Few figures in modern music embody restless creativity quite like Mike Scott. As the driving force behind The Waterboys, Scott has spent decades reshaping the boundaries of rock, folk, and poetic expression, guided less by trends than by instinct and imagination. His work is marked by a rare intensity—songs that feel lived-in, searching, and often transcendent—earning him a reputation as one of the most singular voices of his generation. Among the band’s many evolutions, few moments loom as large as the creation of the ‘Fisherman’s Blues’ album. Released in 1988, the album marked a dramatic shift from the band’s earlier “big music” sound into something earthier and more rooted in Irish folk traditions. Fiddles replaced fanfares, and the songs took on a loose, spontaneous spirit that captured both the joy and chaos of the recording process. What emerged was not just an album, but a sprawling, soulful document of artistic reinvention. Indeed, there are many outtakes and alternate versions and previously unreleased songs from these sprawling sessions that are continuing to be released to the public. Rather like Bob Dylan’s legendary ‘Basement Tapes’, all of this mystery surrounding the ‘Fisherman’s Blues’ recording sessions has meant that the album continues to grow in stature over the years.

Now, nearly four decades later, that same spirit is being brought vividly back to life on stage. This September 2026, The Waterboys will perform Fisherman’s Blues at the ‘Roig Arena’ in Valencia—a rare opportunity to experience the album’s rich textures and emotional depth as a living, breathing performance. For longtime fans and newcomers alike, it promises to be both a celebration and a rediscovery. Indeed, Steve Wickham returns on fiddle and support will be provided by the ‘country outlaw’ giant Steve Earle!

Ahead of this special event, we present to you an exclusive ‘24/7 Valencia’ interview with the legendary Mike Scott of The Waterboys to explore the making of Fisherman’s Blues, the stories behind its most beloved songs, and what it means to revisit such a pivotal work today. From wild recording sessions in Ireland to the enduring pull of its melodies, Scott reflects on an album that continues to resonate across generations.

 EXCLUSIVE  ’24/7 VALENCIA’ INTERVIEW WITH MIKE SCOTT OF ‘THE WATEBOYS’

24/7 Valencia: Please tell us about the opening track ‘Fisherman’s Blues’

Mike Scott of ‘The Waterboys’: “This was recorded in January 1986. It was actually the first day of ‘The Fisherman’s Blues’ recording session era.  It was a day that we sat in a circle…and we recorded about 15 songs that day! It was a brand-new song. In fact, I actually wrote the music for ‘Fisherman’s Blues’ in the studio, as I had the lyrics already. When I listened to it the next day, outside of the studio, I realized it was a new sound for ‘The Waterboys’. It had a kind of country-rock rhythm and with the fiddle and the mandolin playing the lead, it was such a new and strange and completely different sound compared to what he had played before. I almost couldn’t understand it… even though I had written and played on it myself. But I quickly got used to it… and so did the world!

 24/7 Valencia: ‘We Will Not Be Lovers’: “This was also recorded completely live in the studio. There are a couple of overdubs like organ and electric guitar but the basic acoustic guitar, bass, drums, fiddle and mandolin was recorded live in a single take! Like ‘Fisherman’s Blues’, I had the lyrics already written and I made up the music on the spot in the studio including the ‘diga-diga-diga-diga-da’ riff. And then the guys came in and nailed their parts in real time, once and once only and that was it! It has a fantastic groove with Dave Murphy on drums and Trevor Hutchinson… our very dependable bass player… and Steve Wickham on fiddle. Do you know, we didn’t want to sound like anybody else…the way records were being made in 1986. I hated those big snare drum sounds and the ‘clicky’ bass drums. The sound of technology, I was really bored with it by then. Going back to old Hank Williams and early Elvis Presley template of playing ‘live in the studio’, that was exciting for us.”

 24/7 Valencia: ‘Strange Boat’: “‘Strange Boat’ was a very difficult song to record. We recorded it half-a- dozen times at different periods with different arrangements and different line-ups. I still don’t think we did the best version on the album. It sounds a bit too fragile to me. But it was a cool song and we always enjoyed playing it.”

 24/7 Valencia: World Party’: “This song was a hangover from a previous album,  just as the ‘This is the Sea’  was being finished. It was too late to be on that album but it carries on the sound of that record. I don’t think I should have been included it on the ‘Fisherman’s Blues’ album…there were so many other great tracks we recorded that were in the spirit of ‘Fisherman’s Blues’ that I should have included. I like the track but I don’t have any big affection for ‘World Party’ as a song and we won’t be playing it live in Valencia.”

 24/7 Valencia: ‘Sweet Thing’: “‘Sweet Thing’ was recorded on the same day as ‘Fisherman’s Blues’…on the first day of the album. It was also live in the studio, five guys playing. I loved that song; it is from Van Morrison’s ‘Astral Weeks’ and I had loved it for many years. We tried it before in the studio without quite nailing it. There’s something about the mandolin and the fiddle that clinched it for us. The segue into ‘Blackbird’ by The Beatles was an improvisation, it occurred to me in the moment and I sang it.”

 24/7 Valencia: Can you tell us how you recorded the instrumental ‘Jimmy Hickey’s Waltz’: “That was a little tune that Steve Wickham had written. We recorded it in Spiddal (County Galway). This was about 2 years after the ‘Fisherman’s Blues’ recording session. We’d been working for a long time, trying to finish the album and we got stuck! We took 6 months off and then we recommenced in the West of Ireland. We rented a house in a little town called Spiddal and we put a studio into it. ‘Jimmy Hickey’s Waltz’ is one of the many tracks we recorded in Spiddal. I was on drums, actually, I have to confess. We were playing away and we just couldn’t get the right take. Someone, I think the engineer said: “You know what you need? You need some ‘waltzers’ in the studio with you to give you the right spirit for the song!”

 So, one of our crew went into the local village to the crossroads…and found 3 waltzing couples! He brought them to the studio and they waltzed as we played. The first thing they said to us is that “You’re playing it much too slow!” So, we sped up the track and very quickly we got it. If you listen closely, you can hear their clothes swishing on the record!”

24/7 Valencia: ‘And a Bang on the Ear’ is really uplifting. What does it mean and what is the song about? “It’s a phrase you would say if you were going to see somebody that we both know… to give them ‘a bang on the ear’…really it means say hello from me! It’s a song about a lot of my old girlfriends and set to a country-rock groove. The drums are played by a great American drummer call Jay Dee Daugherty and the song has a great groove. There is a guest (Irish) accordionist called Máirtín O’Connor and he plays really magnificent accordion on that track.”

24/7 Valencia: I know that Hank Williams is one of your musical influences. Can you tell us about ‘Has Anybody Here Seen Hank?’ “This is a song about the great Hank Williams and, like ‘Strange Boat’, we recorded it dozens of times with different arrangements and musicians but I don’t feel we chose the best version of ‘Hank’ for the album. We had more ragged and visceral versions but I find the album version a bit tame and polite. But I still like the song and I’m glad that it is there.”

 24/7 Valencia: ‘When Will We Be Married?’ “This was a song that I found in a songbook of South African folk tunes. I took the title line and I think one line of the lyrics, and then made a new song out of it. Steve Wickham added the fiddle tune from an Irish jig called ‘Tenpenny Bit’. We used some antique elements to make something new.”

 24/7 Valencia: ‘When Ye Go Away’: “I had written a song called ‘Killing My Heart’ with the same lyrics, which we recorded twice but didn’t seem to fit at the time. So, I took the lyric and put a new tune to it. It has more of an Irish folk style and that became ‘When Ye Go Away’. It is distinguished by Anthony Thistlethwaite’s beautiful slide mandolin and Alec Finn is playing a wonderful, rippling bouzouki part that runs throughout the song. He was in a great Irish folk band called ‘De Danann’ for many years. The fiddle solo isn’t played by Steve Wickham. It was played by an Irish composer called Charlie Lennon.”

 24/7 Valencia: ‘Dunford’s Fancy’: “It’s an instrumental fiddle jig written by Steve Wickham about a friend and he plays it really beautifully, as good as any Irish trad player and it leads us to the next song…”

 24/7 Valencia: ‘The Stolen Child’: “This is my musical adaptation of W.B.Yeats’s  famous poem. I wrote the chords and the melody but the flute parts that dominate the track were written by Colin Blakey. A Scottish musician guesting with us (at the time) before joining the band full time.”

 24/7 Valencia: Is ‘This Land Is Your Land’ related to the Woody Guthrie song?   “Yes. It’s just a snippet, recorded at a party with Steve Wickham singing Irish place names instead of American ones!”

 24/7 Valencia: Are you based in Ireland? “Yes, I have lived in Dublin for many years now.”

24/7 Valencia: Therefore, as a Scot, what is it about Ireland that appeals to you in terms of living there? “I like the imagination in Ireland. It’s a very creative place, a good place to write songs. I like the atmosphere.”

24/7 Valencia: Growing up, what were your musical influences?  “I grew up listening to the pop music of the 1960s, which was a very great time. I was familiar with all The Beatles’ records, The Rolling Stones, The Kinks, The Who, all the Tamla Motown records, The Four Tops, The Temptations, The Supremes. I was very aware of the evolution of music through that decade. Even though I was just a kid, I could tell that the music was moving in sophistication and beauty as the decade progressed and that had a big influence on me. I have always believed that music should change…because when I was growing up, every time ‘The Beatles’ released a record it was going to a whole new level. Suddenly, it’s ‘Eleanor Rigby’ and ‘Yellow Submarine’ and then suddenly it’s ‘Penny Lane’ and then suddenly ‘Hey Jude’! The depth of emotion that was in the records grew as the decade progressed. There was a moment in that decade when everything seemed to come into colour. For me, music should change. The way I have always worked in ‘The Waterboys’ is to make every album different than the last one. I don’t do it deliberately but I have always forged ahead to try and find new music and that results in very different records each time. To me, that’s normality.

 24/7 Valencia: The last time you played here, you told the audience that ‘Valencia is the most rock’n’roll city’. What did you mean by that?

“It’s the wildest audience! Within the band, we’ve got our half-a-dozen favourite cities to play. Glasgow is one of them and Valencia is ‘number one’ because it is the wildest audience! We love playing in Valencia. It feels like a ‘Waterboys’ city. The Valencia audience has always been incredibly enthusiastic and loyal to us. In 2001, I remember our driver gave us a Valencia CF football shirt with my name on the back. I wore it with pride, live on stage in Valencia!”

Interview by Will McCarthy

Article copyright 24/7 Valencia

Photo copyright Phillip Solomonson / 24/7 Valencia

‘THE WATERBOYS’ PLAY ROIG ARENA (VALENCIA) ON SEPTEMBER 3. TICKETS: https://www.entradas.com/artist/the-waterboys/?affiliate=JFC