On the 25th Anniversary of September 11, New York indie rock band
The Bogmen will return to Webster Hall (September 11th) for a special performance honoring the victims of the tragic event
w/s/gs Vapors of Morphine ft. Dana Colley of Morphine
Having built a devoted following throughout the 1990s among New York City’s first responders and Wall Street community, The Bogmen lost countless fans, friends, and family members in the September 11 attacks. At the heart of this return is the memory of Kristy Irvine-Ryan, wife of band member Brendan Ryan, whose life and legacy remain deeply woven into the band’s history. A vibrant member of the New York City community, Kristy perished in the South Tower on September 11, 2001, at the age of 30. The band’s annual tribute performances are the subject of Chris Cassidy’s documentary, We Will Go To Them Tonight, and continue to shape the meaning and purpose behind each reunion.
Following their 1999 breakup, The Bogmen reunited in December 2001 for two sold-out benefit concerts at Irving Plaza, raising funds for Secret Smiles, a charity Kristy and her friends founded in the late 1990s to support underprivileged children.
More than two decades later, the Webster Hall performance stands as both a tribute to those lost and a reflection of New York City’s resilience. The band will perform songs from their Arista Records debut album, Life Begins at Forty Million – produced by Talking Heads’ Jerry Harrison – as well as material from Closed Caption Radio and their most recent release, In My Kingdom.
The evening will also feature Vapors of Morphine, a longtime favorite of the band, featuring saxophonist Dana Colley, a founding member of Morphine. Following the death of frontman Mark Sandman, Colley has carried forward the band’s distinctive musical legacy through Vapors of Morphine, making them a fitting addition to an evening dedicated to remembrance and resilience.
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**RECENT PR FROM THE BOGMEN’S ‘IN MY KINGDOM’ (2024) ALBUM RELEASE**
Legendary NYC band The Bogmen to release their third full length album,
‘in My Kingdom,’ OUT 5/31/24, their first LP in over 25 years!
RELIX PREMIERE: relix.com/news/detail/video-premiere-the-bogmens-in-my-kingdom/
AMERICANA UK PREMIERE: https://americana-uk.com/video-premiere-the-bogmen-summer-of-soul
By 1993 The Bogmen, in their makeshift mobile home Snow White, toured up and down the East Coast from D.C. to Portland, ME playing a mix of rock clubs, colleges and back yard bacchanals, winning the hearts of everyone who caught their act until eventually they were selling out national venues like the Wetlands and Limelight in New York City, Lupo’s in Providence, Paradise Rock Club in Boston, Black Cat and the 9:30 Club in D.C. and many more. At NYC’s Irving Plaza, music mogul Clive Davis signed the band. It was a huge deal for an unsigned act to sell out such a venue as well as break every bar record. The band was formed in the summer of 1990 by lead singer Billy Campion (aka Vic Thrill) and the brothers Billy and Brendan Ryan. In Boston they added bassist Mark Wike, percussionist P.J. O’Connor and drummer Clive Tucker by 1992. In that spring they would try out their songs and sound at The Bitter End in Greenwich Village, NYC. The Bogmen built a small but rabid cult following right from the start with their undulating mix of rock, soul and afrobeat-infused anthemic power pop – all fueled by Campion’s soaring, gravelly vocals and brilliantly epigrammatic lyrics.
But by 1994, things would take a turn for the better. The band signed to Arista Records and released their first album, Life Begins at 40 Million, produced with deliberately off-kilter precision by Jerry Harrison of the Talking Heads. The album was embraced by critics and received heavy radio play, including the sing-along hits ‘Suddenly,’ ‘Yellar,’ and ‘Englewood.’ The exposure helped Campion and co. grow their basement army into a legion of live music addicts and turntable geeks who pledged their eternal loyalty to the weirdos from the New York scene with their undeniable hooks. Rock journalist Timothy White described them as “jubilant bedlam” in Billboard Magazine.
Then things kicked into high gear.
The years that followed included tours with the legendary Shane McGowan of The Pogues, then-chart toppers Barenaked Ladies and Guster, and oddball arena shows – opening for KISS in Roanoke, Atlanta, D.C., and Philadelphia, and The Ramones at a festival in Albany. There were more magical moments like playing The Fleadh festivals in Randall’s Island, NYC and one in Chicago, with Billy Bragg, Van Morrisson, Patti Smith, Shane McGowan, Wilco, John Lee Hooker and other great acts. The band continued their success with their second studio album, Closed Caption Radio, which tapped producers Bill Laswell (Gil Scot-Heron, Fela Kuti, Public Image Limited) and Godfrey Diamond (Lou Reed, More,More,More, Frank Sinatra); despite their hard-won touring chops and looking poised for worldwide success, The Bogmen disbanded shortly after the release of the album in 1998 frustrated with the music business and having artistic differences within the band.
But in 2001 the band came together to perform two sold out shows at Irving Plaza and recorded a live album Love at Irving Plaza and contributed a few new songs to an EP compilation Kristy’s Smile along with Gordon Gano (Violent Femmes) after keyboardist and founding member Brendan Ryan’s wife died tragically in the the September 11th attacks; and in 2010, they reunited to record and release the EP Looking For Heaven In The Barrio. But, frustration with the state of the music business, battles with addiction, and the impact of trauma and tragedy had taken a toll on the band members. The Bogmen disbanded once again to settle down for some well-deserved rest and healing. This time apart led to a variety of side projects including Ryan Bros Music, Vic Thrill, Mad Larry, The Brothers Yee, Gordon and Gano and the Ryan Brother and more.
But the legend of the Bogmen endured, with streaming algorithms continuing to serve up Yellar alongside new releases, and Gen-Xers blasting Bogmen classics for their kids on the way to after school activities. That strange magic started to reach new generations; and with each fleeting glimpse of this bacchanalian cryptid of a band, new devotion has germinated, and fans new and old have wanted more.
Now, some twenty six years after their last full length album release, The Bogmen are proud to announce the release of their third full-length album, In My Kingdom, which is due for release on May 31st. The entire album was recorded at The Carriage House in Stamford CT by engineer Phil Palazzolo, and produced by Billy Campion & Brendan Ryan. Recorded over a period from 2021 to 2023, in the midst of the emergence of Covid.
“The pandemic was a strange time again, different, but dark and tragic just the same. The world seemed to be falling apart and people were becoming divided and confused. There was a reversion back to our primordial instincts of survival, a return to nature and a reflection on religion and spirituality. This is reflected in the music of this record.” – Billy Ryan
“The three of us (Billy, Billy and myself) began writing music and pooling our influences during the difficult times of the pandemic and the loss of a close friend. This resulted in a full length album of new songs as well as some re-recorded oldies that we are really proud of.” – Brendan Ryan.
Kingdom seems to be arriving at the perfect moment. The message of love, compassion, and inclusiveness is present throughout. While much of the world stands on war footing, or is already mired in war itself, committed to conflicts that highlight the differences and distances between us, Kingdom offers a real spiritual respite that could not be more vital in times like these.
“We know that we have always had the ability to bring people together and we tend to do it when it’s most needed. We hear the call! Everyone was isolated by the pandemic, it was the 20 year anniversary of 9/11, I was back in Huntington with the Ryan Brothers, we lost a great friend of the band during covid who was also a leader in our community and his death was a catalyst for me personally to get clean, which enabled us to start working together again. So many things had to come together. It just felt like destiny and we now serve a higher purpose than our own success, we fulfill a need to bring our community together and as long as that’s there we’ll be here!” explains lead singer Billy Campion.
Much like beloved acts such as Jane’s Addiction, Alice In Chains, or even Kate Bush, the band’s existence has been illusive, releases few and far between, and a pattern of surfacing for a while – and then disappearing again – became the modus operandi. Fans of The Bogmen have cherished every second the band has shown its face above water, gobbling up tickets to shows. sometimes just as few and far between as their records. No fleeting glimpse provided by the band has gone unseen in the eyes of a true Bogmen fan. The fact that decades after their inception, the band is still selling out large venues in major cities is a testament to their greatness and endearing and enduring nature. With the new album, only their third full-length album in almost as many decades, The Bogmen may finally be coming full circle with their story, finally existing in the past. present, and future. The members themselves seem to understand the importance of this moment, a moment that could have easily not existed considering the close-calls with the bands’ struggles with drugs and alcohol. or the tragedies that were so intimately intertwined with the music and story of The Bogmen. Perhaps now, the band is finally beginning to accept the timelessness of their marriage and the eternal nature of their music, music that has spoken to generations of fans at this point, and most importantly, music we hold dearest to our hearts, especially in times like these. It’s almost a blessing that the band never found world-wide mainstream success when they first broke onto the scene in the mid 90’s. If they had, the band may have slipped into an backward-looking existence – become a nostalgia act – and do what many of their contemporaries have done, which is tour ceaselessly behind music that was created in the past, chasing a memory or a long last feeling. Instead, we rejoice that one of the great immortal bands of our time have returned to give us another gift, another gloriously relevant compilation of songs that are both of our time, and of every time, and most importantly. have given us another work of art that speaks to this moment, and every moment before and after.
The album opens with the title track, ‘In My Kingdom,’ which begins with a spoken word intro, inviting the listener to join the band in a utopic co-existence, painting a picture of what a universe based in love and acceptance might look like, or even better, might sound like. With the tone set from the very start, the album flows effortlessly between quiet moments of self-reflection and bombastic gallantry that only a singer like Billy Campion and a band like The Bogmen can deliver honestly and poignantly. On ‘Little Bird,” Campion sings, “little bird with a broken wing, i hear you’ve lost the will to sing. There was a time I was just like you…,” and the listener can feel that they are not alone, and they know this song is as much for them as it is for the band itself.
On ‘Babbling Brook of Love,’ perhaps the most sincere and personal song on the album, Campion confronts one of his lowest moments, riddled with pain and suffering acutely from a losing battle with addiction, but he somehow finds hope and states “I won’t be jumping off that bridge tonight. Just got a call that I’m to bring the light.” Everything that has proven so precious to listeners of The Bogmen is perfectly encapsulated in this song, and much like the shamans of ancient tribes who willingly stood in the fire for the purpose of igniting a soul, healing wounded temperaments, or uniting their village, Campion and crew are willing to walk the walk, unafraid of the blazing infernos where they must go, and unafraid of what must be done to save us all. Make no mistake about it, The Bogmen have always understood their role in this village, and have seemingly appeared when we most need them – now being no different.
Aside from the astounding singles “in My Kingdom,’ ‘Where the Goddess Goes,’ and ‘Summer of Soul,’ fans will find trademark touches throughout the record. ‘Life on the Ranch’ rolls through with a cantina vibe and a western movie theme that the band has flirted with over the years, sometimes donning gringo-mariachi suits at shows. ‘Pandemic Blues’ features a classic croon over a motown-lounge-soul groove, complete with a an all-star horn section comprised of Dave “Smoota” Smith (TV on Radio), Paula Henderson (Gogol Bordello), and Alicia Rau (Violent Femmes), all surrogate band members who were famously featured on the band’s Looking for Heaven in the Barrio EP (2010) and have been mainstays at the band’s concerts ever since. The album finishes on a legitimate nod to the band’s storied career with the re-recording and impassioned re-imagining of the Bogmen classic “Raga,’ from their landmark debut album, Life Begins at 40 Million.
In the lead up to May 31st (album drop), The Bogmen are set to release the third and final single ‘Summer of Soul,’ on May 16th. The song, an epic romp that features Campion’s soaring vocals and a wonderfully textured arrangement that feels like all cylinders are in full engine swing, is accompanied by another music video created by long time collaborator, Chris Cassidy. With ‘Soul’ and all the songs on the new record, there is an unshakable sonic connection to an ancient primal order, something few bands seem to ever achieve, and something The Bogmen seem to do effortlessly.” ‘Summer of Soul’ is a song that came out of the strange days of the pandemic in the summer of 2020. They were dark days indeed compounded by the loss of a dear friend. It was a song that Brendan and I had with a working title My Shangri-La. Billy Campion took the music and wrote some pretty heavy lyrics.”Billy Ryan (guitarist)
The final single and the forthcoming full length album serve as the perfect legacy to their fans and even more importantly, to the world wide audience this band has always deserved. This is just the beginning of what is already becoming a magnificent resurrection, and the first new chapter to an already legendary story of a truly legendary band. And if the word ‘legendary’ is one of the most overused adjectives in today’s over-hyped and oversold music scene, so be it. But just like the words ‘compassion,’ ‘love,’ and ‘understanding’, ‘legend’ is thrown around in copy and conversation, often without true credence paid to the gravitas and meaning these words hold. Legend status is one that is hard earned, hard won, and of course, as with all great sagas – the tales that become truly mythical – there is always a great story behind it. And there is no band in the last few decades that can claim this status with more legitimacy than the Long Island / NYC based The Bogmen – a band whose story truly is one of the great tales of rock n’ roll lore.
Thank goodness for us all – The Bogmen have returned!
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