Despite their bid to top the 2014 music charts, The Pogues have been inactive as a band since then. In a new interview, Shane McGowan reveals that The Pogues have called it quits as a band and are done with both touring and releasing new music.
When VICE asked McGowan whether or not The Pogues were still active as a band, the former frontman replied that "they'd grown to hate each other all over again," following their reunion in 2001.
"I don't hate the band at all - they're friends. I like them a lot. We were friends for years before we joined the band. We just got a bit sick of each other. We're friends as long as we don't tour together. I've done a hell of a lot of touring. I've had enough of it," he said.
The last time that the band performed together was in July of 2014 with The Libertines at Hyde Park in the U.K. in addition to their traditional Christmas shows at Brixton Academy in London. The Pogues released seven albums in their decades long career since their beginnings in 1982, which includes Rum, Sodomy and the Lash, which released in 1985. The most well-known Pogues tune is their duet with Kirsty MacColl, "Fairytale of New York," which released in 1987.
Back in 2014, "Fairytale of New York" made a comeback on the streaming charts and was in the running to take No. 1 on the charts in the U.K. during Christmas week. The song has always been described as being a bit of a downer tune, but it has remained enormously popular in the U.K. around Christmas time. The Phonographic Performance Limited group, otherwise known as the PPL, made note that "Fairytale of New York" was the most played Christmas song of the 21st Century back in 2011.
