New Release: Bring Your Own Hammer – From The Tombs
Bring Your Own Hammer brings together musicians and historians on a 21-track double album exploring crime, justice and Irish history
Bring Your Own Hammer – From The Tombs
Format: 2LP / 2CD / Digital
Label: Dimple Discs
Release date: November 13, 2026
Bring Your Own Hammer returns with ‘From The Tombs’, a double album released on November 13, 2026, through Dimple Discs. The project brings together musicians, composers and historians to explore stories of crime, law and justice in nineteenth-century Ireland and among Irish communities overseas.
Rather than operating as a conventional band, Bring Your Own Hammer works as a collaborative project in which historical research provides the starting point for original compositions and reinterpretations of traditional material.
Across 21 tracks, the album draws on folk, indie pop, traditional Irish music, cinematic instrumentals and spoken word. Its historical subjects range from unusual criminal cases and personal tragedies to migration and the experiences of Irish communities in Britain, America and Australia.
The album features an extensive group of musicians, including Bernard Butler (Suede), Fergal Lawler (The Cranberries), Luke Haines (The Auteurs), Sean O’Hagan (The High Llamas), Terry Edwards (Madness), Adrian Crowley, Brigid Mae Power and Lavinia Blackwall.
The title track, From The Tombs, brings together Mike Smalle, June Miles-Kingston and Bernard Butler, alongside contributions from several other musicians.
Other collaborations include Luke Haines and Mike Smalle on The Black Maria, O, while SJ McArdle and Lisa Lambe appear together on In the Dark.
The project was curated by historian Dr. Richard Mc Mahon, with support from Dr. Niall Whelehan. Both are involved in research into Irish history, crime and the Irish diaspora.
The album follows Bring Your Own Hammer’s earlier release ‘My Grief on the Sea’.
‘From The Tombs’ is organised into four sections: From The Sessions, From The Americas, From The Assizes and From The Island. Together, they provide a framework for the album’s different historical settings and musical contributions.
Website: https://byohammer.com/
Tracks:
Side One: From The Sessions
01. Asking Alms – Cian Nugent
02. Ragged Red Shirt – Mike Smalle and Kelsey Michael
03. The Butter Witch – Adrian Crowley and maxo
04. A.M. – Audrey Riley with James Woodrow
05. Vagabond Song – Adrian Crowley and Sean O’Hagan
Side Two: From The Americas
06. From the Tombs – Mike Smalle and June Miles-Kingston with Bernard Butler, Terry Edwards, Marcus Holdaway and Fergal Lawler
07. The Black Maria, O – Mike Smalle and Luke Haines
08. Sing a Song to Sing Sing – John Carter Wood with Marcus Holdaway
09. Powerplays – Marcus Holdaway
10. Pale Blue Dress – Miriam Ingram with Seán Mac Erlaine
11. Quinn the Adventurer – Adrian Crowley
Side Three: From The Assizes
12. Carrickshock (A Brief but Desperate Deed of Blood) – Tony Higgins with Hugh Bunker, Damian O’Neill and Michael Walsh
13. In the Dark – SJ McArdle and Lisa Lambe
14. I Swear to You – Brigid Mae Power and Linda Buckley
15. Luck – Michael J. Sheehy
16. The Cruel Father – Lavinia Blackwall and Neil Farrell with SJ McArdle
17. Vane Tempest – Mike Smalle and Marcus Holdaway
Side Four: From The Island
18. The Elphinstone Voyage – Fergal Lawler
19. We Were Bound – Michael J. Sheehy and Anne Gilpin
20. Na Connerys – Inni-K
21. Faultlines – Michael Walsh and Not Quite Light
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