ALBUM REVIEW: EAST RIVER RATS – The Year Of The Rat (2023)

Nova Scotia has a special place in Celtic music and especially in Celtic-Punk. Just last week we reviewed the new album by Brad Lannon and today we have another band from the same place the wonderful East River Rats and their second album The Year Of The Rat.  

East River Rats are a seven piece Celtic band from the northern shore of Nova Scotia, Pictou County. Pictou is the 6th biggest county in the province with a staggering 50% of Scots descent and a further 20% of Irish descent making this a real part of the Celtic nations. The band were founded by Brian MacKenzie in 2016 expect sing along vocals, guitars, bagpipes, mandolin, accordion, tin whistle, bass and drums all coming together to create a unique high octane style that combines elements of traditional Scottish Celtic rock and gritty Irish punk. They released their debut album When The Cats Away back in 2018. It passed us by at the time but the sadly missed web-site Celtic, Folk Punk And More described them as

“the latest addition to the Celtic rock lineage from the Maritimes. The band is proud of their Scottish heritage and they have been able to establish their own identity as a Celtic rock band rooted on the tradition.”

The twelve track album is available as a ‘name your price’ download meaning you are free to download for as much as you would like to.

Got to come clean and say that we haven’t a lot of information on the band but we’ve been listening to the album for a while (it came out on St. Patrick’s Day) and we’ve really enjoyed it. The Year Of The Rat kicks off with their theme tune and ‘East River Boys’ is a happy, jolly ode to the boys home town while the pipes are out and blazing for ‘Smoke And Cheap Whiskey’ and a catchy rocking number with clear but grizzly vocals. ‘Teigh’s Way’

The Year Of The Rat shows a band that can play totally accessible music that would still appeal to both Punks and Folkies and the East river Rats can both turn it up and turn it down to please both. It could be argued that they would fall into ‘Celtic-Rock’ rather than ‘Celtic-Punk’ but that’s not a distinction we make much of here. Being so close to the sea it’s no surprise to hear a few songs of the sea and ‘Kings Navy’ is one of the highlights here. Again superbly catchy and great lyrics to boot.

Next up is the lead single for the album and one of the more punky tracks ‘Red Roddy’. Chugging guitars and gang vocal chorus and some excellent piping combine for a bloomin’ great song that was accompanied by a great video too. It was directed and edited by Danny Harvie and shot by Danny and Mat Brennan. Another oceanic song now with ‘Maritime Man’ and much more in line with what we would associate as a sea-shantie. ‘All The Way To Amerikay’ is a fast and raucous romp telling of our ancestors long and arduous journey ‘cross the broad Atlantic. It’s often forgotten that many Scots made the same journey as the Irish and for much the same reasons too with hundreds of thousands arriving in Canada since the late 18th century.

‘Way She Goes’ and ‘Mudder And The Neighbour Lady’ don’t stray too far from their acceptable formula. Now these guys look like they know their way round a good auld drinking song and they don’t come more blatant than ‘Pissing In A Kilt’ which is packed with good advice for potential kilt wearers. ‘One More Drink’ is another album highlight and is of the kind that Celtic-Punk bands excel at. An introspective look at ourselves, warts an all. At nearly five minutes long it never gets too much. The curtain comes down with what is described as a bonus track, ‘Last Night’. Just voice and acoustic guitar tell of the night before and the antics of what they got up to. A fitting end to a great album that after all the raucousness fits in absolutely perfectly.

(The full East River Rats 80-minute set from the Wharf Rat Rally House Party from Friday September 4th 2020)

Twelve original tracks which they are to be applauded for. The music was written, arranged and performed by East River Rats with lyrics by Brian MacKenzie and Caleb MacIvor. The album was mixed, engineered and produced by Mark Cosh at the local Shoebox Studios, New Glasgow, Nova Scotia.

(You can stream / download Year Of The Rat via the Bandcamp player below)

Get The Year Of the Rat  https://linktr.ee/eastriverrats  Bandcamp

Contact The East River Rats  Instagram  Facebook  YouTube

ALBUM REVIEW: THE POGUES – The Stiff Records B-Sides 1984-1987 (2023)

Hey it’s a new Pogues album.Well not quite but almost!!

A collection of Pogues non-album B-sides from the bands tenure on the famed Stiff Records label including greats like ‘A Rainy Night In Soho’ and ‘The Band Played Waltzing Matilda’, as well as lesser know greats like ‘Shanne Bradley’ (B-side to ‘Fairytale Of New York’), and a whole host of trad Irish Folk covers like The Irish Rover and Mountain Dew both featuring The Dubliners and ‘The Parting Glass’, ‘Whiskey You’re The Devil’, ‘Muirshin Durkin’ and ‘The Leaving Of Liverpool’ amongst others. 

Pressed on vinyl for the first time exclusively for RSD 2023.

It doesn’t take a genius to work out that if you’re a record label and you want to sell records that to mine the vaults of the music you already own the rights to is a cheap and easy way to do it. It’s been seventeen years since The Pogues released an original studio album (and twenty-three since they did one with Shane at the helm) but the releases continue to trickle out with various live and greatest hits albums over the years. At least 2020 saw something with a bit of originality with the BBC Sessions 1984-86 Record Store Day release capturing The Pogues in their early days at their most energetic and vibrant. So is their much left to mine?

Well it seems not with the release of The Stiff Records B-Sides 1984-1987. Of course the music is immense and anything that gets you listening to The Pogues again is worthwhile but why is the whole Poguetry In Motion EP included, especially as it received its own Record Store Day release back in 2015. As far as I’m aware everything here has been released before though perhaps maybe not on vinyl. The sound quality is superb and at around fifty minutes I’m sure the decision to make this release a double vinyl wasn’t influenced by the chance to charge upwards of £50 for it. The album sleeve features a nice photo of the bhoys and ghirl but with what looks a lot like a photo shopped Andrew Ranken! Needless to say the music is fantastic and I bet there’s plenty bands who would love to have A let alone B-sides of this quality. From ‘The Band Played Waltzing Matilda’ that backed their debut single to the Irish Rover single of 1987 with the Dubliners it’s all incredible stuff so it is at least a great place to have these songs together… and of course the door is left ajar for a further collection of B-sides right through to Hell’s Ditch and the Shaneless years.

Record Store Day is now into it’s 16th year of promoting and celebrating independent music and record shops and now back to a single day again, April 22. More details from recordstoreday.com and recordstoreday.co.uk for a full list of exclusive, limited-run, RSD First releases with participating record stores in both the United States and the U.K.

Side A
1. ‘The Band Played Waltzing Matilda’ (Eric Bogle)
B-Side of ‘Dark Streets Of London’ (Stiff Records BUY 207, Originally Pogue Mahone PM-1)
2. ‘Repeal Of The Licensing Laws’ (Spider Stacy)
B-Side of ‘The Boys From The County Hell (Stiff Records BUY 212)
3. ‘The Parting Glass’ (Trad, Arr. Pogues)
B-Side of ‘Dirty Old Town (Stiff Records BUY 229)
4. ‘A Pistol For Paddy Garcia’ (Jem Finer)
B-Side of ‘Dirty Old Town’ (Stiff Records BUY 229)

Side B
1. ‘Whiskey You’re The Devil’ (Trad, Arr. Pogues)
B-Side of ‘A Pair Of Brown Eyes’ (Stiff Records BUYIT 220)
2. ‘Muirshin Durkin’ (Trad, Arr. Pogues)
B-Side of ‘A Pair Of Brown Eyes’ (Stiff Records BUYIT 220)
3. ‘The Wild Rover’ (Trad, Arr. Pogues)
B-Side of ‘Sally MacLennane’ (Stiff Records BUYIT 224)
4. ‘The Leaving Of Liverpool’ (Trad, Arr. Pogues)
B-Side of ‘Sally MacLennane’ (Stiff Records BUYIT 224)

Side C
1. London Girl (Shane MacGowan)
2. ‘A Rainy Night In Soho’ (Shane MacGowan)
3. ‘The Body Of An American’ (Shane MacGowan)
4. ‘Planxty Noel Hill’ (Jem Finer)
1-4 Poguetry In Motion EP (Stiff Records BUY 243)

Side D
1. ‘The Irish Rover’ (feat. The Dubliners) (Trad, Arr. The Dubliners, The Pogues)
The Pogues & The Dubliners – The Irish Rover (Stiff Records BUY 258)
2. ‘The Rare Ould Mountain Dew’ (feat. The Dubliners) (Trad, Arr. The Dubliners, The Pogues)
The Pogues & The Dubliners – The Irish Rover (Stiff Records BUY 258)
3. ‘The Battle March Medley’ (Terry Woods)
B-Side of ‘Fairytale Of New York’ (Pogue Mahone Records/Stiff Records NY 12)
4. ‘Shanne Bradley’ (Shane MacGowan)
B-Side of ‘Fairytale Of New York’ (Pogue Mahone Records/Stiff Records NY 12)

RSD (Record Store Day) exclusive release * Released 22/04/2023 * Catalogue Number 0190296503221 * Limited to 6500 copies on black and green marbled vinyl *

Available from Rough Trade * Banquet Records * Juno Records among others. Search on e-bay for availability and to price check.

ALBUM REVIEW: BRAD LANNON – Dark Woods (2023)

The new second solo album from Nova Scotian Brad Lannon taking time off from highly thought of Celtic-Punkers Black Matilda. 

Back in 2021 we featured the self titled EP from Black Matilda. Based in the Celtic heartland of Nova Scotia in Canada (go read that review for some history on the region and it’s links to Ireland and Scotland). The EP would later go on to land a #10 in that years Best EP of the the year and, even better, the runner-up spot in the Readers Choice best of 2021.

Black Matilda accordion player Brad Lannon has struck out on his own here with this years Dark Waters a follow up to his debut album Batten Down The Hatches from 2020. Ten tracks that Brad wrote entirely during February of this year.

It’s a little self-challenge that encourage you to write and record music in the month of February. Nothing like a deadline right? I try to do it every year, often times coming no where close to finishing the 10 song or 35 min requirement. Usually you’ll find something in there that’s a gem though. Which is where a few of the Black Matilda songs came from.

Kicking off with the short intro of ‘Hi’ before ‘Underneath The ‘Ol Blind Tree’ and it reveals itself to be gentle wistful Folk music akin to the likes of Papa M or whatever Will Oldham is up to. ‘Footprints’ brings in piano and at 5 and half minutes is Dark waters epic. Next is ‘At The Dusk Hour’ and somewhat surprisingly the accordion is not loud in the mix which is a shame as I’m a accordion nut but it’s catchy and laid back with a multitude of instruments all complementing each other. Now a instrumental and ‘The Wild Wind Blew’ sounds like a track we can expect to be given the Black Matilda treatment in one way or another. Of course being a Nova Scotian the ocean is a theme that comes up again and again and ‘Calm After The Storm’ is a nice wee ballad giving Brad a chance to air that accordion as well as vocal chords!

(Their are no videos of Brad playing any of the songs here so here’s Black Matilda with their incredible video to ‘I Must Sail Away’ from their debut EP which was created by Brad!)

‘In The Tick Of It’ is over in pretty much a flash and the piano led ‘Night In The Woods’ is a creepy number that’ll give you the shivers before another instrumental, this time the piano led ‘Go To Bed Out Of it!’ that leads us nicely into the final song ‘Am I Dreaming?’. Recorded at home with friends popping by from Black Matilda the ideas for the songs came from Brad’s recent time spent in the back woods.

“I find it great for self-work especially during stressful times where I can just hang out in nature and enjoy the many deer paths. You know, using the forest as a mental health tool. Which is all great until you encounter an evil being of sorts! haha”

Black Matilda were a band that I was expecting BIG things from and then the blasted Covid came along and Canada like everywhere else went insane. Brad informs me they are back with new material and have already trialled it at gigs and gotten a fantastic response so already looking forward to that forthcoming studio album but Dark Waters is a very interesting ride through the creative spirit and it’ll be interesting to see how and if these songs end up for Black Matilda.

(You can stream and download Dark Woods via the Bandcamp player below)

Get Dark Woods  Bandcamp

Contact Brad Lannon  Facebook   brad.lannon@gmail.com  YouTube

ALBUM REVIEW: MADIGAN’S WAKE – Madigan’s Wake (2023)

Australian Celtic-Punk rules so it does!. All of it is bloody brilliant so it’s great to see Melbourne band Madigan’s Wake just  release their debut album.

Brace yourselves… these Folk-Punk folk are here to stay!

 

Over the past 12 months Aussie Celtic punk band Madigan’s Wake have been building momentum and giving us a snippet of their story-telling no-nonsense in your face tunes. After releasing three singles that have been played in Ireland, England, Germany, Canada, USA and Indonesia, and building an energy fused live show, they have finally released their debut album and it packs a punch! Released on St. Patrick’s Day through their record label and management, Headstone Records (One. Be Productions), it is a gem and promises to set Madigan’s Wake among others as one of the most exciting emerging bands within Celtic punk.

The album, which was recorded at Headstone Records in Melbourne and produced by Brent Quirk and mastered by Tony ‘Jack the Bear’ Mantz from Jack the Bear’s Deluxe Mastering, features 15 songs, 11 of them originals that are full of stories about growing up in an Australian/Irish family and drawn from Irish history. The album cover is the Madigan name coat of arms with the eagle symbolising power and strength. This pretty much sums up the album.

(Recorded live at Headstone Records in December 2021 by video producer Cameron Galea)

The album begins with a bang with the first song being their debut self-titled single – Madigan’s Wake. The song is an ode to singer and mandolin player (Albert) mother’s family. A tough, rough, working class family who lived in a pre-gentrified poor inner suburb of Melbourne. It also reveals the way the Madigan’s, and the Irish, deal with death, an often taboo and sombre topic, the memories of how the Madigan’s welcomed and celebrated death. One last party for a loved one who had departed.

Madigan’s Wake left to right – Rob ‘the Rat’, Albert, Nick, Tim, Elly.

The second song jumps out of the blocks at a blistering speed – Orangemen’s Day. Albert was born into an Irish Catholic family on the biggest Protestant day of the year resulting in his great grand-mother refusing to talk to him. Albert’s comment here is:

“As if it was my fault, like I planed the whole thing in my mutinous pre-born state”.

The song however has nothing to do with the 12th of July but rather is a celebration of his mother, Patricia Mary Madigan taken to soon. The third song, and the third single from the album, is – Thunderbolt (The Gentleman Outlaw), written about bushranger Frederick Ward who roamed New South Wales in the late 19th century. An energetic fast-paced song that combines Australian and Irish folk and punk. The violin and mandolin sound like they are frantically dancing jigs with each other as this song unfolds.

Next is the song – Before the Devil Knows I’m Dead. Written by Albert after he had a night terror. Again, the violin and mandolin weave a tapestry of frenetic sounds that carry this song to its huge ending. This song was also the band’s second single. This is followed by the wild toe-tapping song – Got to Let You Know, written and sung by Albert’s brother Damian that tells the story of lost love and separation. One of the great features of this album is that it also highlights the band’s ability to play traditional Irish jigs in their own unique chaotic way. To showcase this they recorded back to back jigs – 40 Pound Float and The Wind that Shakes the Barley.

As the album hits the half way mark it reveals the three most powerful and emotional songs on the album, the haunting traditional Irish rebel song – Foggy Dew, and the epic Irish Convict Bastard followed by She Won’t Be Coming Home Anymore both Madigan’s Wake originals. The band’s unique punk style of Foggy Dew builds steadily until it explodes into a furious pace after the fourth verse. Irish Convict Bastard was inspired by reading books about the Great Famine and a painting by artist George Frederick Watts. In particularly the painting titled The Irish Famine (sometimes known as the Irish Eviction) is a result of Watts disgust and indignation felt towards the appalling social conditions in Ireland and their devastating impact on the poor and vulnerable. The painting explores the dignity taken from the poor, and it imposes on us, in their name, the moral claims of justice. Between 1845 and 1852, the blight on potato crops in Ireland resulted in the death of a million people, and the emigration of a similar number. Absent landlords living comfortably in England combined with the punitive effect of the Corn Laws caused unprecedented misery and deepened the already simmering hatred for British rule. The song also explores the unjust punishment of those starving who stole food to feed their families, and the mistreatment that continued in Australia as convicts deported never to see their families again.

The Irish Famine, George Frederick Watts, 1850.

She Won’t be Coming Anymore, pays tribute to a much loved mother and incredibly strong woman, gone all to soon after she battled with mental illness. It is also a song of lament and confession for not understanding the complexities of mental illness until it was too late.

As the album begins to draw to a close it relaxes once again into its fast paced punk nature. Wild Goose Chase is a foot stomping jig written by the Madigan’s violin player Elly D’Arcy. Mary from the Dairy is a crazy fun-loving song that blisters through its short two minutes. The chorus invites audience participation and has become a crowd favourite at their gigs. It is inspired by a nonsensical poem that Albert’s grandfather Thomas Patrick Madigan would often tell “Mary from the Dairy got kicked by a hairy”. It is also about one of his crazy old great aunties who used to terrorise her local community. Willie Wagtail and the Bee was written after a boozy afternoon watching a Willie Wagtail and a Bee interact. The result is the soundtrack Albert heard in this head whilst watching it….maybe stop drinking guys!!!…or maybe keep drinking!!! The song is a chaotic fast-paced jig the Madigan’s have come up with here. Bessie Where’s Your Husband continues the hectic, manic feel that is most of this album, and this songs seems to be have been recorded in a pub. This song is the inspiration of Albert’s brother Gerard. The final song on the album is the Madigan’s version of the traditional Irish folk song Black is the Color. Stripped back to just guitar and vocals and sang by Elly with her beautiful and haunting voice.

Madigan’s Wake debut album doesn’t mess around and it’s well worth listening to and can be purchased on Spotify. They will be in the UK early next year, so get ready for them to explode here.

 

Get Madigan’s Wake ingrv.es/madigan-s-wake-7rm-6

Contact Madigan’s Wake Facebook  YouTube  Instagram

https://open.spotify.com/album/2HSz7UkEvZW67GXiktuORh

ALBUM REVIEW: THE TOSSERS – The Tossers (2023)

The World’s Loudest Folk Band

One of the first and most enduring bands on the Celtic-Punk underground, Chicago’s The Tossers are back with a ‘new’ album of classics, standards and originals that mix the attitude and swagger of Punk Rock with a muscular but respectful approximation of Irish traditional Folk music. 

It’s been six years since the last Tossers release and for them that is a loooong time. The new album unoriginally titled just The Tossers came out in February to highlight their 30th anniversary concert dates and as such is a very welcome return for what are a Premier League Celtic-Punk band.

The Tossers come from Chicago. In fact they come from the South of Chicago. This is the area that the huge Irish Catholic community had traditionally called home since the 19th century. From just a few hundred in the 1830s, by 1860 Chicago had emerged as the fourth largest Irish city in America and was estimated at nearly 300,000 by 1890. Unlike their counterparts in New York, Philadelphia, and Boston, however, Chicago’s Irish grew up with their city and exerted an influence out of proportion to their numbers. The immigrant history of Chicago of course doesn’t just stop at the Irish with Poles, Germans, Bohemians, Lithuanians, Italians, and Slovaks all having been led to the Midwest as well looking for a better life in  the land of opportunity. While most Irish-American families in Chicago are three are four generations deep, plenty of Chicago’s Irish have immigrated fairly recently and the Irish still lead the way in the amount of foreign born residents with many arriving in the 1980’s and 1990’s due to recession back home and Chicago’s strong links to back home.

The south side of Chicago had, and still does, a tough working class reputation and it was there that a 18 year old hard luck kid called Anthony Duggins from the south side of town began playing traditional Irish folk music in the neighbourhood pubs. It wasn’t long before he was joined by his brother and best friends and before long they had moved on from playing covers from the likes of Christy Moore and Ewan MacColl and were playing Anthony’s original compositions. They soon became The Tossers taking their name from the slang for worthless British coins in Sean O’Casey’s play The Plough and the Stars. The coins became useless after the southern Irish Free State won independence from Britain, and started to print it’s own currency.

The new album begins with one of the originals here and ‘Americay’ takes yo right back to the last time you listened to The Tossers. Perhaps nothing new but a joyous and raucous celebration of the Irish in America. The Tossers can lay claim to being the most obvious band to carry on The Pogues torch and their worth to the Irish community is massive. Anthony’s distinctive vocals and American Irish brogue dominate the music which is some feat as they are are correctly labelled ‘The World’s Loudest Folk Band’. Next up is one of the many re-recordings here, ‘D’ampton Worm’ is a song from the north-east of England telling of the legend of the giant white worm-like creature that lived in the caverns beneath the Lambton Estate in County Durham. The song first appeared on 2001’s Communication & Conviction and so maybe an unusual song to bring back but still a gem. The Tossers write some fantastic lyrics and though they often touch on serious subjects they do know their audience well and love dropping in a good auld drinking song. ‘Buckets Of Beer’ is from their aptly titled debut album We’ll Never Be Sober Again from 1996. A fast crowd pleaser with an easy chorus to singalong to with a subtext of five guys robbing a bank with the bucket being the spoils of the robbery.

(live recording of Tossers classic ‘Siobhan’ and ‘Buckets Of Beer’ at the the Hard Rock Casino Northern Indiana the day after St. Patrick’s day 2023)

So the first three songs have all whizzed by in just over six minutes so time for a bit of an epic and one of a handful of songs that is guaranteed to get the audience going. For a band that channels The Pogues so well they handle ‘Dirty Ol’ Town’ with ease. Anthony’s voice always conveys total conviction in every thing he sings and he gets the emotions of the song over in a way that not many are able. Ewan MacColl was said to be unhappy at Shane’s version so I hope he’ll find peace with The Tossers. Seemingly desperate to cover every ‘Celtic-Punk base’ as fast as possible they now throw up some trad with a upbeat ‘Fermoy Lasses / Sporting Paddy’ that has been and gone in 99 seconds!

(The Tossers live at The Grog Shop, Cleveland, Ohio on March 5th 2023)

‘Aye Sir’ is another track cut from their debut album and the ultimate tribute to the waster’s life!

“Well, I’ll go off and get real famous just like my brother Seamus
The people I got to see’cause the world is at my feet
I don’t need you assholes standing
Standing in my way
For I’ll get drunk and probably knock you down”

One of the first songs that Anthony wrote and The Tossers performed he says

“it’s about a young Irish sailor, and every fantastically juvenile verse is followed by an equally childish shout of “Boozer, Hookers, Aye sir.” (Let’s face it, there will always be prostitutes, sailors and marines.) This song not only reminds me of a time in history, but also of my own childhood innocence, ignorance and adolescence.”

A new song follows and ‘Irish Blood’ tells the tale of the American Irish all within three minutes. One of the startling things here is when compared to the songs from the very very beginnings of The Tossers it is clear they have have lost none of their energy and vim and play at a pace that you’re mammy would think was impossible! Another Pogues classic pops up next and once again ‘Paddy On The Railway’ shows the lads ability to remind you so much of The Pogues without it ever crossing your mind that they are ‘copying’ or aping the London Bhoys. ‘Paper And Pins’ is another taken from Communication & Conviction and a very clever song about a man courting a lass and the twists and turns in the courtship. The album ends with three stonewall classics of Irish Folk all done absolutely brilliant. ‘Rocky Road To Dublin’, ‘Tell Me Ma’ and ‘Wild Mountain Thyme’ may have all been recorded countless times and played live to infinity but as I’ve said The Tossers make everything sound new and vibrant especially the uncredited ‘Maidrin Rua’ intro to ‘Tell Me Ma’.

So kind of a strange album to release John over at Shite ‘n’ Onions Celtic-Punk web site reckons “it’s a self-finance, stop-gap release to support the bands 30th anniversary tour” which is probably right and while we would have loved to hear more new material it is still a pleasure to get anything from The Tossers. With their 30th anniversary dates over the word is that they are writing and recording for a full length studio album so keep your eyes peeled for that and enjoy this while you’re waiting!

Get The Tossers  https://thetossers.hearnow.com/the-tossers

Contact The Tossers  WebSite   Facebook   YouTube  Instagram

https://open.spotify.com/album/6jlrxx64AdEWggJjhM6mIx

CLASSIC ALBUM REVIEW: CASH-A-LIKES: 18 MEN IN BLACK WHO WALKED THE LINE

FREE DOWNLOAD

Everybody wants to be JOHNNY CASH!

This collection of Johnny Cash inspired contemporaries throbs with the man in black’s very particular brand of swagger and soul. Featuring contributions from the likes of underappreciated Rockabilly, Country and Honky Tonk, it’s a wild, irresistible musical ride, full of Cash-tastic rhythms and attitude. 

A perfect way to describe Country music legend Johnny Cash is that he was a force of nature – part rocker, part rebel, part gospel crusader – and his influence was as immediate as it was profound. Just as early Country hero Hank Williams inspired an army of sound-alikes, so too did the Man in Black. Today as part of our Classic Album Review series we present this collection of Johnny Cash inspired contemporaries that comes with a free download for you to hear it in all it’s glory. The album throbs with swagger and soul and features contributions from eighteen legends of their own time but now sadly slipping from the public consciousness. The likes of underappreciated West Coast rockabilly Bobby Wayne, Honky Tonk colossus Sleepy LaBeef, Hillbilly Country star Durwood Daly and Oklahoman Melvin Nash. It’s a wild, irresistible musical ride, full of Cash-tastic rhythms and attitude.

Songwriter. Six-string strummer. Storyteller. Country boy. Rock star. Folk hero. Preacher. Poet. Drug addict. Rebel. Saint AND sinner. Victim. Survivor. Home wrecker. Husband. Father. Son. and more…

The album was released in 2017 on the German label Trailer Park records and then later the same year on the US label Southern Routes. It came with a gate fold sleeve and was limited to 500 copies which have long sold out. You may still find it but good luck getting at a reasonable price. it was created thanks to an idea from Mark Lee Allen, a meticulous British vinyl collector, Rockabilly expert, author and musician, living in the USA since the early 2000’s, who along with Bob Perry also produced it. Liner notes were contributed by Mack Stevens,  Johnny Sea and Avery Powell.

Track Listing

Bobby Wayne – Big Train
Jim Nesbitt – Working All My Life
Johnny Doe – Devil Train
Johnny Sea – My Baby Walks All Over Me
The Tar Heal Drifters – Long Legged Guitar Pickin’ Man
Bill Compton – Iron Man
Ernie Barton – The Battle Of Earl K. Long
Durwood Daly – That’s The Way It Goes
Wes Buchanan – Only Fools
Wayne Cross – Stranger In Black
Sammy Julian – Lead Guitar Man
Travis Pritchett – Whipping Tree
Melvin Nash – True Lovin’ Woman
Wayne Calvert – Southbound Train
Johnny Nelmes – Mr. Freight Train
Curtis And The Melody Cowboys – Mr. Blue
Sleepy LaBeef – Ridin’ Fence
Circle K Wranglers – The Cash Song

DOWNLOAD CASH-A-LIKES

You can ‘watch’ the album via this You Tube playlist but beware a small handful of songs have been deleted for some reason.

for more like this…

ALBUM REVIEW: THE GO SET – The Warriors Beneath Us (2023)

The seventh full-length album from Victoria-based Celtic-Punk band The Go Set. The release follows on from their London Celtic Punks voted #1 double-EP ‘Of Bright Futures’ ‘…and Broken Pasts’ from 2020.

The existence of London Celtic Punks is down to two bands, Flatfoot 56 and The Go Set. Playing in quick succession back in 2007 they both played here in London at the famous Hope And Anchor pub in north London and received a pittance for their troubles. Their was obviously a market for Celtic-Punk in the city where it started and a bunch of us at the gigs thought we could do a better job at putting these bands on than those whose only purpose was to make money out of them. So sixteen years later we are still doing it and we’re happy to say we have put on both The Go Set and Flatfoot 56 in the years since and look forward to again at anytime!

Twenty years is quite the landmark for any band but not many still have the power and energy that they started out with. Formed back in 2003 in Geelong, a port city in the southeastern Australian state of  Victoria by lead singer-songwriter and guitarist, Justin Keenan, and bass guitarist, Mark Moran. The Go Set have gone on to record eight studio albums and have done extensive tours of Australia, Europe, the UK, New Zealand, Japan and the United States. As Justin states

“We have done it the hard way. I don’t know a band that has slept on as many floors as we have. We have done 1500 shows and played in 27 or 28 different countries, and you are always building from scratch every night when you do that.”

The album kick’s off with the insanely good ‘West Into The Sun’ which was also the album’s first single to be come out. A story of the British navy press gangs that took young men from the streets and villages to fight in foreign wars. Recruitment was hard as everyone knew the conditions on board ship were terrible at the best of times and especially at times of war so the solution was the press gang. A group of 10-12 men would roam the streets searching for ‘volunteers’. Men were knocked unconscious or threatened with violence to coerce them into joining the fleet. From the first bars and the magnificent sound of Lachlan’s pipes you know you’re in for something special. ‘Take Me Home’ follows and whereas the opening song demonstrates their Celtic-Punk side here you hear something different. It’s still unmistakably Go Set but their influences are varied and always make for an interesting ride. On ‘Horizons’ Justin sings a true story of change and of a young couple leaving their country town. The Go Set don’t mind being one of the more serious bands in the Celtic-Punk and although they are not adverse to a song about drinking they always leave you with a lot more than just a hangover. ‘Opportunities’ was inspired by a chat between Justin’s 21-year-old son and his grandad and then it’s the albums BIG song ‘The Warriors Beneath Us’.

“It is about those long-forgotten people of long-ago conflicts who gave their lives to build the things that are part of our lives today. History helps us understand the present and have a more enlightened perspective on the future.”

The second single to come out and and the title tracks from the album their is just something about Australian Celtic-Punk that resonates with people. They just seem to capture the spirit of the past and the beauty of the present.

“They are living in the streets, of the cities and the towns 

They are the long forgotten breeze, they are the long forgotten sound 

They are our fury and our fight, they are never stepping down 

They are rising up inside us from the bones deep underground”

‘Drink To The Night’ starts off with the murmur of a bar and Justin gently sings about much more than just drinking and about the solidarity and camaraderie you find in a bar and in the friends you make there. The next two songs, ‘Raise Your Hands’ and ‘Broken Bones And Hearts’, take us on a road trip about the realities of a Rock’n’Roll life and the sacrifices that have to be made… and be grateful these guys and others do.

“All those shows we have done around the world, being away from those you love, that can be really hard on everyone. Broken Bones and Hearts is about lost time, the strain on friendships, relationships, while you are pursuing this way of life.”

The Go Set have always championed the working classes and their struggles. It helps I suppose that they are from the class they sing about unlike some soft handed radicals who these days have thrown in the towel and adopted liberal identity politics. ‘We Got The Numbers’ is about the power and importance of being in a trade union, inspired by Aussie dockers rising up to protest the sale of Australian iron to Japan before World War II. Don’t think there’s a better Celtic-Punk band out there for this kind of song. It was looking up previous appearances on this site of The Go Set I saw something I hadn’t remembered I’d written. Basically I wrote that even though (or maybe it’s because?) I’m an auld Punk rocker and love the rowdier side of Celtic-Punk when it comes to The Go Set I actually like their slower stuff the best. This only made sense to me when I heard the next track ‘Tomorrow’. Without doubt for me the finest song here. A beautiful ballad about the hopelessness of war and the bravery and tragic deaths of young men many miles from their homes that brings a chill to the bone.

Justin’s has Irish and Scottish heritage through grandparents on both sides and like many of us grew up hearing traditional Folk music at home. Where once we would rebel against the olden’s music by getting into Punk their was a point where we realised their wasn’t much between them. Certainly in England in the Punk years the most rebellious (and dangerous!) thing you could do was go to a Wolfe Tones gig. With us nearing the end ‘Gallows Bay’ is a folk tale dedicated to Scottish resistance. Naturally the pipes are loud on this one and the curtain comes down on the album with its only cover a fantastic spirited version of one of The Pogues most under rated songs ‘Sunnyside Of The Street’. Recorded in one take it’s a brilliant way to end things with a song that most Pogues fanatics would agree is one of their best.

Sounding as good as the first day they set foot on a stage The Go Set continue to squeeze out the sparks from where Rock’n’Roll collides with Celtic Folk. Big guitars, big beats, irresistible choruses and important words and message for us all the while retaining the timeless spirit of the band’s Celtic roots. The final word here I will leave with Justin who sums up the appeal of Celtic-Punk perfectly.

“It always interests me that a kid from Germany or the Czech Republic can connect with our music as deeply as anyone else. There is something primal and invigorating about it that appeals across borders.”

Buy The Warriors Beneath Us  https://snd.click/TheWarriorsBeneathUs

Contact The Go-Set  WebSite  Facebook  Twitter  YouTube 

(Go Set founder Justin Keenan caught up with Paul Cashmere of Noise11.com recently for a informative interview below that is well worth checking out)

ALBUM REVIEW: THE KILMAINE SAINTS – Same Again Tomorrow (2023)

Same Again Tomorrow is the new full length album from Kilmaine Saints. Featuring thirteen songs of high energy Celtic Rock and Punk, this album is a statement from a band taking their sound to the next level.

It’s been an incredible six years since The Kilmaine Saints released their last studio album Whiskey Blues & Faded Tattoos. I say incredible as it doesn’t seem that long at all especially as they are a band that have never been far from my play list at home ever since I heard their brilliantly titled 2010 debut album The Good The Plaid And The Ugly, complete with tartan cover. Same Again Tomorrow is their fourth full original album and seventh release overall. Easily one of the better known Celtic-Punk bands outside the ‘big guns’ they have played hundreds and hundreds of shows across the States at pubs and festivals from New Jersey to California, several critically acclaimed releases,especially here at London Celtic Punks, national and international airplay and an ever-expanding and extremely loyal fan base, it’s no wonder even those outside the Celtic-Punk world are starting to take notice.

The Kilmaine Saints was the brainchild of two members of Harrisburg Pipe & Drum band and like many a devious Irishmen before them they were formed with the idea of playing a solitary St. Patrick’s day gig and after playing and taking the free beer on offer and a fair amount of beer tokens the guys realised their could be more to it with the help of fellow members from the pipe band and other notable musicians from the area, they realised the locals were crying out for a band full of Irish swagger, Scottish pride, and whiskey. Since 2009 they have entertained with blistering, high-energy live sets that have their fans singing along, stomping their feet, lifting their pints and shouting for more.

The album kicks off with ‘Fanfare’ and unsurprisingly for guys who met playing bagpipes the pipes are to the fore from the very first bars. It’s very much what to expect from The Kilmaine Saints. Powerful Irish based Folk music complete with pipes and mandolin and intelligent clever and often witty lyrics. The opener is pure instrumental magic that the guys now open their live sets with while the next is title track ‘Same Again Tomorrow’ and Brendan Powers distinctive vocals lead the song through a tale of a bar that many of us call home. ‘Siobhan’ is a fast rocker of a song. Fiddle led and with great lyrics about a feisty and fiery Irish-American lass that Erich said about writing it

“When this song comes on the jukebox I want all the women to jump out of their seats and all the men to cross their legs.”

You can always find a few interesting covers on a Saints album and no exception here with The Animals ‘House Of The Rising Sun’. The kind of song you’ll know even if you think you don’t it’s had a few covers over the years but here it’s played fast and reverential and no doubt it’s a fear crowd pleaser. Completely going back on what I said earlier they did in fact release a mini album of acoustic versions of older songs back in 2020 called Off The Wagon – Acoustic Sessions and that featured a couple of new songs which appears here, ‘Off The Wagon’. The tune flits from Disney favourite to Irish jig and back in just over two minutes and is typical Kilmaine Saints. These guys can write a serious song and have done many times but its the love of a good time that dominates and their sense of humour shines through here. ‘McGowan’s Wake’ also appeared on Acoustic Sessions and carries on the humour but in a bitter sweet tribute to the Godfather of Celtic-Punk that imagines Shane asking the Kilmaine Saints to pay their wake when he finally leaves this mortal coil. It’s an incredibly moving and beautiful song and if Shane is reading this then their is no better band to do it.

‘Throwin’ Hands’ is pure Celtic-Punk heaven with bagpipes, fiddle and mandolin leading in a song about honour and respect and never walking away without giving it all your all. The sounds of a bar and bodhrán light up the start of ‘The Plight’ in a catchy humorous number about the plight of the drinking class as Oscar Wilde would have said. While the ‘new’ Irish middle class pour (!) scorn on the drinking culture of the poor I dare say you need a drink a lot more if you been working outside in all conditions or in a factory than if you been leaning over a computer. ‘Nomad’ is another fast upbeat number while the guys give us a history lesson of Irish-America in ‘Rally ‘Round The Flag’. Now as i already may have hinted I love bloody love a good drinking song but bands like this really tell their history well.

“They sent us to the big war 

To remind us what we’re fighting for 

In the wood the call the Rogue Bouquet our blood it stained the ground 

The screams of death were all around 

Souls were lost and never found 

Entombed in peace for eternity within the trench they held their ground”

The song is about the famed Fighting 69th Regiment formed in New York City initially as a State Militia unit. It served with distinction in every major campaign since the Civil War. Facing them in battle, Gen. Robert E. Lee was responsible for giving them their nickname when he referred to them as “That Fighting Sixty-Ninth.” Brendan says

“I loved the reference to their bravery during the Civil War, and loved the use of their battle cry.  I wanted to add more to their story. I referenced a poem called the Rogue Bouquet by Joyce Kilmer.  Sadly he was killed during the battle of Rogue Bouquet Wood during WWI.  His Poem was read during the funeral of the fallen soldiers in France.”

As I’ve often said a great Celtic-Punk album needs a couple of things. Drinking songs, emigration songs and a nice bit of trad are some of them and a good ballad is also one of them and ‘State I’m In’ is it. The song is twelve years old and Brendan had written the lyrics without a tune in mind and then for Same Again Tomorrow it just came together as a real team effort. A beautifully sad song about love and loss and again absolute classic Kilmaine Saints that could be my favourite here. Nearly time for the curtain call and ‘Undivided’ is an anthem for all of us that are sick of divisiveness. Too many people are focused on what makes of different and when will we realise we have way more in common than not. A great song that leads us into the 13th track and as we came in we go out with an outstanding instrumental. ‘The Blood Of Cu Chulainn’ is utterly fantastic tune and Gary’s fiddle leads us out magnificently.

(The opening hour long set from The Kilmaine Saints at Mauch Chunk Opera House in Jim Thorpe Pennsylvanian on March 11th 2023)

A brilliant album from the Kilmaine Saints that comes as no surprise to me in that everything they have ever released is brilliant too! Most of the recording process was done in the DIY style, utilising home studios (drums were recorded at The Kaleidoscope in Lancaster, PA) and guitarist Erich led production and mixing while the final mixes were mastered by Mike Monsour at Axis Audio- Nashville, TN. Their sound combines the usual elements of what we like here at London Celtic Punks – traditional Celtic music with Punk and harder edged rock, but not many in the Celtic-Puink do it as well as The Kilmaine Saints do. Many bands songs are based on the same formula of fast-paced energetic instrumentation with powerful vocals but The Kilmaine Saints just do it better than the vast majority.

Buy Same Again Tomorrow (Pre-Release. Out April14th) FromThe Band

At current rates you would have to listen to Same Again Tomorrow 513 times for them to earn $20 from Spotify. It’s cool to bash Spotify, but while their pay structure is questionable, they spread the bands music to a huge audience they wouldn’t reach otherwise. So keep streaming, but if you want to support The Kilmaine Saints and other artists you love, buy their directly from the band when possible.

Contact The Kilmaine Saints  WebSite  Facebook  Bandcamp  YouTube  Instagram

ALBUM REVIEW: FIRKIN – Spice It Up! (2023)

Hungarian Celtic-Punk legends and trailblazers Firkin release their seventh studio album.

Pretty much a year to the day when their last single came out Firkin have released their new album Spice It Up! Moving on from the, amicable, loss of singer Andy to be replaced by a good friend of the band for many years Ákos. Not be the first time Firkin have changed singers but the spirit of the band outlasts any individual members and a whole new era began with the aptly named single ‘Still Alive’.

One of the most prominent and internationally well known European Celtic-Punk bands Firkin formed in 2008 in the Hungarian capital of Budapest by expert flutist PJ. Since then they have put out dozens of releases and toured pretty much every inch of Europe, including playing a stunning one-off show, that we’ll never forget, in London on New Years Eve 2015. Now on their third vocalist after Barna left in 2014 and then Andy they have risen to the challenge using the change in personal to their advantage. With more than 700 concerts in 17 countries they have had gold albums, been nominated for a Hungarian Grammy Award, their song ‘Focimese’ became the official song of the Hungarian football team for the 2016 UEFA Championships and these are just a small selection of highlights in their illustrious career. With Covid closing down the music industry for a couple of years it’s taken some bands a while to get back on their feet but Firkin have constantly looked to the future and currently they are working on a symphonic orchestral production as well as a full length children’s theatre due to premier next year. 

So time to review Firkins new album, their seventh. Released on St. Patrick’s day just gone and the album begins with the superb and catchy ‘The Drunken Angels’ Club’ and the guys don’t just deliver a great opener but a very clever one about an unsuspecting bar and a message that you don’t need alcohol or drugs as a solution to the problems of life.

“Little did I know, One day the innocent cherub, Would end up in, The Angels’ Club”

The album has twelve songs of which four are covers beginning with the next three and a tremendous Celtic-Punk re-interpretation of the sea shanty ‘Santiana’. The song dates from at least the 1850’s and is inspired it is thought by events during the Mexican–American War. This is followed by ‘Donald MacGillavry’. Now some trad Folk songs are ripe for beefing up a bit with electric guitars and drums and this is one of them. Keltikon released a great version a few years back which I’m sure helped put the song on a few bands radars. Firkin’s trademark flute gets the song moving and Ákos voice is strong as well as his accent! A song that links the Scottish and Irish Folk traditions. This is followed by another cover and ‘Step It Out Mary’ is an old traditional Irish song about a beautiful girl called Mary whose father is one day asked by a wealthy countryman for her hand in marriage. She was promised all the gold and silver she could ever want and a wedding date was set. Mary though was not interested and at around midnight on the day of her wedding she was found dead drowned with her lover in a nearby stream.

‘Still Alive’ came out April last year and announced Ákos arrival in the band and a fresh start for Firkin.  The video would garner six international film awards, including Best Music Video at the London Independent Film Awards and six other nominations. They speed it right up for ‘Ticktack’ and here the undercurrent of Metal is very obvious but at all times it never overpowers Firkin’s music. That they can play relatively heavy music while remaining totally accessible it some achievement. PJ gets to show off his considerable talent next in the amazing ‘Haiku’. An instrumental of modern day Irish Folk with drums clashing and drums crashing. Again its heavy background is disguised just enough to make you not realise you’re banging your head along to it! They slow it down for ‘How We Love’ an acoustic number where Ákos vocals shine accompanied by plaintive fiddle and acoustic guitar. The first single released to announce the imminent arrival of the album was ‘For A Life’. A song where you can sense the relief at the end of the pandemic and a chance of a fresh start. The excellent video was supported by the Hungarian National Cultural Fund and directed, photographed and edited by Köge.

We are nearing the end and the last of the covers is ‘Finnegan’s Wake’, a raucous Irish-American song which tells of a hod-carrier named Tim Finnegan, who was born “with a love for the liquor” who falls from a ladder and breaks his skull and is thought to be dead until he is revived at his wake meaning whiskey was the cause of both his death and resurrection! The song was first published in New York in 1864 and perhaps is best known as a staple of both the Dropkick Murphys and the Dubliners although it’s never been quite played like this with a smoky backroom jazzy opening before it erupts into the song so beloved by many. ‘Stir It Up!’ is a lively Irish rocker and pretty standard Firkin while the curtain comes down on Spice It Up! with ‘The Boys Are On The Loose’ and there’s an old Hungarian saying ”Only the Donkey drinks alone!”. A fantastic Celtic-Punk anthem to see us out. Fast and furious and one to beat up the floor to that includes the line that many of us utter to ourselves “Ooo, I’ll never drink again… Only this weekend”.

Janos Peter (PJ)

Balazs Karpati (Bazsi)

Robert Juhasz (Ese)

Lili Virag

Peter Szuna (Shuti)

Akos Kelemen

A great album and a great return to form for Firkin and demonstrates Ákos has slotted in perfectly. For those new to the Celtic-Punk scene it may surprise some that Hungary is pretty damn famous for it’s Celtic-Punk. The scene there is one of the best in Europe and it’s my ambition to get over there and sample some of it live. It’s no shock that all the bands in the scene pay homage to Firkin for their inspiration and help and with their incredible work ethic it surely won’t be long before they achieve international glory. 

Get Spice It Up! https://bfan.link/spice-it-up-1  GoldRecords

Contact Firkin  WebSite  Facebook   YouTube  Instagram

ALBUM REVIEW: THE O’MAOLEGAIN RAKE – It Had to be Done (2023)

The debut album from New York’s The O’Maolegain Rake.  Oi-rish? Working Class Celtic? Sloughter Ska? Folk Punk? Whatever…

Written, played, recorded, mixed, mastered and produced by a soul individual.

O’Maolegain, a “celtified” surname derived from half-historical, half fictitious origins and the term “Rake”, used in a historical context, is a term short for “rakehell”. A man who was habituated to immoral conduct, wasting his fortune on gambling, drink, women and song.

Bejaysus their is some talent knocking around in the Celtic-Punk scene and while this isn’t the first solo album / one man band we have featured here it is most definitely one of the best and technically able. After many years playing different genres in many different bands Mad Dr. Scotty B., otherwise known as The O’Maolegain Rake, has put his considerable talents to good use and made an album that encompasses everything that passes for modern day Celtic-Punk. From trad Irish to plain auld Folk to fast and furious Punk Rock it’s all here and a bit more too.

Unsurprisingly Scott has played in several bands over the years playing several genres and so whether he’s playing Folk, Rock, Punk or a combination of all three his experience and expertise shines thorough. The album begins in traditional form with ‘Calling All Celts’ an emotional bagpipe led instrumental lament that feels like a real call to arms. This is followed by another (almost) instrumental ‘Craic For The Masses’ and a  conglomerate of Celtic Bluegrass Punk and what have you. The song is meant to inspire the freedom to let yourself go at gigs. As Scott says in the album notes “If you didn’t come here to enjoy yourself, why expect others to do it for you?”.

Title track ‘The O’Maolegain Rake’ is next and slows it down with a tale of regrets while ‘Johnny 2-Pints’ tells of a wee poor unfortunate who couldn’t hold his beer.

“One pint for Ireland and one pint for me, Two pints is all it takes to be drunk as can be”

Time for something serious and a real slice of history in ‘Auld Gallows Road’ in a tribute to James Halligan and Dominic Daley, accused, tried, convicted and hanged for a crime they had nothing to do with. Their only guilt being Irish Catholic immigrants in a land of intolerance. A beautiful song followed by some more Irish history and the album mentions piracy and the sea several times beginning with a suitably rowdy a cappela ‘Anne Bonny’ about the exploits of the infamous 18th century female Cork born Irish pirate. The theme continues with ‘Maggies Mutineers’ and the sound of seagulls that soon rages off into proper auld Celtic-Punk territory with the ship being used as a metaphor for something else I get the feeling Scott wants to get off his chest! ‘Paddy McLaughlin’ tells of the canal barge that use to sail up and down the Erie canal. A place where the souls and bodies of untold amount of Irishmen perished building. It was said the death rate was so high that the digging of graves was almost as big a job as digging the canal.

“It could hold six tons of old shotguns, Seven tons of cotton so pure,
An eight-ton crate of building freight, And nine tons of bourbon liqueur”

I’ve been friends with Scott on Facebook for quite a few years now and enjoy his commentary on life. In fact its very similar to this album with a mix of humour, history and level headed common sense politics. The catchy foot-tapper Celtic-Ska ‘Anthem’ is him explaining it’s time to stand up and say enough is enough. We’re back to some oral history now with the ballad ‘A Song For Jane McCrea’. Jane was killed in July, 1777 in Fort Edward, New York by an Indian serving in the British Army expedition during the American Revolutionary War. Her death aroused anti-British feeling and helped sway opinion and stir action in the colonies toward independence. The last of the shanties with ‘The Sea And I (The Mariner Pt. 1)’ giving an idea of what being a sailor might have been like in the olden days. This is ….to be continued. Only a couple of songs left and ‘Huntersland Road’ a very strong folky acoustic instrumental  that leads into the awesome last track, the appropriately named and beautiful ‘Last Round’.

“So pour out my last round when I am gone, Raise your voice strong in song and sing along, And fertilise the ground with my last round”.

The O’Maollegain Rake left to right : Rakish O’Maolegain – Acoustic guitars * Rover O’Maolegain – Banjo * Ramble O’Maolegain – Mandolin * Rebel O’Maolegain – Irish Bouzouki * Rollie O’Maolegain – Bodhran * Reeds O’Maolegain – Pipes * Riot O’Maolegain – Bass * Ruín O’Maolegain – Electric Guitar * Rage O’Maolegain – Drums * Reject O’Maolegain – Face Noises *

Several of the songs here last five and six minutes but the beauty is that they don’t seem so long. In fact I was quite surprised when I looked it up as I had no idea! Scott seems unsure of what to call this is it Oi-rish? Working Class Celtic? Sloughter Ska? Folk Punk? but to me it sounds like good auld Celtic-Punk. The best Celtic-Punk always has a few influences chucked in sometimes they are expected and sometimes not and coupled with his always interesting lyrics and strong vocals and musicianship this is an album that any band would be proud to have put out.

(Stream / download It Had To Be Done via the Bandcamp player)

Download It Had To Be Done  Bandcamp

Contact Scott on Facebook  The O’Maolegain Rake Facebook

ALBUM REVIEW: THE PROVOS – We Left It As It Was (2021)

With so much new Celtic-Punk to review we very very rarely go back in time for releases we missed the first time round but we are making an exception today for Costa Mesa, Californian Celtic-Punk band The Provos debut album. 

With their follow up album already recorded and due out very soon Shane O’Neill gets a taste for The Provos !

At the London Celtic Punks Headquarters we do tend to get a bit over excited when we discover a new band or one we haven’t heard before. Recently we stumbled across a band called The Provos which immediately grabbed our attention. Immediately the research department was mobilised and tasked with reporting back with their findings. True to their name, it was difficult to find much information on the band initially, so we had to reach out through some underground contacts wearing sunglasses to find The Provos hiding out in a safe house in Orange County, California in the United States.

The Provos left to right: Tommy Di Ilio – Bouzouki * Jacob Morgan- Banjo * Cara O’Mahony – Tin Whistle * Darby O’Mahony – Bass * Ben Jordan – Vocals / Guitar * Holden Hodges – Mandolin * Miles Janasin – Percussion *

The Provos have been established since 2020 taking their inspiration from The Waterboys, The Pogues and the Wolfe Tones. They have been playing the scene in Costa Mesa, CA bringing their brand of Irish Punk to the local crowd. They are making an appearance at Punk Rock Bowling in Las Vegas this year along supporting The Bar Stool Preachers, The Rumjacks and Booze & Glory – That’ll be one hell of a gig!!!

In 2021, The Provos released their debut album & We Left It As It Was and we have only recently had a listen. The album is a fusion of classic Irish tunes with a fusion of punk attitude. The album has 9 songs and is just under half hour long. They do excellent covers of Leaving Liverpool, Whiskey in the Jar, Dirty Old Town and one of my favourite tunes Poor Paddy. This is blended with a few of their own tunes. This is an excellent album for their debut. We understand that they have another album almost ready for release and I’m sure it will be a big hit.

The Provos are a band to keep an eye out for. I have no doubt we will be hearing a lot more from them very soon. As our auld pal Big Gerry once said “They haven’t gone away ya know…” UP THE PROVOS !!!

https://open.spotify.com/album/0ChXzNUVZTrb7MBcufXOS5

Get We Left It As It Was  Spotify  Amazon  Apple

Contact The Provos  Instagram  YouTube

(A full live performance from The Provos in their home town in January, 2023)

FROM THE PLOUGH TO THE STARS – NEW COMPILATION ALBUM FROM LONDON CELTIC PUNKS

FROM THE PLOUGH TO THE STARS

A free collection of over twenty Irish rebel songs from some of the Celtic-Punk scenes best bands. Ancient, modern and contemporary. The tradition goes on.

Just in time for the beginning of the most important month in Celtic culture we’re delighted to bring you this new compilation. Twenty-one bands from across the world celebrating Irish resistance to foreign rule. Featuring modern day classics as well as songs that stretch right back in time to the days when to have been caught reciting them by the authorities would have led to execution or banishment. An important part of Irish culture these songs labelled ‘Rebel Songs’ are first and foremost Folk Songs. These songs travelled not only from one end of the country to the other but the four corners of the earth would resound to them. Some of the songs here were written by Priests and school teachers but most were written by people who were classed by the British as illiterate peasants and carried by labourers and the poor working class, moving from district to district and country to country looking for work and respite from oppression. Tailors, shoemakers, dockers, miners… songs written by ordinary people for ordinary people and there lies the secret of their popularity and why they were sung whenever and where ever Irish people met. Know full well though that these songs are not aimed at anyone personally. The older songs tell of wrongs done and battles fought many many years ago and are of important historical significance. Others are more contemporary and these songs too carry on the traditions of rebel songs and will do as long as injustice continues. Immerse yourself in these songs and enjoy them and even the most English among you will, once they know the facts, and the words, join in with a hearty “Up The Rebels!”.

Intro

The Gentlemen 🇺🇸 – Come Out Ye Black And Tans

Templars Of Doom 🇺🇸 – H-Block Escape

The Gobshites 🇺🇸 – Give Ireland Back To The Irish

In For A Penny 🇺🇸 – Easter Mourn

The Tan And Sober Gentlemen 🇺🇸 – Follow Me Up To Carlow

Black Irish Texas 🇺🇸 – Join The British Army

Tullamore 🇮🇹 – Mairéad Farrell

Sons Of O’Flaherty 🇫🇷 – The Fields Of Athenry

The Dead B-Specials 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 – Take It Down From The Mast

Auld Corn Brigade 🇩🇪 – Broad Black Brimmer

Hudson Falcons 🇺🇸 – 6 + 26 =1

The Lucky Pistols 🇺🇸 – God Save Ireland

The Larkin Brigade 🇺🇸 – Sean South From Garryowen

The Fisticuffs 🇺🇸 – Young Ned Of The Hill

O’Hamsters 🇺🇦 – Erin Ga Bragh

Kilmaine Saints 🇺🇸 – Go On Home British Soldiers

Jasper Coal 🇺🇸 – The Merry Ploughboy

Drunken Fighters 🇪🇸 – The Big Fella

The Bleeding Irish 🇺🇸 – The Uprising

St. Bushmill’s Choir 🇺🇸 – The Foggy Dew

Larkin 🇺🇸 – On The One Road

Each track contains lyrics, the history of the song and band information and album links.

https://thelondoncelticpunks.bandcamp.com/album/from-the-plough-to-the-stars-a-celtic-punk-celebration-of-irish-rebel-songs

The album is available as a ‘name your price’ download which means you are welcome to download the compilation for free. In fact we would love you too but if you insist on leaving a donation then there is an option for that too but please within reason! We would be far more happier if you chose to share the link and let others know of it. An absolutely massive thanks to all the bands featured. Thanks you for your permission to use the songs. Each and every one of you we owe a debt of enormous gratitude for doing your bit to keep these songs and traditions alive. If you would like to be featured on a follow up volume then drop us a line.

“The Irish people will only be free, when they own everything from the plough to the stars.”

— James Connolly

ALBUM REVIEW: RUSTY NAIL – Burnt Prairie, Illinois (2023)

An incredibly interesting take on Celtic-Punk from Saint Louis, Missouri with Rusty Nail who sound just as if Liam Clancy grew up on Nirvana while playing Celtic-Rock originals and traditional Irish Folk down the Pub.

Don’t know what it is about Celtic-Punk bands but despite going through more members than Spinal Tap have drummers they keep on going and growing despite all obstacles. Rusty Nail are another band in the Celtic-Punk scene hurtling towards twenty years together. Founded in St. Louis, Missouri it’s a place that has a rich and interesting history. Known primarily to those whose knowledge of the United States is a bit rusty (groan) as the epicentre of the Western genre of movies it soon after that period became a bustling nineteenth-century industrial mecca with huge numbers of European migrants especially from Ireland and Germany. In just forty years the population grew from 20,000 to 160,000. St. Louis is proud of it’s Irish connections and is twinned with both Galway and Donegal and the Irish community is still vibrant with Gaelic games and culture and tradition flourishing. Just like in the rest of north America what the Irish went through on arrival and for decades after is fascinating and I recommend Bob Corbett’s Dogtown Homepage. Dogtown is the Irish part of St. Louis and the name stems from the time of the St. Louis World’s Fair in 1904 when poor Irish squatters, living in makeshift shanties in Forest Park, were forced by the fair to move southward to the neighbouring hill.

Rusty Nail current line-up: Alvan Caby – Mandolin / Guitar / Vocals * Kelly LaRussa – Violin * Chad Ross – Electric Guitar / Banjo / Accordion / Bouzouki / Organ * Pete McAvity: Bass Guitar / Electric Guitar (on Never Tell Me To Smile and The Casualty) * Dennis Frentzel – Drums * Additional Musicians : Chris Otto – Irish Whistle / Native American Flutes * Mark Hochberg: Bass Guitar (on Never Tell Me To Smile and The Casualty)

Taking their name from an alcoholic beverage popular from the pre-industrial age made with Whiskey and Drambuie Liqueur Rusty Nail are a seven piece band inspired by the greats of Irish music, past and more modern. Playing regularly around St. Louis’ Irish neighbourhoods on the city’s South Side they soon became a popular and highly sought out act for the areas pubs and music venues. Starting off by playing traditional songs they began to build up a strong repertoire of their own original music gaining a strong reputation for their entertaining and energetic performances and proving themselves as a true-to-form Irish bar band.

It was 2011 when they released their debut album, Boozers, Bastards And Bards. A collection of their own compositions and a handful of Irish Folk covers that gained them great reviews and new friends. This was followed up by Ounce And A Half Of Whiskey in 2015 and Bitter Ale, Bitter Heart the following year where it would later reach #24 in the Best Celtic-Punk Albums of 2016 awards. It was that third album where we first heard them and proclaimed it

“pure infectious dance music (proper dance music that is!) with enough fist in the air moments to give you a bad shoulder in the morning! Like the best in Celtic-Punk its a roller coaster of emotions and the joyous music belies the seriousness of the words and the lyrics often inhabit a dark place precisely because it’s the story of Irish-America. It’s not all shamrocks and shenanigans you know.”

Which brings us onto Burnt Prairie, Illinois and the first Celtic-Punk album of 2023 arriving just a day or two into the new year but with the official release date today. The album is a pure DIY production funded completely with a Kickstarter appeal where their fans pledged money in return for various Rusty Nail goodies and pre-official release copies of the album. The opening track is the the title song ‘Burnt Prairie, Illinois’ and first impressions are that the music is pretty much exclusively acoustic and of Alvan Caby’s distinctive vocals. To my ear Alvan has a touch of Elvis Costello about him and he is also the bands songwriter responsible for all eleven songs here. The video is taken from band practise last May and doesn’t differ too greatly from the album version except perhaps in polish. In the true spirit of Celtic-Punk the songs here tell elaborate stories alongside some pretty damned good music that is expertly played. Though mostly acoustic their is nothing gentle about Rusty Nail and the music is mostly fast paced of the kind that would get even the most staid of fan up and jigging about. The type of band that couples could sit at the back and enjoy the slower more contemplative numbers over a pint or two and the rowdy’s could have a proper good night out on the lash and enjoy slipping over in spilt Guinness with their arms round each other holding themselves up. The opening track changes half way through to maybe as Punky as they get while ‘Seven Angry Winds’ is a beautiful ballad with pure emotion spilling out. ‘Dark Surprise’ and ‘Never Tell Me To Smile’ continue the dark themes but in wildly different styles.

Next up is ‘Just Can’t Leave It Behind’ and the video above is another taken from band practise and doesn’t match the polished version on the album but does give a sense of them live. The flute that features in most of the songs especially next on ‘Never’, gives them a European Celtic-Punk feel as it’s not something I hear a lot of in American bands. Here it is the native American flute played by Chris and it’s an instrument I was slow to embrace but have grown to love. Again I return to dark themes and believe it or not it is quite refreshing to hear these tragic tales as in ‘Evaporate’, ‘Return To March 22’ and ‘The Casualty’ that take us almost to the end. One thing I would have liked to have seen is the lyrics. Maybe they can add them to the Bandcamp site? The curtain comes down on Burnt Prairie, Illinois with the awesome ‘Oh Mother’. A son apologise to his Mammy about a life of disappointment. Slow and mournful with Alvan accompanied only by delicate acoustic guitar and Kelly’s exquisite fiddle. Bayjaysus Alvan I hope this isn’t autobiographical!

One of the things I have learnt on doing this site is the importance of putting out one or two videos when you release an album. They don’t have to be flash, after all ‘flashness’ is not something you would associate with Celtic-Punk, maybe even just filmed in your local Irish pub with a few mates. This I think is a trick Rusty Nail have missed here for Burnt Prairie, Illinois still you can listen to the whole album via the Bandcamp player below where it is available to buy on download or vinyl. Burnt Prairie, Illinois is a fantastic album that really needs to be listened to. Best over the headphones I found but that’s not to say it’s not something that you could party on down to after all can anyone beat the Irish at sad songs played to be danced to?

(Download / Stream Burnt Prairie, Illinois via the Bandcamp player below)

Buy Burnt Prairie, Illinois  Bandcamp

Contact Rusty Nail  WebSite  Facebook  Twitter  YouTube

ALBUM REVIEW: PHIL ‘SWILL’ ODGERS, PAUL SIMMONDS, BOBBY VALENTINO – Questions, Answers & Songs (2023)

Phil ‘Swill’ Odgers, Paul Simmonds and Bobby Valentino got together last Summer for a one off show at London’s legendary Water Rats music venue in Kings Cross. Recorded for posterity it was something a little different!

Remember last Summer? I do. I started a new job in April so for the first time in many a year I had both the money and the time to spend it so we took ourselves off to the sun drenched shores of Italy and Ireland (!) on holiday but if I’d have been here in London then on Friday 19th August 2022 their is only one place you would have found me and that was at the place where Celtic-Punk was born. Back on 4th October 1982 James Fearnley, Shane MacGowan, Spider Stacy and Jem Finer took the stage at The Pindar of Wakefield under the moniker of Pogue Mahone and a whole new genre of music had begun. Well the pub has changed it’s name and had more face lifts than Madonna has but it remains one of the best places to catch a band play in the whole of London.

Swill

Paul

Bobby

That night in August saw Phil ‘Swill’ Odgers (on vocals, acoustic guitar and harmonica), Paul Simmonds (on vocals and parlour guitar) and Bobby Valentino (backing vocals and violin) from The Men They Couldn’t Hang join forces for a one off special show down at The Water Rats in Grays Inn Road, Kings Cross. Sadly for fans, since the date of the gig was announced, the RMT rail union had called a series of transport strikes and the 19th was one of the dates chosen. This meant that even though the gig would eventually sell out many of The Men’s hardcore fans wouldn’t be able to make it into London. Lucky for them the guys decided to record the gig for posterity and this week sees it released for the first time. The resulting ninety minutes are a unique and often humorous peek into the trio’s musical lives. The fella’s played two sets with the first being a full on Punk-Folk set from The Men They Couldn’t Hang’s extensive catalogue of original material spanning forty years. With the band taking requests from the audience before and even during the gig the atmosphere was celebratory and spontaneous with songs from their debut album like ‘Night To Remember’ (see below) right through to the title track from their last studio release Red Kite Rising. The sound was amazing and even though the crowd sang loudly along to every single word throughout the night that is kept to an absolute minimum with the focus purely on Swill, Paul and Bobby.

After a quick break the Bhoys returned for the second set and surprised everyone by doing a live Q & A session with gig promoter Tony Fraser acting as question master for the duration. Tony was armed with questions he had gathered from the audience during the interval – none of which the band were privy too until they were read out live on stage. Ali Hakimi’s was on the sound desk on the night and the recording has been remastered by the regular TMTCH producer Pat Collier. Questions, Answers & Songs is available to order for pre-release now from the Bandcamp link below. It comes as a Bandcamp exclusive double CD or download. With the digital album out on March 3rd and the CD shipping out on or around March 7, 2023.

(Questions, Answers & Songs is available to stream and download from the Bandcamp player below)

Contact The Men They Couldn’t Hang WebSite Facebook YouTube Instagram

LONDON CELTIC PUNKS 2022 READERS CHOICE WINNER

We finally wave goodbye to 2022 with the announcement of who you the beloved readers of this site have chosen as the best of ’22.

PREVIOUS WINNERS

2018 – KRAKIN’ KELLYS 169 votes  (524 total)

2019 – MICKEY RICKSHAW 94 Votes  (476 total)

2020 – THE GO-SET 281 votes  (1105 total)

2021 –  FEROCIOUS DOG 430 votes (1576 total)

The response to this year’s poll has been incredible. Almost every year the poll has run, the number of votes has increased dramatically. This time, by nearly 200 votes to 1,726. From the very start this year it was a two horse race between England’s own Ferocious Dog and Sweden’s Finnegan’s Hell with both way ahead of newcomers to the Celtic-Punk scene Reina Roja from Madrid. For the first time ever the artist with the winning number of votes hasn’t been an album but still an excellent show from Finnegan’s Hell. A mention here for Yorkshire banjo Punks Shanghai Treason too finishing in sixth place. There were over 600 votes in the ‘other’ section which I had to count individually and then go back and double check as some results were very close. Over here we believe in getting things right when people vote (!) so that’s why it’s taken a couple of days to tally up the final scores but here at last they finally are. Congratulations to everyone and cheers and beers to all who voted!

We have had such a diverse group of artists to win this award and this years winners Finnegan’s Hell are no different. We could see the writing on the wall with all the people from Sweden voting. Not that their fan base is reserved to their home country. They’re pretty popular in Hackney too! Reina Roja have done exceedingly well for a new band to these pages, coming in second place. In the Murphys Vs Mollys competition it was Flogging Molly who won easily winning over their Boston rivals in both the official London Celtic Punks Best Of 2022 awards and the 2022 Readers Choice.

1. FINNEGAN’S HELL – One Finger Salute

2. REINA ROJA – Hooligan Folk

3. FLOGGING MOLLY – Anthem

Usually it stands to reason that most votes will go to the ones that were actually listed on the poll but this year Ferocious Dog stormed away with the title with 455 votes. A record for our Readers Poll which they already held from last year! Only two other EP’s gathered any significant votes with loads more getting only single figures.

1. FEROCIOUS DOG – Too Late

2. BRICK TOP BLAGGERS – Obey The Tyrant

3. THE DEAD IRISH – Four Corners Of Hell

Thanks dear readers for taking part in the poll and congratulations to Finnegan’s Hell and Ferocious Dog. The further away we move from the covid lock downs the more it seems like some dystopian nightmare. Those days could have destroyed the Celtic-Punk scene, but on the evidence of last year’s releases the scene has bounced back and is as strong as ever. Our dream is that 2023 will bring these bands the recognition and success they richly deserve. Thanks to you for supporting London Celtic Punks and we ended ’22 with our highest yearly readership of all time, so expect good things from us too! Why not consider subscribing and never miss a post (the box is on the left when viewed on your lap top) or send us your email through the Contact Us page.

PREVIOUS READERS CHOICE – 2018 * 2019 * 2020 * 2021

EP REVIEW: MORGAN’S BLUFF – Chaser (2023)

New Year’s Day saw the release of a 3-track EP from Arizona based Celtic rockers Morgan’s Bluff, sadly featuring the last recordings with the late great Patrick Fowler, band accordionist, tin whistle player and vocalist.

Arriving on our doorstep just after its release on New Years Day we were originally delighted to hear from Morgan’s Bluff that they had a new release out. This was tempered though when we looked into the email and found out that it was the last recordings from their awesome accordion player (and more!) the late great Patrick Fowler. Poor Patrick was murdered last October in a indiscriminate shooting in Phoenix and was an innocent bystander. We hope that his murderer is caught soon and sees the justice he thoroughly deserves.

Morgan’s Bluff were formed by friends Paul Allen and Chris Sheridan and after several attempts and even more band members they were beginning to run out of patience that the band would never really get going That was till one day Chris got a call from Patrick saying he wanted to come to a band practice and see what happens. Having met together at one of the guys homes they began setting up when Patrick asked “what instrument do i play?”.  No one had yet set what instruments each of them were to play so Patrick pulled out his accordion and the band kicked off. It soon came to an abrupt end though when about an hour later the next door neighbour banged on the door and said “if you don’t stop i’m calling the police”. Still the band had finally began and after several more practice locations and unfortunately more members, Morgan’s Bluff were finally a band and they all knew what instruments to play!

Their debut album, the self titled Morgan’s Bluff, was released in November, 2020 and was seven original tracks that covered all the bases of Irish-American Celtic-Punk rock. From the accordion led opening track ‘Brutality’ with it’s bouncy Ska base to the closing track ‘Home Tonight’ the influences don’t stop and start with Celtic-Folk with the full American immigrant experience her somewhere!

The EP opens with ‘Fading Away’ and you can hear Patrick’s accordion loud and proud in a song that reminds me of the Dropkick Murphys at their most contemplative. Slow and swirling but filled with attitude and ballsy as hell. The second of the three songs is ‘One More Round’ and the obligatory drinking song. More traditional Celtic-Punk from its Irish Folk opening to glorious subject matter. Working your fingers down to the bone and never getting your full due it’s a celebration of blue-collar working class life and working for the weekend. Something that many of us do and aren’t ashamed of it. The EP ends with ‘Lost In Hoboken’ and another upbeat number with Patrick’s accordion pushed to the fore. A great way to end things with a tale of  great night out when you shouldn’t have stayed for that final pint but the lure was just too strong.

Chaser is a fantastic release and my only problem is that their isn’t more of it. We are pleased to hear that Morgan’s Bluff are carrying on. It is, I am sure, what Patrick would have wanted and this is a great legacy for his friends and family to remember him by.

(Chaser is only available on Bandcamp at the moment. You can stream the EP in its entirety and download Chaser for just $2 via the Bandcamp player below)

Contact Morgan’s Bluff  WebSite  Facebook  Instagram  YouTube

Buy Chaser  Bandcamp

We are very pleased to be able to publish a tribute to Patrick in the following few days from his bandmates in Morgan’s Bluff.

LONDON CELTIC PUNKS PRESENTS THE BEST OF 2022!

It’s that time of year again for the London Celtic Punks annual Best Of list. Has it really been a year since The Peelers waltzed (or should that be jigged) off with album of the year? It’s been possibly the best year for Celtic-Punk since we started doing this site and this was easily the closest it has ever been in that time. Pretty much all the big hitters, with one or two one notable exception (The Tossers where were you!), released records and on top of that a bunch of debut albums that were top class too.

so without further ado…

CLICK ON THE GREEN LINK TO BE FORWARDED TO REVIEW

2022’s #1 was the amazing new album from THE MAHONES. That they are as prolific as they are and yet can still put out quality like this 30 + years on is incredible. Well done Finny & co. FLOGGING MOLLY won the battle of the big Celtic-Punk 2 with the DROPKICKS and were also the best gig of the year for me personally (August in Dublin with Ferocious Dog). THE LUCKY TROLLS followed on from their Best EP award from 2019 with the highest place for any ‘outsider’ this year while Scandinavian stalwarts SIR REG gave us possibly their best album yet. REINA ROJA from Spain were another highly placed new band and their were several others among the Top 30. Their were also a handful of albums that didn’t qualify for the chart but were worth noting including a couple of greatest hits albums THE REAL McKENZIES – Float Me Boat and UNCLE BARD AND THE DIRTY BASTARDS – The Story So Far that were both superb introductions to the bands, the second volume of the Black 47 covers compilation AFTER HOURS VOL. 2 and finally the HEADSTICKS 10th anniversary album of the best songs of their career to date re-recorded.

1. THE MAHONES – Jameson Street

2. FLOGGING MOLLY – Anthem

3. DROPKICK MURPHYS – This Machine Still Kills Fascists

4. THE LUCKY TROLLS – Raised Fist And Rebel Songs

5. SIR REG – Kings Of Sweet Feck All

6. REINA ROJA – Hooligan Folk

7. FINNEGAN’S HELL – One Finger Salute

8. REAL McKENZIES – Songs Of The Highlands, Songs Of The Sea

9. HOIST THE COLOURS – When Daylight Breaks

10. SHANGHAI TREASON – Shanghai Treason

11. PADDY’S PUNK – With Full Horse

12. THE TAN AND SOBER GENTLEMEN – Regressive Folk Music

13. ZECKYBOYS – Dirty Brands

14. THE MOORINGS – March On

15. THE MULLINS – Gold In Our Hands

16. PADDY AND THE RATS – From Wasteland To Wonderland

17. SYR – Sentinel 

18. MAN THE LIFEBOATS – Soul Of Albion

19. THE GROGGY DOGS – Still Groggin’

20. WHISKEY’S WAKE – Wake Up Whiskey

21. JAMIE CLARKE’S PERFECT – Monkey See Monkey Do

22. O’HAMSTERS – From Green Hills To Raging Sea

23. SLAINTE – Up Down 95

24. THE ENDINGS – Completely Pickled

25. THE CUNDEEZ – Geez It

26. THE ROYAL SPUDS – Roots Of Life

27. THE DREADNOUGHTS – Roll And Go

28. THE SCARLET – Freedom Call 

29. TEMPLARS OF DOOM – Rising Of The Doom!

30. DRUNKEN FIGHTERS – Someday

Bubbling over: THEIGNS AND THRALLS – Theigns And Thralls 

As funny as it may seem the Best Debut Album award for 2022 was decided way back in January last year when the long awaited self titled debut album from Yorkshire banjo Punks SHANGHAI TREASON arrived in the post. Eleven original songs of high tempo energetic Celtic-Punk with some of the best banjo we heard all year long! On top of that later in the year they released a 3-track EP of songs that didn’t make the album that was also superb!  That’s not to say it was a easy choice as by the end of the year REINA ROJA, THE LUCKY TROLLS and ZECKYBOYS all put out albums that challenged the Treason and in any other year could easily have won the award themselves.

A well deserved top two for THE RUMJACKS and their new singer Mikee. The split EP with FLATFOOT 56 in particular was absolutely flawless! Their were fantastic debut releases from THE DEAD IRISH, THE GALLOWGATE MURDERS and THE RAMSTAMPITS out of the Celtic nations of Ireland and Scotland that completely blew us away and were eagerly anticipated. A word here for BOG IRON from California who I found completely by accident and been playing ever since.

1. THE RUMJACKS / FLATFOOT 56 Split EP

2. THE RUMJACKS – Brass For Gold

3. THE DEAD IRISH – Four Corners Of Hell

4. THE GALLOWGATE MURDERS – ‘ Dead, Gone And Living On’

5. BRICK TOP BLAGGERS – Obey The Tyrant

6. BOG IRON – Star Of The County Down

7. DISTILLERY RATS – We Are Rats

8.  THE KILLIGANS – Dread Naught

9. KRAKIN’ KELLYS – Old Ways New Days

10. THE RAMSTAMPITS – Light The Beacon

Bubbling Under: THE CLOVERHEARTS – Still Pissed / JAMESTOWN BROTHERS – Just Is

In what is usually the hardest category to choose from we actually had a very easy choice this year with the new album from Boston singer-songwriter BRYAN McPHERSON never off our play list all year long. The great news is that Bryan is heading to these shores in the Summer and we are very happy to be helping out. Dundalk’s THE MARY WALLOPERS were busy all year round and ended 2022 with a sell out London show and a debut album in December. The debut album from THE WINTER CODES saw a welcome return to the wider music scene for Barney the original vocalist for Blood Or Whiskey. Some may be surprised to find the first solo album from MARCUS MUMFORD listed but it really was a great album both musically but especially lyrically. 

1. BRYAN McPHERSON – How To Draw Everything

2. THE MARY WALLOPERS – The Mary Wallopers

3. OYSTERBAND – Read The Sky

4. IAN PROWSE – One Hand On The Starry Plough

5. PRONGHORN – Welcome To Pronghorn Country

6. BODH’AKTAN – Valcourt Sessions

7. BURBRIDGE AND BOOTH – Icons

8. THE WINTER CODES – Set The Darkness Reeling

9. THE ALT – Day Is Come

10. MARCUS MUMFORD – (self-titled)

A new section this year and the first winner is THE OUTCAST CREW out of Laois in the Irish midlands. A new single and video directed, filmed and edited by Thomas Moyles that came out at the end of the Summer. Laois is famous for an abbey, some gardens, a castle and a couple of lakes and now a kickarse class Celtic-Celtic-Punk. They won the 2020 Celtic Punk debut album of the year and it’s about time we heard some more guys!

The competition for best Celtic-Punk video of the year was incredible so next year (which will be our 10th anniversary) we will make a bit more effort and maybe even include you in the decision!!

There were several people involved in the collation of these results and so it is that some of those people may not have heard every album listed or released through the year. If you’re album is not listed maybe you didn’t send it us or not all the folks here heard it so couldn’t give a opinion so really don’t feel too put out. We’re not perfect but we do try our best.

This is the ninth year we’ve been doing these Best Of lists. It seems incredible looking back at some of the previous winners and also-ran’s just how many bands are still with us from Year 1. Have a look for yourselves just click on the year below to redirect.

*  2013  *  2014  *  2015  *  2016  *  2017  *  2018  *  2019  *  2020  * 2021 *

THE LONDON CELTIC PUNKS SHOP

If you like what we do then why not visit our  shop where you can buy all manner of Celtic-Punk tatt including t-shirts, badges, stickers, CD’s, fridge magnets, patches, Celtic nations flags and we just got in new for ’22 some bobble hats and polo shirts.

https://the30492shop.fwscart.com/

Alongside the Best Of polls we also run a special Readers Choice poll where you get to pick your favourite release of the year. This will be the fifth year it’s been running with Krakin’ Kellys, Mickey Rickshaw, The Go-Set and Ferocious Dog our previously champions! Last year we had well over 1500 votes (the most ever!) so remember the auld Irish adage ‘Vote Early – Vote Often’. There is only room on the form to list the Top Ten albums but there is an option for YOU to write in your favourite release (album or EP) of the year.

Poll will run until midnight on Tuesday 31st January 2023. You can vote twice. If the release you want to vote for is not listed then you can write it in.

Keep up to date with London Celtic Punks web-zine for all the latest news, record reviews, features and plenty more. Find all our social media here

https://linktr.ee/londoncelticpunks

to subscribe to the web-zine email londoncelticpunk@hotmail.co.uk

The poll will close at midnight on Tuesday 31st January 2023 with the result to be announced soon afterwards.

Dedicated to our good friend Scott Chrystal

Slainte, The London Celtic Punks Bhoys – January 2023

ALBUM REVIEW: THE SCUNTZ – Fall Apart Gang

The second album from The Scuntz a ever changing collective of alcoholic hillbilly punks from Belfast.

Thriving in despair, they patiently await the rapture, charged with entertaining the unwashed masses left behind.

Sneaking out just a couple of days before Christmas was the second album from Belfast Punx The Scuntz. Not giving us much time to digest it before reviewing it follows on from Appetite for Distraction which came out on New Year’s Eve 2020. Their debut passed us by and even though it is available to download for free I haven’t had a chance yet so I don’t know if it’s more of the same or a whole new direction but The Scuntz deliver a fourteen track album of original songs that sweep past in a brief but busy 22 minutes.

The first track off the album to see the light of day was ‘Ballad Of The Barrick’ which came out in April and the band describe as “The unholy trinity of Punk, Folk, and cider”. Produced and mixed by drummer Ben Simpson it lurches across several genres in it’s short time (only 137 seconds) starting of reminiscent of ancient style Celtic before crossing into dirgey metally Folk before speeding up and ending with an almighty racket of screaming Punk Rock. Maybe not everyone’s cup of tea but as much as we love a bit of 70’s Prog-Folk this a Celtic-PUNK site so expect some noisy bastards occasionally.

Kicking off with ‘S.T.D’ a catchy as hell Punk number followed by a Hillbilly/Celtic crossover ‘Murderin’ In The Swamp’. The singer’s Belfast accent is clear and powerful as the band stomp through a selection of classic Punk Rock with the occasional Folky interludes but all the time laced with black humour. ‘The Dark Third’ reminds me of a Punk-Rock Rumjacks who let’s face it are already pretty Punk. The harmonica pops out for ‘Drunk Talkin’ as they chuck it all into a blender. ‘We’re Really Good…’ is a brilliant song with a great tune but only lasts 33 seconds! Stick ion a double bass and the brilliant ‘Cousin Lovin’ could easy grace any Psychobilly album.

The albums last handful of songs see them go out in Folk-Punk style with ‘Punk & Anal’, ‘Big Blue Dot’ and the album’s swansong and triumph the title song ‘Fall Apart Gang’. After everything that went before it takes you by surprise in both style and lyrical content as the band get both serious and show they can hammer out much more than fast, furious Punk-Rock bangers. A great way to end things.

I love Bandcamp and while they are vultures just like any other company that makes money out of other peoples labour and ideas and music. It’s easy to embed on the site and many bands simply offer their music for free therefore depriving Bandcamp of their share. The Scuntz are one such band and Fall Apart Gang is available as a ‘Name your price’ download from the link below. As the fella’s say “Pay what you like or not at all, we don’t do this for money but it definitely helps us be able to travel and record tunes”. To be honest I haven’t had a chance to listen to this album as much as I would like when reviewing but I loved it from the very first listen and I’m busy making up for that now!

(Stream / download Fall Apart Gang via the Bandcamp player below)

Download Fall Apart Gang  Bandcamp

Contact The Scuntz  Facebook  YouTube  Instagram

ALBUM REVIEW: DROPKICK MURPHYS – ‘This Machine Still Kills Fascists’ (2022)

Unsurprisingly whenever the release of a new Dropkick Murphys album is announced the internet glows white with reviews and promotions so now two months after the release of This Machine Still Kills Fascists Ray Ball gives it a listen and our last post of 2022 sees if it does indeed live up to the hype.

So here’s the disclaimer. This isn’t what we expect Dropkick Murphys album to sound like at all. Al has been on leave for a bit now taking care of his family, and I know we call commend him for that and wish the best for the Barr family.

But here’s also what I learned. The Murphys have been in contact with the Guthrie family for about a decade. “Shipping Up To Boston” was originally a few Guthrie scribbles. Guthrie’s daughter had recently given an all access pass to her fathers materiel he never used or recorded.

Nora Guthrie with her father Woody “I collected lyrics on all kinds of topics…lyrics that seemed to be needed to be said – or screamed – today. Ken Casey is a master at understanding Woody’s lyrics, which can be complicated, long, deadly serious, or totally ridiculous. DKM is capable of delivering them all.”

So you’ve got Guthrie lyrics. While, as Ken stated in an interview, it wouldn’t be right to put out a regular album without Al, this was a good chance to put out this years in the making project. Instead of giving you a list of radio singles or hidden gems B-Sides, pick up a copy. Discover the stuff you like about the album. It’s all but completely acoustic, but straight up balls to the wall Americana at its best in nearly if not over half a century in my opinion.

Dropkick Murphys founder Ken Casey explained, “The project has been a long time in the making. Nora Guthrie thought her father would’ve got a kick out of us, would’ve liked us, that we were somewhat kindred spirits so to speak, which to us was a huge honour.”

So if you want to hear something tried and true other than “Fairytale” this holiday season grab a copy. Discover your favourites. This album is true- no deadline / record company profit marketing whatever / has to have a radio single track album.

 

There is no Al. God bless him and his family right now, but it’s a great piece. Give it a listen for something truly unique. Cheers guys!

Dropkick Murphys  WebSite  Facebook  YouTube  Instagram

Back in September when This Machine Still Kills Fascists came out we took a look at the life of Woody Guthrie and offer you the opportunity to download a great double album containing all of his greatest work for free. The link is still available so click below to be re-directed.

WOODY GUTHRIE – Dust Can’t Kill Me

Thanks to Ray Ball. He has already featured on these pages as the driving force behind The Fighting 69th from Buffalo. The review of his 2-volume set of Dropkick Murphys coverswas one of the most viewed of the year. One of the most prolific and diverse artists in the Celtic-Punk scene we are proud to have Raymond on board our team. Writer, artist, musician he is a credit to the American-Irish community and you can find a wealth of his material available at his Bandcamp site.

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2022 ROUND-UP: BRITAIN & IRELAND – THE MARY WALLOPERS, GALLOWGATE MURDERS, DIRTY OLD FOLKERS, HEADSTICKS

Four great album releases including three bands who released their debuts in 2022 and one celebrating their 10th anniversary all get the London Celtic Punks treatment. Ranging from Celtic-Punk to Irish-Folk to Punk these are the bands that make our nights out special. 

Hoping you all had a great Christmas and are looking forward to the New Year. After everything we’ve all endured (politicians excepted!) we all deserve it. it’s been a excellent year for Celtic-Punk. After the drought of recent years we’ve been caught in a deluge of music we tried our best but found hard to keep up with. Any regular reader know we prefer to do detailed reviews and even though we can’t give these albums the justice they deserve here we simply had to get them in somehow before the end of the year.  Each one impressed us immensely and all are worthy of your time so go ahead and check them out. We begin with artists from Britain and Ireland.

THE GALLOWGATE MURDERS – ‘ Dead, Gone And Living On’

A booze fuelled gang of Celtic bastards, immigrant vagabonds and travelling rovers, boasting male and female fronted duel vocals the Gallowgate Murders blew onto the stage supporting The Rumjacks on their extensive pre-Covid UK tour and almost stole the show impressing every lucky fecker I met who had seen them. See I was ill and missed the London date but I was sure it wouldn’t be long and then the dreaded lockdown struck and a full stop was put to their march for the next two years. Needless to say I still haven’t seen them and am looking for a ‘sugar daddy’ to pay for them to come down and play here again if anyone is interested in the role. They did manage to put out this self titled six track EP as soon as the lockdown was lifted and I still find it hard to believe that we never got around to doing a proper review at the time. Apologies for that guys and gal. Dead, Gone And Living On certainly deserved one.

One of the EPs highlights is ‘Scáthach’, the tale of a powerful mythical Scottish Warrior Queen. A legendary martial arts teacher who trains Irish hero Cú Chulainn and the Celtic goddess of the Dead ensuring the passage of fighters killed in battle to Tír na nÓg, The Land of Eternal Youth. Another great song here is ‘Only The Bastards’ a catchy Celtic-Punk number that has a Irish-American style to it (I listen to a LOT of Celtic-Punk!) but the whole EP is superb. The EP comes in at over 22 minutes so the six songs get plenty of room to develop and we have reviewed much shorter albums over the years.

 

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THE MARY WALLOPERS – The Mary Wallopers

We were lucky enough to catch Dundalk’s The Mary Wallopers just a couple of weeks ago at a sold out show at Camden’s Electric Ballroom. A raucous celebration of Irish music but not without it’s more serious and poignant moments too. That gig is replicated with ease on their self titled debut album which came out at the end of October and heralded a huge tour of Ireland and its neighbouring island. Propelled into the spotlight during the pandemic by a series of hilarious live streams where they would chat, joke about and play good old fashioned Poguesy / Dubliners-ish Irish music. Expanding from the original 3-piece of the 2 brothers , frontman Hendy, banjoist Andrew and guitarist Seán McKenna to a seven piece was a stroke of genius and can only see them continued success. The sold out show in Camden has already led to a headline gig at the Kentish Town Forum in May. Highlights include ‘Building Up And Tearing England Down’ which laments the spilt blood of the Irish working class who rebuilt post war Britain and received nothing but the minimum of wages along with scorn and ridicule for doing so and the haunting ballad ‘John O’Halloran’ about the Irish experience of immigrating to England.

“Ah! the weary months in search of work, I tramped through street and road,

A shake-me-down in Camden town, it was my first abode.

No friendly glance to cheer my heart, no man to to take my hand,

No easy gold, only rain and cold in this god-forsaken land.”

The Mary Wallopers are well aware of the relationship the Irish diaspora over her have with the place we grew up in and luckily for them their is a rich vein of songs for them to mine from.

The gig like the album is a series of covers that contain the famous and critically popular, one or two overplayed ones and even a few me auld Mammy would have a hard time remembering. The jewel in the crown though judging from the reception it got in Camden is their cover of ‘Orange Juice And Cod Liver Oil’. Originally written by Ron Clark and Carl Mac Dougall it was made famous by Scottish Folk singer-songwriter Hamish Imlach (please also check out the original it’s long been one of my favourite songs) who like The Mary Wallopers had a terrific sense of humour and was quite the rebel in more ways than one.

An outstanding album packed with great songs and it’s very hard to record a album of covers and expect the punters to just take it but The Mary Wallopers really stamp their brand all over each song and you can forget that they were ever recorded before. This band is going to be massive and while the press will continue to label them the new Pogues we’d have to see some originals to prove them true but I think these fellas could just do it!

Contact The Mary Wallopers  WebSite  Facebook  Instagram  YouTube

DIRTY OLD FOLKERS – Will Dance For Cash

We try and cover all the new bands we come across in one or another and sometimes it gets to the point where I think we’ve covered everyone and everything and then I find out that I am massively wrong and what we have covered is in fact just the tip of the iceberg. Great examples this year have been The Endings and Twelve Sullivans both bands I really am looking forward to seeing. Another is super-charged folk ensemble Dirty Old Folkers from Birmingham in the West Midlands. Once a powerhouse of the Irish diaspora the city has gone through a transformation but the Brummie Irish remain and while the council is determined to rid the city of all it’s famous hostelries and replace them with flats the Irish continue to play their part in Midlands life. Thinking of themselves, rather marvellously as “a Viz comic, being narrated by the Pogues” Dirty Old Folkers debut album is a window into 21st Century Birmingham life containing Irish and English Folk music with comedy, cabaret and political satire.

The Bankers’ Bonus system and the Coalition Government of a few years ago get a verbal kicking making me think that some of these songs here have been laying around in the Dirty Old Folkers set-list for quite a while. Influences range from Irish and English Folk, Bluegrass, Blues, touches of Jazz and Classical Music and even a nod to fellow Brummies Black Sabbath.

Contact Dirty Old Folkers  WebSite   Facebook   YouTube 

HEADSTICKS – 10 Years Without Killing Each Other

Ten years is quite the milestone for any band and to reach that milestone with the same members is highly unusual. Most Celtic-Punk bands go through more members than The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra do, so for them to remain friends and comrades through the decade I really love. It’s seven years since we first reviewed them on the London Celtic Punks site for their album Muster and we’ve followed them ever since, right up to last years release of their fourth studio album C.O.W. So it is that we know all fifteen songs included here like the back of our hand even though the band have taken the songs and re-recorded and re-jigged them for this release. Hailing from Stoke in Staffordshire, once famed for it’s industry, it’s still an area with a proud working class and trade union tradition and where Headsticks get their passion and influences from. Since day one they have championed the ordinary folk in the street while writing lyrics that tell real stories and even when they are at their most polemic it still doesn’t feel like you’re being bashed round the head with a newspaper unlike some other bands I could mention.

Singer and songwriter Andrew Tranter leads us through the album sometimes coming off like Jello Biafra and other times soft and tender but always passionate. More Bob Crow than Jeremy Corbyn! In their early days comparisons were made to New Model Army but as they have evolved their sound has become much more their own and while it’s a shame that the songs here aren’t the originals so you can see for yourself the re-recordings have given them a uniformity of the same power.

This may not be the kind of album that readers here are use to but these round ups give us a chance to share with you, via artistic license, to include releases that we loved during the year and that we feel you will love too. Headsticks have always been one of those bands and their constant innovation and evolving sound deserves to be heard and loved by more.

Contact Headsticks  WebSite  Facebook  YouTube

WATCH OUT FOR PART 2 AND 3 COMING THIS WEEK!

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ALBUM REVIEW: FIDDLER’S GREEN – Seven Holy Nights (2022)

Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat, shepherds are washing their socks, Batman smells and beware of yellow snow!i

Another Christmas themed album out this year from German Celtic-Punk band Fiddler’s Green that manages to pack in a song from every Christmas genre imaginable!

Last Sunday we featured the first of a duo of Christmas themed album’s released this year from Pittsburgh’s Bastard Bearded Irishmen and today is is the turn of German Celtic-Punk legends Fiddler’s Green to spread some yuletide cheer. This time two years ago we were reviewing their 30th anniversary greatest hits album 3 Cheers For 30 Years packed to the rafters with classic German Celtic-Punk.

Just like everything that comes out of the Fiddler’s Green camp Seven Holy Nights is everything you would expect from Fiddlers Green. Polished, well played, catchy Irish music played through the filter of people from outside Ireland but with a love of its music and culture. The vast majority of songs here will be well known to most of you but it’s no surprise that one of the album’s stand out tracks is a self penned number. Of the covers here you’ll hear most of them played through the speakers in your local supermarket but as always it’s how you interpret them that counts. To breathe new life into common or popular songs and this is something Fiddlers Green have no problem achieving.

The album begins with the first of a dozen stonewall Christmas classics. ‘Merry Christmas Everyone’ was a big hit in 1985 for the Welsh Elvis himself. Shakin’ Stevens was a superstar in our house growing up with my Mum adoring him and my brother such a big fan his nickname at school was Shaky! The youngest children of 13 children he’s still performing now aged 74. Next is the #1 Christmas song, Slade’s ‘Merry Christmas Everybody’. I think it’s between this and Wizard and though both are great people always go with Slade. The band keep to the main tune and style throughout the album of the originals but add so much more to them than just replaying the songs with a fiddle. They sound like they had a great time doing it and play with all the passion we expect from Fiddler’s Green. Wings ‘Mull Of Kintyre’ slows things down a wee bit and then it’s time for a series of proper traditional Christmas carols with ‘I Saw Three Ships’, ‘Twelve Days Of Christmas’, ‘God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen’ and ‘Lord Of The Dance’. All played respectfully and with great beauty. Next up is the Oscar winning ‘White Christmas’. The version of which by Irish-American Bing Crosby is the world’s best selling single that has sold in excess of 100 million. It is one of my Uncle Pat’s favourite stories how he searched every store he could find trying to buy it for my Nan and had no luck and had given up but then on Christmas Eve he found a lone copy left in Woolworths. ‘Danny Boy’ is up next and included not because it’s a Christmas song but because it’s brought a tear out of many a poor immigrant over the festive period. You sometimes forget what an amazing song it is as it is so overplayed but Fiddler’s Green version is simply outstanding and I think I have something in my eye…

Jona Lewie’s ‘Stop The Cavalry’ follows and with it’s apt anti-war message and given a bit of Celtic-Punk oompf is very timely. Now it’s time for a couple of silly songs and ‘Jingle Bells’ and ‘Rudolph, The Red-Nosed Reindeer’ steer us towards the end. So after a dozen fiddled about with Christmas classics it’s time to say goodbye with the self penned and title track ‘Seven Holy Nights’. Describing a Christmas celebration that begins in traditional style before bursting into more traditional Celtic-Punk.

With a line of merchandise that would make Ferocious Dog jealous the band themselves have sold out of CD’s but their are some still available at the various links below and you can still get the vinyl version from them (on green vinyl of course!) and the special ‘Limited Fan Edition’ with advent calendar, memo game, gingerbread, Christmas ornament and cloth bag sold out ages ago. A great Christmas romp and perfect for those who would rather spend their Christmas Eve in the pub than with Aunt Erna or Uncle Willi under the Christmas tree but then I think Aunt Erna and Uncle Willi would get a huge kick out of Seven Holy Nights as well.

Buy Seven Holy Nights  From The Band (Vinyl)

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ALBUM REVIEW: BASTARD BEARDED IRISHMEN – A Very Bastard Christmas (2022)

Out of ‘Steel City’ Pittsburgh its our auld mates the Bastard Bearded Irishmen and they bring some Christmas cheer with their new Yuletide album.

The Bastard Bearded Irishmen first came to our attention way way back in the early days of the site with the release of 2014’s Rise Of The Bastard. One bright day a package appeared all the way from Pennsylvania’s second largest city of Pittsburgh. Famous for its largely working class communities of Irish, German and Eastern Europeans the city was built upon steel making and has been a home for Europeans fleeing injustice and poverty since the 1800’s. The Irish still number 16% of the cities population and the Saint Patrick’s Day parade is second only to New York in the whole of the USA so it was no surprise that Bastard Bearded Irishmen (from now on to be referred to as the Irishmen or this review will be all bastards and that doesn’t seem very Christmassy!) had the Irish-American ‘thing’ absolutely nailed. A good time band much in demand at festivals they began as a temporary thing but soon realised demand outstripped supply in the local Irish pub scene and so fourteen years later the guys are still at it and loving every second.

It’s been four years since we got to hear last album Drinking To The Dead but as is common with the rest of the Celtic-Punk / Rock scene the pandemic saw a couple of years of enforced quiet but the Irishmen were busting to get back on the circuit and the last few months have seen them returning to many of their old haunts much to the joy of their many fans.

The last few years have seen Christmas move clear of anytime else in the Celtic-Punk calendar, after a certain day in March that is! Last year we had to make a special feature of all the singles released and even then we still missed a bunch of them. While other genres might be too cool to celebrate Christmas we love a bit of cheese and its any excuse to get the sherry and the mistletoe out.  The Irishmen’s new album titled rather subtlety as A Very Bastard Christmas came out just after Thanksgiving Day and they’ve spent every available minute plugging it since.

The album opens with a track written by the band one of a handful here. in fact they are evenly-ish split between classics and originals which is always a good start for a reviewer.  ‘Must Be Santa’ comes with a suitably adult video featuring all of the obscenities you would expect from a Bastard Santa and a few more! Fast paced and catchy with the lyrics nice and easy to follow and hear its the Irishmen winning combination of Irish, Country and Punk / Rock straight out the traps. ‘Holly Jolly Christmas’ is another original and they slow it down and keep the cursing down to a minimum making this one for the Nans. ‘Christmas In Killarney’ is one of the most famous specifically Irish-American songs written in 1950 by the songwriting team of John Redmond, James Cavanaugh and Frank Weldon and given a good thrashing here.

Next up is the Christmas Carol / nursery rhyme ‘I Saw Three Ships’ celebrating the return of ships sailing back home from long voyages on Christmas Day followed by a hilarious version of ‘Santa Baby’ where the ghost of Eartha Kitt lives on in the Irishmen. Now it’s time for the ultimate Christmas song, ‘Fairytale Of New York’, and one unfairly targeted by Christmas killjoys for censorship so sad to hear the Irishmen fall victim to it as well and change the lyrics which admittedly they have done a lot of to the covers on this album. It’s played pretty much the standard Pogues way and then we hop across the Irish sea next for a Punk-Rock ‘Auld Lang Syne’.

The albums last song is a bunch of edited together ‘Extended Outtakes’ of drunken ramblings titled ‘Hangin’ Out’ tacked on as a bonus track. Had a right laugh at this and fits in nicely at the end of the album. Only eight songs on the album and it flies past at 22 minutes making it a quick way to celebrate Christmas. It’s just longer than my train journey home for work!

Buy A Very Bastard Christmas  FromTheBand – CD

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(Check out the Irishmen’s excellent set on the main stage on both days of 2022’s Niagara Celtic Festival. This is Saturday night’s performance which featured less rain, brighter lights, and a crowd more willing to hang out until the bitter end where the amps failed and the show carried on without them.)

EP REVIEW: THE DISTILLERY RATS – We Are Rats (2022)

German Celtic-Punks The Distillery Rats are back after a five year break with an EP packed full of stories and high-energy songs where they manage to infuse their energy onto their record and immediately get you craving to see one of their infamous live shows.

The Distillery Rats are one of a number of German Celtic-Punk bands who loudly proclaim their Celtic-Punkness to the world. Where as here in England bands hide their genre bending under a rock and the rather vague title of ‘Folk-Punk’ Celtic-Punk is the label of choice for bands on the continent. Formed in the German wine making area of Heilbronn the Distillery Rats have been playing their own brand of Irish Punk since 2005. Regular readers will know that we have our theories about why in Germany Celtic-Punk, Irish / Celtic music and Irish / Celtic culture are so widely celebrated but they certainly love all things Irish over there and the Rats are another in a long line of bands who have managed to take punk rock and Irish folk and unify them together into what we all know to be the ultimate good time music.

The Distillery Rats left to right: left to right: Marcy Mahoney- Vocals, Acoustic Guitar * Mr. Firebeard- Accordion, Drums * Matt O’Killian- Banjo, Mandolin, Whistles, Pipes * Phil McMorning- Vocals, Bass, Accordion, Banjo, Guitars * Josey DiCilento- Accordion, Piano * Toby McWire- Electric Guitar * Mike McMorning- Drums, Percussion * George McGorgeous- Guitars, Backing Vocals *

Formed as 4-piece originally called Commerzpank, The Distillery Rats have played and continue to play all over Germany in pubs, clubs and at festivals large and small. That four piece has grown to include two vocalists, guitars, drums and bass and on the Folk side of the band banjos, mandolin, accordion, piano, bouzouki, whistles and even uilleann pipes. 

Their recording career began with the now long sold out five-track EP Back On The Road in 2010 and it was a full seven years before they followed this up with Tales From County Whiskey in 2017 an excellent album that would make that years Celtic-Punk Top Thirty. So that makes the five year gap between then and the brand new The Distillery Rats release the EP We Are Rats seem small by comparison. The EP starts off with ‘Back On The Road’ and we are back in familiar territory if you are a fellow fan of #ratsstyle Fast and heavy Celtic-Punk. For the rest of you The Distillery Rats are a unique band within the scene as they somehow manage to simultaneously sound like both the Dropkick Murphys and Flogging Molly so something here for even the slightest of Celtic-Punk fans! After two + years of forced retirement its a joyful celebration of returning to playing live. This is followed up by the title song ‘We Are Rats’, with pounding drums and accordion led The Distillery Rats set forth their manifesto!

“You’re praising yourself; you achieved that much goals, you’re strong and surely you are tall.
No matter how you act, in Fact you’re a rat, oh, that isn’t so bad, not at all.
If you would know wherever to go, if you knew who you want to be
Then cats turn to rats, and foes turn to friends,  tonight you’ll all sing with me.”

The Celtic influences are many on We Are Rats and ‘Going Down’ is no different taking in elements of hard Rock on top of everything else alongside some blazing fiddle work and amazing banjo playing. A contender with the next track for the EP’s standout song. The first half of ‘Ratstyle’ takes Celtic-Punk into the territory of The Exploited before settling into more trad Celtic-Punk before returning to fast and heavy! As an aside Wattie out of The Exploited collapsed on stage this week and the band have been forced to cancel all their forthcoming gigs so good luck Wattie and get well soon. Though being a Hearts fan I can be fairly sure he doesn’t read this site! The EP ends with the Country-Irish ‘Workers And Drinkers’ and a song about dreaming of a well earned pint (or two!) at the English working classes favourite pub chain, JD Wetherspoons.

“I think it’s actually unfair
That there are beggars and there are millionaires
I guess some fifteen pints should take me elsewhere”

Starting off with acoustic guitar the song is a nice counterweight to the power of the rest of the EP as The Distillery Rats see us out with a gentle singalong.

SPOTIFY

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NEW SINGLE: MADIGAN’S WAKE LEADING THE NEW WAVE OF AUSSIE CELTIC-PUNK

Australian Celtic-Punk band, Madigan’s Wake, have done it again, this time in blistering fashion. In a breakout year for them where their self-titled their debut single made waves throughout the Celtic-Punk scene their third single ‘Thunderbolt’ promises to round off an amazing year, and positions them as one of many Australian Celtic punk bands to watch out for in 2023.

Captain Thunderbolt was the last of the professional bushrangers in New South Wales. Frederick Ward (his real name) had become something of a folk hero due to his gentlemanly behaviour and his tendency to avoid violence. Nonetheless he went on a crime spree through New South Wales and often took his wife (Mary Bugg) and children with him on his journeys. A spree in Dungog, Stroud and Singleton from November 1863 to January 1864 involved the entire bushranging family. He was given the nickname, Captain Thunderbolt, after he startled a customs officer from his sleep by banging loudly on the door. The startled officer is claimed to remarked,

“By God, I thought it must have been a thunderbolt”.

After being caught and imprisoned at Cockatoo Island he escaped and continued his robbing spree. Ward was eventually shot by Constable Walker (an off-duty policeman) in 1870 after a dramatic showdown in swamp land near Uralla, NSW. Hundreds flocked to see his body on display and, for a shilling, you could buy a postcard of his bullet-ridden body.

A statue of Ward was commissioned at the intersection of New England Highway and Thunderbolts Way, Uralla, New South Wales. This statue has divided the community and raised the debate as to whether he was a villain or an anti-authoritarian convict hero who, in a gentlemanly way, fought against the oppressive establishment. In any case Madigan’s Wake continues to tell his story without judgement or prejudice.

THUNDERBOLT – THE GENTLEMAN OUTLAW

Freddy Ward was born in 1835

In Wilberforce and Windsor he was raised

Son of convict Michael Ward, the youngest there of ten

He started stealing horses as his trade

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Yeah yeah, yeah yeah, Thunderbolt

Yeah yeah, yeah yeah, Thunderbolt

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He tried the straight and narrow working stations in New South

His horseman skills they duly made his name

But nephew Johnny Garbutt did convince him otherwise

To use his skill to make unlawful gain

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Yeah yeah, yeah yeah, Thunderbolt

Yeah yeah, yeah yeah, Thunderbolt

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You can’t outrun the law and eventually they were caught

And sentenced to ten years at Cockatoo

But Freddy did escaped and fell in love with Mary Bugg

And the two of them together they shot through

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Yeah yeah, yeah yeah, Thunderbolt

Yeah yeah, yeah yeah, Thunderbolt

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And so it’s true eventually complacency sets in

He dropped his guard for everyone who saw

And as he tried to get away a trooper chanced upon

And with one shot he rode into folklore

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Yeah yeah, yeah yeah, Thunderbolt

Yeah yeah, yeah yeah, Thunderbolt

☘

And so it’s true my friends

That Freddy got his whack

But he never shot, or killed or stabbed or maimed

Though he stole and pillaged

His demeanour never changed

The gentleman outlaw he will remain

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And if you pass Uralla

On the New England Highway

You’ll see a statue there that says it all

For there is no rhyme or reason

Why a good man does go bad

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By the grace of God go us until we fall

By the grace of God go us until we fall

By the grace of God go us until we fall

☘

Yeah yeah, yeah yeah, Thunderbolt

Another fantastic track from Madigan’s Wake. Fast paced, chaotic and blending both Irish and Australian folklore. The band are planning to come over and join us for a few gigs in the UK in the first half of next year. We await their debut album which has already been recorded. Mixed by Brent Quirk and mastered by Tony Mantz from Jack the Bear’s Deluxe Mastering in Melbourne. Release date is set for February 2023 and will be simply titled Madigan’s Wake. We’re really looking forward to this one as should any serious Celtic-Punk supporter or indeed Fan of Irish music.

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Buy the single from https://ingrv.es/thunderbolt-the-gent-fqd-o

ALBUM REVIEW: FINNEGAN’S HELL – One Finger Salute (2022)

Sweden’s Finnegan’s Hell have created a new branch of Celtic-Punk by adding influences from Hard Rock, Hillbilly Country and Swedish Folk.
The band that the press called the kings of The New Wave Of Swedish Celtic Punk focus on melody and singalongs on new album One Finger Salute.

The Finnegan’s return with a new album and just like The Ramones they are not related and also just like The Ramones everything they do is golden! It barely seems like five minutes since their top three album Work Is The Curse Of The Drinking Class when it is in fact a couple of years. So more than enough time for this prolific bunch to get new album on the decks.

Now well into the second decade the Bhoys from Malmö, Lund and Gothenburg have had plenty of success along the way and one look at some of the live performances on their You Tube channel will tell you how popular they are as well. They even found time to record ‘The Boys In Green Will Conquer‘ for the Ireland team for Euro 2012. This led to them being described in the Irish media as

”They’re hard to describe, but just imagine a blend of Metallica and the Kilfenora céilí Band and you’d be about right.”

Everything they release gets a thumbs up from the Celtic/Folk-Punk media and they are fairly unique in the scene as they tend to receive plenty attention from the wider music press and, again, always very positive.

The album begins with ‘What Have You Got In The End?’ a short sharp burst of fiery tin whistle led proper Celtic-Punk in a tribute to all workshy Celtic-Punk rockers everywhere who question the benefits of working hard. The excellent video was produced and directed by Michael Ek, like all the videos featured here, who dug deep into the Swedish National Archives to find suitable images of Swedish life to illustrate the message behind the song. As with everything Finnegan’s Hell put their name to their attention to detail is incredible. ‘One Finger Salute’ was the first single to come out from the album and again accompanied by a fantastic video, the song with it’s infectious chorus is sure to evoke a sea of audience middle fingers when played live. The third song to be released prior to official release date was ‘Mickey Finn’ and by now we getting the taste of what this album is all about. Fast, furious bursts of energetic Punk-Rock but played through a filter of traditional Irish Folk music. Now a ‘Mickey Finn’ is a alcoholic drink laced with drugs given to someone without their knowledge. Named for a late 19th-century Chicago-Irish bartender and pickpocket who was notorious for drugging people’s drinks. Many of us, not me mind (!), have blamed their obnoxious drunken behaviour on being “slipped a Mickey”!

Only ten songs on the album is a wee bit of a gripe but Finnegan’s Hell are very careful to make sure only quality makes it on board so maybe that’s why. Next up is ‘Read My Lips’ and from here on these songs are all new to me and their fans. If I thought the previous songs were pacey then I wasn’t prepared for this which comes out like a Motorhead where Lemmy was influenced by the Dubliners rather than Nazi Germany! I’ve often said that to be a top draw Celtic-Punk band one of the things you have to master is the ballad and Finnegan’s have always turned out a great one. Here it is ‘Godforsaken Town’ with the lyrics setting the scene brilliantly of a town dying on it’d feet as people flee for better opportunities. Reverend Mick never sounds better on this album while the music is sparse giving Mick’s vocals all the more emphasis. Tin whistle leads us into ‘Run Boy Run’ and we’re back on more familiar territory with a tale of a life gone bad leading into ‘Comin’ After You’ and the excellent banjo and accordion in a dark fist in the air singalong. Less serious matters see us out starting with ‘I’ll Make It Up To You’ a trad Irish romp and the darker ‘Nothing Left To Lose’ which between them tell the breakdown of a marriage albeit with plenty of humour. The curtain comes down on One Finger Salute with  ‘Oh Death’ and a Nick Cave / Tom Waits / Celtic-Goth number that sees them go out in style.

Finnegan’s Hell from left: Ace Finnegan – Drums * Pabs Finnegan – Lead Vocals / Guitar * Cozy Finnegan – Percussion / Backing Vocals * Mick Finnegan – Banjo / Tin Whistle / Vocals * San Finnegan – Bass / Backing Vocals * Old Roxy – Accordian * Photo by Lars Brundin *

Back in Sweden, Finnegan’s Hell are lazily labelled ‘The Swedish Pogues’ by a music press that only thinks of The Pogues when it comes to Celtic and Irish music. It’s always going to be something that Celtic-Punk bands will have to put up with (I even saw the Dropkick Murphys compared to The Pogues once!) but at least they share the same kind of infectious melody and straightforward lyrics even though Finnegan’s Hell have cranked up the volume and the tempo. They may not be about re-inventing the wheel but what they are about is taking Celtic-Punk and wringing every single bit of fun out of it and they achieve that mightily on One Finger Salute. Tip of the hat to you Bhoys.

Buy One Finger Salute  Sound Pollution Records 

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ALBUM REVIEW: O’HAMSTERS – From Green Hills To Raging Sea (2022)

Delayed, delayed and delayed again the fourth album from O’Hamsters, Celtic-Punk band from Kyiv, Ukraine, finally sees the light of day. Not even a full-scale Russian invasion can stop Celtic-Punk! Ireland, women, alcohol, football hooligans, pirates and genitalia, reflections on the Ukrainian-Russian war, the brotherhood and unity of the Celtic-Punk scene and a daring story of prisoners’ escape from jail all feature on this great album. 

The release of From Green Hills To Raging Sea has been on the cards for a while now. First along came the Covid pandemic and then came the Russian invasion of Ukraine earlier this year. With no end to the war in sight O’Hamsters have decided to put the album out and raise awareness of the invasion and to raise money for HMV.UA, a group of volunteers lead by friend of the band Alex Sedov who aid the Ukrainian army. One of the many tragedies around the war in Ukraine is that the first time I heard of O’Hamsters was on the compilation album Ex-USSR Tribute To Dropkick Murphys, which featured eighteen Celtic, Punk, Celtic-Punk, Hardcore and Oi! bands from Russia and Ukraine. The album is still available for free download and is heartily recommended. So their existed a very friendly relationship between bands from both countries and whatever happens in the future I really hope that this friendly relationship can survive.

From left to right: Anton Skvortsov (top, looking somewhere far away) – vocals, acoustic guitar *  Ruslan Viter (bottom) – guitars, backing vocals * Andriy Ganzevych (top) – mandolin, whistle, backing vocals * Volodymyr Mazur (bottom) – accordion, piano, backing vocals * Denys Zhukowsky (top) – drums, backing vocals * Maksym Sokolov (bottom) – bass, backing vocals

O’Hamsters have been together for twelve years and have well over 200 gigs under their belts from playing across Ukraine, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Czech Republic and Belarus. Their previous releases include Alcophilosophy (2011), Kyiv /Dublin /Alcohol (2014)2014 and Wherever We Go (2017) and two EP’s Sassenach, Go On Home (2010) and Kiss My Irish Ass (2015) as well as contributing songs to the compilation albums Ex-USSR Tribute To Dropkick Murphys (2013), see above, and the Worldwide Tribute to The Pogues (2016).

The album begins with ‘Cath Ghleann Molúra’ and the rat-a-tat-rat beat soon explodes into full on accordion led Punk slammer. From the first notes you get the idea of where O’Hamsters are going and its great! The tune is dedicated to the Battle of Glenmalur from 1580, when a united army of Irish clans defeated the English army in the mountains of Wicklow setting the mood for the rest of the album. They have in the past sung mainly in their own language but on ‘Black Sails’, their first video in almost five years, it is also the first time they have sung in English. Dating from five years ago it shows how long the planning for this album has been and tells of the fate of James McGraw aka Captain Flint, renowned pirate from the book Treasure Island and the 2014 television series Black Sails.

“As a kid you dreamed of leaving a port town you’ve grown up in 

And you saw yourself a captain like your dad has always been 

Years later you are smiling, standing firmly on the deck 

Famous storm of seas and oceans sailing under the black flag”

Both the lyrics and the context of the songs and adjoining history is superb and instilled with meaning.  ‘Пісенька про Капітана Бена Лаферті / Captain Ben Lafferty Song’ is a song of two halves kicking off as a mental instrumental before bursting into the story of a brave seaman. Anton on vocals has a voice that rivals Ronnie Drew himself for its gruffness. Ronnie was once described as having a voice “like the sound of coke being crushed under a door” and Anton is not far behind! For a band that rocks so heavily Irish Folk melodies still play an enormous part in everything they do and ‘До Ірландії / To Ireland’  tells of an Irish rebel dying in Brixton Prison who asks of the priest who comes to hear his confession if his soul will have one last journey to Ireland. It’s an unusual song here in that it is quite mellow but filled with symbolism. ‘September’56’ features Eugene Tymchyk, vocalist from Ukrainian bands Septa, The Nietzsche and others. It is no surprise that the war dominates this album and O’Hamsters borrow from the Irish rebel songbook next with a updated Celtic-PUNK version of ‘Mій Армалайт / My Little Armalite’ with a Ukrainian fighter taking on the Russian army with the help of his Armalite rifle. Next up is ‘Rocky Road to Odesa’, a song recorded originally by a O’Hamsters side project. ‘Пагорби Дніпра / Dnipro Hills’ springs along spiritedly almost Ska-ish at times but most definitely catchy as hell at all times in a love song to their home city! Finny McConnell has been a busy man of late popping up on these pages in the last few weeks guesting on the recent Paddy Waggin’ single ‘Life On The Booze’ and then when his band The Mahones released their outstanding album Jameson Street last month. Here he is again guesting on vocals for the next song here, ‘Together As One’. The song is one of the albums highlights and was the second single to come out. The video is a tribute to everyone who has supported O’Hamsters over the years. Former members, bands they have played with, the fans and crew.

“In these difficult times, when an army of barbarians is trying to conquer Ukraine, it is more important than ever for us to be Together As One”

Like us O’Hamsters see the link between football and Celtic-Punk and ‘За Свій Клуб / For Your Club’ is for everyone who fights for their team. Lots of “Oi! Oi!” gang vocals and another standout. This is so bloody catchy!! ‘Пеггі Летермор / Peggie Lettermore’ short but fast tune telling of a man whose life was made a misery by the aforementioned Peggie. The fiddle here is played by ex-O’Hamster Dmytro Danov. Like many European countries many, many people left their homes for an uncertain future in north America and elsewhere. Over a million Americans declare themselves of Ukrainian descent many of whose ancestors arrived escaping from ‘the red terror’ after the events of 1917. My industrial home town in northern England, like many others nearby, has a thriving Ukrainian Centre for example. ‘Наш Дім / Our Home’ is the story of those Ukrainian immigrants who sailed West to start new lives. The curtain comes down on Green Hills To Raging Sea with‘П’яний Скрипаль / Drunken Fiddler’ featuring Anatoliy Khomenko of fellow Ukrainian Celtic-Punk band ShamRocks on fiddle. A uttely superb way to end things witha swirling heavy but gentle (!) Celtic-Punk pint (or fist?) in the air moment. Speaking of nostalgia for youth, friends that have left us and music that is capable of creating utter joy. A time for unity and a time to contemplate what these poor guys are going through at this exact moment in time.

The album was recorded during March 2021 – September 2022 at PystelnukArt Studio, Kyiv. It was mixed and mastered by Dmytro Bastanov and the excellent artwork is from Oleksii Demianiuk. I’ve always loved O’Hamsters partly because of the uncompromising way they refuse to soften their sound and stick to their principals of playing it loud and proud. These are extremely talented musicians and capable of playing Irish-Folk that would make any homegrown band swoon. What these Folk-Punk folk, and the rest of their nation, are going through at the moment we can only imagine but we send our love and best wishes to them and while it may sound like some kind of ‘worthy’ review but this is seriously a contender for album of the year. I guess that’s what recording it for four years does!

(You can stream / download From Green Hills To Raging Sea from Bandcamp)

Buy From Green Hills to Raging Sea  Bandcamp

Contact O’Hamsters  Facebook  Soundcloud  YouTube

I’ll leave the final word to the band themselves

As for our plans – right now most of the plans of most Ukrainians look like this: survive and win. That includes us 🙂 We constantly ask for support for our army, which gives us the opportunity to make music. You can do this following the links below

https://savelife.in.ua/en/donate-en/ 

https://prytulafoundation.org/en/home/support_page 

https://linktr.ee/hmvua 

ALBUM REVIEW: THE REAL McKENZIES – Songs Of The Highlands, Songs Of The Sea (2022)

After a couple of years of misery for Celtic-Punk fans 2022 has been something of a special year with the biggest and best the scene has to offer all releasing albums and The Real McKenzies even releasing two! 

Here Ray Ball checks out Songs Of The Highlands, Songs Of The Sea out everywhere today. Packed to the gills with roaring sea shanties and bagpipe-fuelled highland anthems.

So, how to start this…I think I first stumbled on to The Real McKenzies with Clash of the Tartans. I was just getting into Celtic punk, I think Blackout and Within a Mile of Home were fresh on the record shelves. “Dropping Like Flies” and “Smokin’ Bowl” we’re staples of my 2000-something on my iPod nano.

Needless to say it was a good time to be a Celtic punk listener.

Sure, as we all know, the Pogues first combined the two genres. They hold their time and place in history. What I didn’t realize, or maybe appreciate, was the kick that came out of the Northwest in the early 90s. McKenzies formed in 1992, four years before DKM formed and not long but before “Alive Behind the Green Door” came out as a Flogging Molly live album.

I did some looking into it and dug up that a lot of the bands then and there sang in Gaelic, and put more of the punk and harsh edge into the music coming out of that part of the US and Canada.

I’ve listened to a lot of it over time but the McKenzies have always stood out to me. Paul, the rotating crew, the crazy pipes. They seem to have as much fun with it as we do. That’s important.

In “Songs of the Highland Songs of the Sea” McKenzies they bring their sound a little truer to maybe “Westwinds” than “Beer and Loathing”. Not that the latter was bad at all, it just felt a bit heavier than normal.

Don’t expect much in the way of new materiel in terms of songwriting here. From sea shanties to Robbie Burns, there’s a lot of great takes on standards to make an excellent album. Some I’ve even covered before in a punk way, and it’s different. But their take on it is different as Scottish Canadians than my Irish American.

I know Scotland the Brave and Leave her Johnny have already been released and are good indications of where the record goes. A must listen track is “Ye Jacobites by Name”, an 18th century set of lyrics set later to music and then given a do over by Paul and crew. I won’t spoil anything, you’ll hear some familiar Melodies if you go to local sessions or hear pipe bands often.

But, it’s a refreshing album I think we all need. They truly keep it up and going and there’s no objection to the bands ability to put out quality music at a rapid pace.

So row on ye bastards, and get a copy.

Buy Songs Of The Highlands, Songs Of The Sea

Bandcamp – Download

FatWreckRecords – Vinyl

Various vultures who take far more than their fair share

Contact The Real McKenzies  WebSite  Facebook  YouTube  Instagram

Thanks to Ray Ball. He has already featured on these pages as the driving force behind The Fighting 69th from Buffalo. The review of his 2-volume set of Dropkick Murphys covers was one of the most viewed of the year. One of the most prolific and diverse artists in the Celtic-Punk scene we are proud to have Raymond on board our team. Writer, artist, musician he is a credit to the American-Irish community and you can find a wealth of his material available at his Bandcamp site.

*

The Real McKenzies are on tour in Europe during January and arrive on these shores on the 23rd playing Blackpool, two nights in Edinburgh, Huddersfield, Derby and then the New Cross Inn in south London on the 28th. For the smoke keep an eye on the Facebook Event for support acts, set times and ticket news.

It was also recently announced that they have been added to the bill at Rebellion festival in Blackpool next August doing two sets – a full band set and on the the ‘Almost Acoustic’ stage. This means the good news is they will be back around again next Summer.

ALBUM REVIEW: THE MAHONES – Jameson Street (2022)

Love, drinking, fighting, hope are the topics that occupy Celtic-Punk giants The Mahones on their brand new album Jameson Street. Their first studio album in three years.

Probably the most prolific of Celtic-Punk bands whether it comes to recording and releasing new material or indeed playing in your local neighbourhood it’s the welcome return of The Mahones. A while ago lead singer and main man Finny McConnell announced on Facebook that The Mahones were going to forego major touring and from now on only play prestige and local gigs. Well I thought who can bloody blame them. We have all recently seen the effects that constant touring can have on a band and I wouldn’t wish that on anybody so if a break was needed then they made the right decision… but the clamour to get back on stage was too great and soon enough the announcement came of another massive tour and the release of this album, Jameson Street.

The Mahones Promo 2019

What to say about The Mahones then? Well not a lot I suspect that the vast majority of you don’t already know. They are one of the world’s most popular and successful Celtic-Punk bands with a career stretching back over thirty years to the 17th March 1990. What once  began as a one-off band for a St. Patrick’s Day party, quickly became a global touring phenomenon and a figure head for an entire genre. The Mahones have since gone on to release fifteen albums, including 2020’s 30th Anniversary double album This Is All We’ve Got To Show For It.

Jameson Street is their first studio album since 2019 and the list of friends and ex-band members who have popped by to take part is massive. The core of the band remains the same with Nicole Kaiser on fiddle, Finny on guitar, Michael O’Grady on tin whistle and Sean ‘Riot’ Ryan on bass but an astounding seventeen other musicians are listed on the sleeve notes so some of whom will have to forgive us for not mentioning them so here’s just a select few – Dave Barton of The Peelers, Nicholas Smyth of The Dreadnoughts and the Crash Test Dummies Stuart Cameron! With such a prolific output you may expect The Mahones to be running out of steam by now but low and behold this ranks up there with their very best albums from their early days. 

The album begins with the title song and ‘Jameson Street’ takes the pub céilí sound out the pub and into your living room. The origins of this song can be found on a short You Tube video recorded live at Sir John Eh’z Nose Ring Circus two-day music festival in 1993. A couple of minutes of pure unadulterated speedy trad Irish Folk peppered with shouts and “yaarrrrs” before leading into a classic Mahones style song of ‘Rise Up (Be Strong)’. Finny has always used his writing to uplift folk and while he may have sometimes put his foot in it over on that damn Facebook he did say

 “Jameson Street is meant to make you feel like you’re having a night out. No politics, no religion, just good times, and everybody having fun. Unity is the underlying message.”

Written with Greg from Husker Du who Finny has recently been playing, recording and touring with in the Punk band Ultrabomb , along with the UK Subs Jamie Oliver. A full-blooded rousing anthem of which their is one or two more to come!

“Let’s get along, no-one gets left behind, the healing has begun”

Now I don’t know who wrote the blueprint for Celtic-Punk but every album needs a drinking song or two and The Mahones open up with ‘A Devil In Every Bottle’ and are joined by Dave Barton of fellow Canadian-Irish Celtic-Punks The Peelers on vocals. It’s unmistakable Mahones, jolly and jig-worthy and a tribute (of sorts) to Irish whiskey. ‘Freeway Toll’ takes it down a bit with a more Folk-Rock approach that gives Finny a real chance to stretch them vocal chords. A song that you’d not be surprised to see picked up by someone of mega-star status later on. It’s a nice song that slots in well among the Irish-Punk and Trad. ‘Watch Me Fall’ steams past in 130 seconds before one of the album highlights the instrumental ‘Lonesome Boatman’. Now I think for most of us we first heard this song on a compilation album More Green Velvet that we bought for our Mums in the early 80’s. Hidden away in between Dana and Philomena Begley belting out the best of Irish in Country’n’Irish style was The Fureys And Davey Arthur playing ‘Lonesome Boatman’ and it fair blew my mind as a young angry Punk-Rocker. An incredible song that passed by unnoticed for many years until it finally began to receive its due plaudits. Picked up by the Dropkick Murphys after a couple of Euro Celtic-Punk bands had already recorded it The Mahones play a version that sits nicely in the middle of the Fureys and the Dropkicks. Holloway Road in north London use to be the epicentre of north London Irish life and it’s still called by many County Holloway. Not sure if  ‘Holloway Jack’ has anything to do with that but it does feature lyrics by the late Paddy Cuncanon, an old friend of the band and they have turned his words into an evocative stirring sea shanty. ‘Fiddle On Fire’ is the albums second instrumental and unsurprisingly, from the title, Nicole lets her fiddle do the talking with a speedy fast as feck Irish hoe-down. We are coming up towards the end and there’s been no filler here as we continue with ‘She Comes For Love’. Finny has always worn his heart on his sleeve even when it’s perhaps been questionable but it’s one of the reasons we still love him. ‘Last Call At The Bar’ sees the sound drop into ‘Country-Irish’ and we just don’t mind. A singalong that will have bartenders across the world giving a wry smile.

“It’ is a song that bartenders can relate to – that feeling you get when you tell everybody to bug off and go home. It’s a fun song that sticks in your head, and it fits the Jameson Street theme.”

The album ends with a bonus track a boisterous live version of what Finny says is his favourite Pogues song ‘If I Should Fall From Grace With God’. Recorded live at the Horseshoe Tavern In Toronto 2003 The Mahones are joined on stage by the legendary Phil Chevron and Terry Woods of The Pogues. It’s the first time they have even recorded / released a Pogues track, astonishing considering how often they are compared to the Celtic-Punk pioneers. 

Well if Jameson Street was meant to make you feel like you’re having a great night out then they have certainly achieved that. Like has been said it’s one of the best Mahones releases for a long time. From the start to the finish I love this album striking a chord with me that I’m sure will also with even the most casual of Celtic-Punk fans. The album has been released on True North Records as well as every streaming site you can think of but really you should order from the label to not only ensure they have the money to continue but to put out more Celtic-Punk releases and, especially, from The Mahones!

(Stream Jameson Street but don’t buy from vultures. Get it from the record label below)

So, Jameson Street awaits, and there’s a drink at the bar with your name on it. Go for it!

Buy Jameson Street  True North Records (CD / Download)

Contact The Mahones   FacebookPage  FacebookGroup YouTube  Instagram

NEW ALBUM: THE MULLINS – ‘Gold In Our Hands’ (2022)

Smashing debut album from The Mullins. Celtic Folk’n’Punk from southern France

One of the best things about Celtic-Punk is that bands don’t tend to rely on anyone but themselves and their fans when it comes to putting out releases. The amount of DIY albums that have come out this year has been incredible and The Mullins are another one having raised the necessary readies by crowdfunding for Gold In Our Hands and actually raising more than they asked for! This is their debut album though they did have a EP out in 2018 and with what went on in the years in between they can be forgiven for the delay. The Mullins live in and around the coastal city of Arles in the Provence region of southern France, famed for inspiring the paintings of Van Gogh wouldn’t you know! The band have all known each other for years through previous bands and even school but share the same passion for music, Celtic culture, and hops!

The Mullins

Gold In Our Hands is a mix of a handful of songs redone and re-recorded from that 2018 EP and a whole load of new original Mullins compositions. The album kicks off with ‘Streams Of Guinness’ and though I much prefer a pint of Beamish myself it’s a great opener. It’s the perfect taster for the album with crashing drums and Elsa’s loud fiddle leading in a song about getting tiddly in Galway. ‘Tough Love’ kicks off with some great banjo from Sébastien and combined with the fiddle gives the album a unmistakable Irish sound. Only two songs in and Elsa takes over on vocals before the albums title song ‘Gold In Our Hands’ which was the first single from the album to be released accompanied by a brilliant professionally filmed video. Vocals are shared through the band which I really liked as they all sound different with Sébastien’s growl a perfect foil for Elsa and Raphaël.

In the auld days of Celtic-Punk all anyone wanted to know was are they like the Murphys or Mollys and that still applies but now with the emergence and popularity of The Rumjacks another dimension is added. If anything The Mullins don’t sound like any of them yet but on comes ‘Breaking News’ and the intro is pure Rumjacks. Raphaël is the bands main vocalist with the lions share of the songs. Strong and powerful and clear as a bell in English with a French accent their is no need for a lyric sheet here! It would seem that the property developers war on the pub is worldwide and ‘The Ghost Of The Public House’ is an autobiographical loving tribute to their long gone local. The music here is fast and ‘punky’ but not so that most people would think it too fast or too punky. The ability of Celtic-Punk bands to make things completely accessible without compromising on the sound never ceases to amaze me. Just as I think I’ve heard a great Punk album my Mammy will say “Whose that? They sound good”. ‘I Won’t Miss You’ has a more poppy and with Elsa’s great vocals a song you could easily imagine hearing on the radio. ‘Slainte’ is one of the standout tracks here with heavy backing and great use of the vocals too. On an album that is as catchy as hell I hate overusing the word catchy but often their is no better word, especially on songs like ‘Lighthouse In The Dark’. ‘9 To 5’ is a cracking drinking song about getting out of work after a rubbish day of and dreaming about that first pint of Kilkenny. ‘Walk The Plank’ tells of a young man leaving to set sail and not knowing when or if he’ll ever return. Another great song and again you can hear a slight Rumjacks influence without any trace of trying to copy them.

We are nearing the end of the album and the old sea shanty ‘Santiano’ is the only cover here of a very infamous French song from 1961 sung by Hugues Aufray, a famous French folk singer. I am what is known as a fanatic when it comes to Celtic-Punk and even though I don’t mind covers at all I do prefer them to be either rare or unusual or relevant to the band and by choosing this over another ‘Drunken Sailor’ or ‘Fields Of Athenry’ I am as happy as can be! The curtain comes down on Gold In Our Hearts with the great ‘The Lights In The Sky’ and Elsa gets another chance to shine as she opens a song that embraces Irish Folk and country in a swirling beautiful number that brings to mind the pub lights going out and the door being locked on you. A fabulous way to end things.

The album’s twelve songs come in at ever so slightly over forty minutes and was recorded and mixed during February and March 2022 by Sebastien Camhi from Studio ArtMusic in the south of France and mastered by Kai Stahlenberg at Kohlekeller Studio in Germany. The production here is perfect with the different and varied musical instruments all easily recognised along with the many vocal styles. I thoroughly enjoyed Gold In Our Hands a young band with lots and lots of talent and some amazing songs.

Hope you got to drink and enjoy the Kilkenny folks!

Buy Gold In Our Hands Spotify Amazon

Contact The Mullins Facebook YouTube Instagram

ALBUM REVIEW: THE ENDINGS – ‘Completely Pickled’ (2022)

We have discovered a new English Celtic-Punk band from Telford in the Midlands and The Endings have only been together for twelve years! Today we review their recently released new album of Celtic-Folk-Punk with an Irish flavour. 

The Endings are a new band. Well new to me but not I dare say to the good people of Telford in the English midlands. Telford was conceived only in 1963 as part of post-war reconstruction. A time that saw a succession towns built from scratch. Named after road builder, civil engineer and architect Thomas Telford who, contrary to popular belief, was not responsible for Ironbridge Gorge, which gave its name to the World Heritage Site beside the River Severn, but he was Shropshire’s Surveyor of Public Works in 1787, which seems a long stretch to name the town after him! So all in all a fairly typical English town. A town like many across England that it’s residents are proud of. So proud indeed are The Endings that they nearly also get a mention as The Endings Telford. In these times where any sort of love of place or home is written off as chauvinism I love the idea of The Endings showing this pride in where they come from.

The Endings left to right (top): Verna – Drums / Vocals * Paul Mandolin / Banjo / Vocals * (bottom) Harry – Fiddle / Vocals * Rob – Guitar / Lead Vocalist * Kev – Bass / Vocals *

As I say The Endings may be new to me but they have been around over a decade playing the pub circuit around Shropshire and occasionally a little further afield. New blood in the band and a bit of inspiration has the last couple of years though seen them spending most weekends on the road gigging and with regular performances at festivals the opportunity to support bands such as Ferocious Dog and Mad Dog McCrea has arrived. They play their own style of uptempo Irish music that is designed purely only to keep the dance floors occupied. They have one previous release, Coda from 2019, which marked the start of their move away from being purely background noise for busy pubs into a band that people will aim to go and watch. Even so 2 albums in over 10 years may sound mean but isn’t unheard of when bands are caught in the cycle of gig-gig-gig-gig. If you want to show yourselves off to the bigger world then you do need to make time to record but then you also need to make those recordings available and these days that means making downloading an option. These are things that The Endings need to think about as their music deserves a much bigger audience and with more than half the readers of this site from overseas it’s a must-do.

Completely Pickled (an English euphemism for being drunk in case you didn’t know) opens with ‘Gemini’ and tells the story of a night out on the lash at the 1970’s-80’s Shropshire nightclub Gemini. If anyone remembers our review of Pronghorn (“Kings of Cowpunk”) a few weeks back then this isn’t too dissimilar except with a definite Celtic edge to it. Catchy and with a real foot tapping beat to it. Next we have ‘Time & Tide’ and the song carries on in the same vein with some excellent musicianship on display. Rob’s vocals are clear and precise and sit on the fence between Punk and Folk where he can shout if he likes but also do a wee bit of ‘proper’ singing as well! Next up is ‘Water Gypsy’ and a number about the Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood who said his families generation was the first to be born on dry land with a lineage dating back to the 1700’s of working on the water.  His family were English ‘‘bargees’ (river or canal barge workers) and Ronnie affectionately referred to them as ‘water gypsies’.

(‘Water Gypsy’ Live at Farmer Phil’s August 2021)

The mandolin here leads the way as Rob introduces us to a little known part of Ronnie’s life and I hope he gets to hear the song. ‘Press Ganged’ is a standout track here as it introduces a couple of other influences to the mix as it reminds me of The Men They Couldn’t Hang at their peak in the 80’s in both style and subject matter. This could so easily have made Waiting For Bonaparte especially when the song suddenly speeds up halfway through. Next up is a song close to my own heart with ‘Importance Of Guinness’ and a proper good auld instrumental Irish romp in tribute to the black stuff. Truth be told though Guinness doesn’t hold a candle to Beamish!

(‘Importance Of Guinness’ Live September 2022)

‘New Lands’ is a about buying a one way ticket to Australia, another subject that The Men touched on. Stories of the sea are quite the feature of Celtic-Punk and The Endings seem to be fond of them too with ‘Raise The Sails’ up next. I must say though that it’s been quite the while since a more ‘folky’ album landed with all original compositions and I’m motre than happy not to have to sit through another version of ‘Drunken Sailor’, as good a song as it is! While a lot of the songs here could be decades old (‘against modern football – against modern music’) on ‘Ragged Man’ the sound is more recent but if I did have one point to make on the album it would be that the sound here could have been beefed right up. With the pounding beat it needed a more heavy touch. ‘Madness’ tells of the er.. well er… madness of those couple of years where the world closed down. Looking back now it seems like such a long time ago.

(‘Juggling Time’ Live September 2022)

‘Smuggler’s Cove’ starts with some rather nifty mandolin and I think this where I keep getting TMTCH in my head while I’m listening. Another great song with a real thigh slapper / head nodder of a beat. We are nearly at the end and ‘Juggling Time’ and while I find juggling quite an amazing spectacle I also find jugglers very irritating so it’s a good job this isn’t about juggler then! This I think could just about be the albums standout track with its catchy danceable sound. ‘Gallons Of Pale’ is another tribute to alcohol this time to the wonders of Pale Ale. The CD rounds off with what is described on the sleeve notes as a bonus track, with an excellent instrumental version of ‘Juggling Time’ and then the curtain comes down.

(You can hear the whole of Completely Pickled via the You Tube play-list below)

Completely Pickled was recorded and produced by Tom Carter at The Riff Factory just up the road from them in Stoke and singer-songwriter Jess Silk supplied the album artwork. Like their debut album it has been produced and self-funded by the band themselves though I’m sure they open to offers. Their are bands like The Endings in many English towns and cities fusing Irish / Celtic music and English Folk and Rock and Punk influences and while many are content to simply drift from pub gig to pub gig playing covers its great to see a band like The Endings trying to develop their sound, write their own songs and reach out. The success of bands like Ferocious Dog and the bands that have followed in their wake over the last few years show their is an audience for music from the likes of The Endings and with a decade long start over most then they ought to be near the top of the list to listen to.

 Buy Completely Pickled  Spotify

Contact The Endings  Facebook

ALBUM REVIEW: MULHOLLAND – ‘Irish Viking’ (2022)

Their are some very talented bastards out there in the Celtic-Punk scene! One such is Colin Mulholland who has written, composed, performed, recorded, mixed and produced his own material for a few years now. Ray Ball checks out his new album featuring loads of distorted guitars and vocals played at breakneck speed about Irish and Irish-American history.

First of all let me say that I’ve known Colin “Mulholland” for a couple of years-pre covid. He is a character and then some. “SHARP” (skinheads against racial prejudice), married to a wife that must be tough because she keeps him in line, straight edge, never touched a sip or toke of nothing. He works his fingers down to the marrows as a mechanic. Blue-collar, tough, hardworking guy. He has recently released “Irish Viking” as his latest album.

The recordings are raw. Like, something you’d expect out of a true 80’s straight edge band. But, having read the lyrics they are as poignant as raw. Though he doesn’t work a lot with traditional instruments there’s definitely the Celtic themes and Melodies in the music.  Part of me likes my refined audio whatever but part of me also loves this coming through in mono.

There’s definitely no shortage of energy here. Old school punks will love this. Maybe not your average ‘Shipping Up To Boston’ Celtic-Punk but for true believers. Even I’d you only check out only one song, listen to ‘Cross To Bear’. It’s what I’d have put out as a single. Catchy without being cliché, well produced. Scally cap is off to you Colin. Well, very well done.

The album is only available to hear through the You Tube play list below but feel free to contact Mulholland at the links provided

Contact Mulholland  Facebook   YouTube   BigRaysWritings

Thanks to Ray Ball. He has already featured on these pages as the driving force behind The Fighting 69th from Buffalo. The review of his 2-volume set of Dropkick Murphys covers was one of the most viewed of the year. One of the most prolific and diverse artists in the Celtic-Punk scene we are proud to have Raymond on board our team. Writer, artist, musician he is a credit to the American-Irish community and you can find a wealth of his material available at his Bandcamp site.

NEW ALBUM: ZECKYBOYS – ‘Dirty Brands’ (2022)

Hot on the heels of their debut single comes the debut album from raucous and rowdy Italian Celtic-Punkers Zeckyboys.

After the success of their debut single a release I have been looking forward to hearing was the full length album from Zeckyboys (there is no ‘The’). With a winning combination of trad Irish Folk and full throttle Punk Rock they are the latest in a long line of Italian Celtic-Punk bands that fully embrace the trad side of the genre. It helps then that the members of the band are all experienced musicians with long histories of touring and playing varied musical styles. Put them together and you have Zeckyboys!

Zeckyboys left to right: Beppe – Fiddle / Backing Vocals * Enzo – Guitar / Backing Vocals * Max – Diatonic Accordion / Backing Vocals * Mastro – Lead Voice / Guitar / Irish Bouzouki * Bill – Drums / Backing Vocals * Ricky – Accordion / Backing Vocals * Franz – Bass / Backing Vocals * (Photo by Michele Piccinini)

The album kicks off with their debut single ‘Damned Purple Bus’ and in the last few weeks their has been a run of great videos and add this to the list. Telling the tale of being late for work behind a bus that keeps stopping and that you can’t get past the frustration is described perfectly and with great humour and the music… well the music! Starting off with a mix of Folk’n’Punk the song soon slides into thrashy HxC Punk but then towards the end the Bhoys give us a touch of Ska before then turning into a trad Irish Folk band and ‘The Swallowtail Jig’. Awesome and from what I have seen made quite an impact on the Celtic-Punk scene. The music is has a heavy touch but is far from tuneless having an appeal I think to many non-Punky types too. Next song ‘The Dance Of The Passed Away’ is a good example of that played with a hardness but with a great Folky edge and sense of humour. On ‘Horsefield’ the emphasis is switched to Irish Folk but they keep the hard Punk edge and as can be witnessed on the video below they certainly get the audiences on the move!

(POV of Zeckyboys playing at the Bundan Celtic Festival 23-07-2022)

‘Seamus’ touches on medieval style music but again with that Punk edge. ZeckyVün’s vocals are pure Punk Rock so that even during the quieter moments, of which their are many, they can’t escape their Punk side. Loud and growly like a MacGowan / Waits hybrid he hits all the right notes for this aging Punk especially up next on ‘A Bit Of Punk’ which even amongst the hardcore squeezes some trad Irish in! On ‘Hold A Stone’ ZeckyMax and his diatonic accordion holds sway as his old fashioned intro leads into a song where the accordion is pushed to the fore and given full reign to rule. Zeckyboys concentrate on writing their own material and the album’s only cover is next up with a Dropkick Murphys influenced ‘Johnny I Hardly Knew Ya’. First published in London in 1867 and written by English born second-generation Irish songwriter and performer Joseph B. Geoghegan it has become deservedly one of the most popular ant-war anthems in existence. A solid version that is always timeless and always received well by audiences. A Metal influence is evident in the sludgy ‘Wonder Boy’ that again turns into raucous trad Folk romp that is the albums longest song at 5 and half minutes before the album’s final track the great ‘It’s A Conspiracy’.

(Zeckyboys recorded live at Drunk in Public 04-03-2022)

The Italian Celtic-Punk scene is large and very talented and friendly. It’;s only a few weeks since we hosted the amazing Dirty Artichokes here in London and plans are afoot for Uncle Bard And The Dirty Bastards to pop over to see us too. Both absolutely amazing bands and wonderful people. Thanks to the pandemic it took Zeckyboys two years before they could actually play live so these songs have been perfected before being released into the world and they are playing like a band trying to make up for lost time. With nine songs clocking in at nearly 40 minutes the way they switch from Punk to Trad is both astounding and seamless with them somehow managing it without you even noticing at times. This is a band with a lot to offer and sitting as they do on both wings of Celtic-Punk they will have a lot of appeal to fans of the genre at home and abroad.

Buy Dirty Brands  Spotify  www.zeckyboys.com 

Contact Zeckyboys   Facebook  YouTube  Instagram

CLASSIC ALBUM REVIEW: WOODY GUTHRIE – ‘Dust Can’t Kill Me’

With the release of the new Woody Guthrie themed Dropkick Murphys album due in a couple of days we thought we would take a look at the life of this amazing artist and offer up the opportunity to download a great album of his for free. 

“A folk song is what’s wrong and how to fix it or it could be
who’s hungry and where their mouth is or
who’s out of work and where the job is or
who’s broke and where the money is or
who’s carrying a gun and where the peace is.” – Woody Guthrie

Woody Guthrie was the most important American folk music artist of the first half of the 20th century, in part because he turned out to be such a major influence on the popular music of the second half of the 20th century, a period when he himself was largely inactive. His greatest significance lies in his songwriting, beginning with the standard ‘This Land Is Your Land’ and including such much-covered works as ‘Deportee’, ‘Do Re Mi’, ‘Grand Coulee Dam’, ‘Hard, Ain’t It Hard’, ‘Hard Travelin’, ‘I Ain’t Got No Home’, ‘1913 Massacre’, ‘Oklahoma Hills’, ‘Pastures of Plenty’, ‘Philadelphia Lawyer’, ‘Pretty Boy Floyd’, ‘Ramblin’ Round’, ‘So Long It’s Been Good to Know Yuh’, ‘Talking Dust Bowl’ and ‘Vigilante Man’. These and other songs have been performed and recorded by a wide range of artists.

With his guitar and harmonica, Guthrie sang in the hobo and migrant camps, developing into a musical spokesman for labour and other left-wing causes. These hardscrabble experiences would provide the bedrock for Guthrie’s songs and stories, as well as fodder for his future autobiography, “Bound for Glory.” It was also during these years that Guthrie developed a taste for the road that would never quite leave him.

This land is your land and this land is my land
From California to the New York island
From the redwood forest to the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and me

*

As I went walking that ribbon of highway
I saw above me that endless skyway
Saw below me that golden valley
This land was made for you and me

*
I roamed and rambled and I’ve followed my footsteps
To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts
All around me a voice was sounding
This land was made for you and me

*
When the sun come shining, then I was strolling
And the wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling
The voice was chanting as the fog was lifting
This land was made for you and me

*
This land is your land and this land is my land
From California to the New York island
From the redwood forest to the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and me

*
When the sun come shining, then I was strolling
And the wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling
The voice come a-chanting and the fog was lifting
This land was made for you and me

*

In 1937, Guthrie arrived in California, where he landed a job with partner Maxine ‘Lefty Lou’ Crissman as a radio performer of traditional folk music on KFVD in Los Angeles. The duo soon garnered a loyal following from the disenfranchised ‘Okies’ living in migrant camps across California and it wasn’t long before Guthrie’s populist sentiments found their way into his songs.

In 1940, Guthrie’s wanderlust led him to New York City, where he was warmly embraced by leftist artists, union organisers and folk musicians. Through fruitful collaboration with the likes of Alan Lomax, Leadbelly, Pete Seeger and Will Geer, Guthrie’s career blossomed. He took up social causes and helped establish folk music not only as a force for change, but also as a viable new commercial genre within the music business. Guthrie’s success as a songwriter with the Almanac Singers helped launch him into the popular consciousness, garnering him even greater critical acclaim. The ensuing fame and hardships of the road led to the end of Guthrie’s marriage in 1943. A year later, he would go on to record his most famous song, ‘This Land is Your Land’, an iconic populist anthem which remains popular today and is regarded by many as a kind of alternative national anthem.

That old dust storm killed my baby,
But it can’t kill me, Lord
And it can’t kill me

*
That old dust storm killed my family,
But it can’t kill me, Lord
And it can’t kill me

*
That old landlord got my homestead,
But he can’t get me, Lord,
And he can’t get me

*
That old dry spell killed my crop, boys,
But it can’t kill me, Lord
And it can’t kill me

*
That old tractor got my home, boys,
But it can’t get me, Lord
And it can’t get me

*
That old tractor run my house down,
But it can’t get me down,
And it can’t get me

*
That old pawn shop got my furniture,
But it can’t get me, Lord,
And it can’t get me

*
That old highway’s got my relatives,
But it can’t get me, Lord,
And it can’t get me

*
That old dust might kill my wheat, boys,
But it can’t kill me, Lord
And it can’t kill me

*
I have weathered a-many a dust storm,
But it can’t get me, boys,
And it can’t kill me

*
That old dust storm, well, it blowed my barn down,
But it can’t blow me down,
And it can’t blow me down

*
That old wind might blow this world down,
But it can’t blow me down,
It can’t kill me

*
That old dust storm’s killed my baby,
But it can’t kill me, Lord
And it can’t kill me
*

By the late 1940s, Guthrie began to show symptoms of the rare neurological disease Huntington’s Chorea, which had killed his mother. The extremely unpredictable physical and emotional symptoms Guthrie experienced shook him deeply, so he decided to leave his family to hit the road with his protégé, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott. Guthrie arrived in California, and began living in a compound owned by activist and actor Will Geer, populated largely by performers who had been blacklisted during the Red Scare of the early Cold War years. Soon, Guthrie met and married his third wife, Anneke Van Kirk, with whom he would have his eighth child, Lorina Lynn.
Woody’s health continued to deteriorate in the late 1950’s, and he was hospitalised until his death in 1967. His marriage to Van Kirk collapsed under the weight of his disease, and the couple eventually divorced. During the last years of his life, Guthrie’s second wife, Marjorie, and their children would visit him in the hospital regularly, as would Guthrie’s most famous heir in the world of folk music, Bob Dylan. Dylan moved to New York City to seek out his idol and eventually Guthrie warmed to the young singer, who would later say of Guthrie’s music,

“The songs themselves were really beyond category. They had the infinite sweep of humanity in them.”

While Guthrie passed away of complications from his Huntington’s Chorea on October 3, 1967, his musical legacy remains firmly cemented in American history. A generation of folk singers inspired by Guthrie in the 1950s and 1960s went on to fuel some of the most dramatic social change of the century. Despite his folk hero status, Guthrie was modest, and was known for playing down his own creative genius.

“I like to write about wherever I happen to be, I just happened to be in the Dust Bowl, and because I was there and the dust was there, I thought, well, I’ll write a song about it.”

Today’s free download is the compilation album Dust Can’t Kill Me. It comes with one link but features two discs of 23 and 25 songs. Disc 1 showcases Woody Guthrie as a solo artist while disc 2 features him in collaboration with his contemporaries such as the blues harp player Sonny Terry and fellow Folk rebel Pete Seeger, as well as tracks recorded with the Almanac Singers and many others. American Folk music wasn’t invented by Woody Guthrie. It’s been around for 100’s of years but he did invent modern American Folk music and everything since can be traced straight back to him and these songs.

DUST CAN’T KILL ME FREE DOWNLOAD

This is no bandwagon for London Celtic Punks and our interest and love for the music of Woody Guthrie pre-dates the start of this zine and you can find a wealth of more music by Woody and indeed his contempories and those he inspired over on the Steppin’ Stones page. Just click below to be redirected.

ALBUM REVIEW: THE WINTER CODES – ‘Set The Darkness Reeling’ (2022)

Debut album from The Winter Codes an Irish Folk duo formed by David Walshe and Barney Murray who found fame as the original, and distinctive singer, of legendary and ground breaking Celtic-Punk band Blood Or Whiskey.

Back in June we posted a review announcing the debut single from Irish band The Winter Codes. The song was utterly fantastic and instantly made me think ” Jeez, that sounds like that fella from Blood Or Whiskey” but as the press release made no mention of it I thought no more. After all if you were the singer in one of the most popular and influential Celtic-Punk band in history surely you’d give it a mention? Well it seems the guys were just being modest and it was indeed Barney from Blood Or Whiskey! For The Winter Codes Barney has teamed up with virtuoso musician David Walshe, brother of the late Paul who was also a founding member of Blood Or Whiskey, and a handful of guests to record their debut album, Set The Darkness Reeling.

The Winter Codes are based in Tullamore, the county town of Offaly in the Irish midlands. The town is famous above all else for the wonderful Irish whiskey Tullamore Dew, which since 2010 is being produced in the town again after decades away. Offaly also have the nicest shirts in Gaelic games which is why I had their pictures on my wall as a kid despite having no connection with the county! With Barney’s unmistakable voice it will come as no surprise that comparisons to Blood Or Whiskey come easy but we will try our best to avoid them, after all this is a Winter Codes review not Blood Or Whiskey.

Originally planned as as a five track EP but when the creative juices began to flow it soon developed into the full length album Set The Darkness Reeling. The duo recorded at the famous Grouse Lodge studio, which once housed Michael Jackson where he recorded and lived for a time! The album begins with ‘NCR’, short for North Circular Road which could be Dublin or London or maybe it could be anywhere but is packed with imagery about a terrible relationship and the bitterness that comes with it. Spicing up the song with mariachi trumpets alongside some cool Irish trad and we are in the same territory that Barney left us with with his old band but how he hits them low notes is beyond me!

“rather die all alone in a bedsit room on the North Circular Road than go back to you”

‘Long Time She’s Been Gone’ is a catchy number that again talks of regret though this time in a lost love way. ‘Troublesome Girl’ stars Irish Folk singer Lisa Loughrey on vocals and after recording originally with Barney the bhoys thought it needed something different so asked Lisa to recommend someone and that person ended up being Lisa herself! A soft-poppy Folk/ Country number her voice fits perfectly. The title of the album from a line in the song.

The music is definitely Irish Folk but comes with a pop edge to it that brings in elements of Country too. Barney flexes his vocal chords next on the moving ’30 Years Of Tears’ a poem half sung/ half half spoken with no accompaniment that really makes you sit up and listen. For Barney it is the next song ‘Friend In Tullamore’ that means the most. Moving from his home town Leixlip to Tullamore after leaving Blood Or Whiskey and years of relentless touring and almost burnt out he settled in easily

“I feel that it was the town that gave me a second chance and maybe the song is my way of saying thanks for that.”

‘Erin’s Lovely Lee’ is a Rebel song whose origins are a bit obscure despite having been recorded by Willy Clancy in the mid-60’s. The story tells of a Irish immigrant arriving by boat in New York in 1863 who are met by Americans who curious and want to know more about important figures of Irish rebellion like the Manchester Martyrs, Wolfe Tone’s, Captain Mackey and Michael Dwyer. He then thinks “to float a Fenian boat down Erin’s lovely Lee”. One of the album’s highlights.

‘Satellite Town’ is another moving song about a young girl moving from home in search of fame and glory. The album has a mournful feel to it and, of course, Barneys voice is the perfect fit for such songs. Maybe it’s not surprising seeing as the album is an emotional tribute to the late Paul Walshe who is immortalised within the album that even features him on banjo on several of the tracks thanks to some rough demos of the songs that Sean Montgomery Dietz was able to adapt and mix into some of the tracks. ‘Dublin Girl’ rings of The Pogues track ‘London Girl’. We’re back in Rebel territory again with ‘Ovidstown’. Not sure if this is a cover or not, it certainly has an ancient ring to it. The song tells of the battle of Ovidstown, between Irish forces and the during the 1798. It took place at 19 June 1798 at Ovidstown Hill not far from Barneys hometown of Leixlip in County Kildare.

His home town pops up again next in ‘Last Night In Leixlip’ and another standout track. With electric guitar (could been a bit louder) and then them trumpets again make for a great song., The trumpets reminding me of ‘Ring Of Fire’ ironic considering the hilarious name check Johnny Cash gets in the song! The album has a great choice of covers and ‘Skibereen’ is no different. Thought to originate from the 1880’s the songs tells of a son asking his father why they had left the village of Skibbereen, in County Cork to live in America. The father tells him of the hardship he faced at home. Of An Gorta Mór / The Great Hunger and of the oppression the British rained down on the Irish after the Young Irelander rebellion of 1848. The song ends with the son promising his father

“O father dear, the day will come when vengeance loud will call,
And we will rise with Erin’s boys to rally one and all.
I’ll be the man to lead the van beneath our flag of green,
And loud and high will raise the cry ‘Revenge for Skibbereen”

Next up is the track that announced The Winter Codes to the Celtic-Punk world back in June and ‘Too Sly To Die’ went down a storm. The video was filmed in the landmark Dublin pub The Cobblestones, located in one of Dublin’s oldest neighbourhoods and famous for hosting traditional Irish music for decades. A rousing number that we went into detail back in June if you care to look up. ‘Dearthairin O Mo Chroi’ (Irish for brother of my heart) written and recorded originally by Pauline Scanlon it’s a beautiful ballad which leads us onto the album’s final song, fittingly, ‘And Then No More’.

Sadly The Winter Codes have no intention of ever playing live. In a recent interview this was put down to

“The problems with playing live is that you are at the mercy of the local sound person. If they are good then the gig might go well but if not the whole night is ruined. In a studio, you have almost complete control and that’s the way I like it.”

I’m done with gigging so he says but I hope he changes his mind. Maybe they can be persuaded to do a live stream or something but it’s still absolutely fantastic to hear those dulcet tones again taking me back a few years when everything was a lot simpler. Thanks for the memories but it’s time to make some more now fella’s.

Buy Set The Darkness Reeling  Spotify

The Winter Codes  WebSite  Facebook YouTube

ALBUM REVIEW: FLOGGING MOLLY – ‘Anthem’ (2022)

What a year this is going to be for all you Celtic-Punk aficionados out there with the two major players in the scene both releasing new albums within just a few weeks of each other. Later in the month sees the Dropkick Murphys but today our man back on the auld sod Shane O’Neill runs the rule over seven piece Irish-American giants Flogging Molly and their first album since 2017’s Life Is Good.

lIt’s been a long hard five years since we have had a new album from the Celtic punk institution that is Flogging Molly. Was it worth the wait – Most definitely!! We have been lucky to get a preview with the release of singles such as These Times Have Got Me Drinking / Tripping Up the Stairs which is the opening track on the album. This sets the scene nicely for the upbeat hard-hitting theme of the album.

The second song on the album, A Song of Liberty pays tribute to the gallant men who fought the British Empire in Ireland at Easter 1916. This isn’t your traditional Irish rebel song but delivers the message effectively illustrating the determination and fight displayed by the volunteers to seek the liberation of our country.

(Flogging Molly have joined forces with renowned Ukrainian animators/filmmakers, The Mad Twins, for the band’s ‘A Song Of Liberty’ video. The clip highlights humanity’s ongoing struggle against oppression, from Ireland’s Easter Uprising through several 20th century moments including both World Wars, to the current occupation of Ukraine.)

Anthem is a bit different (in a good way) to any of the bands previous releases. They have unleashed a new sound and reached back to the more traditional Irish music such as The Dubliners and The Chieftains whilst maintaining the kick arse punk edge. The more traditional sounds are evident on The Croppy Boy and (Try) Keep The Man Down. It can be difficult to cross genres like Irish Traditional music and punk while keeping original but Flogging Molly have hit the target on Anthem. Musically, I think the band have gone from strength to strength.

Some of us from the London Celtic Punk crew were lucky enough to catch the bands last gig of the European tour in Dublin a few weeks ago….. What a performance. We were treated to a few tunes from the Anthem album which were very well received. Every time we see them, we think they it’s the best performance ever, yet they continue to impress. Just like an old wine, improving with age. It took almost a week for my body to recover and get my hearing back, but it was worth every single bruise and cut. We did manage to sneak in backstage after the gig but that’s a story for another day!!!! Anthem is the bands sixth album coming 22 years after their debut release Swagger. We’ve been listening to it since it was released earlier this week and cannot find fault with it at all. To pick the best song on the album is a difficult task however if pushed I think The Croppy Boy, A Song Of Liberty and Life Begins and Ends (But Never Fails) are up there with the best Celtic Punk tunes out there. This is the type of album you can stick on anytime and it will lift your mood.

Hats off to Flogging Molly for this album and hopefully we don’t have to wait another five years for the next one. “These Croppies Wont Lie Down.”

Buy Anthem  CD/ Vinyl/ Tape – From The Band

Contact Flogging Molly  WebSite  Facebook  YouTube  

ALBUM REVIEW: REINA ROJA – ‘Hooligan Folk’ (2022)

Debut album from Spanish Celtic-Punk hooligans Reina Roja. Seven songs and a song or two you’ve never heard done quite like this!

Back when we started doing this Spain was a major player in the Celtic-Punk scene but over the years things have gone a little quiet. Their are still some great bands and releases (this years album from Drunken Fighters for starters) but I think the decision to retire the Spanish based web-site Celtic Folk Punk And More had a knock on effect. The bands are still there but we hear less from them and about them. One of the bands out there that are new to us have actually been together for eight years! Reina Roja formed in 2014 in Rivas-Vaciamadrid, a suburb of Madrid in central Spain. Their name means ‘Red Queen’ and though many faces have changed in the band from those early days the commitment to Hooligan Folk remains the same. Their style of music perfectly captures the traditional melodies of Folk and Celtic music but played fast and hard and with a freewheelin’ Punk-Rock attitude that the band themselves label as Hooligan Folk.

“the festive atmosphere and full of attitude that is generated in a neighbourhood party, after a game of the local team or at the bar of a bar. An atmosphere of celebration, but that does not forget the daily problems and that underpins the consciousness of the working class.”

The album kicks off with the spirited ‘Dragón Verde’ and instantly the tune goes into ‘Drunken Sailor’ but then veers off again. Plenty of gang vocals and that stop-start Hardcore approach that I particularly love. The fiddle and tin whistle is amazing and put to such great use too. The lyrics are all in Spanish, something we don’t mind at all. Bands shouldn’t be afraid to sing in their own languages. These days Celtic-Punk is international but bands still prefer to song in English despite by it’s very nature the English language being a foreign language in the very places where Celtic music comes from. Still it does make things easier for me when it comes to reviewing! The catchy ‘Sigue Luchando’ sees Agnes, vocalist of Lilith y Miss October, starring alongside Gonzzz on vocals. Their is a certain way Spanish Punk bands sound making them instantly recognisable even when not sung in Spanish and Gonzzz’s voice is strong and shouty but still tuneful and able to hit them notes well. ‘Tensión’ comes from their earliest days as a band and hits all the right catchy as f*”k buttons. Chugging guitars and pounding bass and drums all combining for one hell of a sound. ‘Johnny. ¿Qué Ha Pasado?’ is trad Celtic-Punk with a real Irish tinge to the first half showing a real talent for Folk music that you must have to be a successful Celtic-Punk band and ending with a cool terrace chant! ‘Banshee’ flits along between Metal and Punk but still with the Celtic influence leading. Reina Roja are joined for a second time here on guest vocals for ‘Lo Que Nunca Fuimos’ by Fernando Madina of Reincidentes and Ángel of Envidia Kotxina and is in much the same vein. Fast,catchy, tuneful, spirited Celtic-Punk party music. Hooligan Folk comes to an end with ‘Barriles de Revolución’ and this may, or may not, be a drinking song as the English translation is ‘Barrels of Revolution’! They save the fast till last and go out in a blaze with the same winning formula.

Only seven songs but 25 minutes of music means the songs all have time to develop and Reina Roja use the time well. Punk songs tend to be short and even at three minutes bands tend to wrap it up as soon as possible so it’s nice to hear longer songs that still keep the attention. As amazing as it was to only just hear of a band that had been together as long as this the biggest surprise was that this was their debut release. What have you been doing guys? The album was recorded and produced at the Corleone studios by Mr. Chifly the guitarist of Habeas Corpus and he has done a grand job capturing things especially the Celtic instruments. Hooligan Folk is a great album capturing the spirit of Celtic-Punk perfectly.

(Stream / download Hooligan Folk from the Bandcamp player)

Buy Hooligan Folk Bandcamp EverywhereElse

Contact Reina Roja Instagram Facebook YouTube

ALBUM REVIEW: PRONGHORN – ‘Welcome To Pronghorn Country’ (2022)

Undisputed Kings of Cowpunk and the hardest banjo/fiddle action you’ll ever come across. Pronghorn have been kicking around since 1992, and this summer the band celebrates 30 years of drinking warm Stella and eating late night garage food with a brand new album, Welcome To Pronghorn Country.

Those of you old enough to remember 1992 will recall that it was all about grunge. A few bands though went against the grain and 1992 was also the year Pronghorn emerged out of Dorset. Starting off busking outside Debenhams in Bournemouth leading to their first gig in Charminster and then onto more salubrious locations like busking at Amsterdam Central Station or in Copenhagen Homeless Hostels to name but two. As the band’s sound evolved with Punk, Country, Folk and Rockabilly they were soon labelled with their very own genre ‘Cowpunk’. In the States a fair more aggressive genre ‘Country Punk’ developed around the same time but it was the English version that was more true to it’s Country musical roots which lay in the southern English rootsy Folk movement of the 80’s. This was a time that spawned The Pogues along with the Boothill Foot Tappers, Cropdusters, Shilleagh Sisters and Men They Couldn’t Hang. Many could claim to be the Kings of Cowpunk but for me their is only Pronghorn. The line up has seen many changes over the years but founder members, Toni Viagra and Lamma are still there, along with newbies(!) Ffi, Krusty, Gypo, Aussie Mike and Andy Law- who’ve only done the last fifteen years or so.

As this year sees them doing 30 years on the road together and recording twelve albums you would imagine it would have taken it’s toll but as Fifi admits

“After all this time Pronghorn is still the same band, but now we have to get babysitters’”.

The album kicks off in great manner with the ‘Psycho Ceilidh’ and what a way to make a splash and exactly whet you would think a song called psycho ceilidh would sound like. An absolutely wonderful Country-Folk-Celtic hoedown that ought to be the genre’s anthem! Imagine a Punk Rock barn dance with folk clad in tartan work shirts swirling around smashing into each other with massive smiles on their faces and you’re in the right ball park.

‘Spud Face’ sees Lamma recalling the days when they put on one of the best festival’s Dorset had ever seen that the name of sadly escapes me (editor- EnDorset Festival… and it’s coming back!) but i intended to go every year it ran but never actually made it! Fiddler Joe takes over vocals for ‘Reubens Train’ while battling it out with the bands other fiddler Fifi. This is speed fiddling at it’s finest. It’s an old Folk song and I must admit I always love to see the words ‘trad. arr’ on a bands album sleeve. ‘Dead Wood’ sees them slow it down a bit for the first time and a dark and mysterious song is aided by some class accordion. The accordion giving it a Eastern flavour as they sing of cutting out unnecessary burdens. The popularity of acapella singing has been around in Celtic-Punk for quite a while and the old Folker ‘Shady Grove’ begins as such and even though the band kick in eventually it might have been a good opportunity for the band to test their vocal chords together. ‘Jed Jones 2’ is a sequel of sorts but as I’ve not heard part 1 it’s hard to tell you the story beyond it has a cowboy theme and maybe a song we could claim as Celtic-Punk(-ish)! ‘Devils Daughter’ continues in the same vein lyrically inspired by the blood and guts of spaghetti westerns. ‘Cuckoo’ is another trad. arr. song and the last of the albums three and sees the bhoys spilling over into jigs and sure I heard almost a reel in there too. ‘Dirty Motel Blues’ may start off with acoustic guitar but ends up an (almost) acoustic song that out Motorheads Motorhead! Joe returns for vocal duties on ‘Ghost Train’ the most TMTCH-ish song here on first listen though their is a lot more to them than that though even though that is far from an insult.

(Recorded at Barnstomper Festival, Cerne Abbas Brewery – 4th September 2021)

‘Soldiers Tale’ sees them delving into history and a saucy song that turns the catchy up to 11 and adds plenty of their trademark humour to boot. The album’s only instrumental ‘Swamp Winch’ sees Bayou styled fiddling accompanied by a dizzying amount of hollering and howling whipping the band up into a Country-frenzy. Outstanding and near impossible to keep your feet attached to the floor. The album wraps up with ‘Bone’ and another stand out track that sees them in contemplative mood but without letting up one bit. Superb! An outstanding album but again the bands honesty gets the better of them as Aussie Mike says

“These days, recording an album comes with a short shelf-life – record, release, tour, repeat. But for a band who has been around as long as Pronghorn have, Welcome to Pronghorn Country is more about documenting a chapter of the band. It’s also something different to sell to drunks after a gig”.

The beauty of a band like Pronghorn is the joy they bring to people with their live performances. Sometimes bands like that can find it difficult to transfer that sound and emotions onto record but Pronghorn are blessed here with a perfect sound engineered by David White and mastered by Stefan Krakovic. It’s over 20 years since I saw them play here in London and my overriding memory of that night was the fun we all had and coming out near a stone lighter. They haven’t lost it and just like me their all a bit older and a bit heavier so treat seeing them as the best exercise you will ever have! Welcome To Pronghorn County is out this week on the fantastic independent label Lunaria Records and if we did give marks out of ten then this a bloody 9 1/2 I’m telling you.

(Stream or download Welcome To Pronghorn County below on the Bandcamp player)

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ALBUM REVIEW: THEIGNS & THRALLS – Theigns & Thralls (2022)

The new project from Skyclad vocalist Kevin Ridley Theigns & Thralls sees the release of their self titled debut album and while it may divide Metal fans it’s one that should get Celtic-Punk fans very excited.

Theigns & Thralls is a new band formed by vocalist and songwriter Kevin Ridley. Kevin has been a long time member of the English heavy metal band Skyclad who always played with strong Folk influences throughout their music. The plan for Theigns & Thralls was to be a somewhat ‘occasional band’ for the times when Skyclad were inactive. With the pandemic though the idea took on a new lease of life and became a collaborative recording project. Calling on his many friends in the music scene across Europe, twenty-five musicians from bands like Korpiklaani, Ensiferum, Cruachan, Waylander, Celtibeerian and Metal De Facto as well as a handful of solo musicians contributed. Everything from drums, bass, guitar, violin, whistles, bagpipes, hurdy-gurdy and vocals were covered and the result was the first Theigns & Thralls single, ‘Drinking’, in February this year.

I think you can divide the album into three parts with the the first few songs leaning more into Celtic-Punk territory before becoming more Metal / Rock influenced while the last few songs, mainly the bonus tracks are more folky / experimental. The album kicks off with ‘Procession’, a short bagpipe intro that builds and builds and leads straight into album title track ‘Theigns & Thralls’

“from Magna Carta to the age of reform,

suffrage is still not the norm for one and all,

still theigns and thralls.”

which gives us a chance to explain the name ‘Theigns & Thralls’ which means masters and servants in Shakespearean era English. While many of the Metal style flourishes are left the pacing of the song is classic Celtic-Punk which ought to please fans of both. Kevin Ridley says about the song:

“I decided early on to have an eponymous album, so the album had the same name as the band, but I also thought to go one stage further and add a song with the same name. As it is the opening song, I wanted it to up-tempo and be anthemic as it also conveys some of the band’s underlying philosophy, in terms of its socio-political stance. Again, Dagda’s pipes helped to lift the song and I really enjoyed adding a bit of old-school harmony guitar here.”

As mentioned above it was the song ‘Drinking’ that really set things off for Theigns & Thralls. The album version is longer than the video and contains the ‘drunken guitarist’ intro. A anthemic song unlikely based on a 17th century poem by Abraham Cowley with a multitude of players on it, including Emilio Souto on guitar, Jonne Järvelä on mandolin and Dave Briggs on whistle. Band founder Kevin adds:

“I came across an old poem called ‘Drinking’, I thought folk-metal and drinking, what could possibly go wrong? Again, this song has a big chorus and I thought it would be good to ask all the people playing on the album to add some backing vocals and do a little video of themselves recording it so we could make it into a video.”

A great song that encapsulates the fun side of Theigns & Thralls. Catchy and with the most perfect pint / fist in the air chorus I’ve heard in a good while.

Next up is the first version on the album of the fiddle led ‘Strive’ with its thudding and ominous bass followed by ‘The Lord Of The Hills’ which has a 70’s English Folk ring to it. ‘Life Will Out’ is another song that has two versions her. This one significantly better than the one that closes things. Female vocal from guest appearances from Celtibeerian accompanies Kevin (using a voice transformer) with bagpipes and chugging guitar giving it a dark feel. ‘The Highwayman’ begins with a rather cheesy spoken word intro before tearing into a rockin’ version of the 1906 poem by Alfred Noyes. Set in 18th-century rural England, the highwayman is in love with Bess, a landlord’s daughter. Betrayed to the authorities, the highwayman escapes ambush when Bess sacrifices her life to warn him. Learning of her death, he is killed in a futile attempt at revenge. However, their souls reunite after death. Speaking of love, courage, and sacrifice, perfect themes for Theigns & Thralls. ‘Today We Get To Play’ is the most Celtic-Punk track here and actually reminds me of a handful of bands from the scene in it’s upbeat-ness!

‘The New Folk Devils’ touches on serious subject matter of judging people on their looks from Mods and Rockers then to immigrants today. Slow enough to take in Kevin’s vocals it’s followed by ‘Flora Robb’ an instrumental Folk number with excellent piping. The album part of Theigns & Thralls ends with ‘Not Thru The Woods Yet’ and a superb catchy song which brings to mind Flogging Molly. The first of the bonus tracks is ‘Over The Hills And Far Away’ and ought to be familiar to people on this side of the pond due to it’s time being used as the theme song for the classic British TV series Sharpe starring the king of Yorkshire himself, Sean Bean. Performed again in that 70’s English style. ‘The Queen Of The Moors’ is, I think, the only Skyclad song here featuring on their 2017 album Forward Into The Past. To close out the album the last three songs are a a acoustic version of ‘Strive’ followed by the shorter video version of ‘Drinking’ before the curtain comes down with a Electronic / Industrial remix of ‘Life Will Out’ that I’m afraid didn’t interest me at all at first but I rather got into after a few plays!

The album seems to have divided fans of Folk-Metal in that many were expecting the album to be a lot heavier than it is. I don’t understand though why these folk would imagine the point of setting up another Skyclad when the original is still running! We on the other hand absolutely love it and why not it’s a steady mix of Celtic-Punk, Folk, Folk-Metal and classic rock! Saying that at just under a hour it is far too long and some of the bonus tracks are a bit unnecessary. Perhaps it might have been better to release them independently as a EP. Now that the album is out Theigns & Thralls have put also become a ‘touring band’ in their own right but as of going to press gigs are mainly in Europe excepting a short tour her in December taking in Edinburgh, Newcastle, Kent and Lancaster.

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CLASSIC ALBUM REVIEW: FOLK FRIENDS 1 (1978)

The latest in our series of reviews of albums from the past that deserve to be aired again! Folk Friends was two volumes of music released in 1978 and 1980 featuring a wealth of Folk music artists live in session in Germany. Almost four hours of music and all available to download for free. The first volume is presented here with Volume Two to follow next week. 

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Folk Friends was a series of two albums recorded live in Germany and featuring a broad selection of artists from Ireland, Germany, England, Scotland and the USA. The music here takes in traditional Celtic Folk, American Blues-inspired Folk and even some German traditional music. Both volumes of the albums were recorded at Hannes Wader’s home and studio, Windmühle ‘Fortuna’, Struckum near Husum, North Friesland, which was a renovated windmill. The sessions would produce two 90-minute double vinyl albums with the first volume released in 1978 and then Volume 2 appearing two years later. While most compilation albums of this type would feature songs from different times and releases this is a historic record of all the artists playing either solo or together over a few days and is a truly unique recording of these sessions of outstanding musicians and friends.

FOLK FRIENDS ONE

Folk Friends One are:
Guy Carawan * Candie Carawan * Derroll Adams (USA) * Alex Campbell (Scotland) * Wizz Jones (England) * Finbar Furey * Davey Arthur (Ireland) * Werner Lämmerhirt * Hannes Wader * Jörg Suckow * Matthias Raue (Germany)

Alex Campbell (left), Davey Arthur (top centre), Finbar Furey (bottom centre)

The first album was recorded during six days in June 1978 and was produced by Carsten Linde and recorded and mastered by Günter Pauler.

Tracklist : 1. Werner, Jörg & Matthias – Six Days on the Road 0:00 2. Finbar, Hannes, Alex, Jörg & Davey – Night Visiting Song/Dat du min Leefste büst 05:13 3. Guy, Werner, Finbar & Davey – Planxty Irwin 8:17 4. Derroll & Wizz – I’m Sad and I’m Lonely 10:34 5. Finbar, Werner & Jörg – Lonely One 13:38 6. Guy, Candie & Matthias – The Trail of Tears 18:25 7. Hannes & Jörg – Willst Du Dein Herz mir schenken 21:48 8. Wizz & Davey – Night Ferry 24:10 9. Guy, Candie & Werner – I Remember Loving You 28:57 10. Finbar, Alex, Davey, Jörg & Derroll – Derroll in the Rain 32:23 11. Guy, Hannes, Davey, Matthias, Derroll, Finbar & Werner – Who Will Sing for Me? 37:13 12. Werner, Guy & Candie – Walking Down the Line 41:42 13. Wizz, Guy, Finbar & Davey – Old Molly Hare 44:53 14. Hannes & Guy – Brüder, seht die rote Fahne/Hold The Fort 46:12 15. Alex, Finbar & Davey – One Day We’ll See Them 49:52 16. Derroll & Wizz – Black Jack Davey 53:31 17. Wizz & Hannes – New National Seven 56:15 18. Alex, Guy, Candie & Derroll – Aragon Mill 58:59 19. Derroll, Hannes & Davey – Pay Day At Coal Creek 1:02:40 20. Finbar & Jörg – John of Dreams 1:07:05 21. Finbar – Alex’s Dream/Ned Walsh’s Jig 1:10:48 22. Hannes, Guy, Werner, Finbar, Davey, Candie, Alex, Susanne, Wizz & Derroll – When The Fiddler Has Played His Last Tune For The Night 1:12:45

ALBUM LINER NOTES

Singers, guitarists, banjo, mandolin, fiddle, bagpipe and dulcimer players from several European countries and the USA, who had been friends with Hannes and each other for many years, met here in Hannes’ windmill.
From the American south, Guy and Candie Carawan brought oppressed minority songs, timeless new songs and their hammered dulcimer. Guy and Hannes met for the first time in 1968 at the Waldeck Castle festival and have since met whenever Guy is on tour in Germany.
The American banjo player Derroll Adams traveled from Belgium. He knew Guy Carawan from the USA in the 1950s before he emigrated to Europe himself. In the years that followed, Derroll had a significant influence on the development of the folk scene in France and England as a street musician and through guest appearances in clubs.
His friend Alex Campbell from Glasgow – who had also lived as a street singer in Paris in the early 1960s and is still a role model for many folk singers – was now sitting in the windmill, as was Wizz Jones, guitarist and songwriter from London, who had been a singer since the 1960s works as a professional singer-songwriter.
Finbar Furey had come from southern Ireland and as a bagpipe player he cannot be overestimated for the more recent development of Irish folk music. He had brought his many flutes, new songs of his own and his friend Davey Arthur, who was causing a sensation in Finbar’s band “The Fureys and Davey Arthur”.
Werner Lämmerhirt, one of the leading folk guitarists in this country, was also there. He had toured with Hannes Wader between 1971 and 1973 and recorded with Alex Campbell, Guy Carawan and Hannes Wader before beginning his own successful career.
And finally Hannes Wader, the host himself. Without his encounter and involvement with Anglo-American folk, his development as a German singer-songwriter and folk singer would have been different. His roots in German folk music, which has been broken several times, and his musical talents form the point of reference to all these fellow musicians who have been shaped in living traditional folk cultures.
Jörg Suckow and Matthias Raue also come from Germany, bringing in their skills on cello and fiddle and taking on choral parts.
Martin and Gertrude Degenhardt, who have been involved with the folk scene in Germany since the first Waldeck festivals, were involved throughout the entire recording time at the Mühle. They observed and sketched the musicians, the cover illustration is the result of their impressions.
Günter Pauler, who recorded the music and kept it up day and night with concentration and good humor, used a Nagara IV S and a TEAC 80-8 eight-track machine with dbx and Sennheiser and AKG microphones. Mixing was done on a Nagara IV S.
Hannes, Guy, Derroll, Alex, Wizz, Davey and Werner had met by chance in recent years when their paths crossed on tours or at festivals. Sometimes, on the fringes of the action or backstage, they would unpack their instruments and play songs and melodies they liked. From time to time they also held sessions and found that they got along well not only musically but also personally. Out of this friendly relationship, they finally met in the mill – regardless of their “market value” or exclusive ties to agencies or record companies – and started making music together without much ado. Much of that friendly, laid-back vibe echoes in the music and songs on this album. The enthusiasm to sing and play together in different groups and to be able to try out new musical possibilities can be heard atmospherically and as a feeling in every song. All songs and instrumentals are audio recording premieres in the changing combinations of the Folkfriends.
The artists involved chose the titles they ultimately wanted to record, in consultation with one another, and arranged their music and songs together. With no pressure to produce their music as a usable product within a set time, they held their sessions in the garden and in the large room of the mill right in front of the microphones.
Such a living room – even in the “seclusion” of a rural environment – is not a soundproof studio with noise-absorbing floor coverings and the warning red light “Caution, recording!”. The farmers’ tractors drove past Hannes Mühle and the dogs from the neighborhood fought in front of her. Occasionally such noises penetrated through the closed doors and windows and thus got onto the tape. However, all of them deliberately regarded these atmospheric noises as secondary if a recording seemed unrepeatable and unique in its feeling (eg on Derroll’s “Pay Day At Coal Creek”).
It wasn’t about making recordings as they are possible “clean” in costly recording studios – albeit in a sterile environment, often in forced isolation of the musicians and only with the help of playback methods. These recordings are genuine “live” recordings. They were created in the congenial interaction of all participants with very few exceptions without playback. Because musicians are people whose feet tap the rhythm of their music, whose fingers sweat and then produce overtones when running fast on the guitar strings and because their breath can be heard when blowing flutes, these noises were deliberately recorded. No attempt was made to filter them out using technical means, as is normally done.
Musicians are not machines whose products are subject to a predetermined or even external norm, but sensitive people who express their sensations and feelings as essential design elements in their songs and melodies. Seen in this way, the recordings of the “Folkfriends” reflect a free, very personal atmosphere that dispenses with technical refinements. And seen in this way, folk music is direct and easy for everyone to understand and do without much complex technology.

Carsten Linde, 1978

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FolkFriends1

ALBUM REVIEW: THE CUNDEEZ – ‘Geeez It’ (2022)

The brand new album from The CundeeZ. Pure Dundee scheme Rock’n’Roll wi bagpipes!

It does literally seem like just the other day that Dundee band The Cundeez released anything. Geeez It is the boys 6th studio album and follows swiftly on the heels of Teckle An Hide which made #4 in the London Celtic Punks Best Celtic-Punk Album of 2020. On that album the only criticism I saw anywhere was that their was too much of it and they could maybe have cut a couple of songs from the sixteen  (!) presented. Too much of a good thing perhaps. Anyway it was a fantastic album and an album that won them many new fans and praise. In the meantime they released a Scotland football song for the European Championship and have carried on post-Covid where they left off – touring, touring, touring.

Here for Geez It they have confined it to only ten songs but the running time is till almost forty minutes and for a Punk band that is some length. Now a lot of Punk albums could really drag at that but The Cundeez mix of genres, passion and tongue in cheek humour keep it fresh throughout. They also manage to continue confusing those us not use to the Dundonian accent that even scientists say is more like a foreign language.

The album kicks off with ‘Bog o Riffs’ and an absolutely f’ing brilliant instrumental. With a menacing air and Goth/ Post-Punk feel it’s a great start and Gary’s fantastic bagpiping is out of this world. Seriously one of the best pipers in the Celtic-Punk scene. I love it when The Cundeez do these instrumental’s of which their are many dotted through their back catalogue. ‘Geeez It !’ is more straight up Cundeez fair. A Punk Rock number with no frills just catchy shouty chorus leading into ‘East Meets West’ and a song that steers directly into port with a tale of sea-bound deeds and mis-deeds and even ends with a clip from the beloved kids TV show ‘Captain Pugwash’ if I’m not mistaken.

As I’ve said many times when reviewing them they cover plenty of ground, and they always have done, but ‘Rockabilly Revolution’ was a bit of a surprise as the guys go full on Rock’n’Roll with a song wouldn’t disgrace any R’n’R band on the circuit. Joined by their mate Calum ‘Boydie’ Macleod from Peat & Diesel. A hilarious great video (you can only watch on Facebook) sees the lads dressed up ala Russ Abbot all it’s missing is the double bass. Geez It is mostly original numbers but they have a habit, alongside their more traditional ones, of chucking in some unlikely instrumentals and this time it’s a superb bagpipe and keyboard heavy version of Martha And The Muffins 1980’s smash hit ‘Echo Beach’.

“I know it’s out of fashion
And a trifle uncool
But I can’t help it
I’m a romantic fool”

We’re ploughing through and ‘On The Ran Dan’ sees the boys on the pish around Dundee. Drinking songs are must in Celtic-Punk and don’t forget these guys are just ordinary working class Scottish guys so there’s gonna be no niceties here and definitely not any safe spaces! Now The Cundeez have a fantastic relationship with the band Peat & Diesel and I guess this is partly due to their love of the island of Stornaway in the western isles. With a population of just under 7000, according to the 2011 Census, 43% of still speak Scottish Gaelic. ‘The Stornaway Stomp’ is another straight up Punk number with them paying tribute to all things ‘western’.

 

Not sure who the song ‘CG McGeddon’ is named after but here the guys rock hard while Gary speaks of the danger of loneliness and isolation. It’s the modern curse especially among young men.If you’re feeling the pressure their are people out there to talk to.

The summer of 2021 saw a rare outing for the Tartan Army when they qualified for the European Championships. The Cundeez celebrated with the release of ‘Kilts On Taps Aff’ by far the best of a slew of football songs released at the same time. Dismissed by the English media they gave the fancy-dan English millionaires a real fright and could have easily won the game between the two if they had only had a wee bit of luck. The Scottish fans also made many friends with their joyful exuberance (pissed) celebrations.

The curtain comes down with ‘The Old Forge’, a bagpipe heavy instrumental specially written in recognition of the small and extremely remote Inverie community in western Scotland, who successfully took control of the local pub in a community buy-out scheme. The Western Isles boat that takes you there is called The Old Forge CB.

Having safely sailed past their 10th anniversary a couple of years ago they have settled on while not just a sound but a whole host of genres that make that sound. Never afraid to mix it up The Cundeez show once again that they are so much more than just a Punk band. That’s a label that they are unashamedly proud of, and rightly so, but underneath the initial first glimpse theirs a real depth to the band and they do it all with a sense of humour and humility most new Punk bands don’t have a clue about. A band with a mission and a night out with The Cundeez is guaranteed to wear out the soles of your feet and I can testify that they are perfect house guests as well!

To buy the CD of Geez It contact The Cundeez directly

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ALBUM REVIEW: PADDY’S PUNK – ‘With Full Horse’ (2022)

German band Paddy’s Punk play Irish Folk-Punk, classic Irish Folk and Celtic-Rock and have been on our radar for a couple of years now. With the odd video and song sneaking through it’s been a long wait for their debut album With Full Horse. 

Paddy’s Punk were founded in 2017 in the area of Dessau / Leipzig in what use to be East Germany before unification with the West in 1990. I have spoken before on this site about the affinity between Germany and Celtic music and culture but especially with that of Ireland. Time and time again when I have met German folk I have been impressed by their knowledge of Irish culture, music and history. That Celtic are by far the most popular foreign team among German football supporters is testament to that affinity. There are several theories for this but my guess is that the Germans love a drink, … err …. how do I put this … don’t support England and love a good party so it has got to be between us and the Mexicans. And we are closer!

I’ve always met Germans in Ireland and I remember many years ago as a kid having a conversation about the Wolfe Tones with a German tourist while waiting on a train at Limerick Junction. The folk from Paddy’s Punk are no different and made numerous visits across the Irish sea before deciding to combine their love for Irish music and their musical roots (from bands such as Faust, Die Tornados an