ALBUM REVIEW: THE WHIPJACKS- ‘This Wicked World’ (2019)

“We’re The Whipjacks and we’re just having fun”

This Wicked world is the brilliant debut album from a relatively new band to the Celtic-Punk scene. Based in Worcester in the English Midlands and heavily influenced by the major scene greats they are more though than just following others as here they deliver an album of quality high tempo Celtic Folk’n’Punk.

Pounding drums, driving bass, screeching guitar, melodic mandolin and partial nudity. These are the things that energetic Midlands based five-piece The Whipjacks intend to bring to venues around England and based on their debut album they should be entertaining crowds for quite some time. If they aren’t near you right now, you can be damn sure they are coming… soon!

Their debut release was Scoundrels And Rogues, a 4-track EP, including a radio edit of the title song, which came out in early 2017. Original compositions of high tempo Celtic-Punk with catchy tunes that belies that The Whipjacks are basically a punk band but with a mandolin player but in the right hands and with the right tunes a folk instrument can transform any band into something much greater. Here Arran’s playing makes that difference.

So just over a year later saw the release of This Wicked World and a catalogue of mishaps here at London Celtic Punks that saw it filed in our spam folder for ages and then lost, along with 100’s of hours of music when my laptop went bonkers. Finally though we are ready to deliver our verdict and I’m guessing that most will have already decided which way I have gone from the over enthusiastic opening paragraph!! Well yes it’s true I absolutely love it and I’m not ashamed to announce it from the rooftops!

Again, as on Scoundrels And Rogues all the tracks here are original compositions. No room for ‘The Wild Rover’ here I am glad to say. The shadow of the ‘Big Bands’ does loom over them somewhat and partly it’s because of their name and similar style to one band in particular but The Whipjacks plough their own furrow and it helps I suppose to be tucked away in a quiet backwater like Worcester to develop their own style and sound. The album opens with ‘Forever Free’ and from the off it grabs you with Tim wielding his guitar in a similar style to how The Skids once did while Dean’s strong vocals are both tuneful and punk rock. It’s a well chosen start to the album with a catchy beat and a song that leads directly into one of the albums highlights with Arran getting his first chance to shine on the mandolin and ‘Sundown Devil’ has tinges of good auld fashioned country’n’western mixed into proceedings and a great chorus and a nice sense of cheeky humour too.

“She’s a devil when the sun goes down, my friend, I love it when she goes down,

Innocent and sweet when you pass her on the street but a devil when the sun goes down”

‘Push On’ is a short piratey number that still embraces The Whipjacks sound coming across like a punk sea shanty before the album’s title song ‘This Wicked World’ and a real Celtic-Punk epic. Lasting over five minutes the song dives and lifts and swirls throughout and while not quite a ballad it certainly slows the pace nicely. So far it’s been a sort of generic ‘Celtic’ sound The Whipjacks have employed but finally on ‘Hero’ we can nail down a ‘Gaelige’ influence and what a song. Nowhere on This Wicked World does Dean’s voice sound so good as on here and its a mark of the band that my favourite tracks from the album are so diverse but then the Bhoys go for it and finish the song with a real CeltPunk flourish. The next song is the one they chose to release as the album’s single and is without a doubt the #1 song here. I may love a ballad or a trad folk reel or two but give me a foot-stomping fist in the air dance floor filler any day of the week and I’m in heaven. ‘All My Pains (Are Self Inflicted)’ is that song! Catchy as hell and a guaranteed audience favourite I am sure.

With ‘The Ballad Of Jack Cade’ we are set for a bit of a history lesson and I must say how impressed I am with the current trend of bands singing sings like this that don’t just entertain but also tell a tale too. English history is full of such stories and while many of the ‘middle-class left’ would have us self-flagellating ourselves over slavery or some such event from the past they are more than happy to ignore the history of the ordinary people of this island of rebellion and struggle. Jack Cade was the Irish born leader of the 1450 rebellion against King Henry VI. Although put down ruthlessly it led to the War Of The Roses which in turn led to the breakdown of Royal authority. Having been accused of murder and fled to France he returned in 1450 emerging as the leader of a Kentish rebellion. His forces defeated the royal army at Sevenoaks in June and two weeks later he entered London, where he executed the hated Lord Treasurer. Eventually run from the city the government persuaded most of the rebels to disperse by offering them a pardon, but Cade continued his resistance. Wounded and captured near Lewes on July 12, 1450 he died while being transported to London. The song itself is a catchy folk led number that The Levellers would be proud of. One thing the Celtic-Punk scene can’t get enough of is more rap style numbers and on ‘L.S.D’ The Whipjacks deliver. It’s not quite the House Of Pain but again their sense of humour shines through before ‘Song For A Swine’ and a quick barroom ballad played out to the sound of a pub piano with Dean and gang crooning along before the album’s curtain comes down with the energetic ‘Farewell To The Ladies’ and a song that again raises both a smile and a fist!

So having made themselves a firm fixture on their local music scene and with a ever growing list of gigs further afield it’s now time for them to come to the attention of the wide Celtic-Punk community. With a scene as partisan as the Celtic-Punk scene it’s hard to get people in this country to look beyond the likes of the Murphys and the Mollys but all the time their are bands like The Whipjacks flying the flag for Celtic infused Folk-Punk with shedloads of both attitude and really good songs. This Wicked World is thirty-five minutes of infectious sea bound anthems. Music to forget your vows and bring a smile to your face and joy to your heart as well as pain to the soles of your feet!

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