Def Nettle – share tongue in cheek single ‘Mohawk’

Punk-funk band Def Nettle today share incisive new single ‘Mohawk’.

After a year-long hiatus following their debut album DN001, Def Nettle returned with gusto in 2025, releasing singles ‘Get Me Here’, ‘Headwrecker’ and ‘Nothing For It’, ’ earning praise from BBC Radio 6, RTÉ 2FM, Louder Than War, Hot Press, Total Rock and more.

Punkier and funkier than ever, forthcoming single ‘Mohawk’ delivers 80’s post-punk guitar riffs against melodic, new-wave textures in a nostalgic but contemporary vision that would be as comfortable in a New York loft as a Madchester dance floor.

Combining spoken word, rap and punchy, addictive choruses, the song features clever lyrical references to song and album titles by ever-present influences The Cure, The Smiths, Joy Division, Sisters of Mercy. Lead vocalist/producer Glen Brady and rapper Lisa Doyle-Taaffe trade off in a tongue-in-cheek rumble, vilifying the commercialization of punk imagery like the ubiquitous ‘Mohawk’ and poking fun at themselves and their own exploitation of retrospection and sentimentality.

Behind the conceptualization, guest guitarist Dissenter Melody, drummer Damien Fox and bassist Ely Siegel lay down a stomping groove that sets toes tapping and heads nodding, re-defining the evolving and authentic sound of Def Nettle – confident, eclectic and resistant to pastiche.

ABOUT DEF NETTLE

One of The Irish Times’ ‘New Irish Acts To Savour’ in 2023, Def Nettle released debut album DN001 to critical acclaim, with The Irish Times writing: “Much of the record explores serious life experiences, but the approach is unexpected; sometimes elements of new wave and postpunk meet a peppering of The The and Tom Waits, and while the spectre of a certain musical period in Manchester looms at times – Joy Division on Architecture, and The Smiths on War Machine (which actually features the late Andy Rourke on bass) – it strays away from being pastiche, and brings something of a vitality to well-trodden pathways.”

Brady is a Dubliner with a twist of his childhood spent in New York and a chapter of life spent in Berlin and San Francisco, working at the top of his field in every aspect of music production and performance. He has session musician credits with the likes of R.E.M., has spent five years as an engineer with the California State Symphony and has toured as a member of DARK with Andy Rourke (The Smiths) and the late Dolores O’Riordan, as well as having mixed their album, Science Agrees.

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Photo credit – Ian Mc Donnell @mcgigmusic