After being together for more years than frontman Mike Wade ’can care to remember,’ the Ballaghs have finally released their first album.

Entitled ’Another Broken String,’ it features 10 original tracks that eager fans of the group will recognise as set list staples.

The Ballaghs were born way back in (around) 2007, when Mike and bass player Lee Quaggin decided to put together a folk punk group.

’I’d been playing in a few folk sessions at the White House in Peel, and always thought about writing some of the Manx folk tunes into stompy, raucous songs, in a similar vein as the Levellers or the Pogues,’ said Mike.

’Over the years, people have come and gone, people like Katie Lawrence and Matt Kelly, but the line up cemented itself about 10 years ago with myself, Lee, bouzouki player Ian Allen and drummer Mike Stevens.’

Some of the songs on the album are based on Manx themes: ’Like Brig Lily, which also has the Manx tune Three Little Boats, and Silver Jack. Trim Rigged Doxie is our take on an old folk tune, called Chanters Tune.

’Sad to See You Go is written around the Manx tune Car ny Ferrishyn, while Not in My Name and None the Wiser are written around two of Ian’s own tunes.

’I love the fact that we are taking old traditional folk tunes or new folk tunes and throwing them in a different direction.’

So why did it take so long to release an album?

’There is a fair amount of traa dy liooar about us as a band but, even so, we didn’t expect to take so long to get anything recorded or released.

’We actually recorded the album with Gyp Buggane in November 2019, but then, with lockdowns and various things getting in the way, we never got round to getting it out.

’Gyp, incidentally, was amazing and massively helpful, and we just wouldn’t have got anywhere without his guru-like guidance and patience.’

In terms of the future, the band hopes to get across to play some gigs as soon as possible. As Mike put it: ’We’re all a bunch of old buggers now, but we can’t find a reason to jack it in, so I guess we’ll keep cracking on. We’ve had some amazing times together, and some of our highlights include supporting the Lightning Seeds and being the first Manx band to play at Glastonbury in 2010 - something which I’ll happily carve on my gravestone.’

The Ballaghs’ debut album is available to stream on Spotify, and will be available elsewhere over the next few weeks.

They are currently writing some new songs, so hopefully it won’t take another 10 years for them to get another album out.