Emerging from Belfast’s thriving alternative music scene, Broncos have spent the last two years traversing the country and, in the process, releasing a slew of successful singles, including debut ‘Erode’ and follow up ‘Lights Out’, to establish themselves as one of Ireland’s most compelling voices. Now the band have their flag in the moon moment, as they release debut album ‘King Laugh’.
Ahead of their album launch show this Friday, we caught up with the band.
While Broncos have been part of the Belfast scene for a number of years now, it is fair to say that you’re now building a bit of momentum after a relatively slow start. What has changed to facilitate this?
Michael: We put out our first single ‘Erode’ on 13th September 2024, so its almost 2 years to the day that we’re putting out our debut album ‘King Laugh’ and before we put out the single we had only been a band behind the scenes for a few months. We played our first show opening for A Burial at Sea in August so there wasn’t a lot of waiting around.
In the interim we’ve just been selective about what we do. Within the 1st six months of us being a band we had already went out on an Irish tour, and took our friends Bannered Mare with us. We’ve put out four singles over that time and played some great shows. I think the live show is really where the band lives, people get to see and feel the energy and from that word spreads. It’s been an organic growth as opposed to playing algorithmic games or anything like that.
We’ve made a conscious effort to do things in a way we feel comfortable with and it’s cool to see that the music is finding an audience through that. Also, it’s takes time to build towards a record, write the songs, record, decided what stays what goes, what format the release will take etc. at one stage this was going to be three EPs for instance. The album is really a distillation of the first two years of us being a band, all the songs we amassed and taking all those experiences and putting them in the record so that takes time to bring to the boil.
You recently welcomed Matt into the fold. Does becoming a four piece change the dynamic of the band?
Shane: We were discussing recruiting another member for quite a while and I think one of our main concerns and why we didn’t pursue it was the fear that it would change the dynamic – we work in a very particular way and have our own shorthand way of communicating by this point. The four of us play in another project together (SILK) and while we were touring everyone arrived at the conclusion that we all work really well together and that this could be the solution that we were looking for.
Of course there will be somewhat of a dynamic change but it’s a change for the better – I’m stepping away from a role, (I was starting to feel trapped by the bass or always having to sing & I think it was having a detrimental effect on both) Matt has put in a Herculean effort to learn these songs in such a short time frame and for me I think the songs have bloomed now, it’s been such a positive change, they’ve taken on a new energy and occupy a different space.
It’s an extremely exciting time for us.
From a writing point of view, how did the album come together? Was it a shared and collaborative process or did one of you take the lead?
Michael: Cameron and I had been in a band previously that had fallen apart, so by the time Shane joined the stable, we already had some songs that Cameron had written that were a hangover from the old band but were too good to just let wither and die on the vine. I had some songs written from an older project that I always thought were too good to just abandon as well. Then I would write songs and riffs and we would work on them collaboratively in the room. Everyone brings their own voice to the project. I might write a riff but Cameron will play it his way, Shane will bring something far more interesting in bass and then he writes the lyrics.
I remember I had sent over three songs before I went on my honeymoon, I landed in Dubai to three new demos. Shane had cut up the riffs and restructured things and made three great songs. It was a very surreal experience being in Dubai listening to demos. I enjoy the collaborative efforts in the band, someone might write a whole song or just a riff or a drum part and we all work on it from there. ‘Saline’ on the record was written on the spot from Shane playing the bass harmonics and I started playing that drum and bass drum beat and then 15 minutes later the song was done.
Due to the costs and streaming algorithms, many bands are choosing to release singles rather than albums. Why did you feel it was important to go against the grain and put out a record?
Michael: Modern music exists within an incredibly complex landscape. It’s like in Almost Famous and the journalist asks ‘What do you love about music?’ and the rock star answers ‘In the beginning, everything’. That’s how it feels to be in a band these days with any modicum of ambition or even a desire for people to hear your music. There are any number of extraneous activities and considerations that pull your focus away from the actual music.
Strategy plays a huge part in things, social media is a ridiculously large consideration in anything you do as a band. Singles these days really feel like advertisements. They’re a sticker. When you get down to it, you have to release singles so you keep your fan base interested, keep your algorithm interested, social and streaming. I grew up listening to albums, when I hear a new band I instantly go and see what else they’ve released and l Iove diving into back catalogues. If that back catalogue is 6 singles, it’s less interesting. You don’t really get a sense of the artists voice. They’re little snap shots, polaroids.
An album gives an artist a flag in the moon moment, This is us, here’s a body of work, its about X Y Z, here is the visual identity of all that, which should represent the band and speak to the music as well. As a band or artist it’s the largest piece of self expression that we are able to offer. I can’t think of a more important reason than that.
The album explores themes of resilience through lost loves and the emotional extremes that are connected to that, are these from a personal or more conceptual viewpoint?
Shane: I think they are personal experiences that inspire initial ideas but the thing I’ve always loved about songwriting is the opportunity that it gives me to expand a very real experience into something more fleshed out – building a world around one very small moment, it’s such a healing moment to finish writing about a difficult time. I can contain the hurt and emotion in this world and let it become a reminder that I’m out the other end, it turns a negative experience into something positive.
The quintessential Broncos experience is in a live setting. How have you attempted to capture this on the album?
Cameron: Recreating the unbridled energy and rawness of a live show, and trying to bundle up the feeling of 3 (now 4) friends giving their all for each other and everyone in the room is an impossible task. The show will always be the show and the record, it’s own beast.
Recording the songs allowed us to explore more textures, add new layers and give the listener a different but no lesser experience to a live show. I’m so proud of what we created bringing these songs to life and I feel we captured the heft, flow and passion we put into a live performance into something that can be enjoyed over and over.
Can you tell us about the inspiration behind the album title?
Shane: It comes from a quote in Bram Stokers Dracula – no spoilers but a prominent character is murdered after everyone had been trying so hard to save them – van Helsing delivers the line
“Keep it always with you that laughter who knock at your door and say, ‘May I come in?’ is not true laughter. No! He is a king, and he come when and how he like. He ask no person, he choose no time of suitability. He say, ‘I am here.’ It is a strange world, a sad world, a world full of miseries, and woes, and troubles, and yet when King Laugh come he make them all dance to the tune he play.”
To me, it’s the first example of ‘if you don’t laugh you cry’. Laughter to try and handle hardships in life (and there are many) is the only way I find I can deal with these things truly – I wanted to name it after this quote because so much of the record feels like this dark, melancholic journal, processing life with moments of true euphoria and uplifting joy.
It managed to sum everything up in just a few lines
If you could only ask people to listen to one of the tracks from the record, which one would it be and why?
Matt: It would have to be Hold Me. I remember my first time hearing it at a show in the Deer’s Head (before being graciously welcomed into the line up) and thought “This is a Banger”. Safe to say it’s even more fun playing it than just headbanging along!
One of our favourite moments at Output 2025 was your set in the Ulster Sports Club where there was barely room to move. Where does that sit in terms of your favourite gig?
Cameron: Output was without a doubt one of our top gigs. A couple of weeks before we’d played Mandela hall as part of Levels so it was such a juxtaposition to go from the biggest stage we’d even been on, to piling into that sweat box.
I feel it was very on brand for us, and the punk ethos we’ve always had in our approach to the band, to play a tiny room with no stage, shoulder to shoulder with the crowd, it was an unforgettable experience. It felt like a house party and everybody in that room was our friends for 30 sweaty minutes.
Is there a song on record that you’re itching to play live for the first time?
Matthew: Gloom for sure. I am typically a very introverted person, especially during media days such as photo/video shoots. That changed when shooting the video for Gloom. The energy in the chorus gave me a natural urge to just get animated and have a boogie. I’m sure it will have that effect on the audience too.
You will be launching King Laugh with a headline show in the iconic Belfast Empire. What can we expect on the night?
Matt: A clear view of Shane’s belly button, Big Noise and sweat…lots of sweat.
Cameron: Fuzzy riffs and sweaty boys.
Shane: It’s the first time playing the record front to back in it’s true order – I feel like now I’m free of the bass I have a special opportunity to properly engage with the crowd and I can’t wait. I want to give them all my energy and feel it reciprocated – there may also be a couple of outfit changes too??
Michael: Our live shows are always pretty visceral, we can practice these songs to death in the practice space but its when we’re in front of an audience that they really come to life. There’s always a release that accompanies the live show, I want to make sure that when I walk off stage I’ve gave the songs everything I can.
King Laugh, the debut album from Broncos was released on 10 September 2026. It is available to stream on all the usual platforms or you can purchase it via Bandcamp.
To mark the release Broncos will play the Belfast Empire on Friday 18 September 2026. Support comes from Saints and Alice Sloan. Discounted tickets are available online via the Chordblossom ticket store or any remaining will be available on the door.
