This September is a good month to be a Pogues fan in Greater Boston. The ultra-storied, on-again/off-again Irish folk-punk band will be appearing at the two-day Seisún Irish Music, Arts and Cultural Festival at The Stage in Suffolk Downs September 6 and 7 ; original members James Fearnley, Jem Finer, and Spider Stacy will be joined by a bevy of impressive guest vocalists and musicians for the event, part of an eight-city North American tour.

But on September 5, there’ll be a smaller scale yet no less fervent celebration of The Pogues’ music at The Burren Backroom in Davis Square with The nÓgs, a tribute band comprising stalwarts of the Cambridge and Somerville music scenes. It’s the fourth go-round for this event at The Burren alone, so clearly there’s an appetite around these parts for “Poguetry.”  

Josh Lederman – who has the all-important task of channeling The Pogues’ illustrious, tragic late singer, Shane MacGowan (who died in 2023) — recently talked about The nÓgs and their tribute show.

First off, where does your name come from?

The name for the band came from “not Pogues,” but also from the legendary Tir na nÓg pub in Somerville, where many of us originally met. [The pub closed in 2017.]

And where and when did The nÓgs formally begin?

At Sally O’Brien’s pub in Somerville. It’s hard to say when the idea started, but several of us would sit around drinking and playing music, or just talking about music, and we all loved The Pogues. We kept promising we would do a tribute band one day, though most of us were playing around town in several other bands. When Shane MacGowan passed away, we decided we had to do it. We set up a show for St. Patrick’s Day weekend, which was about three months away. And we rounded out the band to match The Pogues’ lineup — vocals, bouzouki, banjo, accordion, tin whistle, guitar, bass and drums. 

Besides The Burren, we play at Sally O’Brien’s and Remnant Satellite regularly, and we’ve played several other venues around Boston, including the BeeHive, The Plough and Stars, the Boston Harbor Distillery, among others. 

Why have The Pogues gained such a big following?

What resonates about The Pogues is hard to pin down. For me, especially as a singer, Shane’s lyrics have always spoken to me like few other poets or songwriters. Some people ask how I can remember all the lyrics, and my response is that the lyrics are really the reason for putting The nÓgs together. Other players love the surprising intricacy of the music. It sounds so simple. Then you listen closely and try to actually play it, and you find there is a lot going on. And the songs are just damn good. 

Do you usually do a retrospective of The Pogues — from early to most recent material — or is it more a “greatest hits” show?

We do about 40 Pogues songs, so we cover just about all of their phases — other than the albums without Shane. We try to blend in the well-known stuff that everyone knows, like “Fairytale of New York,” “Dirty Old Town” and “Rainy Night in Soho.” But I often see people singing along with deeper, less familiar songs, and then I know who the real Pogues fans are in the audience. 

Best Pogues song? Most underrated or overlooked? 

As for the best song, it’s so hard to say. I have always loved the “Sickbed of Cuchulainn.” “Boat Train” is another great one. They're all so good. I think the way we do “Poor Paddy” brings out something in the song that I never really appreciated before. There are so many. Call out requests when you come see us! 

It’s remarkable that you happened to book your show at The Burren right around the time The Seisún was announced, with The Pogues scheduled for the following night. One has to wonder if supernatural forces might be at work.

Well, I think this was just a coincidence. But we've been thinking that our show could be a good pregame!