ALBUM REVIEW: SHAMBOLICS- ‘Riot On Race Day’ (2016)

“In South Australia I was born, heave away, haul away In South Australia, ’round Cape Horn, we’re bound for South Australia”

…Ten original songs from rollickin’ celtic punk to country and spaghetti western…and beyond!

One of the biggest dangers of doing a site like this is that there are only so many ways you can describe something and if that something is something that you love it is near impossible to hold back and not go overboard about it! Now regular readers will know that when it comes to Australian celtic-punk we turn into a blubbering mess. Well if that gets on your nerves then skip this review as it is yet another fantastic album release from down under that we are going to rave on and on and on about!

Hot on the heels of the review of the new fellow Aussies Rumjacks album earlier in the week itss the new long player from Shambolics (there’s no The!) who hail from Adelaide which is the capital city of South Australia and they play good auld fashioned Poguesy style Irish celt’n’roll tunes. Formed out of the ashes of a previous celtic-punk band called The Gartloney Rats they featured on these pages once before back in June, 2014 when we reviewed their debut EP (here) titled ‘Pogue Mahone’ (in gaelic ‘póg mo thóin’) which is, of course, the Irish for Kiss my Arse and also the name The Pogues began with till the Brit media realised what it meant and made them change it! The Pogues reference fits Shambolics well as almost uniquely, to me anyway, they adhere to a much more folkier sound then their Australian celtic-punk counterparts. Most Aussie bands you would generally call punk rather than folk so Shambolics stand pretty much alone doing what they do and they are doing it as well as anyone else across the globe. A trio consisting of an Irishman, an Englishman and a Russian you would hardly tell there’s no drummer either.

Jimmy on Banjo (Irish) * Alan on Guitar (English) * Paul on Accordion (Russian)

The album kicks off with the title song ‘Riot On Race Day’ and you get a feel for The Shambolics and what they are about from the first few seconds.

This is good time music for jigging about and going off on one after a few jars in the pub. Sure it’s folk but the kind of folk that would have the purists running away from and the punk rockers running to!

“There’s a riot on race day the Shambos beat them all
Played all day and never did stall
Music started they couldn’t stand still
There’s a riot on race day way down at Morphettville”

The second track is ‘Banshee’ and my favourite on the album. As catchy as feck and a real good tune with a whole host of instruments jumping out of you. Now gotta add that the production is here is absolutely spot on. All them instruments sound perfect and compliment each other so well done to Gavin O’Loghlen and the Bhoys for that.

‘Hell On Wheels’ slows it right down showing a different side to Shambolics and reminds me of Hell’s Ditch Pogues with a real cowboy banjo driving the song along. We are back with another slower song next with ‘Grace Of God’ and a word here for Alan’s vocals that portray both the funnier side of Shambolics as well as those songs more from the other side of the tracks. To be sure its not all piss taking and when they need to pull out a serious one his voice portrays perfectly with his deep raspy cigarette laden Irish accent doing a great job altogether.

“So with pockets full of holes, as are my worn out shoes
I feel the cobbled stones along the lanes
As I fall into a bar, and I hear a poor man singing
I drink my beer and share the poor man’s shame”

That Hell’s Ditch banjo is back with ‘Preacher’s Daughter’ and again the band nail it and chase that with ‘Stand Me Up’ that begin’s with one of my favourite instruments in celtic-punk the harmonica. A slight rock’n’roll flavour to this reminding me again of Shane with The Popes this time. Again a classic already and a song I’ll still playing in the months to come. ‘Go Wan Go Wan Go Wan!’ takes me back to summer holidays and slave labour on a farm in south Tipperary during the school holidays where your only reward would be a coke and crisps in the evening in a pub full of men talking about the price of milk.

“Ger Up the Yard, Ger Up the Yard, Smell of Hay about yer Person”

‘World Away’ slows again and you know I could see the appeal of Shambolics from 8-80 here. That sort of downtrodden thing that the Irish sometimes have in song fits in great here when placed up against some of the more upbeat and jolly songs. After all as much as we love those songs where we can leap around like maniacs and shout ourselves silly we also need songs where we can hold our loved ones and strangers and tell the word who we are while raising our glasses high.

“Travel the world, I was told, would make me a man
All the four corners, I’ve sailed and come back again
Always reminding myself wherever I roam
Someday my journey will soon, be calling me home”

‘Truck Of Lurve’ is classic Shambolics with some utterly hilarious bits within it and then finally Riot On Race Day comes to an end with the superbly fantastic ‘Shambo Blessing (Good Luck to you)’.

“May the road rise up to meet ya, may the wind be at your back
May the horse that has yer money be the first around the track
May the love you have inside ya never wither never die
May you live long and forever have a twinkle in your eye
So good luck to you
Good luck to you”

I think sometimes it would be easy to judge The Shambolics as a sort of jokey band thanks to the cartoon record sleeves (done by regular Shambolics collaborator Mark Mathieson) and aye admittedly sometimes jokey lyrics but sometimes they can pull a song like this out of their ass and it all makes perfect sense.

“May your pint glass never empty, and yer pockets always full
May you never get a knock back, cos you know she never will
May you wander free and easy, and you never have to hide
And you wake up in the morning to a rasher and a ride
So good luck to you
Good luck to you”

So their you have it. Ten original tracks that will certainly get the blood racing that were all written by Alan and Jim of the band. I can have nothing but high praise for this album. From beginning to end it encapsulates everything I love about celtic-punk. A love and respect for folk music but which is never afraid to take it and shake it and give it a nudge up to the modern day. If the spirit of The Pogues still lives on in any band then by Christ then that band is Shambolics! Go Wan Go Wan Go Wan!

(have a sneaky free listen to Riot On Race Day by pressing play on the Bandcamp player below before you buy it!)

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