The Wolfe Tones are an Irish rebel music band that incorporate Irish traditional music in their songs. Formed in 1963, they take their name from Theobald Wolfe Tone, one of the leaders of the Irish Rebellion of 1798, with the double meaning of a wolf tone – a spurious sound that can affect instruments of the violin family.

History

1963–1964: Formation

The origins of the group date back to August 1963, where three neighbouring children from the Dublin suburb of Inchicore, Brian Warfield, Noel Nagle, and Liam Courtney, had been musical friends from childhood. In August 1964 Brian's brother Derek Warfield joined the band, and in November 1964 Tommy Byrne replaced Courtney, creating the band's most recognizable line-up, which would last for nearly 37 years until January 2001.^[1]

1964–2001

In 1989, a contract was signed by Derek Warfield, signing rights to an American distributor, Shanachie Records. The contents of this contract were apparently misrepresented to the other members of the band, resulting in a clause that prevented them from recording any new material. Unable to reverse this agreement, they continued to tour, albeit without any new material.

In 1995, Derek Warfield released a solo studio album entitled Legacy as he was still eligible to record under his own name. With Derek on vocals and mandolin, the music on this album was performed by a new band, although he was still touring with the Wolfe Tones. Derek's solo releases continued annually until 2006.^[2]

In 2001, after a show played in Limerick, Derek Warfield departed the band to concentrate on his own career, setting up a band called Derek Warfield and The Young Wolfetones. Calling themselves "Brian Warfield, Tommy Byrne and Noel Nagle, formerly of the Wolfe Tones" the three would later go on to release "You'll Never Beat the Irish", "Child of Destiny" and new material to mark the 1916 commemoration with songs such as “light a penny candle” and “the road to the rising.”

2001–present

The Wolfe Tones continue to tour, but as a three-piece band comprising Brian Warfield, Noel Nagle and Tommy Byrne.^[3]

The Wolfe Tones celebrated their 45th anniversary with a special event at the Waterfront Hall, Belfast, on 26 October 2008, which was also filmed for a documentary. In 2014 they celebrated their 50th anniversary by performing at the Citywest Hotel and Conference Centre in a series of Easter weekend concerts.

In 2018, they headlined the Féile an Phobail in West Belfast to a sell-out audience of over 12,000 people and were inducted into the Barrowlands hall of fame for their contribution to music. At the end of each December, the Wolfe Tones perform three concerts at Dublin's Citywest Hotel.

In 2022-2023, the band played sell-out shows in the Olympia Theatre, Dublin, the INEC Ireland, Broadway (Manhattan) in New York, and the Atheneum Chicago, and most notably Electric Picnic.^[4]

However, in 2023 they announced their retirement, with a 60th-anniversary tour to conclude their career. As well as gigs in the US, there will be concerts at Galway Airport, Castlebar, Co Mayo and in the 3Arena, with the band's final gig taking place in Belfast in October 2024.^[5]

Notable works

The song "Irish Eyes" was written by Brian Warfield as a paean for his mother Kathleen who died of cancer the year prior to its release. A song about emigration to London entitled "My Heart is in Ireland" became a number 2 hit for the band. The song Celtic Symphony was written by Warfield in 1987 for the centenary of Celtic Football Club. Other famous songs written by the group include "Joe McDonnell", a song about the life and death of the Provisional IRA member Joe McDonnell, who was the fifth person to die on the 1981 Hunger Strike; and "The Protestant Men", a song about notable Protestant Irish nationalists. The band also covered "The Streets of New York", written by Liam Reilly from Bagatelle who was inspired by stories of the Tones' friendship with the NYPD. Warfield also penned his rendition of "The Helicopter Song", which was written by Sean (Jobby) Mc Ginley. "The Helicopter Song" stands as the fastest-selling single of all time in Ireland, shooting straight to number one in 1974 as a result of the escape from Mountjoy Jail.^{[citation needed]}

Footballer James McClean (of Sunderland at the time) attracted criticism when he tweeted that he listened to their rendition of "The Broad Black Brimmer" before a match, a song in which a son learns of how his father was killed in fighting for the IRA. He was told by club manager Martin O'Neill to refrain from using Twitter.^[6]

In 2002, after an allegedly orchestrated e-mail campaign by fans to "try and mess it up"^[7][8] their rendition of "A Nation Once Again" by Thomas Osborne Davis was voted the number one song of all time in a BBC World Service poll.^[9] The BBC hosts an artist's page for the band that includes excerpts of their songs.^[10]

The band's 1982 hit "Admiral William Brown" pays homage to the Irish-born Argentine naval hero William Brown.

In January 2020, the band's version of "Come Out Ye Black and Tans" reached No. 1 on the Ireland and UK iTunes charts, following criticism of the Irish government's planned commemoration of the RIC, as part of its 'Decade of Commemoration'.^[11] As a result of this, on 10 January, the song entered the Irish Singles Chart at No. 33^[12] and also debuted at No. 1 in the Scottish Singles Chart.^[13]

Personnel

Members

Lineups

Discography

Studio albums