It’s four days out from the release of their debut album, and the members of . Have the day off. The previous Monday, they completed their first indoor in their hometown Dublin’s Spindizzy Records. With another in-store scheduled for Rough Trade in a few days time, as well as their UK tour, they’re taking any time off they can get.
“It’s been busy out,” guitarist and vocalist admits as he chats to CLASH over Zoom; “The last few weeks were gigging a little bit, getting ready for this tour coming up. Then just preparing for the album”.
The album, ‘Poor Advice’, is a reflection on the undercurrent and tension in the current political landscape, and drawing parallels between now and Ireland’s previous decades spent toiling about the interconnectedness of the Irish state and Catholic church. Produced by (Dry Cleaning, Lime Garden, Sorry), the 10 tracks are a reflection on how conflict has been allowed to pester, and decisions taken out of the everyman’s hand, as big wigs and suits across the world decide on our fate from their ivory towers.
Whilst the album has been a long time in the making, it also marks the start of the latest iteration of Basht.. Made up of Leavey, Ryan McClelland (drums), Louis Christle (bass), and Lughaidh Armstrong Mayoc (lead guitar). The final line-up only came together a little over a year ago, in September 2025. “The band started about four years ago and we had a few lineup changes” Leavey recalls, “then I met Lughaidh at Other Voices in Dingle a couple of years ago, so when the opportunity came to work with him he joined the band about a year and a half ago”. A little while later, Lughaidh introduced the rest of the band to McClelland, who he’d played with in a number of other bands throughout the years. McClelland then joined Basht. on their UK tour and has been a unifying force for the band. “When we locked in as a line-up” Lughaidh adds, “ we really put our heads down and started working on the record”.
Ahead of the release of ‘Poor Advice’ – which is out now, as it happens – and sat with CLASH to discuss the album’s themes, drawing from the church, signing with LAB Records, and whether releasing an album, after all the hard work, is anticlimactic.
So once Ryan joined the band, how long was it before you started work on ‘Poor Advice’?
Jack: We’re kind of half started working on an album with another producer, and we’d recorded a few things but we weren’t too happy with it, and then Ryan joined so we saw it as a good opportunity to start fresh. We re-wrote a lot of what we already had with Ryan when he joined, and it all started to make a bit more sense and we started writing new tracks and before long we had an album’s worth of stuff
What made them decide to focus the album on the catholic church and big brother elements in Irish culture?
J: We spent a lot of time on tour working on this album and when on the road a lot of our connection to home came from the media, so there was a lot of political influences in the lyrics, then trying to make sense of it all we found ourselves drawing parallels between what we’re seeing now and the influence of the catholic church and it felt like a good angle to approach the album from
Lughaidh: It was all very collaborative when it came to writing and arranging. There was a portion of the album where Jack would come in with an idea, and then there’s another portion where we had a very impromptu week in an AirBnB where we all just set out writing from scratch, and a lot of things happen naturally from that basis. A few people had ideas, we talked them out, and we’re all pretty good at following each other’s leads when someone has an idea.
J: It’s not all one person. Everyone has their 25% share to give into the band and the music, which I think really reflects in the album. It’s got a lot of depth in it, with different influences based on where we all come from musically, so yeah, it was a fun collaborative process.
How did working with LAB Records come about?
J: We started working with LAB on the last project we put out and they really believed in the music and the band and the album itself and they were very helpful. They haven’t put us into any awkward positions, we didn’t want any options in it so it was kind of the perfect partnership. At the beginning, Mark was coming to every show he could and he showed real enthusiasm in the band so when it came to choosing between two or three labels, it just made the most sense to go with LAB.
How are the live shows coming across to audiences?
L: It’s been great. It’s been a very busy few months and we’ve had the privilege of being able to tour in lots of cities and countries we’ve been to before which is amazing. We did an EU run with Miles Kane and we got to places like Croatia, Serbia, Prague, Poland, lots of spots we’d never gigged before which was amazing. We got over to Texas for SXSW, and LA for a showcase; so it was a big year for planting flags and reaching new audiences. We’ve been amazed and surprised by the response and support from people all over the place. We were shocked to see in LA, in the Moroccan Lounge, and there were people lining up with their own Basht. Merch which was amazing to see. It’s an ever-evolving show so it’s been brilliant to be able to road test things all the time.
Was there ever a moment when you thought you’d nailed the live set down?
J: There’s always room for improvement for us. There have been moments where we’ve come off stage and thought ‘Woow, that was a great set’. We played shows as part of Rockwechter in Belgium this summer and that was the biggest crowd we’d ever played for and we came off stage thinking ‘that’s how we want it to be all the time’ but we’re always finding things we can improve on. You go from a half hour set to an hour, hour fifteen, and there are always things to work on.
How does it feel getting ready to finally release the album?
J: I’m more excited. It’s the world now, it’s out of our hands, it’s for everyone now. We wrapped it in May so we know what it sounds like, so I’m just excited. I’m a bit nervous, but I don’t think there’s anything to be worried about.
Lu: I agree. It’s an amazing achievement to be able to put out your first body of work, but at this stage we’re just excited for everyone to hear it and really move forward. We have so much more music we’re working on, so this is really just a celebration of a moment in time. This is the payoff really, you get to go out on tour and meet the fans, so it’s a lovely time in the process. It can be a very stressful time pulling a record together, so we’ve been looking forward to this for a while.
Does it feel a bit anticlimactic?
J: We’re playing Rough Trade in London on Friday so that’s the release party, but it’ll be cool to see people have it in their hands. I think the big thing is the step up from the last EP, because that did I think more than we expected. Not that it’s not about selling records, but it’ll be a good way to track the progress of the band.
I know it’s still just over a year of Ryan in the band, but if you could relive one moment as a band, what would it be?
J: I think walking onto the stage as Rock Wechter was pretty much the coolest I’ve ever felt, because the crowd and stage was so wide, and you could see people in your periphery and I got into the crowd, so that was just amazing. Something I’ll always remember.
L: Another highlight was Rock and Roll Circus in Sheffield alongside some really cool bands and that was a great festival to play. We opened the main stage and it was a wet Saturday at around 2PM and we didn’t really know who would turn up but we were pleasantly surprised to have a full house so that was brilliant. Then getting to stick around to see some really cool bands was brilliant too, it was just a great day.
‘Poor Advice’ is out now on LAB Records. Basht. begin their UK tour in Nottingham on October 27th, before going to Glasgow (28th), Manchester (29th), London (30th). Their final show of the year is in The Button Factory, Dublin on November 7th. All tickets on sale now.