Mick Pyro

Michael Tierney, better known as Mick Pyro, is an Irish musician. He is best known as the frontman of the Dublin funk rock band Republic of Loose. He has also participated in other independent work with Irish and international musicians. He has also written for the Irish Independent. He released his first solo album, Exit Pyro, in 2023.

Education and influences Pyro has an MA in Renaissance literature and is an avid reader. He is known for his diverse musical tastes and likes hip hop, soul and blues. He has described hip hop as "one of the most innovative art-forms around and it's constantly capable of shocking and surprising me". whilst the Irish Independent has compared him to "an insane rock version of Robbie Williams, with the voice of a young and drunk James Brown". John Meagher, writing in the Irish Independent, described Pyro as "the focal and vocal point of Republic of Loose" who "works his stage like a Joshua Tree-era Bono" During Republic of Loose's 2008 residency at the Dublin Academy, Pyro's stage presence was described by Ed Power in the Irish Independent as "more wedding-dance flap than Harlem shuffle, but he carries his shtick off with so much charisma you find yourself applauding instead of guffawing". His battles with alcoholism are chronicled in the song "Poquito" which features on the Republic of Loose album Vol IV: Johnny Pyro and the Dance of Evil and he also wrote the song "Comeback Girl" whilst drunk.

Career Mick Pyro performed with self-described "rubbish rock bands" for several years before the formation of Republic of Loose. With this band, Pyro has performed at numerous music festivals, including Glastonbury Festival and Reading and Leeds Festivals in England. However the band sell most of their records in Ireland, where they have been regulars on the festival circuit for many years. During this recording he met Sinéad O'Connor, who asked him if they could perform a duet.

Personal life Pyro's sister, Annie, Pyro lives in the basement pad of a 1960s Swedish-style house in residential Dublin suburb of Terenure.