dirty marmalade

Hailing from the backroads of County Cavan, Dirty Marmalade are a three-piece indie/alternative band founded by Donny Mc Avenue (Lil’ Phynott) and Emil Kapusta (Mildly Fool!sh), with Aaron Mc Cann on bass.

The band began in an apartment Emil shared with his grandparents, where Donny and Emil started writing and recording with whatever gear they could get their hands on. With no studios nearby and no scene to lean on, they learned how to record, mix, produce, and release their own music. After numerous noise complaints, they took their setup on the road, recording in rented Airbnbs around rural Ireland.

Their debut album, Hills of Breifne (2025) is the product of those years of trial and error. It’s a record that sounds both intimate and expansive — built from the textures of rural life, full of lush chords, naturally groovy rhythms and unexpected chaotic moments. Across its tracks, they weave together indie rock, folk, hip hop and lo-fi grunge with subtle jazz touches, creating a sound that’s distinctively Irish but never confined by it. Lyrically, it captures the unease and absurdity of small-town living: friends leaving, nights that go nowhere, and the stubborn hope that something better might still be out there.

A Dirty Marmalade show feels less like a performance and more like walking into someone’s world for an hour, delivering live shows that veer from intimate storytelling to full-blown cathartic chaos. Whether they’re playing a late-night festival tent or an empty back room in Ballinagh, Dirty Marmalade bring a kind of chaos that’s hard to fake — the kind that comes from years of doing it the hard way and loving every bit of it.