Quebecois Irish Moutarde are back with their second album with folklore sounds of bagpipes and banjo mixed with punk rock riffs. This album has something for everyone to enjoy.
Back back in the day when this here web-zine was in its infancy one of the very first bands to send us their new album was Irish Moutarde. To say we loved it is a bit of an understatement and so they have always been a band that we have followed and looked out for so we are delighted that they have safely delivered their follow album and it’s an equal, if not better, than their previous one.
Irish Moutarde were formed in 2009 in Quebec city (the French speaking province of Canada) as a covers band playing trad Irish songs but with a punk feel and attitude. It wasn’t till 2012 though that they released their first single, ‘The Bear and the Maiden Fair’ which went on to become an instantaneous hit right across the celtic-punk scene.
This track was based on a song from one of the novels that inspired the hit TV show Game of Thrones. The song coming out a year before the show debuted. This keen interest lead the group to follow up this release with their first album Raise ‘Em All the following year and they have since gone on to become one of North America’s best celtic-punk bands. Combining the usual punk rock instruments with banjo, mandolin and highland bagpipes. On my first listen they reminded me of a celtic-punk NOFX and it is this winning combination that has saw them at the top of all the various Best Of 2012 lists and will do the same for this year I suspect. Sadly as is the way for bands, especially for celtic-punk bands who tend to have so many members, some of the Bhoys and Ghirls fell by the wayside. Irish Moutarde were not beaten though and after recruiting some new blood to the band they began to slower get back in the swing of things. A few shows were played last year to showcase new songs before hitting the studio to record their new album.
Released on the first day of Spring, March 1st, this year Perdition is thirteen songs of pure celtic-punk heaven! The album begins with one of it’s best songs and from the very off I knew I was in for a treat.
‘Prélude En La (Lala)’ begins with pipes and drums and then the electric guitar comes chugging into ear-shot and Irish Moutarde are off. The song is sung in French and rather than run the lyrics through Google Translate I’m not going to try and decipher them. Bagpipes and banjo rule here and the clear and concise vocals are still pretty punk rock as well. Irish Moutarde are that rare thing in celtic-punk in that they have a female vocalist and they are certainly not a novelty act either. The vocals are shared between Andrée-Anne and Tony but both Sébastien and Fred take the lead as well on occasion. On ‘The Poison Trail’ the story revolves around going for a pint with the devil and its another high quality song with the relentless fast pace, except for a bagpipe solo!, and the various instruments accompanying each other rather than drowning each other out. It’s fast and furious and typical Irish Moutarde good fun.
Next is ‘Terre Rouge’ and they speed it up and some rather gruff metal style vocals kick in in a song shared between vocalists. This could almost be two different songs, one a metal thrasher and the other a sweet celtic number. That they manage to fit the two together is testament to how good they are. On their debut album the vast majority, maybe even all, of the songs were sung in English while here they have decided to concentrate on singing in French. It doesn’t, and shouldn’t, detract from the music in fact I would always rather hear a band singing in their native tongue. On ‘Jarrets’ and then ‘Eat, Drink And Be Merry’ it could be a nod to both medieval punk as well as punk as of the NOFX variety. A good fun number and thank heavens for that. Sometimes all you want is a bit of fun and something to make you smile.
“So sing (dance), dance (hey)
Like no one’s watching
Forget those losers talking ‘cause I don’t care about them anyway
Eat (drink), drink (hey) and be merry
And I’ll be here to carry you home
‘Cause I don’t want to leave here all alone”
The most Irish song here without a doubt is the brilliant ‘N’oublions Pas’ beginning with banjo and some gentle piping and another standout track soon takes a turn into wild abandon and on an album of standout tracks it don’t get any better than this. This is the sort of stuff we were expecting (hoping) the last Dropkicks album to be like but turned out to be Dad-Rock. Here especially the shared vocals work a absolute treat. The formula works again for the following few songs with ‘À La Santé de Lucifer’, ‘Only in Your Lies’ and ‘Bientôt’ all rocking out with abundant use of celtic instruments and punk rock. On ‘Old Days’ we get the albums solo slow number and by Christ I love it too. Nice lyrics about meeting up with a old friend and going on the lash knowing well that the days when the next day wouldn’t be spent ill in bed are long gone!
“Tomorrow is not going to be easy
Weakness, headaches, fatigue and thirsty
And you know that this is the price to pay
To have a good night just like in the old days”
We are nearing the end and its time for Irish Moutarde to ramp it up again and they don’t get any faster on Perdition than on ‘Go Away’. The excellent drumming throughout the album is not bettered here and the band keep up just in time. It may be fast but still accessible I am sure to anyone. Next up is ‘Condamnés’ and sees the band determined to not go out slowly and finally Perdition comes to an end with ‘The Bitter End’ and an unusual but simply brilliant way to go out. Fast and slow in alternate moves and all the time as catchy as feckin’ hell!
Jérôme Bélanger
Andrée-Anne McHalley
Fred Vandal
The album was produced by Sébastien Malenfant and he has done one hell of a job. I always think its one of the particularly hard to produce a record with so many instruments and not just that but that some are relatively quiet compared to say the drums. The music here is mixed perfectly and everything has come out clear as a bell. All the songs on the album have been written by the band and again that’s fairly novel within the celtic-punk scene as well. Never in my wildest imagination did I think that Irish Moutarde would bring out an album that would be as good as their debut, the classic Raise Em All, but didn’t they just go and only bettered it didn’t they!
Gabor ‘Gabichou’ Somogyvari
Sébastien Malenfant
Tony Vandal
(Have a listen to the whole of Perdition for free below )
Two Interesting Whisky-Fuelled Band Facts:
1. The name Irish Moutardewas chosen because it is a pun on the French expression “relish-moutarde,” which the founding band members felt the name was (and still is) humorous, light and expressed their musical quality.
2. The band’s mascot is Olaf the Irish Giraffe, who was created by fans of the band Julie Lévesque and Guillaume Racine. The sixth song on their debut album is a tribute to this whisky drinking, green metal giraffe who sports a long white mane and long white goatee.
LONDON CELTIC PUNKS WEB-ZINE 
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