Category Archives: Cape Breton

A CELTIC PUNK LOVE AFFAIR

Biography, Canada, Cape Breton, England, Folk-Punk, London, Nova Scotia, St. Patrick's Day September 19, 2021 Leave a comment

Ever since Shane and The Pogues knocked our ears into gear in the ’80s, hundreds of bands have followed in their footsteps. Year after year, they bring us exciting Celtic punk songs, albums and gigs to light up a somewhat shit world. But what about Celtic punk stories? Why ain’t there many of them floatin’ aboot?

Maybe there’s more than one way to entertain people. If you’re into Guinness, St. Paddy’s Day and young people embracing the Celtic spirit worldwide, then what we have here will be right up yer alley, ye ken. They say hope springs eternal…and so does folk!

Have you ever wanted to read a short story, or even a novel, about Celtic punk? As if The Pogues, Tossers and Mahones were ready to jump off the page at ya? If that sounds cool, then meet Gus, Lin, Herman and Rash. Four characters from the far-flung reaches of Nova Scotia, Canada. They’re passionate musicians, folkin’ the Irish pubs and refusing to bend to society’s wishes. Below, I give ye four reasons why you should give a shit.

1. They have the bottle of smoke

Yes, that’s a Pogues reference! The Bottle of Smoke is the band’s aptly-named local Irish pub. We kick things off with them playin’ The Smoke mid-week to an appreciative audience; Gus on guitar and vocals, Herman on mandolin, Rash workin’ the accordion, and Gus’s cousin Lin banging the bodhrán (not in a sexual way). Gus is essentially the band’s very own Shane MacGowan; a troubled ratbag who likes a drink or six, but a songwriting genius with a fistful of dreams and a big, beating heart at the centre of it all. And speakin’ of The Pogues, if there’s one band you would automatically compare these four musicians to, then the London Irish legends are it.

As well as playin’ The Bottle of Smoke as often as the pub’ll book ’em, the band are making inroads into the rest of Atlantic Canada as well. They’ve played out west a little, they’re set to play Cape Breton Island on St. Patrick’s Day, and they’re keepin’ their well attuned ears to the ground for more. The stage is quite literally set for a Celtic punk love affair.

Sounds good so far? Read on, ya big bollocks 😉

Shane MacGowan and The Pogues. The band’s heroes and their biggest influence.

2. They have ideals

We all realised we weren’t gonna get anywhere in life unless it was through the music. Ozzy didn’t wanna do what his father did for a living, and Tony didn’t wanna do what his dad did. Neither did Bill, and neither did I.

Geezer Butler, Black Sabbath

While Kilmainen (being the band’s name) might not be working-class, backstreet kids from Aston, Birmingham, they ain’t exactly moneyheads either, to use Gus’s own word. Gus himself is a standout example of this, working just 15 hours a week in a music shop. Underpaid, no doubt, but doing something he actually cares about. Cousin Lin is similar, having snubbed the corporate world to go part-time in an artsy café. The band members take the time and energy saved, and reinvest it into the one thing that matters most to them: their music.

The plan is that writing songs together, recording albums, doing interviews, playing gigs and working with other musicians will one day become the quartet’s full-time gig, their sole source of income. That’s certainly what the Austrian-born Herman dreams of, as he spends Sunday afternoons promoting the band’s music online. The biggest dreamer, though, is once again Gus: what you’re about to read is one of the entries he pours into his diary mid-way through the story.

I don’t want to live by society’s rules. It’s boring. I don’t wanna live life with no idea what I want. Society wants you think you’re worthless, and that it’s YOUR fault if you’re unhappy. But I can see through that. I KNOW what my purpose in life is. It’s the best feeling you can get, when people say your music’s helped them. Tell me it’s just a hobby? Bollocks to that. I wanna BE someone in life, change things up.

Guthrie “Gus” Ward, Folk Springs Eternal

I once saw a great film where actress Julia Jentsch said, “I want to live young, wild and free.” Most people will tell you that’s stupid, but her co-star Daniel Brühl said, “that’s not stupid.” He was right, and so is Gus above. There’s nothing wrong with having a dream, with looking at the world and asking questions. Asking whether life can be lived differently, rather than the way it’s spoonfed to us. That’s where the hope lies, my friend. And hope – like I started out saying above – springs eternal, right?

Will folk music spring eternal in Kilmainen’s case, too? Read on, because here’s where it gets nail-biting.

3. They have to fight society

Unless you’re sheltered from the world, or just strike lucky, you won’t follow your dreams without some serious backlash along the way. Numerous examples exist: Mahatma Gandhi, Carl Brashear, Jacinda Ardern, Mark Oliver Everett, the list goes on and on. These people had to battle their way to success, and our four musical heroes are no exception to this rule. We get a glimpse of it in chapter 4, when Rash’s office colleagues disregard his ambition to become a professional musician. “There’s no money in that game,” they tell him.

If that seems quite harmless, wait a little. Lin gets on a bus five days later, and is violently attacked by three youths who don’t like women who think and dress for themselves. “Irish music ain’t cool,” they say, and apparently neither is being a lesbian. Luckily a trip to hospital is averted just in time, BUT: bring on St. Patrick’s Day, where things go from bad to worse. In less than 24 hours, the band is all but over, with their morale and reciprocal support in the gutter.

The Halifax police headquarters where Gus is held on St. Patrick’s weekend.

4. They have to win.

What will become of the band? Will the quartet survive their trial by fire? Or will they fail and self-destruct among the flames? Well that I won’t tell you 😉 I will only promise you that the Celtic punk author doesn’t make a habit of letting people down.

So you have two options, my friend. One: you’re invited to take a wee look around my website, where the story and other cool stuff is available for purchase. Click HERE to check it out. Or two: if you want chapter 1 for free first (plus a free song!), then click HERE instead. I swear by the holy iron which I hold, that I, James Alexander Malcolm MacKenzie Fraser (okay, no), will not pass your email addresses on to any gobshite else.

I hope you enjoyed the read, my friend. Sláinte mhaith! 🥃

Andy x

Click HERE to learn more about the book. Want chapter 1 for free? Click HERE instead.

ALBUM REVIEW: TIN CAN HOOLEY- ‘ Racket In The Parlor’ (2015)

Album Review, Americana, Boston, Canada, Cape Breton, Ireland, Scotland, Traditional July 14, 2015 Leave a comment

folk that rocks… not folk rock!

Featuring over 75 years of artistry in Boston punk and hardcore bands playing old time Celtic pub music

Tin Can

Tin Can Hooley are a Boston Irish band right out of the Boston Irish community. Despite never having set foot there I feel I know Boston well what with the Dropkick Murphys and films like The Departed or TV shows like The Black Donnellys or Cheers and a multitude of factual programmes raking over the Irish mafia/ mob that have ruled in Boston up to the present day. Therefore it should come as no surprise to anyone that the Irish do indeed run Boston. Perhaps not as blatantly as in years gone by, and certainly no longer with guns and muscle, but Boston is still to this day an Irish city with over 20% proclaiming their Irishness. The Irish first arrived in the early 17th century as indentured servants, merchants, sailors or tradesmen. Catholicism was still illegal so many hid their religion but it was the years of The Great Hunger that saw the Irish population explode. Between 1845 and 1849, 100,000 Irish refugees arrived in Boston, fleeing starvation and pestilence. They transformed Boston into a distinctly Irish city and by the end of the 19th century, Boston’s core neighbourhoods had become enclaves of ethnically distinct immigrants with the Irish dominating, for example, the whole of South Boston. It wasn’t all plain sailing though and the Irish were met with considerable discrimination. From the first moment of their arrival, the Irish occupied the basement of American society. Much of this discrimination was the result of anti-Catholic sentiment. Catholicism was extremely important to the Irish community. Attending church was mandatory and defined what made a good citizen. No single group of individuals did more to change the face of Irish-Americans than the Kennedy family. Through their military service and political careers, Joe Kennedy and his sons became American royalty. The entrance of the Irish into politics marked the turning point and the end of blatant Irish discrimination. Famous actors and TV stars- Denis Leary, Ben and Casey Affleck, Mark Wahlberg, Mike O’Malley, Conan O’Brien, Politicians- The Kennedy’s, Tip O’Neal, and sportsman like John L.Sullivan, Micky ‘Irish’ Ward, Kevin McHale, and its basketball team- The Boston Celtics, and its infamous gangsters like James J ‘Whitey’ Bulger and James ‘Spike’ O’Toole all show the pride that Bostonians have in their Irish roots. A walk around the working class Irish areas of Boston and you could be back in Ireland or even Kilburn of the 70’s/ 80’s and you can see why Boston is known as America’s most Irish town. Added to these is perhaps the reason we are here at all, The Dropkick Murphys! I am sure they need no introduction other than to say that it was their Irish-American background growing up that inspired them to become a band fusing punk and Oi! and traditional Irish music and lyrics.

CAC down May 2014

(photo credit Billy Calmovita)

With all this in mind it’s no surprise then music has figured high in the culture of the Boston Irish. As well as the celtic-punk bands that have emerged from the city from the Murphys and The Street Dogs to bands like The Larkin Brigade and The Gobshites who took over and newer bands like Mickey Rickshaw and The Welch Boys, Boston has been at the very forefront of blending traditional Irish music and rock and punk and other music too. Punk bands like Negative FX, Death Before Dishonor and Gang Green have also all given a fair nod to their celtic roots while playing the uncompromising music you would associate with ‘Boston Hardcore’.

Left to right: Will

Left to right: Will “Sully” Toxic (guitars, bouzouki, vocals), Heavyset Joe (fiddle, vocals), Dynamite Jack (drums), Paddy Keys (piano, vocals), Benny the Fireman (accordion, vocals, tin whistle, harmonica, bagpipes)

So with all that history behind them how can a relatively new band make a name for themselves? Well one way is to make a shit-kicking album of traditional folk standards, jigs and reels that is high on energy and expertly played instruments with enough of a punk rock edge to prevent it going into ‘finger-in-the-ear’ folk territory. This is what Tin Can Hooley have managed to do with ‘Racket In The Parlor’. Fifteen songs clocking in at just under an hour’s worth of top notch punky Irish folk music.

Playing together on and off since 1999 Tin Can Hooley are a combination of two distinct Boston Irish bands. Firstly the legendary punk band Toxic Narcotic, who played a style of hardcore punk known as crust who were not for the sensitive or faint hearted. They were the real deal, working class anarchist punk rock with a ‘F’The World’ attitude and absolutely no compromises. The other band was The Larkin Brigade, who actually happen to be one of my all time favourite celtic-punk bands, and who would, I am sure, have gone onto much better and bigger things if they had managed a follow up to the brilliant ‘Paddy Keys For Mayor!’ album and managed to tour a bit more. They were described, brilliantly, as

“if the Wolfe Tones had sex with Ben Folds Five, and then, nine months later, a tearful Ben Folds Five left a bassinet on the doorstep of a bewildered Minor Threat, who, after attempting to raise the little bundle itself, passed the kid off into the social services system, where it went through a series of foster homes including the Pogues and Blood for Blood, before it was taken under the wing of the Rolling Stones, who paid for it to take piano lessons from Scott Joplin and then Jerry Lee Lewis, each of whom in turn kicked the kid out of class for not practising, and finally the kid ran away and worked in an Irish pub, where it osmotically memorized every song in the book while mopping puke off the floor, until one day the Wolfe Tones walked in to order a pint and recognized its own offspring running cases of Magner’s behind the bar, and, after a brawl that caused thousands of dollars in damage and a bar tab that cost hundreds, bestowed upon the kid a lucky Claddagh ring with special powers, then that kid would grow up to be the Larkin Brigade”

So Tin Can Hooley come from quite a musical heritage themselves and boy they don’t let Boston down one bit as these Bhoys can certainly play! ‘Racket In The Parlor’ clocks in at just under one hour and kicks off with the Irish air/Scots barn dance ‘Loch Na gCaor/Killiecrankie’ and is instantly reminiscent of The Larkin Brigade and that feeling gets stronger when Paddy sings in the next song, ‘Johnsons Motorcar’.

“Well we put that car in motion and filled it to the brim
With guns and bayonets shining which made old Johnston grim
And Barney hoisted a Sinn Fein flag and it fluttered like a star
And we gave three cheers for the IRA and Johnston’s Motor Car”

Based on a real event in 1920 during the Irish War Of Independence when a IRA flying column desperately needed transport to a town over fifty miles away. They called out Henry Johnston, the local doctor, and then ambushed him and his car at a railway bridge and commandeered the car. Humour and real history captured in a great song. A selection of more reels and jigs follow and the wonderful fiddle work drives it along with piano, accordion, bagpipes, bouzouki, tin whistle and harmonica all popping up again and again giving the album a well rounded and full sound. The piano gives it all a music hall feel but there is a respect for the people and musicians who sang these songs first while Tin Can Hooley add to and adapt so these songs can be passed onto the next generation who will perform them and celebrate them.

The usual standards are also here with ‘Tell Me Ma’, McAlpines Fusiliers’ and ‘The Fields Of Athenry’ all getting an airing and though you may have heard them a thousand times don’t be letting that put you off as Tin Can Hooley perform everything with their own personal flair and touch. ‘The Moonshiner’ again shows the bands great sense of humour

“I’m a rambler, I’m a gambler,
I’m a long way from home
And if you don’t like me,
Well, leave me alone
I’ll eat when I’m hungry,
I’ll drink when I’m dry
And if moonshine don’t kill me,
I’ll live till I die”

Tin Can Hooley must go down an absolute storm in the pubs and clubs of Boston and they have transferred their fun and raucous sound onto ‘Racket In The Parlor’ and it doesn’t fail to surprise. There is so much here within the fifteen songs with excerpts of countless songs slotted in unannounced to shock you. Its a brilliant album and chock-a-block with energy and fire to fill your hearts and stomachs. ‘John Ryans Polka/ Wild Colonial Boy’ leads you on a merry dance and this reminds me of The Pogues with their ability to make folk instruments sound as loud and as punk as any punk band. A slow version of ‘Fields Of Athenry’ features the beautiful voice of twelve year old Siobhan Hayes. It seems Tin Can Hooley are already aiding that next generation of Boston Irish. ‘Derry Air/ Gravel Work’ shows the serious traditional side to the band and if anyone would ever accuse them of not being able to play then I’d suggest they shove this in the accuser’s face! ‘Its A Long Way To Tipperary’ ends the album and the music hall favourite written by 2nd generation Irish Brummie Jack Judge in 1912 has never sounded such fun. A great finale and this song shows everything great about Tin Can Hooley.

All in all a wonderful album and one to be filed among the more trad side of celtic-punk. The assortment of punk rockers playing gives it an definite feel of a punk rock record while the music stays within the confines of a folk record. Superb musicianship and some really great adaptations of some classic, and not so, songs from Ireland, Scotland, Cape Breton and America. Would love to hear some originals from this band but with their pedigree it shouldn’t be too long I am sure.

Tin Can HooleyContact The Band

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*interview with Tin Can Hooley here from the excellent celtic-punk web site Shite’n’Onions

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