All Them Dogs is the acclaimed debut novel by Djamel White - it's a gritty Dublin gangland tale filled with, in the words of its rave Irish Times review, 'a street lyricism that mines masculinity in a manner reminiscent of Jim Carroll or Robert McLiam Wilson'.
Djamel tals to Oliver Callan below:
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We asked Djamel for his choice cultural picks...
FILM
I had a weekend of Korean revenge movies recently, which left a sort of hollow feeling inside of me - which was exactly what I was after. Of those I watched, the one I recommend is Memories of Murder, by the Oscar-winning director Bong Jung Ho. It manages to both chill and thrill, with a respectable layer of dread throughout its dreary depiction of a rural community in the grips of a serial killer. Bonus points for the number of drop kicks administered by one of a pair of incompetent detectives, which adds as a surprising amount of levity to an otherwise oppressive atmosphere.
MUSIC
So far my favourite album to release this year is COLD TO THE TOUCH by the band Angel Du$t. It’s their seventh record in ten years. Consisting of members of various hardcore groups - most notably frontman Justice Trip from the legendary Baltimore hardcore band Trapped Under Ice - they’ve been pushing hardcore in an interesting and fun new direction. This album feels like a culmination of years of experimentation and play, and I only see them getting bigger from here on out - especially given the mainstream success of Trapped Under Ice’s drummer Brendan Yate’s band, Turnstile, who recently became the first hardcore-adjacent band to win a Grammy.
BOOK
If you’re looking for a new release I recommend Luke Kennard’s Black Bag, about a struggling actor who participates in a university-led study in which he performs his daily life covered from head to toe in a black bag. It’s hilarious and it’s brilliant, much like Luke is himself.
THEATRE
I don’t get to the theatre nearly as much as I would like to. I recently saw The Crucible in The Gaiety and was really taken in by Andrew McCarthy’s performance as Judge Danforth. Before that I had a great time seeing Kevin Barry’s The Cave last summer. Maybe my favourite theatre memory is when I saw Autumn Royal by Kevin Barry in the Project Arts Centre back in 2017, and Cillian Murphy happened to be in the seat directly in front of me. I hope he enjoyed that play as much as I did.
TV
Two of my comfort rewatches are Peep Show and The X-Files. More recently, I’ve enjoyed each season of White Lotus. I also liked Mare of Eastown and Task quite a bit.
GIG
Recently enjoyed myself at Deftones in the 3Arena, and their support act Drug Church, who I’m a fanatic for and have caught every time they’ve come over here. They’re another band I see getting bigger, and want all the success in the world for them - it is always a sting when the venues start to grow and barriers start going up between the crowd and the stage. If you’re into it and can catch them in a Whelan’s or a Grand Social, don’t hesitate. I’ll be flying to Manchester in the summer to see the aforementioned Trapped Under Ice at Outbreak Festival, along with a slew of other bands.
ART
The AIB Portrait Prize exhibition is a calendar event for me and mine every year.
PODCAST
Currently all the audio I’m consuming pertains in some way to the current climate in the United States.
Some favourite podcasts of mine include If Books Could Kill, which sharply critiques popular non-fiction and airport paperbacks; Panic World, which looks at culture and politics through the lens of the chronically online and is a must for understanding the role in how the internet shapes our current every day; and A Bit Fruity with Matt Bernstein, a leftist pop culture podcast.
I’d also recommend Know Your Enemy, who I think provide a crucial understanding of the machinations and history of American conservatism, both new and old.
I guess when madness is occurring I find comfort in the voices of the reasonable.
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TECH
My partner and I have been loving this hiking app called AllTrails, which lets you save and download thousands of trails and store the routes offline so you can follow them with your phone’s GPS. We’ve been choosing a new trail every week and tracking our stats. It’s great.
THE NEXT BIG THING
The Keen Jasper. I recently got a pair of these rather odd-looking shoes and I’m betting on them being very trendy. Praying, really.
All Them Dogs is published by John Murray - read an extract here
