez, and drummer Coz ...

. He has also participated in other independent work with Irish and international musicians. He has also written for the ''

Irish Independent The ''Irish Independent'' is an Irish daily newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray backgrou ...

''. He released his first solo album, ''Exit Pyro'', in 2023.

Education and influences

Pyro has an MA in

Renaissance literature Renaissance literature refers to European literature which was influenced by the intellectual and cultural tendencies associated with the Renaissance. The literature of the Renaissance was written within the general movement of the Renaissance, ...

and is an avid reader. He is known for his diverse musical tastes and likes

hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...

soul The soul is the purported Mind–body dualism, immaterial aspect or essence of a Outline of life forms, living being. It is typically believed to be Immortality, immortal and to exist apart from the material world. The three main theories that ...

and

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

. He has described hip hop as "one of the most innovative art-forms around and it's constantly capable of shocking and surprising me". Pyro cites

Cee-Lo Green Thomas DeCarlo Callaway-Burton (born May 30, 1975), known professionally as CeeLo Green (or Cee Lo Green or simply Cee-Lo), is an American singer, songwriter, rapper, record producer, and actor. Born in Atlanta, Georgia, Green came to initial pr ...

's 2004 album '' Cee-Lo Green... Is the Soul Machine'' as his favorite album. Pyro has also cited 1980s soul and funk artists

Alexander O'Neal Alexander O'Neal (born November 15, 1953) is an American Contemporary R&B, R&B singer, songwriter and arranger from Natchez, Mississippi. O'Neal came to prominence in the mid-1980s as a solo artist, with eleven top 40 singles on the US R&B char ...

and

Rick James James Ambrose Johnson Jr. (February 1, 1948 – August 6, 2004), better known by his stage name Rick James, was an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. Born and raised in Buffalo, New York, James began his musical career in his tee ...

as his heroes. He also likes

metal A metal () is a material that, when polished or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electrical resistivity and conductivity, electricity and thermal conductivity, heat relatively well. These properties are all associated wit ...

and listens to blues and jazz such as

Howlin' Wolf Chester Arthur Burnett (June 10, 1910January 10, 1976), better known by his stage name Howlin' Wolf, was an American blues singer, guitarist and harmonica player. He was at the forefront of transforming acoustic Delta blues into electric Chica ...

John Lee Hooker John Lee Hooker (August 22, 1912 or 1917 – June 21, 2001) was an American blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist. The son of a sharecropper, he rose to prominence performing an electric guitar-style adaptation of Delta blues that he develo ...

Mahalia Jackson Mahalia Jackson ( ; born Mahala Jackson; October 26, 1911 – January 27, 1972) was an American gospel music, gospel singer, widely considered one of the most influential vocalists of the 20th century. With a career spanning 40 years, Jackson was ...

and soul singers such as

Al Green Albert Leornes Greene (born April 13, 1946), known professionally as Al Green, is an American singer, songwriter, pastor and record producer. He is best known for recording a series of soul hit singles in the early 1970s, including " Tired of ...

and

Solomon Burke Solomon Vincent McDonald Burke (born James Solomon McDonald, March 21, 1940 – October 10, 2010) was an American singer who shaped the sound of rhythm and blues as one of the founding fathers of soul music in the 1960s. He has been called ...

Style

Pyro is known for his excessive stage antics, with ''

The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It was launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is Ireland's leading n ...

'' describing him as having "cajoled, provoked, teased, screamed, shouted, stomped and flirted away" through an entire set with Republic of Loose, whilst the ''

'' has compared him to "an insane rock version of

Robbie Williams Robert Peter Williams (born 13 February 1974) is an English singer and songwriter. He found fame as a member of the pop group Take That from 1990 to 1995, launching a solo career in 1996. His debut studio album, ''Life thru a Lens'', was re ...

, with the voice of a young and drunk James Brown". John Meagher, writing in the ''

'', described Pyro as "the focal and vocal point of Republic of Loose" who "works his stage like a ''

Joshua Tree ''Yucca brevifolia'' (also known as the Joshua tree, yucca palm, tree yucca, and palm tree yucca) is a plant species belonging to the genus '' Yucca''. It is tree-like in habit, which is reflected in its common names. This monocotyledonous tre ...

''-era

Bono Paul David Hewson (born 10 May 1960), known by the nickname Bono ( ), is an Irish singer-songwriter and activist. He is a founding member, the lead vocalist, and primary lyricist of the rock band U2. Bono is known for his impassioned voca ...

" During Republic of Loose's 2008 residency at the Dublin Academy, Pyro's stage presence was described by Ed Power in the ''Irish Independent'' as "more wedding-dance flap than Harlem shuffle, but he carries his shtick off with so much charisma you find yourself applauding instead of guffawing". His battles with alcoholism are chronicled in the song "Poquito" which features on the Republic of Loose album '' Vol IV: Johnny Pyro and the Dance of Evil'' and he also wrote the song "Comeback Girl" whilst drunk.

Career

Mick Pyro performed with self-described "rubbish rock bands" for several years before the formation of Republic of Loose. Experiencing what he termed "a huge metaphysical overturning of my value system", Pyro developed a fascination with musicians such as

James Brown James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, musician, and record producer. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th-century music, he is referred to by Honorific nick ...

and

The Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for over six decades, they are one of the most popular, influential, and enduring bands of the Album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the band pione ...

. This change of musical interest prompted him to create Johnny Pyro, an alter-ego, who, according to Pyro, "disassociated himself from the normal lifestyle of an Irish bourgeois kid". This alter-ego later developed into Republic of Loose. With this band, Pyro has performed at numerous music festivals, including

Glastonbury Festival The Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts (commonly referred to as simply Glastonbury Festival, known colloquially as Glasto) is a five-day festival of contemporary performing arts held near Pilton, Somerset, England, in most su ...

and

Reading and Leeds Festivals The Reading and Leeds Festivals are a pair of annual music festivals that take place in Reading and Leeds in England. The events take place simultaneously on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the August bank holiday weekend. The Reading Fest ...

in England. However the band sell most of their records in Ireland, where they have been regulars on the festival circuit for many years. In 2008, Pyro was part of a collaboration of Irish and international musicians who combined to celebrate the life of

Ronnie Drew Joseph Ronald Drew (16 September 1934 – 16 August 2008) was an Irish singer, folk musician and actor who had a fifty-year career recording with The Dubliners. He sang lead vocals on the singles "Seven Drunken Nights" and " The Irish Rover", ...

by recording " The Ballad of Ronnie Drew" at

Windmill Lane Studios Windmill Lane Recording Studios (earlier Windmill Lane Studios) is a recording studio in Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It was originally opened in 1978 by Brian Masterson and James Morris on Windmill Lane, and it subsequently relocated in ...

in Dublin. During this recording he met

Sinéad O'Connor Shuhada' Sadaqat (born Sinéad Marie Bernadette O'Connor; , ; 8 December 1966 – 26 July 2023) was an Irish singer, songwriter, record producer and activist. Her debut studio album, ''The Lion and the Cobra'', was released in 1987 and achieve ...

, who asked him if they could perform a duet. O'Connor and Republic of Loose to performed a cover of the

Curtis Mayfield Curtis Lee Mayfield (June 3, 1942 – December 26, 1999) was an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. Dubbed the " Gentle Genius", he is considered one of the most influential musicians of soul and socially conscious Afric ...

song "We People Who Are Darker Than Blue" during the

Meteor Music Awards A Meteor Ireland Music Award was an accolade bestowed upon professionals in the music industry in Ireland and further afield. They had been bestowed each year since 2001, replacing the IRMA Ireland Music Awards held in the 1990s. Promoted by M ...

in 2007.

Personal life

Pyro's sister, Annie, from Tieranniesaur and Yeh Deadlies was previously in a band called Chicks and Pyro helped write some of the songs. Pyro lives in the basement pad of a 1960s Swedish-style house in residential Dublin suburb of

Terenure Terenure (), originally called ''Roundtown'', is a middle class suburb of Dublin in Ireland. It is located in the city's D6 and D6W postal districts. The population of all electoral divisions labelled as Terenure was 17,972 as of the 2022 ce ...

. Pyro has spoken about his battles with alcoholism.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pyro, Mick Irish male singer-songwriters Irish singer-songwriters Year of birth missing (living people) Living people 2000s in Irish music 2010s in Irish music 2020s in Irish music