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 SINGLE: THE OWEN GUNS PUT THE BOOT INTO EVERYONE’S LEAST FAVOURITE IRISHMAN

We are not fans of Bono. Not many are! This recent track from Aussie Punk band The Owen Guns caught our attention with his heartfelt message to Bono which we can all agree on.

I love the Aussies. They are plain speaking and usually great fun to be around. Now this could possibly be as over 2,000,000 of them come from Irish backgrounds! That is 10.4% of the total population. This might also explain why their Celtic-Punk bands are so bloody good. Today though we are featuring something a little different. Something with a very important message…

The Owen Guns from left to right: Booker – Bass * Mark – Guitar * Ma Tu – Drums/ Tin Whistle/ Djembe/ Vocals * Sean The Bastard – Vocals/ Kazoo/ Theremin *

The Owen Guns are a Streetpunk band based in New South Wales with members split between Sydney and the South Coast. They’ve been active since 2020, releasing two EP’s Violating Community Standards and Electric Boogaloo and have just released their first full length album. Their members are not just veterans of the Aussie Punk and Hardcore music scene but also Canada and China too. Unlike most of the current crop of Punk bands both here and in Oz their are no fake American accents and more importantly no fear of offending people. Known for mixing politics and humour into their songs and for not taking themselves or anyone else too seriously. The Owen Guns are not a safe space!

Give me a B   B 

Give me an O   O 

Give me an N   N 

Give me an O   O

☘ 

Whats that spell?  cunt 

Whats that spell? cunt 

Whats that spell? cunt 

☘

700 million.. yeah that’s a lot of cash 

Maybe you should pay your share in tax 

If you’re really concerned about the poor 

You’re such a bore don’t wanna see you on tv anymore 

Blatant hypocrisy 

Is too big to ignore

☘

Bono Bono you’re shit and you know it

Every time you start to speak you go ahead and show it

Bono Bono you’re shit and you know it

Every time you start to speak you go ahead and show it

☘

Designer glasses…flash designer suit

You talk about the poor while you’re counting loot

You flew your hat first class..half way across Europe

Media slut, Mouth always open,

i wish you’d keep it shut

Your charity’s a fraud and you’re a fucking cunt

You’re a fucking cunt

☘

Bono Bono you’re shit and you know it 

Every time you start to speak you go ahead and show it 

Bono Bono you’re shit and you know it 

Every time you start to speak you go ahead and show it

☘

Bono you’re a cunt

❗

Lots of shouty swearing and fast guitars. The track is taken from the album Dawn Of The Braindead which came out at the end of September. It was recorded and mixed at Rock The Nation Studios by Shoeless Geoff Mullard and mastered by Jason at Goatsound. The album is twelve songs of superb old school Hardcore Punk. Nothing groundbreaking but pure energy throughout though nothing tops ‘Not You Too’ though which let’s face it Bono really deserves, the 2 faced pompous hypocrite. While lecturing us about the environment he did indeed pay for a ticket on a plane and a taxi for his hat! While St. Bono preaches to us from atop ‘a hillside near the town of Capernaum’ about poverty when Ireland ended tax exemption for artists in 2006 the first thing U2 did was immediately move their tax affairs to The Netherlands.

“Well, tonight thank God it’s them instead of me”

The lyric’s for ‘Not You Too’ were penned by lead singer Sean The Bastard whose pathological hatred of Bono is well known. The lyrics were originally written back in 2017 and had to be changed for recording as Bono’s net worth had risen a hundred million dollars in that time – what a cunt! The video was animated by Mike Foxall (theartoffox.com.au) who managed to really capture the feel of the song and the cuntiness of Bono himself. I mean just look at him.  Absolute twat!

(Dawn Of The Braindead is out now on all streaming services and available for purchase on vinyl via the Bandcamp player below)

The Owen Guns  Facebook  YouTube  Instagram

 

2016 REVIEWS ROUND-UP PART ONE. PINT KILLERS, THE MUCKERS, NOWHEREBOUND, HOIST THE COLOURS, SKILTRON, BAY STREET BASTARDS

Every year we have been doing this has got better and better for celtic-punk releases. As happy as we are that this is so it also means that we just cannot keep up with everything out there. We haven’t had the chance to review everything we received or heard so here is Part 1 of our 2016 Round Up where we catch up with some of the releases that we missed first time round. Here at 30492- LONDON CELTIC PUNKS blog we much prefer to do really detailed reviews but it has been impossible to keep up so here’s a few quick ones just to catch up and get 2016 out of the way. Each and every one are worthy of your time so go ahead and check them out. This time round we head to the America’s. Well four from the USA, one from Canada and one from Argentina!

PINT KILLERS- ‘Boston Brewed’ EP (CDbaby)

Yeah I know we are hardwired to like ANYTHING that comes out of Boston but this is some killer street punk right enough. Only founded earlier this year Pint Killers feature ex-members of Nowhere USA, Dot Rats, Third Knuckle, The Struggle and the Pug Uglies. “Boston Brewed Punk Drinking Songs And Anthems” they call it and fair enough that’s exactly what you get. Their shared Irish ancestry looms large over everything they do in this four track EP about celebration, drinking, friendship, and brotherhood. The songs flash by in… well a flash of only eight minutes. Fists in the air and heads down working class punk rock, or blue collar as the Yanks prefer to put it. All the songs burst with energy but it’s the longest track ‘Around The Hood’, all of two and a half minutes!, that tick’s all the boxes for me. It may not have bagpipes but so what! And what a great name too…

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 THE MUCKERS- ‘The Muckers’ LP (iTunes  GooglePlay)

The Muckers are coming at you from Atlanta city in Georgia in the deep south of America. The city rose from the ashes of the Civil War to become a major city and later on in the decades following the Civil Rights Movement, during which the city earned a reputation as too busy to hate for it’s progressive views compared to other cities in the deep south, attained international prominence. The band take their name from the word ‘mucker’, a colloquialism meaning good friend used in main by the Irish and people from Yorkshire in England. The Muckers are Atlanta’s only Irish rock band with a massive following in the city among the Irish and their friends. A five-piece folk-rock band that as well as a strong emphasis on Irish music also blends in influences of gypsy music, sea shanties, country, rockabilly and anything else they can get their hands on. Eleven songs( and a mental hidden track!!) lasting well over forty minutes and what you get is exactly what is outlined above. Kicking off with a short accordion intro it soon launches into the superb ‘There is A Time’ with very much a bluegrass feel. Other notable songs here include both ‘Molly’ and ‘Eddie Connors’ which were originally recorded by a couple of The Muckers old bands but given a real lease of life here. A few self penned numbers and some standard Irish covers make up the rest of the album. A great knees up of an album with a grand sense of humour and infectiously good fun and well played.

WebSite  YouTube  Twitter  ReverbNation  Soundcloud

NOWHEREBOUND- ‘Hearts And Arrows’ LP  (Bandcamp)

We have been long time fans of Texan band Nowherebound and while they may not be a celtic-punk band, or even a folk-punk band, but they are simply fantastic so deserve their spot here. If you can imagine a fast and heavy punk rock band that somehow manages to squeeze enough folk melodies into their songs then that’s them. A folk band in all but their music! Coming out of the same camp as punk bands like Social Distortion, Rancid, and Gaslight Anthem but with their cap tipped firmly in the direction of the Murphys or The Pogues. Much more straight up punk rock then their previous releases have been they toured Europe again in 2016, for the umpteenth time, but unfortunately have not made it to Blighty yet. From hard rock in-yer-face to pop punk melodies to raise-your-glass-and-sing-along-anthems Nowherebound that hit you in both the heart and the head.

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HOIST THE COLORS- ‘Mourners’ LP  (FromTheBand  iTunes)

One of the better known of the North American celtic-punk bands Hoist The Colors come from the urban metropolis Los Angeles. They play a blend of punk rock, trad Irish, Americana and bluegrass that is as original as the city they call home. Now this is one album I would have loved to have gone into real detail about but it only landed in LCP Towers a few days ago so I am having to write this on just a handful of listens. And my first impression is the same as my tenth. It’s a fecking masterpiece! A wonderful LP that really shows the depth of the scene and the willingness to push the boundaries of what is celtic-punk. From first track ‘Little Rebel’ right through to ‘Something More Than This’ their is not a single bad track on Mourners. The title track was the first song released from the album and came with a superb video. Excellent use of the mandolin and the punchy punk rock keeps the toes a tapping.

The second release from Mourners was ‘Rainier’ and for me was the album standout. Fast paced, punk rock that is accessible without being at all lame and again some excellent mando to keep the celtic among us happy. The rest of the album flows as smoothly as a pint of Guinness with the music uptempo and catchy as hell. Twelve songs and a running length of almost fifty minutes of non-stop quality celtic-punk that would surely be loved by anyone from you’re studs’n’spikes nephew to your auld Nanna.

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and from South of the border we have

SKILTRON- ‘Legacy Of Blood’ LP  (From The Band  iTunes)

At the forefront of the Folk-Metal genre, though really it is in fact Celtic-Metal, Skiltron were formed in 2004 and come from Argentina. Now thats not so strange as it may appear as plenty of Celtic people emigrated there back in the day mostly Irish and Welsh. In 2016 they embarked on an epic European tour taking in an amazing nineteen countries in under two months. I missed their London date as it was my brothers wedding unfortunately but was absolutely stunning from other people told me. We have touched on metal a few times here and there seems to be a quite a scene growing out of what was once a handful of bands. We even have a London based celtic-metal band worth checking out Isamos (here). Legacy Of Blood is only eight songs long but as you can imagine it’s all quite epic and the songs take their time. The longest track is also my favourite, ‘Sawney Bean Clan’, about a clan of Scottish  murderers who reportedly killed and ate over 1,000 people anywhere between the 13th and 16th centuries.

It’s fast metal music with two bagpipes at times and the sound is quite incredible. The whole album is brilliant and if you like the sound of bagpipes then open your mind and get on board here. Fast as feck with rapid drumming and Scottish topics with clearly sung lyrics. No growling or grunting here!! I love it and seeing as how we have recently made friends with the people who put the gig on in London we hope to be bringing some more of this interesting scene to London soon.

WebSite  Facebook  Twitter  Soundcloud  YouTube

BAY STREET BASTARDS- ‘Small Batch’  (Bandcamp)

The Bay Street Bastards from the wonderful sounding Thunder Bay in Ontario in east-central Canada. The band proclaim their influences on their Facebook page as

“Canada, hockey, metal, punk, beer”

and listening to this corker of an EP that figures! WE caught their debut album in last years Round-Up’s here and if they keep releasing things in December then we’ll never get the chance to do a proper one! Anyhow that was bloody brilliant and this EP continues where they left off. Small Batch begins with ‘Hooligan Crew’ and its fast paced accordion led celtic-punk rock with some great dual vocals, which I always think works well. This is followed by ‘Blood, Sweat & Teeth’ and things speed up with a song that is significantly different from the opener but carries all the same elements. ‘Ships of November’ slows it down a tad and just as you think you’ve a lovely ballad coming along ‘Bang’ and we’re back into celtic-punk territory. ‘Slappywag’s’ appeared on that debut album and has been re-recorded here. It was the standout track then and it’s the standout track here as well. A ton more energy and a ton more oompf where you thought it would be impossible to add but they done it.  Where the fiddle held court last time here it’s the mando and the accordion in charge in a brilliant song about the Bastards favourite boozer. The EP comes to an end with ‘Private Reserve’ and another beauty of a song. Less manic than the previous songs and perhaps the closest they come to sounding like the Dropkick’s. So what you get here are five songs that is over and done in a fast and frantic seventeen minutes. Every song here stands up on it’s own and the Bastards show they ape no one with their subtle changes of style. One of the many things that made their debut album stand out was their innovative style and they have lost none of that here. This isn’t just music for beer swillin’, foot stompin’, mosh pittin’ Canadians it’s music for beer swillin’, foot stompin’, mosh pittin’ wherever you come from!

Facebook  YouTube  Bandcamp  Twitter  ReverbNation

So ends Part 1 and we are sorry we weren’t able to give each album the full on London Celtic Punks treatment. Apologies to all the bands as each and every release deserved the full treatment. We are always looking for people to join the reviews team so don’t be shy. Anyhow more to come in Part 2 so check back after Christmas Day and catch up with some more of our favourite 2016 releases from around the world this time. If you don’t want to miss any of our posts then you can follow us by simply filling in your e-mail address in the box that is either below or to the left depending how you are viewing and you will receive every post to your in-box.

LIVE REVIEW: THE CUNDEEZ IN SOUTH LONDON SEPTEMBER 2016

KEEPIN’ IT OARY DOWN AMONG THE SASSENACHS DAY TWO

by Vincent Mahon

Fresh from their triumphant London debut at the Gunners in Finsbury Park on Friday, Saturday finds the Cundeez saarf ov ver rivver at the Veg Bar in sunny Brixton as guests of the London Celtic Punks.
The Veg Bar is a vegan restaurant on Tulse Hill, just up from Brixton station. It’s a quiet, unassuming place and certainly not the sort of establishment generally considered home to the kind of mayhem and shenanigans associated with punk rock. However, there is a cellar bar. And that’s where the chaos ensues…

Dissent

There’s other bands tonight, all of whom are good at what they do and some more to my taste than others. The stand outs for me were Comrade X, who always delivers the goods, and Black Water County, whose punk-infused folk may invite some obvious comparisons, but they play with enough talent and conviction to mark themselves out as contenders in their own right. I’d definitely be up for seeing them again.
By the time the Cundeez fire up, it’s hot in that little cellar bar. Damn hot. And there’s a pissed-up bunch of good natured yobbos and n’er do wells more than ready for them. The choice of London Calling as an opener is superb. It’s The Cundeez saying hello to their southern friends, and it’s an acknowledgement that wherever we’re from, we share similar tastes, backgrounds and experiences. And that’s what matters.

Black Water County

A Cundeez gig is a thing of great joy. Like a cross between a benevolent riot and the greatest party you’ve ever been invited to. Every song they play represents what’s great about punk rock when it’s done properly: energy, excitement, anger and humour are all present, wrapped up in killer tunes that hit you full-on and take no prisoners. What marks the Cundeez out from so many of their peers is that even when they are angry (“Austerity,” “Mr Politician” or the magnificently vitriolic “Yer Talkin’ Shite”), there is a sense of positivity and energy that’s sadly missing in so many other bands who generally seem content to just moan and wallow in it. There’s no room for negativity or despondency when the Cundeez are playing because you’re too busy having a bloody good time. Just watch them performing “Roota” and I defy you not to end up grinning from ear to ear and at the very least, tapping your foot.
Tonight’s crowd need no second bidding to get stuck in and show their appreciation by leaping around like a bunch of loons. The sweltering heat means “taps aaf” is pretty much obligatory. New single, “Rebellion” sounds incredible, and is a definite highlight in a flawless set. The Buzzcocks’ classic “Ever Fallen in Love…” is given a grand shake up, and by the time they hit “Night Boat to Cairo” everybody in the crowd is going ballistic. The energy and excitement this friendly bunch of Dundonians generate in one gig would be enough to power a small town.
And so the Cundeez came to London and it would be no exaggeration to say that they absolutely smashed it on both nights. For me personally, it meant I got to support a band I’ve been raving about for the last year, and see them twice in one weekend. That’s pretty good going as far as I’m concerned. Not only are they an amazing live band, but they’re also some of the nicest, most decent folk I’ve met on the punk scene. Gary, Stevie, Trotsky and Tez, you’re welcome back anytime. London loves the Cundeez. Keep it Oary!

Contact The Bands

The Cundeez  Facebook  ReverbNation  Soundcloud  Twitter  YouTube

Black Water County  WebSite  Facebook  Twitter  Bandcamp  YouTube  Google+

Kilburn Bomb Squad  Facebook

Comrade X  Facebook  YouTube  Twitter  ReverbNation

Dissent  Facebook

Cheers and beers to Dissent, Kilburn Bomb Squad, Comrade X, Black Water County and The Cundeez. Absolutely spot on and all were just brilliant. Ta to The Sweat Box… sorry Veg Bar. I didn’t eat myself but was told the grub was fantastic, to the bar man didn’t catch yer name but you was a star and Assad thanks for the brilliant sound everyone was really happy with it. Hope to catch you at The Go Set on the 30th I hope. To Patrick and Peter who did the door. God bless you both.

Again thanks to you all we love and respect youse all. xx

Thanks to Vincent for the great review. He plays in another great London band worth checking out Morgellions so in the absence of any vid’s from the gig here’s one of them playing the night previous.

Their is a Facebook file with photos from the gig over at the London Celtic Punks page here.

ALBUM REVIEW: Oi POLLOi- ‘Saorsa’ (2016)

Rocking hard berating the system while shouting “Oi! Oi! Oi!” in Scottish!

by Shane O’Neill

‘Saorsa’ means ‘Freedom’ in Scots Gaelic and is the sixth studio album of long running Scottish anarcho punk outfit Oi Polloi and the first since 2012. The album is hard hitting anti fascist, anti establishment, anti racism, anti homophobia, anti sexism ( did I miss any anti…..) Oi! punk with strong Gaelic flavour wrapped up in no less than 15 tunes.

Again they don’t shy away from addressing politically relevant topics accompanied by a healthy mix of crusty, punky, singalong Oi! Oi Polloi must be commended for the use of their music to promote the Gaelic culture in particular the use of the Gaelic language in their lyrics.

” …this is class war we’re fighting back…”

“…..progressive Oi! is kicking back…..”

The fourth song on the album ‘No’ is a demonstrated best by the picture below. As they say sometimes a picture paints a thousand words.

The album also contains a track titled ‘Yes’ to voice the bands support of the recent Scottish independence referendum. This one may be getting more air time sooner than we think!!

‘Dirty Protest’ tells of the protest in Ireland’s British prisons about the criminalisation of republican prisoners. Prisoners held in the north of Ireland were regarded, quite rightly, as political prisoners but that status was being eroded and finely was abolished in 1976. Among other things, this meant that they would now be required to wear prison uniforms like ordinary convicts. The prisoners in the infamous Maze, also known as Long Kesh, refused to accept that they were ordinary criminals, and refused to wear prison uniform and instead dressed only in prison issued blankets. The fight led later to the hunger strikes that resulted in ten deaths. For an excellent documentary on The Blanketmen check here)

‘GCHQFU’ is a fine ode dedicated to our friends in the secret service who spend their time ensuring we all tow the line.

“They’re watching me, they’re watching you…GCHQ fuck you”

One thing you can’t accuse them of is not having a sense of humour though as evident on ‘Our Winged Sisters’. Check out the brilliant video!

“This one’s for our sisters who we owe so much, so very much
Neonicotinoids are leaving them fucked, dead in the dust
We must all become pesticides resisters, rezizzterzzz!
Don’t you think we owe it to our winged sisters, our sizzterzzz?

Our winged sisters! Our winged sisters! Our winged sisters!
Sizzzterzz! Sizzterzzz! ZZZZZZZ! Sizzzterzz! Sizzterzzz! ZZZZZZZ!

Fight for the bees will give you a buzz, give you a buzz
Just like listening to our mighty streetcruzzt, mighty streetcruzzzzt!

Our winged sisters! Our winged sisters! Our winged sisters!
Sizzzterzz! Sizzterzzz! ZZZZZZZ! Sizzzterzz! Sizzterzzz! ZZZZZZZ!

Agro-chemical companies – we must resizzzt them, rezizzzzt them!
We muzzt oppose their apicidal syzztem, zyzzztem!”

Other notable tracks include the opener ‘Let’s Go’, ‘The Face’ and ‘Spelling It Out’. The CD comes in a digipack with fold out poster including lyrics and infos with the album due out on vinyl any day soon. Check with the record companies listed below. The artwork was once again provided by the talented hands of SONIA L. who also was responsible for the stunning celtic knotwork based art of Oi Polloi’s classic 90’s album ‘Fuaim Catha’. This is definitely an album you need in your collection. You won’t regret it.

Tracklist
1. Let’s Go!
2. Soil Yourself
3. The Face
4. NO!
5. Dirty Protest
6. Contra El Sistema
7. GCHQFU
8. Da Mhionaid
9. Destroi Phallocentricity
10. Metal Detector
11. Our Winged Sisters
12. YES!
13. Vos Vilen Di Anarkhisten?
14. Sing A Song Of System
15. Spelling It Out

Get The Album

RuinNationRecords  MassProductions  (CD only, Vinyl available soon!)

Contact The Band

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the full live set from last years 0161 Festival at the Miners Community Arts and Music Centre in Moston, Manchester.

Oi POLLOi ON WHY THEY SING IN THE GAELIC LANGUAGE

There are estimated to be somewhere in the region of 6,000 different languages currently spoken on planet earth. In the face of rampant globalisation, however, 90% of them are expected to be extinct by the end of this century. Here in Scotland our indigenous Celtic language, Gaelic, is one of those threatened. For hundreds of years Gaelic speakers here have been subject to oppression and persecution from central government and its attempts to wipe out the language. Up until the 1970s children in the Scottish highlands could be beaten for speaking Gaelic in school and even today Gaelic speakers still lack the same basic linguistic human rights as those of English speakers. Today the number of those speaking the language is down to somewhere around 55,000 people or just over 1% of the population but a growing number of Gaelic language activists are now fighting back to demand their rights and preserve their ancient tongue. These songs here are part of that struggle to defend our indigenous language – not, we hasten to add, out of some kind of narrow-minded xenophobic patriotism (which as anarchists we totally oppose) – but out of a belief in the value of diversity and respect for different cultures. We believe that ALL minority languages and the linguistic human rights of their speakers should be respected. Whether it is Saami in Finland, Sorbisch in Germany or Gaelic in Scotland we believe it is a tragedy for ANY threatened minority language to disappear. The Gaelic songs on this album then are part of our contribution to the fight for multicultural societies where all indigenous languages like Manx, Welsh and Gaelic are able to thrive and where children have the opportunity, if they so choose, to be able to grow up with a bi-lingual education, having both the benefits of the indigenous language of the area where they reside as well as English or whatever as a lingua franca. Those interested in more information about the links between indigenous cultures and bio-diversity and linguistic diversity should visit www.terralingua.org or read some of the great books on the subject out there like David Crystal’s excellent ‘Language Death’, Mark Abley’s ‘Spoken Here – Travels Among Threatened Languages’ or the highly recommended ‘Linguistic Genocide in Education – Or Worldwide Diversity and Human Rights?’ by Dr Tove Skutnabb-Kangas. For more information about the Gaelic language itself visit www.smo.uhi.ac.uk/gaidhlig/english.html or just come and ask us at our gigs.

ALBUM REVIEW: DANNY GREENE- ’10 BLOCKS FOR THE IRISH’ (2015)

Straight Up Southern Illinois Working Class Old School Traditional Hardcore Punk

Well those of you of a nervous disposition better turn away now as Danny Greene may well be responsible for doing some serious damage to your sensibilities! We have of late neglected the punkier side of celtic-punk and we are more than making up for it by reviewing the new album of American hardcore band Danny Greene. Named in honour of the legendary Irish-American gangster the name suits them well and the blistering noise attack would I am sure have gotten Danny’s approval. The album starts with ’10 Blocks For The Irish’ and those of you in the know will instantly recognise the intro before Sean Penn as Terry Noonan in the excellent Irish-American gangster film State Of Grace takes over and then wham… fast as hell hardcore comes straight at you. For those of you who like the folkier side of things give this a listen and shake the old cob-webs away. There is nothing too overly spectacular here just superbly well played old fashioned hardcore music with shed load’s of energy and more fist in the air moments than a million chart bands could ever dream of. The song last’s just over a minute so brace yourselves.

‘Two Faced’ follows and carries on in the same relentless vein as before. I was always a fan of more old style hardcore or, as my mate Steve Caveman always called it, “that stop and start shit” and so this album really hits home for me. My album favourite is ‘No Quit In Me’ which for you punk traditionalists is probably the easiest song here to listen to. Chugging guitars and a great chorus of

“working class hardcore”

‘Broken’ and ‘Bottom Of Barrel’ continue the approach and the songs are much longer so Danny Greene are able to expand a bit on their sound.

The albums longest track is ‘Walking Dead’ at only just over three minutes and is also one of the albums stand outs.

‘Vick’ is about the American Football quarterback Michael Vick who went to jail in 2007 for promoting, funding and facilitating a dog fighting ring on his property. This sick bastard had also engaged in hanging and drowning dogs who did not perform well. Rightly Danny Greene put the boot right into him and it is heartening to see his career has gone to shit since he was jailed.

“you fucking coward, you worthless piece of shit”

‘What Is Truth’ brings the album to a close and is a collaboration with the bands friend and rapper Joe Myles. A hip-hop/hardcore mix up that really works. Obviously ’10 Blocks For The Irish’ will not appeal to everyone out there but if you do like fast hardcore punk you are gonna love this. If you just like the idea of an Irish-American band who will NEVER have a banjo player then, again, this IS the band for you. The boys will be releasing a full-length album soon called Heritage so keep an eye out on the internet and here as I have a feeling its going to get another fantastic review!

Buy The Album

FromTheBand

Contact The Band

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*Find out more about the legend that was Danny Greene, an impoverished but charismatic young Irish-American who rises to power as president of the longshoreman’s local union and is charged with corruption but evades serious jail time by becoming an FBI informant. With fearless nerve he joins forces with a Mafia gangster to rise to power in Cleveland’s underworld, gaining the reputation of a Robin Hood-like figure with nine lives as he escapes countless assassination attempts.

Danny Greene: The Rise and Fall of the Irishman

USA | 2011 | 60 min.

Genre: Documentary

Director: Tommy Reid

Photographs that have never been seen before and exclusive interviews with the family members of Danny Greene, officials from the Federal government, associates of the Mafia and representatives of Cleveland Police Enforcement make up this documentary examining the life of the legendary and infamous Irish-American gangster Danny Greene.

Clint O’Connor of The Plain Dealer writes

“Feeding America’s appetite for mob stories with a grisly slice of Cleveland’s criminal past, spotlights the gangster whose life was famously extinguished by a car bomb in a Lyndhurst parking lot. A fearless hood who grabbed headlines for years in the 1970s, Greene was a colorful character. He dressed in green, drove green cars, and embraced Irish history and Celtic lore. Alternately a union troubleshooter, embezzler, and enforcer, Greene dabbled in racketeering, gambling, and loan-sharking. He excelled at beating the rap, which may have been attributed to his other occupation: FBI informant. Police have long assumed that Greene conspired to take out Shondor Birns, a rival in Cleveland’s numbers racket, and later mafia underboss Leo ‘Lips’ Moceri, whose body was never found”

Kill The Irishman

USA | 2011 | 1hr 42mins

Genre: Action | Biography | Thriller

Director: Jonathan Hensleigh

Starring: Ray Stevenson, Christopher Walken, Vincent D’Onofrio

for a link to watch ‘Kill The Irishman’ simply click on the film poster on the left and you will be re-directed. if the link is broken leave a comment below and well try and fix it.