20 October 2025
Every Monday I will be bringing you an interview with an independent band, duo or music artist. This week, I caught up with Richie from Dublin band Mechanical Wonders to find out more…
Who is in the band, how did you meet, where are you from and how did you come up with the name?
We have 4 in the band, Richie McGrath is the singer, songwriter and rhythm guitar, Mr Brian Wolohan is lead guitar, backing vocals, sound engineer and producer, Carl O’Connor (CoC) bangs the drums and Stephen Caulfield is on bass and occasional backing vocals.
Myself (Richie), Carl and Stephen are formerly of Dublin band Good Time Villains who disbanded around Covid times for various reasons, but Richie and Carl kept the candle burning and eventually in 2023 through a chance meeting with Brian, an old childhood neighbour, Carl (CoC) invited him along to join and we had instant chemistry and start writing and developing new music, finally in 2025 Stephen returned home to Ireland after living in Scotland for 5 years to join the vans completing the lineup.
We are all originally from Blanchardstown in Dublin and grew up listening to bands like Oasis, Cast, The Verve, and of course Ocean Colour Scene, the OCS song Mechanical Wonder being the inspiration for the band name, about machines taking over, although the song was probably more about the TV and machines taking over, it’s maybe more AI these days, but the premise is still the same I suppose.
Who were your musical influences when you were growing up and who are your influences now?
OCS were massive for me growing up along with Oasis as my older brothers used to listen to them, that was like yeah that’s what the cool kids are listening to!
Through my teens and into my twenties I loved “The View”, Paolo Nutini, Bombay Bicycle Club, Arcade Fire, Damien Dempsey, Stornoway, Villagers, Fleet Foxes, Cloud Control to name a few. But Simon Fowler as a Songwriter and a vocalist has always been the best for me!
How would you describe your sound?
Somewhere in between Indie rock and Indie folk, there’s electric guitars, drums and bass, but it’s softened with some harmonies, acoustic guitars and light riffs for the most part, the songwriting usually has more to it than your average pop song so I guess that makes it folk too 😊
What is your latest release called and what was the influence behind it?
Our latest release is called Nostalgic and it’s about being young and messing around with all your pals, exploring new places when you’re young can feel like being Ernest Shackleton and you’ve only gone to the cornershop in the next neighbourhood, it’s about holding on to that youthful excitement and the quirks of everything new.
What’s your local music scene like?
A lot of very talented bands in Dublin it has to be said! Some beautiful venues too although the hunger for independent original artists may be not where it could be, some people might wince at paying €15/20 to see a new emerging “unknown” band and then fork out €600 to see Oasis in Croke Park, I guess it’s up to the artist to provide the value and entertain but that has to be within budget 😀
What do you have planned for the next 12 months?
First of all we have a new EP which will be released in early November, the second single of which to be released on October 10th along with a new music Video! Headline show in Whelans on October 22nd and some cool acoustic shows towards the end of the year, excited about those! 2026 you will see us at some festivals and of course a headline show in Dublin, a small Irish tour could manifest and possibly some UK dates all in the works!
Is there anyone you’d love to collaborate with?
Simon Fowler and OCS of course.
Any funny stories surrounding your live performances?
There’s one or two but I always get a laugh thinking back to the time I’d had a few too many and played 4 or 5 songs and had forgotten to plug my guitar in, this was before MW while playing a cover set but needless to say we weren’t invited back.
What is the one thing that you want readers to know about you?
I suppose musically we’re an independent working class band that write songs about the pondering of life and situations we find ourselves in, we like our songs and think you will too. Some interesting facts, Richie makes Cider and now lives on a flower farm, Brian got shot through mistaken identity in his 20s, Stephen worked as an ethical Hacker and Carl was the long jump champion of Blakestown in 2005.
Upcoming live dates and performances
Wednesday 22nd October – Whelans, Dublin
You can find out more about Mechanical Wonders via Instagram or Spotify.
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