ODDS’N’SODS. CELTIC-PUNK ROUND UP DECEMBER 2020

In a attempt to get away from just doing ‘ReviewReviewReviewReview…’ we started a monthly feature of all the Celtic-Punk news that passed us by. All will get a mention but I need YOU to help if it’s going to work. Any band news, record releases, videos, tours (not individual gigs though yet sadly), live streams, crowd funders etc., send it into us at londoncelticpunks@hotmail.co.uk or through the Contact Us page.

So much has written about it but here is our one and only take on FONY and it comes from the man himself. The Pogues’ Shane MacGowan brands decision to censor Fairytale of New York ‘ridiculous’  from The Irish Post, 25th November 2020.

We may have heard it a million times before but here’s a different spin on FONY but with a New York Puerto Rican influence by ST. DOYLE AND THE LAST CALL PHILHARMONIC.

‘Johnny Depp Presents’ it states right at the beginning of this feature length documentary on the Godfather of Celtic-Punk the legendary Shane MacGowan. Featuring unseen archival footage from The Pogues and Shane’s family, as well as animation from Ralph Steadman, Julien Temple’s rollicking love letter spotlights the iconic frontman up to his 60th birthday celebration, where singers, movie stars and Rock’n’Roll outlaws gathered to celebrate the man and his legacy. Available everywhere December 4th!!

The BRICK TOP BLAGGERS are a wicked band and here’s a full band live performance originally streamed on the internet but shown here on You Tube. The Blaggers been as active as any band can over the last few months and we’ve enjoyed some great Live Streams from them but this one, performed for the 2020 Samhain Celtic New Year Festival, is one of the better ones regarding sound.

We’ve seen plenty of the DROPKICK MURPHYS since Paddy’s Day but each time with no one there so here’s a recently released video of their storming full set from their last tour at Zenith in Paris on the 9th of February.

Two new songs have been released by the DROPKICK MURPHYS. A cover of Darlene Love’s ‘Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) and a new song ‘I Wish You Were Here’ are out on limited edition 7″ flexi-discs available from the Murphys store. They, unsurprisingly, have some wicked new merch available too and just in time for Christmas! At the same time it was announced that the new album will be out in mid-January.

BARBAR’O’RHUM – Pirate Des Champs

EFA SUPERTRAMP – Rhyddid yw y Freuddwyd

LQR – Barrel-Aged

PYROLYSIS – Alotsle

PENNILESS TENANTS – Lockdown Sessions (review next week!!)

Remember if you want your release featured then we have to have heard it first!

Love these daft feckers! They done the Murphys ‘Shipping Up To Boston’ a while back and now they turn their attention to The Rumjacks absolutely-mega-fecking-internet hit ‘An Irish Pub’. I’ll not go into it but sit back and have a listen and again top marks for destroying the ridiculous notion of cultural appropriation. Yes lads it is bollocks.

Life goes on and THE RUMJACKS have a brand new video out seeing them performing ‘McAlpine’s Fusiliers’ dahn an Irish pub in Milan, Italy with new vocalist Mikee from Mickey Rickshaw.

French Pirate Punkers BARBAR’O’RHUM have a new album out and also released the epic ‘Pirate Des Champs’ video. Nearly ten minutes of Pirate themed fun!

Mariner Rock, and Celtic Shenanigans, homebrewed on the South Shore of Nova Scotia. Even doing this we still come across stuff we missed from the past that is worth another look. This time we turn once again to Nova Scotia where we turn our attention to THE STAB ROVERS. Nova Scotia is home to vast amounts of Celtic folk and Celtic folk Folk bands and the area has featured here regularly. The Stab Rovers debut album came out in June, 2018 and is available as a ‘name your price’ download. The Bhoys are happily still together and looking forward to recording soon.

Now I don’t pretend to know anything about Hip-Hop and I do know what I like and here’s a couple of new releases that got me. The first video is ‘Back Around The Way’ featuring a bunch of rappers from Boston and New England including our auld favourite SLAINE and American Irish bhoy MILLYZ.

Another rapper to feature on these pages before is the Manchester born Irish D’LYFA REILLY who has a new single out available as a ‘name your price’ download. If you remember he performed with DANNY DIATRIBE on the utterly fantastic ‘Paddys Cure’. Irish immigrant Hip-Hop at its finest!

The Polish band PIJUN have released their debut release, a 5-track demo called Jigra. The band play Slavic Folk which I’m sure you’ll hear is close to Celtic in both sound and vibe.

Dutch band PYROLYSIS had to postpone their dates in England earlier in the year but have just released a mini album of six songs. They play an incredibly joyful mix of Celtic music and Folk and are still not wearing any shoes!

Swedish Celtic/ Folk/ Irish Punk-Rock band PUNK MAHONE performed a bloomin’ brilliant Live Stream on Facebook at the end of October and it has just come out on You Tube. Not to be missed!

A plug for some good friends of ours over on Facebook. The Dropkick Murphys- Fan Page and the Celtic Punk, Folk And Rock Fans are two of the best music forums on FB let alone Celtic-Punk. Ran By Fans For Fans. Just like and join in the fun!

All we need to do now is for you to help fill this page with news and remember if you are new to the London Celtic Punks blog it is easy to subscribe / follow and never miss a post. Also if anyone is interested in helping out on the reviews front then let us know via the Contact Us page.

DANNY DIATRIBE AND D’LYFA REILLY REPPIN IRISH IMMIGRANT HIP-HOP

Irish immigrant hip-hop from Derry born Danny Diatribe and Manchester Irish rapper D’Lyfa Reilly showing the Irish in England are still here and we’re still fighting!

took a drop of the pure to keep my heart from sinking, that’s the Paddy’s Cure

Diatribe, drowning in the infinite, fiat currency and copy written birth certificates, born to war with devils, my spirit never settles, Irish blood it flows with the rage of a thousand rebels, I walk disheveled, drunken through the city streets, Let bottles of whiskey sleep, I disappear for 50 weeks, the drifter speaks, abandoned factories and textiles, I roll with vagabonds that bear the scars of exile, lost in the wilderness, natural born survivor, set your mind on fire, keep it living in the cypher, our rhymes are wiser, we spit the light of hope, struggle till the end till colours blend in out kaleidoscope, I’ve got my iris soaked in paragraphs of knowledge, smash your flashing boxes that have kept your brains in bondage, don’t be astonished, the people pay us homage, discussing economics, educated alcoholics.

We face the world with the freedom of a bird, speech slurred, drop of the pure to calm my nerves, The Paddy’s Cure for the worst that we observed, the devils thirst, drinking till the curse has been reversed.

Living the life of the modern day, urban seanchaí, herdsman with the words on my tongue aren’t lacklustre, got the same heart as the rebels in Ulster, in Leinster, in Connaught, in Munster, did I mumble? I must-a, cos I swear down you aint listening to my pissed up wisdom, two fingers to the system, a backwards piece of my mind what you’ll find inside this ting, set distance between me and you, cos between me and you you’re a cunt, and you can’t critique this alcoholic, physique. Belly of the beast, drinking devil juice with diatribe, Irish lions pride, saliva cyanide, rhyming right inside, sharp like a pain in my side, the bane of my life, Rome wasn’t built in a day and Hadrian’s wall wasn’t built in a night, so me and worries just pass like ships that sail in the night, I’m elevating the grind I drown my sorrow say hello to a hollow tomorrow

We face the world with the freedom of a bird, speech slurred, drop of the pure to calm my nerves. The Paddy’s Cure for the worst that we observed, the devils thirst, drinking till the curse has been reversed.

Bright lights of the city blinding, find them in the shadows rhyming, drunk off the wine their buying sliding through their stomach lining, the Irish traveled tides to find them, pints to keep the light from dying, in the cities of the world residing, drinking to stop the demons rising drinking to stop the demons rising drinking to stop the demons rising and you’ll find them….

(A behind the scenes look at the making of the Paddy’s Cure video shot in Manchester)

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Contact Danny Diatribe

Danny Lynch better known as Danny Diatribe hails from Derry City but is now based in Manchester. He has released a couple of fantastic album’s including Elevation Illustrations which is reviewed here and you can hear below on the Bandcamp player.

Danny has a new album, Tales From the Down and Outs: The Irish Art of Story Telling, almost ready for delivery and is looking for help finding a Euro and North American release so if you can help one of own please get in touch with Danny at one of the links below.

Facebook  Bandcamp  Soundcloud  YouTube  Google+  Twitter

Contact D’lfa Reilly  

Creating his own mark in the hip hop scene, D’Lyfa Reilly is a modern day urban Seanchaí (storyteller) from Manchester. Other than being a dab hand at picking a pun ridden alias, he has been perfecting his art of relaying tales untainted by sugar-coated commercialism. D’Lyfa Reilly is a real gem, an emerald if you will.

Facebook  Soundcloud  Bandcamp  YouTube

(Danny Diatribe joins House of Pain on their UK tour. This documentary was shot at the Manchester show at the O2 Ritz in June 2017. Behind the scenes footage of Danny’s soundcheck, backstage and performing ‘Jimmys Bets’, ‘Paddys Cure’ and House of Pain’s ‘Jump Around’ live)

EP REVIEW: SLAINE- ‘Slaine Is Dead’ (2016)

Irish-American hip-hop artist, lyricist, famous actor, gambler, Bostonian and professional asshole!

Life is hard for some. That much is clear. The story of Irish-America is one of success and how after years of toil and racism and bigotry against them the Irish finally lifted them selves from the ghetto’s and universal success became the order of the day. Well there are two Irish-America’s and Slaine’s, real name George Carroll, is definitly the most interesting. After all it is working class Irish-American life that Hollywood likes to make TV and movies about.

Slaine’s life reads like a novel. Born in Dorchester, home of several past and present members of The Dropkick Murphys and a large Irish community, Slaine got into hip-hop at a early age

“I started writing rhymes when I was nine years old, I use to record on my boom box with a pair of headphones plugged into the microphone jack. I felt they were just words on a page because I didn’t have an outlet to perform them”

and recognising the path to stardom lay in a move to New York he later packed his bags and moved to New York City and enrolled in school. After only seven months, an unfortunate altercation between Slaine and a school employee resulted in his expulsion. He didn’t let this set him back and he remained determined and focused. Surviving on the hard lonely streets of New York City by doing anything he could lay his hand to and eventually it paid dividend and he was introduced to Danny Boy O’Connor of House of Pain. This led to him being signed to a production deal with DJ Lethal of House of Pain which led to the release of ‘The White Man is the Devil’ (‘white man’ being a reference to cocaine, not a declaration of self hate) and touring world-wide. In a very short time he had gone from living in absolute poverty with a drug habit to traveling the globe and working with hip-hop icons such as House of Pain, Cypress Hill and a whole host of others. He became part of the mostly Irish-American hip-hop collective La Coka Nostra alongside Ill Bill and all three members of House of Pain – Everlast, DJ Lethal and Danny Boy. La Coka Nostra’s debut album, A Brand You Can Trust went straight in at #84 in the American Top 200 showing that the group’s brand of blue collar hip-hop was exactly what fans were waiting for. Slaine’s name continued to grow far past his hometown of Boston due to the exposure he was receiving but as his music career grew, so did his personal battle with drugs. Overdoses, hospital visits and a spiral of drugs and violence, continued until he finally checked himself into rehab.

“Everybody had a story to tell. That was where the idea and the hunger for ‘The White Man is the Devil’ was born”

On conquering his addiction, fellow Bostonian Ben Affleck presented Slaine with the chance of a lifetime to make his acting debut playing Bubba Rogowski in the gritty portrayal of Boston-Irish life in Gone Baby Gone. Both a critical and financial success this led to Slaine going on to star in, among others, The Town, The Crack Down and Bad Blood alongside such famed actors as  Affleck, Jeremy Renner, Brad Pitt, Ray Liotta and James Gandolfini. While scaling the heights in the acting world he returned again and again to his hip-hop roots releasing several album’s of hard hitting lyrical content and vicious delivery. His last official release was The King Of Everything Else album back in 2014 so we have have awaiting his return with baited breathe.

The EP kicks off with ‘Slaine Is Dead (Intro)’ which is in fact part of the beautiful ‘The Ballad Of Mairead Farrell’ which tells of an IRA volunteer gunned down on active service in Gibralter in 1988. One of the saddest of all rebel songs and nails Slaine’s colours to the mast from the first few seconds. I first heard this song as played by Irish-American band Seanchai and The Unity Squad and you can find their great version here . Slaine Is Dead really starts with the title song next and Slaine’s lyrics come busting straight out of his heart into the speakers at you.

“So many dark days they have ruptured my patience
I’d like to part ways but I’m stuck in the matrix
See I’ve been out of luck, so corrupted and faithless
And now without a buck I’m like fuck it I hate this
So many close calls, all these brushes with greatness
But not enough to power my spaceship
Not enough to persuade the gods right and face where they sit
As they parade the dogs of war off fake cliff
And that’s how It felt from grace, through the winds of sin
I had to go and find my wings again
While the angel of death goes and sings the hymn
As he strangle my breath, tore me limb from limb
Well you let your soul slip to the other side
Will the caterpillar turn into the butterfly?
I can see the pain falling from my mothers eyes
But I keep on falling for these fucking lies
So my mind holding on to the liquor and coke
In my fire room it’s out but there’s a flicker of hope
In these institution walls where they kickin’ the dope
I’m reminded of the power of that shit that I wrote
I walk with the devil, talking to God
Murder stories in this purgatory, coughing up blood
But I will not break, I will not fall
This is just another rhyme that I wrote on my wall

It’s been so long, you see my face
While I come back to plead my case
When I’m gone and time comes to make a leap of faith
There’s no way to keep the secret safe
That Slaine is dead”

In a career where Slaine has achieved heights that others can only dream of his music career has been mostly based on confronting both his demons and his failures. The EP sleeve features the dates 1977-2014. That is the year he was born and the year Slaine finally threw the monkey of addiction off his back and went sober. After years of dependency he was free and music and acting became his way of ensuring he was never going to return to those days. That Slaine is dead.

His life as an addict is depicted further on ‘Nobody Prays For Me’ which features Demrick and this lyrical masterpiece continues. The dictionary definition of an ‘seanchaí’ is of a storyteller

“…were servants to the chiefs of the tribe and kept track of important information for their clan. They were very well respected and they made use of a range of storytelling conventions, styles of speech and gestures that were peculiar to the Irish folk tradition and characterized them as practitioners of their art”

and Slaine is certainly a modern age equivalent of that ancient art. In the first single from the EP ‘Pusher’ Slaine takes us into the dark and dangerous world of the drug dealer. These weren’t the times that he is proud of but he’s presenting them here as a warning to others not to follow the path he trod.

‘Just The Way You Are’ features guest vocals from fellow Mass. rapper Termanology and chronicles both his battles with addiction and the effect it had upon his family and friends. ‘Knocked Down’ features Rite Hook guesting. Rite Hook is a lost son of Massachusetts himself. Years of hard living defined his early career and in 2012, he overdosed and died. His heart stopped completely, and paramedics had to revive him. A survivor in the truest sense of the word he returned to music and like Slaine it came with a newfound focus. On ‘Legendary’ (featuring Ill Bill, Vinnie Paz and Jared Evan) we can begin to see the light, for want of a better word. He’s been to rock bottom and is starting to fight back. His drive to become ‘Legendary’ has been finally achieved so we can witness his salvation on the final track ‘Coming Home’.

Slaine’s music is hard, dark and aggressive. It always has been. Irish-American life is not always ‘Shamrocks And Shenanigans’. Sometimes its hard. We Irish come from a complicated race and it’s always been true that our worse enemy is within ourselves. Our struggles with alcoholism and drugs are well documented and often are hidden behind closed doors and though the working class life that Slaine and others come from may not be one you are familiar with but it exists. Slaine has fought hard but has never walked away from his roots. He deserves his salvation.

“I love making music that means something to me, I am grateful for all the experiences that I have had- good and bad. I am lucky to be alive, but my past also made me who I am today”

Buy The EP

CD- ClassicRecords  Download- iTunes  Amazon

Contact Slaine

Facebook  WebSite  YouTube  Twitter  Instagram  Soundcloud

ALBUM REVIEW: DANNY DIATRIBE- ‘Elevation Illustrations’ (2016)

Elevation Illustrations is the second album release from Danny Diatribe aka Irish rapper Danny Lynch originally from Derry City but based in Manchester.

Now first things first. What I know about hip-hop you could write on the back of a postage stamp to be honest but I do like music of the Irish diaspora and I do own the House Of Pain discography and that has made me the most qualified out of all the London Celtic Punks reviewers to take on the new Danny Diatribe album for you! Danny was born Danny Lynch in Derry city in the occupied north of Ireland but emigrated to Manchester as a young ‘un ten years back. Danny may not be the first celtic-rapper (see our article The Top Seven Celtic Hip-Hop Artists And Bands here) but he is one of only a small handful waving the tricolour in England!

Elevation Illustrations is Danny’s follow up album to 2013’s Information Age and though musically a hundred miles away from what I usually listen to I found myself getting proper into it… so i did! With a whole host of guest artists appearing Elevation Illustrations is like a who’s-who of the Manchester rap scene but is most definitely Danny’s work. Kicking off with ‘Towards Balance’ which was released as a single from the album.

Followed by ‘Encounter Philosophical’ and another great video goes with the song this time filmed in Reykjavik, Iceland. In fact one of the things most impressive things about Danny Diatribe is the quality videos that accompany pretty much all of Danny’s songs. ‘Magum Opus’ features Conor McGregor giving out on what is the Irish way while ‘Roses’ features Wile Man. The nightmare of alcoholism is the feature of ‘Ten Green Bottles’

“Emerge from buried history, i never speak in novel tones,
Never do I grovel thrones, I hobble down the cobble stones,
Sunken in the drunkin groans, my thoughts are dim lit alleyways,
Drown my screaming ego, I escape from my reality.Fall into the gutter on theses doom stilts,
Calls for help turns into a spludder as the room tilts,
This is the life for me, cos there is no life for me,
I drown the fuckin sight i see”

and more nightmarish visions follow in title song ‘Elevation Illustrations’ featuring Herrotics and Misc Jockey. ‘South Manchester’ is a gritty slowed down diatribe on an area of Manchester that goes from the footballer-belt right up to the inner-city. ‘Boneshakers’ features Dubbul O and ‘The Vagabond of Babylon’ features Danny in the video wandering round his native Derry.

‘Paddys Cure’ follows and begins with a blast of the Dubliners and is as good a song about Irish emigration as you’ll hear. The song is featuring fellow Manchester Irish rapper D’Lyfa Reilly and the pride and the sadness of leaving Ireland and being Irish is clear.

‘The Void’ features Tony Skank, ‘Bun The System’ features Bill Sykes, Black Josh & Cheech and we’re coming to the end of the album and the last two songs sum up the album perfectly. ‘The Fractal Mind Of Diatribe’ is an extended rant giving Danny’s main philosophies on life.

“I’m Danny Diatribe, chillin on a manny vibe,
The chillin Irish guy that keeps it lit just like a fire fly,
Got more juice than 5alive, but never on the flyer I
Think promoters sleep they’re counting sheep and rapid eye
movement, showing improvement, I’ve been rhyming for a decade,
from mind to pen to tongue my lungs expand under my chest plate,
the Derry native gets creative with his intake
breath controls the central role for meditating stressed states
rippin the microphone cos its the dopest thing i know
gathering up my thoughts and then express it in a flow
I’m academic when i said it and it shows
I kick enlightened poems if you don’t know well now ye know,
but some dont comprehend so they need to be told again
the universe extends every time i hold a pen
don’t follow trends but ye can catch me at the bar with cats
spittin raps till another celebrity star collapse
off the beaten track, only reaching those that’s seeking facts,
leave that heathen chat, your teeth’s in that and what you speak is wack,
no-one believes in your mc-ing get your reason back,
im a seasoned cat, your a cell inside a semen sack,
must be fuckin dreamin, black Irish and we’re up north
the catechism causes craniums to contort,
futuristic, my target market’s unborn,
I speak the celtic flow that makes you want more,

cause an uproar”

The song ends with the great line

“so thanks for listenin, grab a tin with me next of kin,
grippin them and sippin them up on a roof in Withington”

and finally ‘Elevation Illustrations’ comes to an end with ‘Astral Journey’ featuring Legion and the curtain comes down.

The album was produced by Pro P who has been tipped as one of the top 10 UK hip hop producers to look out for in 2016 by the highly influential web site UKHH.COM. Fourteen tracks that nicely bring up both The Clash and Public Enemy in describing Irish immigrant life while raging on the attacks on our civil liberties, Palestine, imperialism, the working class and the gritty side of Manchester life. All are in his cross-hairs and the execution is pure brilliant. Backed by a varied and excellent sets of beats from trip-hop to jungle, to electronica and back again Danny has delivered something that takes the idea of celtic-punk and brings it much much closer to modern culture than we could ever do. Sharp tongued and finely distilled Danny Diatribe is set for important things. Buy the album and tell your friends you got your finger on the pulse of underground Irish immigrant hip hop. You will sound cool as anything!

(you can listen to  by pressing play on the Bandcamp player below before you buy. Go on it’s only a fiver!)

Buy The Album

FromDanny

Contact Danny Diatribe

Facebook  Bandcamp  Soundcloud  YouTube  Google+  Twitter

Interesting story regards the old fashioned gent on the album cover. It is not as originally thought Danny pre-beard but his Great-Grandad James Lynch in 1890. He was a protestant that converted to Catholicism to marry and had to be sneaked into church on the quiet. Both him and his brother played football for Ireland and he was given an award by the Royal Humane Society for saving a drowning woman’s life by jumping in the water, punching her unconscious, swimming back to shore with her and resuscitating her on land!

CLASSIC ALBUM REVIEW: GIL SCOTT-HERON- ‘The Revolution Will Not Be Televised’ (1974)

The godfather of rap and hip-hop and son of Celtic’s first black player

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Gil Heron 1922-2008

Today we are giving you something well out of our loop as part of the ‘Classic Album Reviews’. Whereas normally we’d give you some out of print folk album from the 30s/40s/50s here’s something a bit more recent (still its forty one years young) and, some would say the very first hip-hop/ rap album. Well, I hear you say, so what? Whats the connection to us? Well it’s a little known fact (though it has appeared here before) that Gil Scott Heron’s old man, Gil Heron was the first black player to play for Celtic. Known as ‘The Black Arrow’ the Jamaican-born Heron played one season, 1951-52, in the hoops and played five games and scored two goals. His son, also Gil, is who we celebrate here though. Known in recent years as the ‘Godfather Of Rap’ he was an articulate voice for change but despite being a well respected composer, musician, author and poet he remains best known for writing and performing the spoken-word track ‘The Revolution Will Not Be Televised’. He wrote the song when he was just 21 years old and would go on to perform and release several re-workings of it in his lifetime. He once said

“The revolution takes place in your mind. Once you change your mind and decide that there’s something wrong that you want to effect that’s when the revolution takes place. But first you have to look at things and decide what you can do. ‘Something’s wrong and I have to do something about it. I can effect this change.’ Then you become a revolutionary person. It’s not all about fighting. It’s not all about going to war. It’s about going to war with the problem and deciding you can effect that problem. When you want to make things better you’re a revolutionary”

It was never a hit, which suggests that Gil’s point that attempts at revolution are always suppressed by those in power was completely right! It is said that fans would turn up to his gigs wearing Celtic shirts but the poet-singer was estranged from his father until adulthood. Still it is truly amazing that both father and son were such pioneers in their chosen fields. His own term for himself was ‘bluesologist’, which he defined as

“a scientist who is concerned with the origin of the blues”

click on the album cover to get your Free Download!

You will not be able to stay home, brother
You will not be able to plug in, turn on and cop out
You will not be able to lose yourself on skag
And skip out for beer during commercials
Because the revolution will not be televised

The revolution will not be televised
The revolution will not be brought to you by Xerox
In 4 parts without commercial interruptions
The revolution will not show you pictures of Nixon
Blowing a bugle and leading a charge by John Mitchell
General Abrams and Spiro Agnew to eat hog maws
Confiscated from a Harlem sanctuary
The revolution will not be televised

The revolution will not be brought to you by the
Schaefer Award Theater and will not star Natalie Woods
And Steve McQueen or Bullwinkle and Julia
The revolution will not give your mouth sex appeal
The revolution will not get rid of the nubs
The revolution will not make you look five pounds thinner
Because the revolution will not be televised, Brother

There will be no pictures of you and Willie May
Pushing that shopping cart down the block on the dead run
Or trying to slide that color TV into a stolen ambulance
NBC will not be able predict the winner at 8:32
Or report from 29 districts
The revolution will not be televised

There will be no pictures of pigs shooting down
Brothers on the instant replay
There will be no pictures of pigs shooting down
Brothers on the instant replay

There will be no pictures of Whitney Young
Being run out of Harlem on a rail with a brand new process
There will be no slow motion or still life of Roy Wilkens
Strolling through Watts in a red, black and green
Liberation jumpsuit that he had been saving
For just the proper occasion

Green Acres, The Beverly Hillbillies and Hooter ville Junction
Will no longer be so damned relevant
And women will not care if Dick finally gets down with Jane
On search for tomorrow because black people
Will be in the street looking for a brighter day
The revolution will not be televised

There will be no highlights on the eleven o’clock news
And no pictures of hairy armed women liberationists
And Jackie Onassis blowing her nose
The theme song will not be written by Jim Webb
Francis Scott Key, nor sung by Glen Campbell, Tom Jones
Johnny Cash, Englebert Humperdink or the Rare Earth
The revolution will not be televised

The revolution will not be right back after a message
About a white tornado, white lightning, or white people
You will not have to worry about a dove in your bedroom
The tiger in your tank or the giant in your toilet bowl
The revolution will not go better with Coke
The revolution will not fight the germs that may cause bad breath
The revolution will put you in the driver’s seat

The revolution will not be televised, will not be televised
Will not be televised, will not be televised
The revolution will be no re-run brothers
The revolution will be live

I won’t pretend to be too knowledgeable here so I am just gonna put it out there and give you a bit of history about the guy and the album and impact it had and hopefully you will download it and make up your own minds. That after all is all we ever want.

If the people were to rise to rebellion, there will be no news coverage of the event. That is in a nutshell what Gil is getting at. The years preceding this album America was rocked with scandals and assassinations and political strife that had shaken the very foundations of the state. There was a feeling that revolution was on the cards, though looking back it now seems mad to have thought that. Nevertheless some things did change for the better and music was at the forefront of pushing for that change. Gil was known primarily as a jazz musician though ‘The Revolution Will Not Be Televised’ is more a collection of Rhythm and Blues and spoken poetry. While it would be hard to say that Gil invented rhyming there are definitely parallels between angry poems like ‘Whitey on the Moon’,

“Taxes takin’ my whole damn check
The junkies make me a nervous wreck
The price of food is goin up
And if all that crap wasn’t enough
A rat done bit my sister nell
With Whitey on the moon”

‘No Knock’ and ‘Brother’ and 1980s onwards hip hop. Poetry doesn’t dominate though and most of the selections illustrate his excellence as a singer, including ‘Home Is Where the Hatred Is’

“A junkie walking through the twilight
I’m on my way home
I left three days ago, but no one seems to know I’m gone
Home is where the hatred is
Home is filled with pain and it,
might not be such a bad idea if I never, never went home again”

‘Did You Hear What They Said?’ and the poignant ‘Save the Children’. One of the less political tracks is ‘Lady Day and John Coltrane’, an R&B classic that articulates how easily jazz can lift a person’s spirits. ‘The Revolution Will Not Be Televised’ is  not the last word on Scott-Heron’s but it’s certainly one of the best places to start if you’re exploring his work for the first time. Besides influencing contemporary musicians, Gil remained active until his death in 2011. A memoir he had been working on for years up to the time of his death, ‘The Last Holiday’, was published, posthumously in January 2012.

“My father still keeps up with what Celtic are doing. You Scottish folk always mention that my Dad played for Celtic, it’s a blessing from the spirits! Like that’s two things that Scottish folks love the most; music and football and they got one representative from each of those from my family!”

Tracklist
1. The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
2. Sex Education – Ghetto Style
3. The Get Out Of The Ghetto Blues
4. No Knock
5. Lady Day And John Coltrane
6. Pieces Of A Man
7. Home Is Where The Hatred Is
8. Brother
9. Save The Children
10. Whitey On The Moon
11. Did You Hear What They Said
12. When You Are Who You Are
13. I Think I’ll Call It Morning
14. A Sign Of The Ages
15. Or Down You Fall
16. The Needle’s Eye
17. The Prisoner

DEDICATED TO ROBERT KING

Robert Hillary King, aka Robert King Wilkerson, was part of a trio of American political prisoners collectively known as The Angola Three. Robert became a Celtic supporter through the influence of Gil and recently appeared on worldwide televison wearing the hoops. Robert’s membership in the only prison-recognized chapter of the Black Panther Party, and his work organizing against prison injustices, resulted in his being targeted for retaliation by prison officials. Despite overwhelming evidence exonerating him, prison-snitch testimony alone convicted him and he received a life sentence for the death of a fellow inmate. Robert’s tenacity in proving his innocence came to fruition when a Federal Appeals Court finally found him “probably innocent.” In February 2001, after thirty-one years of imprisonment and twenty-nine continuous years of solitary confinement, King walked out of the gates of Angola Prison a free man. He has spoken at universities, conferences and other venues. He has made appearances on radio and television and addressed members of the European Parliament. He worked hard to win the release of his comrades, the release of all political prisoners, and an end to the new slavery that is the Prison Industrial Complex.

“I may be free from Angola, but Angola will never be free of me!”

find out more about the Angola Three case here.

Part of the ‘Classic Album Reviews’ series (here) where we bring you something a little bit different to what you’re use to. Lost gems that have inspired and provoked folk music and musicians right up to modern celtic-punk music. Usually out of print so we can provide a free download link for you.

DANNY BOY AND SLAINE PRESENT THE HOUSE OF SLAINE ST PATRICKS DAY MIXTAPE

FREE DOWNLOAD!

FOR THE LOVE OF THE IRISH

Slaine 17/03/2015 Boston

Here is the ‘House of Slaine’ mixtape, an homage to Irish-American hip-hop band House of Pain made by Boston born rapper Slaine and two thirds of House Of Pain’s original members Danny Boy O’Connor and DJ Lethal from the legendary hip-hop crew. The mixtape was created for Slaine’s annual St Patrick’s Day party in Boston, MA at The Middle East on March 17th 2015.

Danny O’Connor 17/03/2015 Boston

With guest appearances from Mike McColgan from The Street Dogs, Ill Bill, Termanology, Apathy and Sick Jacken, Ras Kass, Sean Price and many more, the mix can be played below via YouTube or click on the picture of the hat to go to the download link.

click on the hat to be directed to your free download

House Of Slaine   Facebook  Shop

Slaine  Facebook  YouTube  Twitter  WebSite

“tradition, loyalty…got no use for your royalty”

CELTIC HIP-HOP’S TOP SEVEN ARTISTS AND BANDS

For the sake of this article I have defined celtic hip-hop as being of two things… hip-hop made by people from a celtic background and hip-hop that is fused with celtic music. For that reason I haven’t included any rappers/hip-hop from the countries of origin. Mainly because I don’t know any but also partly because this blog is to celebrate and promote the celtic diaspora and the influence of that diaspora.

1. HOUSE OF PAIN

Not a lot to be said about these. Their are probably tribal villagers in the rain jungle who have at some point jumped around to that song!! Formed in 1991 in New York the group of school-friends became absolutely-bleeding-massive with the release of, yes, ‘that’ song in 1992. They released three albums and a compilation ‘Shamrocks And Shenanigans’. Although they stuck pretty close to the standard hip-hop way of doing things and never really included any celtic/Irish instruments they did occasionally use signatures reminiscent of Irish jigs. Absolutely huge world wide and can be credited with being a huge influence on Irish-America and the wider Irish diaspora, even today. Still performing but more so these days to promote the lead singer Everlast’s solo career.

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2. MARXMAN

From their name you ought to be able to tell they veered a wee bit to the left. Formed in Bristol by college friends towards the end of the 1980’s these boys did not mess around! Marxman were unrepentant socialists and championed the underdog and victims of social injustice. Their first album ’33 Revolutions Per Minute’ included the song ‘Sad Affair’ which comprised lyrics from the Christy Moore penned song ‘Irish Ways And Irish Laws’ and was subsequently banned by the BBC. They also touched on themes such as domestic violence and slavery. They incorporated Irish instruments alongside the music making something totally original for that time. They sadly faded away after their much less politicised 2nd album came out though they are credited with being one of the fore-runners of the ‘Trip-Hop’ (see Portishead or Tricky) genre which originated in Bristol.

LastFM  Discogs

3. MACKLEMORE

We’ve already done an article on the Seattle born rapper Ben Haggerty here so head there if you want to read a bit more on him. Suffice to say he’s another Irish-American rapper who wears his roots proudly on his sleeve. Debut album ‘The Heist’ came out in 2012 and this year his massive hit ‘Thrift Shop’ hit #1 in far too many countries to mention here! His lyrics are a million miles away from most major hip-hop artists and although he doesn’t use any celtic instruments or tunes his song ‘Irish Celebration’ can leave you in absolutely no doubt where he stands!

Web-Site  Facebook  Twitter

4. BELTAINE’S FIRE

Formed in 2005 in San Francisco by solo-anarchist rapper Emcee Lynx they started out as ‘folk-rap’ with influences alongside their hip-hop from Scottish and Irish music but soon evolved and introduced other musical elements and aspects into their sound. They have released 3 studio albums, the last being ‘Anarchitecture’ in 2011 (the profits of which they donated to Occupy Wall Street). Huge supporters of file-sharing much of their music is either free or ‘pay as much as you can’. Another highly political band and they have played many benefits and appeared on many compilation albums for causes such as the Anarchist Black Cross and Iraq Veterans Against the War.

Web-Site  MySpace

5. SEANCHAI AND THE UNITY SQUAD

Chris Byrne a Irish-American cop co-founded the celtic-rock band Black47 with Larry Kirwan in 1989. While playing with Black47 Chris set up these lot as a side-project. A ‘seanchai’ is a traditional Irish storyteller/historian and ancient teller of old tales so in this respect its a absolutely spot on name! They’ve released several albums and all contain the same mix of hip-hop, Irish folk, rock and punk, R&B, reggae/ska, protest anthems, rebel songs and prank phone calls to radio hosts that we have come to expect. Really, when you put on a Seanchai LP you never know if you’re gonna hit a punk song like ‘Irish Catholic Boy’ or hip-hop like ‘Sportin Paddy! A casserole of cultures that will soon make them a staple on your musical menu.

MySpace  LastFM 

6. MANAU

Not being a huge hip-hop fan I was going to keep it short and just do the Top Five but after coming across this band I thought I better expand it into a Top Six. Manua (the old Breton gaelic name for the Isle Of Man) were formed in 1998 in Paris by members of that cities huge Breton diaspora. In 1998 they had a massive hit with ‘La Tribu de Dana’ which tells the story of the tribe of Dana, and is the name of a group of figures in Irish mythology. They have released six albums, the last being this years ‘Fantasy’ and although they have moved somewhat away from the celtic sound sometimes those early releases are absolute stand-outs in the celtic-music world.

Web-Site  Facebook

7. SLAINE

Well so much for a Top Six! Slaine, or George Carroll as he’s known to his mammy, is a Boston born rapper and these days a quite famous actor as well. Inspired by the House Of Pain and a move to New York he became active in that city’s burgeoning underground hip-hop scene. He’s released several albums and been on countless compilations and has just released his latest called ‘The Boston Project’. He teams up with Danny Boy O’Connor from the House Of Pain to perform as the House Of Slaine and they sell some of the most brilliant alternative Irish t-shirts on the internet. Well worth a look here.

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A couple other notables are the ‘Lordz Of Brookyln’ and ‘Da Ded Rabbitz’ but no one could tell me anything about them …

click on the blog logo at the top of the page to find more from us…

Related articles

• Celtic-Hip Hop! Macklemore and Ryan Lewis – ‘Irish Celebration’ (londoncelticpunks.wordpress.com)

CELTIC-HIP HOP! MACKLEMORE AND RYAN LEWIS – ‘IRISH CELEBRATION’

Once upon a time St. Patrick’s Day was a day for the Irish worldwide to celebrate the patron saint of Ireland, but over the past few decades it has slowly but surely morphed into a advertising campaign for Guinness. Fortunately Macklemore is here to rightfully reclaim the day with his anthemic Irish Celebration, a cut that both lyrically and sonically pays tribute to the Emerald Isle. Production duties are handled by his partner Ryan Lewis, who masterfully manages to approximate bagpipes without using actual bagpipes, creating a foot stomping beat that Macklemore expands into a sing-along-able homage to his ancestor’s fierce pride: “I’m an Irishman, leathered weathered Irish skin, beard orange as the sunset and the flag.”

I’m an Irishman
Leather weathered Irish skin
Beard orange as the sunset  over the flag
In the night sky we fly it in
Pride for the life we fight  to live
History, I write with it
Spit it with the dialect
And this  is a celebration of course
The green, white, orange
And when they pulled  up on that shore
First generation born
Toast to those that made it on a  boat to New York
And when the English came the colonizer came
They  filled up bottles of gasoline, turned ’em into balls of flame
And hurled ’em  to protect what’s ours
Don’t touch these lucky charms
Whole bunch of  Irish screaming “Fuck the London Guard”
I’m kidding not dissin’ London, this  bloody war
But go against the Irish and get a bloody jaw
Preaching  nonviolence but reminds of the scars
And the bias, put a pint up everybody  sing a song

We put our glass to the sky and lift up
And live tonight  ’cause you can’t take it with ya
So raise a pint for the people that aren’t  with us
And live tonight ’cause you can’t take it with ya

From New England to New Brunswick
Galway to Dublin
A rebellious nation of freckled face hustlers
Heart,  blue collared workers and family
My heritage, proud to be a Haggerty
Now  with whiskey in our veins
Claiming were the bravest men
I drank Old  Crow, but pretended it was Jameson
Dad sipped Guiness, I sipped Old  English
‘Til he sat me down at 16 and said “boy, this is what a beer is”
I put down the drink, couldn’t drink like a gentleman
That doesn’t mean I  can’t make a drinking song for the rest of ’em
Challenge us in football,  yeah we might lose
But don’t put us next to a bar stool
We take the  history, script it in song
Light the torch then you pass it on
That’s  right I said, lineage through the rhythm we script it from the palm
and we  give til’ Ireland is on
Bottoms Up

We put our glass to the sky and  lift up
And live tonight ’cause you can’t take it with ya
So raise a  pint for the people that aren’t with us
And live tonight ’cause you can’t  take it with ya

‘Irish Celebration’ is from ‘The Vs’ EP but you can get a free download of the song here from MACKLEMORE’s web-site.

or here http://www.sendspace.com/file/cgrrab

great interview with yer man here from Rap Ireland where goes in depth about his Irish heritage, his struggles with addiction and the work he puts in outside the studio to stay creative.