Happy St. Patrick’s Day / Beannachtaí na Féile Pádraig oraibh!
(ban-ock-tee na fay-lah paw-rig ur-iv)
A very happy (and merry!) St. Patrick’s Day to all London Celtic Punks readers whether blessed with Irish roots or not, in the words of a great friend of mine “everyone is welcome to the hooley”, and while it’s not our purpose to bring you down on this most joyous of days I have found myself increasingly irritated over the last few years by a growing trend to label any day surrounding the 17th as being St. Patrick’s Day. This year with it falling on a Sunday I have even seen events labelled ‘day’ as early as the 14th and the pub industry seems to have taken it upon themselves wholesale to change the date of St. Patrick’s Day to the Saturday. No problem with it being a St. Patricks gig but the actual date is the 17th and only gigs on that date are St. Patrick’s Day gigs. Of course their is an ulterior motive to this and it is all about removing any vestige of ‘real’ Irishness from the day and turning it all into one unholy mess of alcohol abuse, consumption and maximum profits. St. Patrick’s Day is the 17th and the beauty of it being on a specific day is that Monday, Sunday or Saturday it is celebrated the same.
While I am on my soapbox a reminder to try and spend some time over the weekend in a venue that is part of the Irish community. While every pub and music venue jumps upon the Irish bandwagon at this time of year it’s the ones that support Irish culture and the Irish community all year round that deserve our custom. Cheap beer promotions and free Guinness hats don’t trump our places that are here and under threat from gentrification all year round.
So enjoy yourself and wear your Eire/ GAA/ Celtic/ leprechaun gear with pride. Spend some of the day in the company of family and elder members of our community and raise a glass, whatever your poison, to the sky for loved one who are no longer here with us. Sláinte.
At this point we want to send best wishes to two guys in the scene who mean a lot to us and to the development of Celtic-Punk in general. So doffed caps and raised glasses to Leeson from London Irish Psycho-Ceilidh rockers (and original London Celtic Punk!) Neck and across the other side of the globe to Australia Dion ‘Drizabone’ Dickinson from the Aussie convict Folkers Handsome Young Strangers. Respect is due guys. Get back on your feet soon.
Every year around this time we are inundated with music and we always like to pick one of the best for our St. Patrick’s Day post and this year we have chosen New York-bred Irish American Folk Rock group The Narrowbacks. With their finger directly on the pulse of Irish America the boys released their single ‘Runaway’ ahead of St. Patrick’s Day.
The Narrowbacks https://linktr.ee/thenarrowbacks Facebook YouTube
“No enemy speaks slightingly of Irish Music, and no friend need fear to boast of it. It is without a rival. Its antique war-tunes, such as those of O’Byrne, O’Donnell, MacAlistrum and Brian Boru, stream and crash upon the ear like the warriors of a hundred glens meeting; and you are borne with them to battle, and they and you charge and struggle amid cries and battle-axes and stinging arrows.”
Thomas Davis. 14 October 1814 – 16 September 1845
LONDON CELTIC PUNKS WEB-ZINE 
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