SPILL MUSIC PREMIERE: BRING YOUR OWN HAMMER – “FROM THE TOMBS” (BY MIKE SMALLE & JUNE MILES-KINGSTON FEAT. BERNARD BUTLER, IAN CATT, TERRY EDWARDS, MARCUS HOLDAWAY & FERGAL LAWLER)

BRING YOUR OWN HAMMER – “FROM THE TOMBS” (BY MIKE SMALLE & JUNE MILES-KINGSTON FEAT. BERNARD BUTLER, IAN CATT, TERRY EDWARDS, MARCUS HOLDAWAY & FERGAL LAWLER)

A SPILL EXCLUSIVE MUSIC PREMIERE

Bring Your Own Hammer (BYOH) return with “From the Tombs”, the cinematic lead single and title track from their forthcoming second album, released in collaboration with Dimple Discs. Drawing together an extraordinary lineup of musicians connected to bands like Suede, The Cranberries, Fun Boy Three, Cane141, The High Llamas, Saint Etienne and Madness, the project transforms a bleak historical episode into a richly melodic and polished indie-pop composition.

Mike Smalle (Cane141, Augustus & John, B-Movie Lightning), June Miles-Kingston (The Mo-dettes, Fun Boy Three, The Communards, Everything but the Girl) and Bernard Butler (Suede, McAlmont & Butler, The Tears, and Butler, Blake and Grant) are joined by Fergal Lawler (The Cranberries), Marcus Holdaway (The High Llamas), Ian Catt (Saint Etienne) and Terry Edwards (The Higsons, Madness, Near Jazz Experience, Butterfield 8, PJ Harvey, Nick Cave).

At its heart is the story of an Irish immigrant woman imprisoned in New York’s notorious “Tombs” in 1881, tracing her conviction, incarceration, and eventual release before she vanishes from historical record – her life reframed here with empathy and artistic care.

There is something quietly astonishing about the ambition on display: the song unfolds with a novelist’s patience and a composer’s precision, its textures accumulating like fine brushstrokes until the full emotional weight reveals itself. The arrangement feels both intimate and expansive, marrying archival sensibility with a luminous pop instinct that never tips into sentimentality.

One hears echoes of chamber pop, folk narrative, and classic indie refinement, reminiscent of many of the more refined subtler hits of the 80s, yet the result is unmistakably its own—an elegy rendered in immaculate detail. It is nothing less than a landmark fusion of history and songcraft – a piece that lingers long after its final note fades.

Honouring its tragic subject matter through the lens of high-calibre, polished indie-pop craftsmanship, “From the Tombs” is the sequel song to “Old Oak Road” by Mike Smalle with Cathal Coughlan and Jah Wobble, the lead single from the project’s first album My Grief on the Sea. Dedicated to Cathal Coughlan (Microdisney, Fatima Mansions), one of Ireland’s most revered artists, this collection of songs about the sea, maritime voyages, and migration to and from Ireland during the 1800s.

“From The Tombs” exemplifies BYOH’s wider mission: a unique fusion of historical research and contemporary songwriting. This project is curated by Dr. Richard Mc Mahon, lecturer in History at MIC, Limerick and currently a visiting fellow at the Institute of Criminology, University of Cambridge, who explores forms of invented history, rooted in historical sources from Ireland and overseas, with support from Dr. Niall Whelehan, senior lecturer at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, who has written widely on the history of modern Ireland and the Irish diaspora with a focus on the 19th century.

“Our second album, “From the Tombs”, will be released in the autumn of 2026. It is a barnstorming 21-song double album that takes the listener on a journey through the history of crime, law and order in Ireland and among the Irish Diaspora in the long nineteenth century,” says Richard Mc Mahon.

Bringing some of Ireland’s and Britain’s finest songwriters together with historians to create new and original song cycles based on historical sources and to interpret song material rooted in the history of 19th-century Ireland and of the Irish Diaspora. Not a band, nor an ensemble or even a collective, Bring Your Own Hammer is a faction – one that is armed with voices and instruments and dedicated to re-interpreting historical material in song form.

Out in late 2026, the “From The Tombs” album also features Cian Nugent, Sean O’Hagan (Microdisney, High Llamas), Audrey Riley, Adrian Crowley, SJ McArdle, Lisa Lambe, Luke Haines (The Auteurs, Baader Meinhof, Black Box Recorder), Miriam Ingram, Tony Higgins, Hugh Bunker (Fatima Mansions), Michael Walsh, Damian O’Neill (The Undertones), Brigid Mae Power, Linda Buckley, Lavinia Blackwall (Trembling Bells), Neil Farrell (Toasted Heretic), Michael J. Sheehy, Kelsey Michael, Anne Gilpin (Morton Valence) Inni-K and NQL.

As of May 1, “From The Tombs” is available from digital music platforms, including Apple Music, Spotify and Bandcamp, where the My Grief On The Sea album is also available.

CREDITS

Written by Mike Smalle & Richard Mc Mahon
Mike Smalle – vocals, organ, acoustic guitar
June Miles-Kingston – vocals
Bernard Butler – electric guitars
Ian Catt – bass guitar
Terry Edwards – trumpet
Marcus Holdaway – cello
Fergal Lawler – drums
String arrangement by Marcus Holdaway
Mixed by Ian Catt at Cat Music
Released by Bring Your Own Hammer & Dimple Discs
Publicity by Shameless Promotion PR

While you are here, also enjoy the song that preluded this current single, as well as the debut album for this landmark project:

Bring Your Own Hammer
[Single]
(BYOH/Dimple Discs)
Release Date: May 1, 2026

Artist Links