The all-star band with Michigan’s Michael Shimmin, Joe Hettinga & Joe Dart and the U.K.’s John McSherry, Ross Ainslie & Sean O’Meara plays The Pyramid Scheme Thursday. Learn more at Local Spins.
The Olllam: Irish melodies ‘designed more like pop or rock songs.’ (Courtesy Photo)
SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEOS
Support our coverage of
West Michigan's music scene
Describing The Olllam as unique or unparalleled might sell its music short.
The mesmerizing, transatlantic collective formed nearly 15 years ago by Kalamazoo drummer Michael Shimmin, Ann Arbor’s Tyler Duncan and Uillean pipes master John McSherry of Belfast deftly weaves Irish melodies into instrumental soundscapes “designed more like pop or rock songs.”
The band released its first self-titled album in 2012 and followed it a decade later with “elllegy” that built on this intoxicating, instrumental mix of styles and moods.
But the musicians haven’t stopped there: Last year, they co-wrote “Sona” with internationally acclaimed electronic music artist Zedd, a track featured on Zedd’s album, “Telos.” And earlier this year, they released the single, “the burialll stone (Live in Belfast),” that has Irish actor Anthony Boyle performing spoken word poetry by Yeats. (Video below.)
LISTEN: The Olllam, “lllow the sun”
Now, the current lineup of the band — McSherry, Shimmin, bassist Joe Dart of Harbor Springs, keyboardist Joe Hettinga of Grand Rapids, whistle player Ross Ainslie of Glasgow and guitarist Sean O’Meara of Limerick — has launched its first full-fledged U.S. tour and its first American performances in 11 years.
Kicking off Sunday in Philadelphia, the tour stops in Cambridge, Mass., and Brooklyn, N.Y., this week before hitting Grand Rapids to play The Pyramid Scheme at 7 p.m. Thursday, with Max Lockwood opening. Tickets, $35.51, are available online here.
Shimmin, a well-known Michigan drummer who’s performed and recorded with a who’s who roster of Michigan stars, toured in college with Duncan in the band Millish. So when McSherry and Duncan decided in 2011 to start this new musical project, they asked Shimmin to join in.
“The three of us wrote what would become our first album,” he recalled. “We did this by sending files back and forth between Michigan and Belfast. This was way before Zoom.”
Much of the music incorporates keyboards and electronic elements while exuding a robust Celtic flair. The band cites everything from Tamalin to Radiohead to Nick Drake to Cornelius to Led Zeppelin as influences.
“The inspiration was to create compositions that were led by Irish melodies, but were designed more like pop or rock songs,” Shimmin explained.
“In Irish music, the sections are described as ‘A’ sections, ‘B’ sections, ‘C’ sections, etc., whereas a song-based form we would say ‘verse, chorus, bridge’ and so on. So we went with a more song-based form, but instead of lyrics, it would be a melody played on the whistle.”
While Duncan has since stepped away from the project, Shimmin said The Olllam now features “an incredible whistle player from Glasgow, Scotland to fill in,” namely Ross Ainslee.
Because it’s been easier for the U.S. musicians in the band to tour in the United Kingdom, The Olllam has mounted successful tours across the pond over the years. But after signing with a new booking agency, ROAM Artists, the band was “finally able to set up a U.S. tour” this fall, with expanded touring planned for 2026.
Although he wouldn’t elaborate, Shimmin conceded that the musicians also “are writing new music right now.”
The Olllam follows its Grand Rapids show with a Friday appearance at The Magic Stick in Detroit (details, tickets here). The tour continues through mid-November with stops in Illinois, Colorado and California. More at theolllam.com/lllive.
VIDEO: The Olllam, “the burialll stone” (featuring Anthony Boyle)
VIDEO: The Olllam, Live in Belfast
Copyright 2025, Spins on Music LLC
