REMEMBERING HUGH CALLAGHAN OF THE BIRMINGHAM SIX

There’s six men in Birmingham / in Guildford there’s four / who were picked up and tortured / and framed by the law / and the filth get promotion / while they’re still doing time / for being Irish in the wrong place and at the wrong time

HUGH CALLAGHAN

 March 24, 1930 – May 27, 2023

Last week saw the sad death at 93 of Hugh Callaghan, one of the Birmingham Six wrongly jailed for IRA bombings in 1974. Back then he was one of many who made up the huge Irish community in England. Their numbers were massive and concentrated in most of England’s big cities. They arrived with the prospect of work and a better life the reason for their exile from home. Hugh led a ordinary working class life like the majority of the Irish over here, with his wife Eileen and their daughter Geraldine in a small terraced council house, working as a welder, visiting the pub and watching Aston Villa. Then on November 22nd 1974 all would change forever as he was arrested at his front door in the Erdington area of Birmingham, swept away and for the following few days he was severely beaten, scared out of his wits, tortured and deprived of food and sleep until he was forced to sign a false confession.

“I was threatened with snarling police dogs… The interrogators did not ease up… threats interspersed with a kick or a hit around the head. I was told the others had all implicated me. I was deprived of sleep and food. By the following afternoon I was a broken man. I signed the confession — I would have signed anything to get them off my back.”

Raised in poverty in the small Catholic enclave of Ardoyne in Belfast he came to England in the late 40’s in search of work and settled in Birmingham. Like many immigrants the Irish did the jobs the English didn’t want to do and in Birmingham it was that Irish labour that built not only it’s most famous landmarks, Spaghetti Junction and the Rotunda but also many canals, roads and railways in the city. 

Oh farewell you streets of sorrow
And farewell you streets of pain
I’ll not return to feel more sorrow
Nor to see more young men slain
Through the last six years I’ve lived through terror
And in the darkened streets the pain
Oh how I long to find some solace
In my mind I curse the strain
So farewell you streets of sorrow
And farewell you streets of pain
No I’ll not return to feel more sorrow
Nor to see more young men slain
☘

There were six men in Birmingham

In Guildford there’s four
That were picked up and tortured
And framed by the law
And the filth got promotion

But they’re still doing time

For being Irish in the wrong place
And at the wrong time
In Ireland they’ll put you away in the maze
In England they’ll keep you for seven long days

God help you if ever you’re caught on these shores

The coppers need someone
And they walk through that door
☘
You’ll be counting years
First five, then ten
Growing old in a lonely hell
Round the yard and the stinking cell
From wall to wall, and back again
☘
A curse on the judges, the coppers and screws
Who tortured the innocent, wrongly accused
For the price of promotion
And justice to sell

May the judged be their judges when they rot down in hell

☘
May the whores of the empire lie awake in their beds
And sweat as they count out the sins on their heads
While over in Ireland eight more men lie dead

Kicked down and shot in the back of the head

☘

(Terry Woods and Shane MacGowan – 1988)

WHAT HAPPENED IN BIRMINGHAM

On Thursday, November 21, 1974, two bombs exploded at the Mulberry Bush pub, at the foot of the Rotunda, and at the Tavern in the Town, in New Street, in Birmingham at 8:25 PM and 8:27 PM. The explosions would kill 21 and injure 182 and responsibility was taken by the Provisional Irish Republican Army. A third device, outside a bank in Hagley Road, failed to detonate. Six men were arrested that night, Patrick Hill, Gerry Hunter, Richard McIlkenny, Billy Power and Johnny Walker in Lancashire and Hugh Callaghan back in Birmingham. All were Roman Catholics and from the north of Ireland and had lived in Birmingham since at least the 1960’s. Five of the six left Birmingham on the evening of the 21st before the explosions to travel home to Belfast to attend the funeral of James McDade, a Provisional IRA member who had been recently accidentally killed planting a bomb in Coventry. In November 28, 1974, the men now known as the Birmingham Six appeared in court after being remanded into custody. They all showed clear signs of severe physical assault and ill-treatment. Fourteen officers would be charged and acquitted of their beatings and later a civil claim for damages in 1980 for the Six against the West Midlands Police was struck out.

The trial is held in June and the Six are found guilty of murder and sentenced to twenty-one life sentences each. In 1976 their first application to appeal is dismissed. Their second, in 1991, is allowed because of new evidence of police fabrication and suppression of evidence, the confessions are revealed to have been forced and the debunking of forensic evidence causes the Court of Appeal to announce the convictions are unsafe and unsatisfactory and on a glorious day in March day just before St. Patrick’s Day the Birmingham Six are set free having spent almost 17 years in various prisons.

The Birmingham 6 on the day of their release. From left to right – John Walker, Paddy Hill. Hugh Callaghan, Chris Mullin (author and prominent advocate of the Six), Richard McIlkenny, Gerry Hunter and William Power, outside the Old Bailey in London in 1991

The bombings occurred at a time of escalation in the war in the north of Ireland. Just 2 years on from Bloody Sunday and the State sanctioned massacre of 13 people on the streets on Derry by the British Army. Bombings and murders were commonplace and the decision was made by the IRA to bring the war to the mainland. Public buildings like the Old Bailey and the Houses of Parliament among others were targeted and pub bombings would claim the lives of five in Guildford in October, 1974. As in Birmingham the Police were under enormous pressure and soon arrested 4 innocent people, Paul Hill, Gerry Conlon, Paddy Armstrong, and Carole Richardson, who again as in the Birmingham 6 case would be sentenced to life imprisonment and released decades later, despite it being clear that they were innocent. During their time in prison the men were routinely assaulted. Hugh would reveal

“I got some beatings in there from the screws. The other prisoners didn’t like you because they knew what you were in for.”

He had hot tea and cans of food thrown in his face and all Six were segregated for their own protection. All the time the only people to back them were the Irish community and their newspapers. Ignored by the wider media and the left the murmurs in the places where the Irish met, in the pubs and churches and social events were of the innocence of the Birmingham Six and Guildford Four. Campaigns started led by the Irish community over here and eventually the case began to gain notoriety and not before time the case had become clear as a great miscarriage of justice. Scared of people losing faith in the country’s institutions of law and order the British government decided that to keep these innocent men in jail was worth it. Lord Denning during the civil action in 1980 brought by the Six infamously said

“If the six men win, it will mean that the police were guilty of perjury, that they were guilty of violence and threats, that the confessions were involuntary and were improperly admitted in evidence and that the convictions were erroneous. That would mean the Home Secretary would either have to recommend they be pardoned or he would have to remit the case to the Court of Appeal. This is such an appalling vista that every sensible person in the land would say: It cannot be right these actions should go any further”

He would later go even further and say

”If the six had been hanged, we shouldn’t have all these campaigns to get them released”.

After his release Hugh Callaghan moved to London, and published an autobiography, Cruel Fate in 1994. He was involved in various Irish organisations and was an enthusiastic member of the Irish Pensioners’ Choir, performing with them many times including at the London St. Patrick’s parade. His wife Eileen died in 2014 and Hugh is survived by his partner, Adeline Masterson, and his daughter Geraldine. A statement announcing his passing from family friends said “He was a man with astonishing strength of character. Despite the profound injustice he endured, he was not bitter or angry, but joyful and always ready to sing. His party piece was Danny Boy, and his voice was magnificent and strong right to end, with the last day of his life spent with his beloved Adeline, singing to the nurses in hospital but we know the last years of his life were full of love, singing, dancing and Irish music. We will continue to try and live the values of forgiveness and gentle optimism that Hugh taught us.”

Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

ALBUM REVIEW: THE TOSSERS – The Tossers (2023)

The World’s Loudest Folk Band

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Contact The Tossers  WebSite   Facebook   YouTube  Instagram

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

A TRIBUTE TO THE POGUES – FAIRYTALE OF BUFFALO NY 2023

Four great bands in one night celebrating the Pogues, the godfather and forebears of everything celtic punk. What could possibly be bad?  Not a lot, I’ll sure as hell say.  Our man ‘cross the broad Atlantic’ didn’t have far to travel to check out this gig in his home town and even got on the stage for the grand finale!

Friday 10th March 2023 at The Sportsman Tavern, Buffalo NY State

CRIKWATER from South Buffalo opened the night. I’ve seen them as sessions before and they are fantastic players. Their set went really well. Brilliantly played. It was a little softer than I would have liked for a tribute to a band who’s lead singer bit someone’s ear at a Clash show, but still. Phenomenally executed.  Facebook   WebSite

Next up was McCARTHYIZM. A definite notable mention goes to their fiddle player Sally Schaefer, who I’ve been lucky enough to play with a few times. They ended the set with “Turkish Song of the Damned” which has that great ending. The band was lock tight but she stood out.  Facebook   WebSite

 

Next up was YELLOW JACK. Admittedly I didn’t catch the entire set. What I did catch, there was a long pause before they went on, was that they were likely the truest to the Pogues actual sound of what you hear on the records. Great instrumentation, good vocals. Had never heard of them before but they are definitely going to be on the radar from now on.  Facebook   WebSite

Last on was CAPTAIN TOM AND THE HOOLIGANS. Now I’m biased because I know a good chunk of the band and played with them for a stint. But at that point we playing polka, all polka, and nothing but the polka. I was a little nervous how a horn section etc would fit into a Pogues set, but they did not disappoint. Maybe it was a few hours of folks at the bar, maybe it was just them, maybe it was both, but there was a tangible energy. They closed with ‘Fiesta’ and then all the performers came on for ‘South Australia’ which was awesome and I snuck on for. All in all, it was a fantastic night and surrounded by friends who you might not even know, but were all sisters and brothers in one common denominator-the brilliance that is the Pogues.  Facebook  WebSite

The ‘big jam’ below, grand finale at A Tribute to the Pogues-A Fairytale of Buffalo, NY at The Sportsmens Tavern. Thanks to all who contributed to an amazing night in tribute to the Pogues and to the Buffalo Music Coalition who organised it.

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=921429742393202

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“They sent us to the big war 

To remind us what we’re fighting for 

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

The screams of death were all around 

Souls were lost and never found 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Contact The Kilmaine Saints  WebSite  Facebook  Bandcamp  YouTube  Instagram

EP REVIEW: GREEN ASHES – Cannery Row (2023)

Drawing from the ashes of their ancestors and modern music alike, Los Angeles based Green Ashes new EP Cannery Row is original Folk-Rock music for fighters and lovers.

We only recently found out about Green Ashes when we featured them as our ‘Blast From The Past’ on last months Odds’n’Sods – Celtic Punk Round Up. The feature is usually reserved for releases that we missed first time round and the bands are usually long split up so I was a bit surprised to find out after downloading Sean, the bands five track follow up to their 2011 debut album .​.​.​And You’ll Put Your Boats To Sea that they were very much still together even if it was a whole decade between Sean and this months release of Cannery Row. 

Green Ashes are based in Los Angeles, California and have for over a decade been entertaining LA’s Irish community with high energy Irish Folk and Celtic Rock. Clearly influenced by homegrown musical forms including Bluegrass and Americana they are famous for turning up one night with acoustic guitars, mandolins, banjos and upright basses and then the next night everything is turned up to 11 with Stratocasters and Fender Twins blazing.

Green Ashes left to right : Mark Serridge – Bass * Jeff Zemina – Banjo / Guitar / Vocals * Patrick Murphy – Vocals / Guitars * Rich Silva – Drums * Samantha Rawlings – Violin / Vocals *

One of the hardest working bands in Los Angeles they’ve played pubs, cafes, weddings, special events, ancient cruise ships and have become regulars on many of California’s Irish music festivals.  Playing St. Patrick’s Day at the Irish Times venue in Culver City for over 10 years and CBS News even called Green Ashes gig at Irish Times “one of the best bets for live music on St Patrick’s Day”.

So their first release since Sean sees Green Ashes make a subtle yet significant move away from traditional Irish music to a truly authentic sound. The EP which had been delayed thanks to the Covid pandemic is named after the place the band played their first gig in Redondo Beach in 2009. Cannery Row consists of three originals and a fiery take on a traditional Irish rebel song that begins with ‘Forevermore’. The first thing that struck me was the vocals and how typically Irish-American they sound. I’m looking forward to seeing the Young Dubliners here in London soon and Patrick Murphy’s raspy definitely is reminiscent of Keith Roberts in the afore mentioned band.The music is mostly acoustic and has a certain grit despite being polished (nut not over produced). The recording is excellent with the fiddle out front but not dominating. ‘Just One’ is more upbeat and the obligatory drinking song is a right foot tapper. With Country influences sneaking in and name checks for the lovely Tullamore Dew ans the even lovelier Pogues tucked inside. ‘Roses’ is the last of the originals here and a sweet ballad with lilting fiddle and a swirling sound that gives emphasis to Patrick’s vocals. The EP ends with probably the best Irish rebel song to be given the Celtic-Punk treatment. Their really is no rival. An upbeat war tune with a classic singalong chorus and a song that is designed to only be sung while waving your fist in the air. ‘Come Out You Black And Tans’ has been around fro decades now and perfectly sums up the War Of Independence to free Ireland in 1919-1921. Great to hear some new material from Green Ashes and that their sound has been allowed to develop in a different direction from what was expected.

(You can stream / download Cannery Row via the Bandcamp player below)

Buy Cannery Row  Bandcamp

Contact Green Ashes  WebSite  Facebook  YouTube

EP REVIEW: THE MIGHTY McGUIGGANS – Every Day Is Almost St. Paddy’s Day (2023)

Mighty McGuiggans Fort Wayne, Indiana combine lively Irish fun with original compositions and some well trod covers.
Gritty, real and beautiful, like a single malt scotch or a fine stout. Raucous drinking songs, beautiful ballads, hilarious songs that tell a story and some pirate tunes to boot!

We were delighted to hear from American Irish Celtic-Punk band The Mighty McGuiggans in the run up to St. Patrick’s Day. They had a new release coming out and thought we would like to review it? Well we never say no so checked through the internet and soon found a whole host of live clips from several recent live shows that fair blew our socks off. With a live set that brings in some classic Celtic-Punk from scene favourites Flogging Molly, The Pogues, Dropkick Murphys, etc. alongside their own material they have seen their popularity grow at home and now hopefully with their debut EP fans will arrive from further afield. So with St. Patrick’s Day 2023 now just a drunken haze its time to look forward to next years… and remember next year it’s a Saturday!

The Mighty McGuiggans left to right : Jesse Evans – Whistles / Melodica / Backing Vocals * David Coleman – Drums * John DeGroff – Bass * Shawn Browning – Electric Guitar / Acoustic Guitar /  Backing Vocals / Lead Vocals * Tommy Myers (front lower) – Accordion / Mandolin / Whistles /  Backing Vocals * Mark Turney – Lead Vocals / Ukulele *

While it was London Irish psycho-ceilidh rockers Neck who said that “every day is St. Patrick’s day” The Mighty McGuiggans proclaim “Every day is almost St. Paddy’s Day!” with us all having something just around the corner to look forward to! At the centre of The Mighty McGuiggans’ sound is songwriter, and possibly the only Celtic-Punk frontman to play ukulele, Mark Turney. He has led the band for over a decade and instrumental in evolving the bands sound from acoustic-based Irish Folk to a full-blown electric Celtic-Rock band. He has been accompanied since the earliest days by multi-instrumentalist Tommy Myers, Jesse Evans who plays assorted wind instruments adding much of the ‘Irishness’ with his knowledge of reels and jigs, John DeGroff on bass, David Coleman on drums and guitarist and singer Shawn Browning, as Mark so eloquently puts it, “Shawn adds the balls to the band.”

The EP opens with ‘Boys Have Gone The Knuckle’ and though the version above differs considerably from the one on the disc it’s still a decent version which shows what a great live show they deliver. With samples from the likes of JFK, the war-monger George Bush, the class clown Don Lemon among radio ads and static the song erupts into fast, catchy Irish Folk-Rock. Almost entirely acoustic its great fun altogether with a sound that reminds me a little of Swedes Finnegan’s Hell. Next up the fellas ‘pirate’ it up with ‘Pass Around The Rum’ not so fast but just as catchy and a nice touch with the ‘Swallowtail Jig’ in the middle.

The first song to be released from the EP was the triumphant ‘The Day I Beat McKluskey’ back at the end of January. A raucous Irish romp telling the tale of a bully getting their just deserts with a real funny twist at the ends that made me howl with laughter. A catchy as hell chorus that by the end of the first time you hear it you’re singing along with!

“It’s a drop of the pure for courage, & it’s Sláinte one & all!
I hit the bully on the nose, & made the bully fall.
The day I beat McKluskey, I could hold me head up high;
It’s a day that I’ll remember well until the day I die.”

Among all the mad as hell Celtic-Punk I hear I love a ballad. To be a world class Celtic-Punk band you need to be able to crank out a decent ballad (and also give it some trad. Irish too) and ‘Devil’s Drink’ is a wonderful song with a touch of darkness like a really good pint of Stout. The EP ends with the EP’s title song ‘Every Day Is Almost St. Patrick’s Day’ another belter of a song that ends the release with a smile.

“Every day is almost St. Paddy’s Day;
It’s really not so far away,
So let’s raise a pint, and keep sorrow at bay!
Every day is almost St. Paddy’s Day!”

The Mighty McGuiggans are a fantastic addition to the American Celtic-Punk scene with everything that makes the scene over there so good. A mix of story telling and uplifting good time music to leave your sorrows at home and simply have a great time. This EP concentrates on their fun side and their is absolutely nothing wrong with that.

(You can stream / download the Every Day Is Almost St. Paddy’s Day EP via the Bandcamp player below)

Download Every Day Is Almost St. Paddy’s Day  Bandcamp

Contact The Mighty McGuiggans  Facebook  YouTube   ReverbNation

INTERVIEW WITH POGUE | WALKER ROADER JAMES FEARNLEY

After a couple of interviews with fellow Walker Roaders Ted Hutt and Marc Orrell, our man in NYC, Ray Ball, finally gets round to the main inspiration for the band, James Fearnley. There at the very beginning, on the  4th October 1982 in Kings Cross – James is best known from his days in The Pogues. However, he has had a long and varied musical adventure including as guitarist for the Nipple Erectors (the Punk band fronted and founded by Shane MacGowan), the critically acclaimed Low and Sweet Orchestra, and Cranky George (with brothers –  screen writer Kieran and award winning actor Dermot Mulroney) before forming The Walker Roaders and releasing their self-titled #1 Celtic-Punk debut album. 

So I may not be easily starstruck. Through the course of writing here and being part of music in general I’ve been able to make contact with some pretty amazing people.

However, I just got off the phone with James Fearnley, accordion player for the Pogues.

I’m still a little bit dazed.

As with anyone I talk to, I try to leave the card blank to sign by them-what is important to them is important to me as part of the Celtic music community and to share with you.

James got his start playing piano, I think about 10 he said, and he was a choir singer. I think I caught him off guard, when I said he played as I imagine Jerry Lee Lewis would sound on an accordion. I think he was amused by that, but I think understood what I was trying to say.

Somewhere in there we got to talking about his first accordion playing. I think he said that Shane had brought the instrument up in a laundry basket. I don’t think the point of it ever was to be the best accordion player, but to flesh out some of Shane’s songs. He had heard traditional playing in pubs etc, but sufficed that he couldn’t play like that.

We talked for a while about the Pogues years, and I made a point to ask how they ever kept that many people together whether in the studio or live. He just said there was a core group that just practised and practised, until the mayhem of that big lineup was gone.

At one point I asked James about the tune ‘London Girl’. In no small part because it’s got one of the fiercest accordion parts I’ve ever heard. If you haven’t paid close attention to it, trust me and do it. It’s insane that when I talked to Marc, I asked him if he’d ever learned the part and laughed in agreement that it’s really just a ridiculously intense and speed of light part. All James had to say about it was that when he was in the studio doing overdubs, someone came and put a note on the booth that said “Go Cajun”. I imagine the next take he just went wild and came to one of those moments after that was “holy hell, what did I just do?”.

Interestingly enough that was the only remark he made about certain styles of playing. The accordion player from a group I gig with, references styles that half the time (and sorry Tom) I don’t even know, much less understand. But, I enthusiastically at one point mentioned that the Pogues were the godfathers of Celtic-Punk.

He immediately disagreed and said to them they had just taken apart what the Dubliners and reassembled it just a little differently. He continued that he thought a lot of punk was like that. Taking things apart and putting them back together, just differently. He cited the Dropkick Murphys as very Punk, with the truly loud roaring guitars that sound, especially on their early records, in my opinion sounding like a mashup of the Buzzcocks melody and Washington hardcore intensity.

He talked a great deal about his band mates in the Pogues. We both especially paid attention to Phil Chevron’s “Thousands are Sailing” as a brilliant piece, may Phil rest in peace. Evidently-I had no idea of this-Cait had never played bass before. But then on the other side of that coin, neither had Paul Simonon from The Clash. Paul’s heavily Jamaican influenced lines are some of the most iconic in rock history. I suppose what I can take from that is you don’t have to have virtuosic abilities. It seems like the Pogues all learned and honed their instruments and just practised. And practised more.

The Walker Roaders were a street gang when James Fearnley was a kid growing up in Manchester who would slit your thumb with a knife if they came across you and felt like it.

It’s hard, if not impossible to capture all the Pogues years, but I brought it into the present with how the Walker Roaders came to be, his friendship with Ted Hutt over time and how Marc joined in. I think he must have found it refreshing to be able to write lyrics, but cited Shane’s prowess on the matter.

I asked, and I think I’ve asked the three Walker Roaders I’ve talked to, if there was anything more on that front. I told James that the album was something I think we all needed but didn’t know we needed. He had a good laugh at that.

From what I can tell, Ted, Marc and James don’t sit still long, there’s always a project on. But I think all three wanted to do more on that front.

Whatever comes on that front, or any of his projects, James was a pleasure to talk to and had a wealth of stories to share.

I can’t wait to see what comes next out of everyone, and I hope you all had a great and safe St. Patrick’s Day.

Buy The Walker Riders  Stream or Download

Contact The Walker Riders  WebSite  Facebook  YouTube  Instagram

Our enormous thanks to Ray Ball. He has already featured on these pages as the driving force behind The Fighting 69th and his new band Ravenswalk from Buffalo. 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  or the Ravenswalk site.

You can read Ray’s other interviews with James band mates in the Walker Roaders here. First founder member of Flogging Molly and now a legendary and very popular producer Ted Hutt and ex-Dropkick Murphys guitarist Marc Orrell.

BEANNACHTAÍ NA FÉILE PÁDRAIG ORAIBH 2023!

St. Patrick’s Day Blessing On You

Beannachtaí na Féile Pádraig oraibh!

(ban-ock-tee na fay-lah paw-rig ur-iv)

Ireland has three official patron saints. They are Saint Patrick, Saint Brigid and Saint Colmcille yet it has always been Saint Patrick that has captured the Irish people’s imagination. Born in Wales (or possibly Scotland) when he was fourteen he was captured during a slave raiding party and taken to Ireland as a to herd and tend sheep. At the time, Ireland was a land of Druids and pagans but in his adopted country Patrick turned to God and would write later

“The love of God and his fear grew in me more and more, as did the faith, and my soul was rosed, so that, in a single day, I have said as many as a hundred prayers and in the night, nearly the same. I prayed in the woods and on the mountain, even before dawn. I felt no hurt from the snow or ice or rain.”

Patrick’s captivity lasted until he was twenty, when he escaped after having a dream in which he was told to leave Ireland by going to the coast. There he found some sailors who took him back to Britain and he was reunited with his family. A few years after returning home, Patrick saw a vision he described in his memoir

“I saw a man coming, as it were from Ireland. His name was Victoricus, and he carried many letters, and he gave me one of them. I read the heading: ‘The Voice of the Irish.’ As I began the letter, I imagined in that moment that I heard the voice of those very people who were near the wood of Foclut, which is beside the western sea-and they cried out, as with one voice: ‘We appeal to you, holy servant boy, to come and walk among us.”

The vision prompted his studies for the priesthood. He studied under St. Germanus and was ordained a bishop and sent to take the Gospel to Ireland. Patrick arrived in Slane, Ireland on March 25, 433. There are several legends about what happened next, with the most prominent claiming he met the chieftain of one of the druid tribes, who tried to kill him. After an intervention from God, Patrick was able to convert the chieftain and preach the Gospel throughout Ireland. There, he converted many people -eventually thousands – and he began building churches across the country. He often used shamrocks to explain the Holy Trinity and entire kingdoms were eventually converted to Christianity after hearing Patrick’s message. Patrick preached and converted all of Ireland for 40 years. He worked many miracles and wrote of his love for God in Confessions. After years of living in poverty, travelling and enduring much suffering he died March 17, 461. He died at Saul, where he had built the first Irish church and he is believed to be buried in Down Cathedral, Downpatrick.

For our annual St. Patrick’s Day post we feature a Celtic-Punk band that we love and recommend you listen to and today it is the turn of The Pikeys. Sixty odd minutes of full on Irish Celtic Rock’n’Roll recorded live on January 14, 2023 at the 10th Annual Irishpalooza at Harlow’s in the guy’s home town of Sacramento. Formed back in 2010 by Ben and Mike after listening to Ronnie Drew and Black Flag through the bottom of a whiskey bottle. They sing about going to war with the English, murder and drinking, traditional Irish songs about drinking, war with the English and murder, unexpected covers about murder, drinking and war with the English and even some acapella sing-a-longs about murder, war and drinking with the English. The Pikeys were born of Punk Rock and Irish whiskey.

Since this concert after thirteen years at the helm Mike sadly decided to leave the band. Carrying on The Pikeys without their friend didn’t seem right so the Bhoys decided the best thing to do would be to change their name and they are now known as The Pint Thieves. Don’t worry though it’s the same songs about drinking, war with the English and murder!

The Pint Thieves  WebSite  Facebook  Instagram  YouTube

“No enemy speaks slightingly of Irish Music, and no friend need fear to boast of it. It is without a rival Its antique war-tunes, such as those of O’Byrne, O’Donnell, MacAlistrum and Brian Boru, stream and crash upon the ear like the warriors of a hundred glens meeting; and you are borne with them to battle, and they and you charge and struggle amid cries and battle-axes and stinging arrows.”

Thomas Davis. 14 October 1814 – 16 September 1845

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Get We Left It As It Was  Spotify  Amazon  Apple

Contact The Provos  Instagram  YouTube

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

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

FROM THE PLOUGH TO THE STARS

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

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

Intro

The Gentlemen 🇺🇸 – Come Out Ye Black And Tans

Templars Of Doom 🇺🇸 – H-Block Escape

The Gobshites 🇺🇸 – Give Ireland Back To The Irish

In For A Penny 🇺🇸 – Easter Mourn

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

Black Irish Texas 🇺🇸 – Join The British Army

Tullamore 🇮🇹 – Mairéad Farrell

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

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

Auld Corn Brigade 🇩🇪 – Broad Black Brimmer

Hudson Falcons 🇺🇸 – 6 + 26 =1

The Lucky Pistols 🇺🇸 – God Save Ireland

The Larkin Brigade 🇺🇸 – Sean South From Garryowen

The Fisticuffs 🇺🇸 – Young Ned Of The Hill

O’Hamsters 🇺🇦 – Erin Ga Bragh

Kilmaine Saints 🇺🇸 – Go On Home British Soldiers

Jasper Coal 🇺🇸 – The Merry Ploughboy

Drunken Fighters 🇪🇸 – The Big Fella

The Bleeding Irish 🇺🇸 – The Uprising

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

Larkin 🇺🇸 – On The One Road

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

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

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

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

— James Connolly

NEW SINGLE: CALLUM HOUSTON – OKTFTW (2023)

New single from Graveyard Johnnys guitarist Callum Houston.

Acoustic Alternative Folk Rock – Made in Bretagne – Inspired in Ireland.

Carrigaline, county Cork native Callum Houston can usually be found singing songwriting around his home near Lorient in Brittany in the local pubs and clubs. When he’s not doing that he plays guitar in Premier League Psychobilly band the Graveyard Johnnys. It’s been almost a couple of years since his last recordings came out, the fantastic ‘As I Roved Out One Morning’ but he has just released ‘OKTFTW’ the first single from a forthcoming new EP to be called Pub Poetry due out on the 3rd of March 2023.

The bell rings and you’re calling them in
One last before closing time
You’re wondering round with thoughts to drown
Words you cannot soundAnd it’s alright
Well it’s ok
To feel this wayShes in the kitchen and there’s clearing something missing
And she finally starts breaking down
The tears fall and the words are crawling
Out from her mindAnd it’s alright
Well it’s ok
To feel this way

And before it’s too late
We’ve gotta find some time to sit and evaluate
Well I hope that in this song
You might find something that

Let’s talk about life your struggles and your strife’s
Let’s talk about you
All the things you need all the things you grieve
And all that is true

And it’s alright
Well it’s ok
Wake up in the morning to a bright brand new day
We can turn ourselves around
Pick ourselves up off the ground

And it’s alright
Well it’s ok
Wake up in the morning to a bright brand new day
We can turn ourselves around pick ourselves up off the ground
And before it’s too late
We must find some time to sit and evaluate
Well I hope that in this song you might sometime to
Well I hope that in this song you might sometime to help you move on

OKTFTW was released just last Friday on February 3, 2023. It was recorded at Humbu Studio by Alban Bauduin and mastered by Sleeper Bill. OKTFTW is available for streaming and download via the Bandcamp player below. It only costs a pound so buy Callum a quarter of a pint.

Download As I Roved Out One Morning  Bandcamp

Contact Callum Houston  Facebook  YouTube  Spotify

ALBUM REVIEW: THE SCUNTZ – Fall Apart Gang

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Download Fall Apart Gang  Bandcamp

Contact The Scuntz  Facebook  YouTube  Instagram

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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THE MARY WALLOPERS – The Mary Wallopers

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Contact The Mary Wallopers  WebSite  Facebook  Instagram  YouTube

DIRTY OLD FOLKERS – Will Dance For Cash

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

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

Contact Dirty Old Folkers  WebSite   Facebook   YouTube 

HEADSTICKS – 10 Years Without Killing Each Other

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

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

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

Contact Headsticks  WebSite  Facebook  YouTube

WATCH OUT FOR PART 2 AND 3 COMING THIS WEEK!

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CELEBRATING A CELTIC CHRISTMAS 2022. MERRY CHRISTMAS TO THE LONDON CELTIC PUNKS FAMILY

We think Celtic-Punk is about embracing the traditions of the past and bringing them to the present so here’s some of the Christmas customs of each of the Celtic nations.

At this point we also pick the best Christmas themed song we’ve heard to showcase. Their was a time it was quite easy to choose which song. Not any more!

This year our chosen Christmas track is from German Celtic-Punk legends Fiddler’s Green. While in the past we’ve gone for kind of serious songs it’s time for a Reggae – Irish Folk – Punk Christmas carol mashup I think. Taken from their recently released Christmas album Seven Holy Nights which we reviewed just the other day. It’s a marvellous album which covers so much ground and will raise even the most miserable’s smile while all the time still remaining a Celtic-Punk album.

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CELEBRATING A CELTIC CHRISTMAS

According to long standing theory, the origins of Christmas stems from pagan winter festivals. One main reason early Christians were able to spread their religion across Europe so quickly came from their willingness to embrace celebrations already common among regional populations. One such example is the Celtic ‘Alban Arthuan’, a Druidic festival that took place around December 21st. the Winter Solstice. This traditional fire festival celebrated the re-birth of the Sun. Although a celebration of the Son’s birth replaced that of the Sun’s, still a number of ancient Celtic Christmas traditions remain today.

As we look across the Celtic nations, it is interesting to note some similarities among Christmas traditions that cross geographic boundaries. They include, for example: Holly (a symbol of rebirth among Pagan Celts, but also of hospitality—it was believed fairies sought shelter inside the evergreen leaves to escape the cold); Mistletoe (believed to have healing powers so strong that it warded off evil spirits, cured illnesses and even facilitated a truce between enemies); fire and light (most notably the Yule log or candles placed in windows to light the way for strangers and symbolically welcoming Mary and Joseph); and door-to-door processions, from wassailing to Wren Hunts.

Each of the seven nations possesses its own variations of Celtic Christmas customs. Surrounding cultures and local identify shape theses practices as well.

SCOTLAND

Christmas was not officially recognized in Scotland for nearly four centuries. The Puritan English Parliament banned Christmas in 1647 and it did not become a recognized public holiday in Scotland until 1958. However, according to Andrew Halliday, in his 1833 piece Christmas in Scotland, Scots were not discouraged from celebrating Christmas. Halliday wrote

“We remember it stated in a popular periodical, one Christmas season not long ago, that Christmas-day was not kept at all in Scotland. Such is not the case; the Scots do keep Christmas-day, and in the same kindly Christian spirit that we do, though the Presbyterian austerity of their church does not acknowledge it as a religious festival”

Halliday’s 19th century account went on to describe festive sowens (sweetened oat gruel) ceremonies, “beggars” (actually “strapping fellows”) singing yule song, dances and card parties and children’s teetotum games. Despite Puritan rule, some long-time Christmas traditions are preserved. These include burning the Cailleach (a piece of wood carved to look like an old woman’s face or the Spirit of Winter) to start the new year fresh; or on Christmas Eve burning rowan tree branches to signify the resolution of any disputes. The Celtic tradition of placing candles in windows was also done in Scotland to welcome “first footers” (strangers, bearing a small gift) into the home. Traditional dishes also continue to be featured at Christmas lunch and throughout the holidays, including Cock-a-Leekie soup, smoked salmon, beef or duck, Clootie dumplings, black buns, sun cakes, Christmas pudding and Crannachan.

Because Christmas was not an official holiday until the late ‘50s it is no surprise that today, for some Scots, Hogmanay (New Year’s Eve) is the most important event of the season. Arguably, locals ring in the new year with much more gusto than any other place on the planet.

IRELAND

An Autumn clean up was a common practice in Irish homes to prepare for Christmas. Women looked after cleaning the interior, while men took care of the outdoors, including whitewashing all exterior surfaces. Then holly, grown wild in Ireland, was spread throughout the house with cheer. Contemporary Ireland also highlights this clean-up ritual; once complete, fresh Christmas linens are taken out of storage.

Other customs include the Bloc na Nollaig or Christmas Block (the Irish version of the Yule log), candles in the window (perhaps one for each family member), and leading up to Christmas, ‘Calling the Waites’ where musicians would wake up townspeople through serenades and shouting out the morning hour. Christmas Eve Mass is still a grand affair; a time for friends and family to reconnect. It is not uncommon for churchgoers to end up at the local pub after service to ring in Christmas morn. On Christmas Day, traditional dishes include roast goose or ham and sausages, potatoes (such as champ), vegetables (such as cabbage with bacon) and plum pudding, whiskey, Christmas cake and barmbrack (currant loaf) for sweets. Traditionally on December 26th, St. Stephen’s Day, Wren Boys with blackened faces, carrying a pole with a dead bird pierced at the top, tramped from house to house. Today the custom sometimes sees children caroling throughout the neighbourhood to raise money for charity. It is also quite common to go out visiting on this day.

WALES

Music was and still is a major part of Welsh holidays. Plygain is a Christmas day church service, traditionally held between three and six in the morning featuring males singing acapella in three or four-part harmonies. While today this may be mainly practised in rural areas, Eisteddfodde (caroling) is abundantly popular in homes, door-to-door and as part of annual song-writing competitions.

Dylan Thomas’ story ‘A Child’s Christmas in Wales’ is renowned around the world. An excerpt offers a glimpse of a traditional Welsh festive season:

“Always on Christmas night there was music. An uncle played the fiddle, a cousin sang ‘Cherry Ripe’ and another uncle sang ‘Drake’s Drum’… Looking through my bedroom window, out into the moonlight and the unending smoke-coloured snow, I could see the lights in the windows of all the other houses on our hill and hear the music rising from them up the long, steady falling night”

Other intriguing Welsh traditions include toffee making; drinking from a communal wassail bowl of fruit, spices, sugar and beer; children visiting homes on New Year’s Day looking for their Callenig gift; and Mary Lwyd (Grey Mare) featuring wassail singers going door-to-door carrying a horse’s skull and challenging residents in a contest of mocking rhymes.

ISLE OF MAN

Carolling also holds a special place in Manx Christmas celebrations, but traditionally an unconventional twist characterized it. On Christmas Eve, large numbers attended church for Carval. While the congregation sang, all of a sudden women would begin the traditional food fight, having peas on hand to throw at their male counterparts! Accounts from the 1700s and 1800s describe 12 days of non-stop Christmas celebrations where every barn was filled with dancers accompanied by fiddlers the local parish hired. The Reverend John Entick recorded in 1774

“On the twelfth day the fiddler lays his head on one of the women’s laps, which posture they look upon as a kind of oracle. For one of the company coming up and naming every maiden in the company, asks the fiddler, who shall this or that girl marry? And whatever he answers it is absolutely depended on as an oracle”

As in Celtic fashion, Hunting the Wren processions occurred on the Isle of Man and today the practice is going through a revival, characterized by costumes, singing and dancing.

Other Manx customs include Mollag Bands, wearing eccentric clothing, swinging a mollag (fishing float) and demanding money (a practice since outlawed); the kissing bush (a more elaborate ornament than a sprig of mistletoe); and Cammag, a sport that originated on the Isle of Man traditionally played on December 26th and/or Easter Monday. In older times but even as recently as the early 20th century, Christmas decorations were not taken down until Pancake Tuesday (when they were burnt under the pancake pan). Now holiday décor tends to be packed away on Old Christmas (January 6th).

CORNWALL

As a result of Oliver Cromwell banning Christmas, authentic holiday carols began to fade through much of Britain. However, throughout the 1800’s, Cornish composers and collectors sparked a revival of local Christmas song.Certain carols well-known around the world, such as Hark the Herald Angels and While Shepherds, are credited to Cornish origins.

“Contrary to the effect Methodism might have had on the English carollers, in Cornwall its impact was to stimulate song,” states the Cornwall Council (Cornish Christmas Carols – Or Curls, 2011). “In those areas where Methodism was strongest, music and signing had their greatest appeal, and notably so at Christmas. The singers would practice in chapels and school-rooms, some of them walking miles to be there”

Today, Cornwall erupts in festivals, fairs and markets during the holidays. The Montol Festival in Penzance (named for Montol Eve on December 21st) is a six-day celebration highlighting many Cornish traditions. These include Mummers plays, lantern processions, Guise dancing (participants dress in masks and costume, such as mock formal dress, to play music and dance).

Montol is also the time for burning the Mock (yule log). A stickman or woman is drawn on the block of wood with chalk. When the log burns, it symbolizes the death of the old year and birth of the year to come.

BRITTANY

Brittany boasts a wealth of folklore and supernatural beliefs around Christmas time. Christmas Eve was known as a night of miraculous apparitions from fairies to Korrigans, and at midnight, for just a brief moment, waters in the wells would turn into the most sweet-tasting wine. It was also at midnight, when families were either at mass or in bed, that ghosts would surface; traditionally food was left out for deceased loved ones just in case they visited.

During the holidays, Christmas markets come alive in many Breton towns vending hand-made crafts and toys, baked cakes and bread and ingredients for Christmas dinner. You can also buy Gallette des Rois at stalls, as well as bakeries, which is traditionally eaten on January 6th (Epiphany). A tiny figurine (the fève) is hidden inside the puff pastry cake; the person who finds the figurine in their piece gets to be king or queen for the day and wear a crown. Another special tradition through all of France is a meal after Christmas Eve’s midnight mass, called Réveillon. Specifically in Britany, the traditional dish for this occasion is buckwheat crêpes with cream.

GALICIA

Galicia has its own unique Christmas gift-bearer that pre-dates Christianity. He is called Apalpador, a giant who lives in the mountains. For Christmas, he descends into the villages below to make sure each child has a full belly. He brings treats, such as chestnuts, and well wishes for a year full of delicious sustenance. While Apalpador may not be widely observed in Galicia, his legend is seeing a revival.

Food is very important during the Galician holidays, featuring at least two feasts (on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day). Not surprisingly, seafood is on the menu, including lobster, prawns, shrimp, sea bass, and cod with garlic and paprika sauce. Other culinary delights consist of cured meat, cheese and bread, roast beef with vegetables and for dessert tarta de Santiago (almond cake), filloas (stuffed pancakes) and turrones (nougats). The children of anticipate the coming of the Three Kings or Magis by filling their shoes and leaving them outside on Epiphany Eve, January 5th. Many Galician’s communities also parade on the 5th.

So there you have it the old traditions just like the traditional music we all love live on…

Nollick Ghennal as Blein Vie Noa (Manx Gaelic)

Nollaig Chridheil agus Bliadhna Mhath ùr (Scottish Gaelic)

Nollaig Shona Dhuit agus Bliain Nua Fe Mhaise (Irish Gaelic)

Nedeleg Laouen na Bloavezh Mat  (Breton)

Nadolig Llawen a Blwyddyn Newydd Dda (Welsh)

Nadelik Lowen ha Bledhen Nowyth Da (Cornish)

Further Christmas themed fun with the London Celtic Punks Top Twenty

GET IN THE FESTIVE SPIRIT WITH THE LONDON CELTIC PUNKS CHRISTMAS CELTIC PUNK TOP-TWENTY!

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EP REVIEW: THE CARDINAL SINS – Hate The Sin, Love The Sinner (2022)

#Hatethesinlovethesinner

New 4 track EP from Irish based Celtic Punk / Rock Band The Cardinal Sins.

I had to check right back through the London Celtic Punks index to find The Cardinal Sins previous appearance on these pages and its from way back in December, 2017. Aye almost five years since we featured their new single ‘Straight Left, Right Hook’ of a which a new version stars on this EP.

Formed in 2013 around the counties of from Laois and Offaly in Ireland they have always played a combination of high energy covers and originals with a passing nod to the Celtic-Punk ‘Holy Trinity’ of Pogues / Dropkicks/ Mollys. Success at home led to a multitude of festival appearances followed by several European tours of Italy, Denmark and one famous trip to Germany to co-headline the Volmarstein Folk Festival with Irish music legends De Danann. I may be out of the loop with the band but we’ve not heard much since the single so great to see them again. They have become very popular in Germany (good taste them Germans) which has led to MacSlons Irish Pub Radio releasing a collection of new merchandise for the band.

So Hate The Sin Love The Sinner begins with a newly re-recorded version of that 2017 single ‘Straight Left, Right Hook’ dedicated to local bhoy the Portalington MMA fighter Philip ‘the honey badger‘ Mulpeter and ‘Straight Left Right Hook’ became his walk on tune. It’s a bit rough for this gentle soul and Philip has by the looks of it retired but the song lives on. An usually thing here is that the vocals for each song are shared with guitarist Wayne taking the lead on song one, a riotous romp pitched halfway between simple Irish folk and pounding fist in the air punky rock music. Bass player Steve takes on the vocals for ‘Ferryland Sealer’ which again takes a hard Rock approach but with the trad Folk shoved up in your face giving the impression that they are more Folk than Rock. Quite an achievement. It’s another single that came out first a couple of years ago. Only four songs so we’re halfway through when ‘Maggie May’ comes on. Now this was always been a cool song but I remember as a kid getting the Pogues ‘White City’ 12″ and they had a live version on the B-side that literally blew me away. I must have played it a 100 times in a row. Here banjo player John sings vocals and the Cardinal Sins version is much closer to that than the original Rod Stewart one but what a song it is! The curtain comes down for the EP with ‘Devil Spoke’ and they concentrate on the Folk to see us out. A lovely song that though obviously different from the rest of the EP fits in well. It has a certain Mumford And Sons feel to it and while some snobs purists may see that as an insult I bloody loved their first album which is where I can hear ‘Devil Spoke’ with it’s almost tribal drums and great vocals from mandolin player Bernadette.

The EP has been produced by Stephen Youster at Echo & Wave Studio in Kildare, Ireland. I get the feeling that the kind of music we are all here for is getting more and more popular at home in Ireland and it has always been big in Germany so with just those two options the future looks bright for the Cardinal Sins.

(You can stream / download Hate The Sin, Love The Sinner via the Bandcamp player)

Buy Hate The Sin, Love The Sinner  Bandcamp

Contact The Cradinal Sins  Facebook  YouTube  Spotify

ALBUM REVIEW: THE MAHONES – Jameson Street (2022)

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

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

The Mahones Promo 2019

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Buy Jameson Street  True North Records (CD / Download)

Contact The Mahones   FacebookPage  FacebookGroup YouTube  Instagram

ONE NIGHT IN CAMDEN! THE SCRATCH Vs. THE MARY WALLOPERS

In a months time two of Ireland’s most interesting bands go head to head on the same night in north London. Aye some eejit has booked them both to play 15th December in Camden only a few hundred yards apart. We are caught in a dilemma of which one to go to ourselves so here we present the evidence and leave it for you to decide!

Aye that’s right two bands with crossover audience and fan base and mutual appeal be will playing just up the road from each other. The Scratch are at the Camden Underworld and The Mary Wallopers just the other side of the tube station at the (still Irish owned) Electric Ballroom. I looked it up and it’s all of 459 feet that according to Google takes one minute to walk would you believe! The usual practise in these circumstances, according to Greenford Bhoy, is to go and see who you’ve seen the least but as none of us have ever seen either band before that’s not a option. Never mind it’s the week before Christmas and there’s gigs galore in London but to put these two fantastic bands up against each other is a crime against music! So in act of supreme impartiality here’s a potted history of the bands, a recent video and a live stream performance to help you make up your minds and wherever you choose to be on December 15th we’ll meet you half way up by the tube station for a can of beer/s before the show!

THE SCRATCH

Started as a fun experiment in the kitchen of a house in Perrystown, The Scratch are a 4-piece acoustic act from Dublin. Born from a shared love of acoustic guitar, metal and trad Irish music, The Scratch have moulded triumphant melodies with the groove and intensity of metal.

A 2017 busking trip to Rory Gallagher festival in Ballyshannon kick-started the journey, as a video of the band busking racked up an astonishing one million views in just a week and was shared around the world. An invitation to play Dublin’s Whelan’s followed, and then a string of Dublin headliners in increasingly bigger venues, each one sold out before doors. Most recently their Academy Dublin show sold out in just four days. Their first UK show in The Camden Assembly was also sold out ahead of time.

Their first EP Old Songs was released in 2018, a collection of older instrumental material. Next came stand-alone singles and crowd favourites ‘Get It Right Up’ and ‘Punisher’ that summer. 2019 saw the release of The Whole Buzz EP as well as singles ‘Cúnla’ and ‘Flaker’, with a marked development of their songwriting style and sound. The Whole Buzz further cemented The Scratch as one of the best trad revival/metal crossover acts in the country and one of the most exciting acoustic acts in the world with high energy acoustic riffs and soaring melodies

2020 saw them tour the UK for the first time, play their biggest shows to date around Ireland, as well as some of Europe’s biggest festivals. With Covid-19 changing the industry and indeed the world for a large portion of the year, the band released their debut album Couldn’t Give A Rats. The album received critical acclaim, scoring top 10 album in Ireland, a 4 star review from The Irish Times and Hot Press describing it as one of the “boldest Irish debuts in recent memory”. The band finished their rescheduled UK/Irish tour and was almost entirely sold out, including a date at London’s Boston Music Room and an unforgettable sold out show at the Olympia Theatre Dublin, their biggest headline gig to date.

It is impossible to fully understand this band without seeing them in the live environment, where they challenge anybody to come to a show and not leave with a smile on their face.

UNDERWORLD TICKETS

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THE MARY WALLOPERS

Ahead of the release of their debut album – expected this autumn – The Mary Wallopers are back with a new single, ‘Frost Is All Over’, as well as an accompanying music video.

To coincide with the release, the raucous Dundalk folk group have also announced a major tour, with new Irish dates in November and December – including a headline show at The National Stadium in Dublin on November 17. Tickets go on sale this Friday.

‘Frost is All Over’ is a traditional Irish song about taking everything in your stride and not caring about what everyone says you should care about,” The Mary Wallopers say of the new single. “We added the verse about landlords as we feel they are a sensitive sort who need reminding of how much we care about them. It was recorded by Chris Barry in his Dublin studio in 2021. It’s an old song made famous by Planxty.

“The video was shot by Sean McMahon and the set was designed by Mark Sheridan,” they continue. “Sean is from Dundalk like us and has worked on our livestreams before. It was shot in the old AOH Hall in Blackrock, Dundalk, which local music legend Conor Hughes allowed us to use. The video is our way of introducing the new band and how sexy we have become over lockdown. Our home studio / pub was too small to fit everyone in so we had to branch out but still keep it Dundalk.”

Originally made up of brothers Andrew and Charles Hendy and their friend Sean McKenna, The Mary Wallopers have recently expanded to a seven-piece for live performances.

With their trademark combination of charm, irreverence, staggering talent and a fiercely DIY ethos, the group have rapidly established themselves as a captivating force in Irish music. In 2019, they released their acclaimed debut EP, A Mouthful of The Mary Wallopers.

ELECTRIC BALLROOM TICKETS

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Buy Anthem  CD/ Vinyl/ Tape – From The Band

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VICTIM 0001. REMEMBERING FR. MYCHAL JUDGE 1933-2001

Mychal Judge, was an American Franciscan friar and Catholic priest who served as a chaplain to the FDNY. While serving in that capacity he was killed, becoming the first certified fatality of the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Irish-American Father Mychal Fallon Judge O.F.M. was the first official certified fatality of the nearly 3,000 people that perished in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. He was the chaplain for the Fire Department of the City of New York (FDNY). He was the first of 343 firefighters that lost their lives that day. It is said that he went first to lead his flock.

Victim 0001

This is the unique story of a man considered by many to be a Saint

The FDNY always had a reputation for being “heavily Irish”; the Irish-American firefighter was even more stereotypical than the Irish-American Police Officer in New York. Father Judge fit in well with that. He was born Robert Emmett Judge in Brooklyn, New York on 11 May, 1933 to parents from Co. Leitrim. In 2005, a monument in his memory was unveiled in Keshcarrigan, Co. Leitrim, whence his father came. His mother, Mary Fallon came from Drumkeerin, Co. Leitrim. Some people have claimed miraculous healing through prayers to Fr. Judge. Some have called for sainthood for him.

BLACK 47 – MYCHAL

In tribute to his legacy and in celebration of his life Larry Kirwan of the legendary Irish-American band Black 47, wrote this beautiful tribute entitled ‘Mychal’ in his honour that appeared on the band’s 2004 album New York Town.

In New York City I made my home
I loved the streets, the very stones
Cared for my comrades, cherished my friends
Loved all beginnings, had no time for ends

*

A city’s streets are full of woe
I saw suffering where’er I’d go
I did my best to console and heal
Treat each human with full dignity

*

I never saw a reason to
Hate someone who thinks different than you
Each one has their anointed place
In the love reflected in their God’s face

*

We all have sorrow, our share of trials
We all are sinners in each other’s eyes
Love alone can heal the pain
God bestows love in so many ways

*

I love the company of friends
The fire and the music sparkling in their eyes
But I achieved my heart’s desire
When I rode beside the ones who fight the fires

*

I have my failings and I have tried
To look them squarely in the eye
To be there when someone might call
For I know cruel well how hard it is to fall

*

As I arise on this September morn
The sun is beaming down, the streets are warm
God’s in His heaven and all is well

*

I will go forth and do His will.

Keshcarrigan, County Leitrim, Ireland

EP REVIEW: THE DEAD IRISH – ‘Four Corners Of Hell’ (2022)

The Dead Irish formed during the pandemic in Dublin and describe themselves as Irish trad/punk band based in Dublin. Their brilliant debut single just came out and is four songs of original proper Irish styled Celtic-Punk.

The most surprising development in Celtic-Punk since the end of the Covid lockdowns seems to have been that the Celtic nations have finally got Celtic-Punk, if only in a small way. Bands from the various Celtic nations have been slim on the ground but three bands have popped up recently – Gallowgate Murders from Scotland and The Outcast Crew and, today’s band, The Dead Irish from Dublin.

The first ‘proper’ track we heard from The Dead Irish was ‘Lost In the City’ which was also the lead single for the EP accompanied by a great video filmed in and around Dublin. It’s a great song based around the old Irish Folk song ‘The Spanish Lady’ but is given a great chorus and a 1970’s style Punk rock backing but feet remain firmly entrenched in Irish Folk. A catchy number that will I am certain prove Punk enough for the Punks and Folk enough for the Folkies. A real crowd pleaser for sure.

They follow this up with the instrumental ‘Morrisons Jig’ which will be familiar to many Celtic-Punk fans as the ‘Swallowtail Jig’ which for some reason has become pretty popular of late in the scene. It’s a great tune and perfect for speeding up and punking up. It’s not a easy song to pull off and even harder to give it the Punk treatment and still remain true to the songs Irish trad roots. I’ve heard plenty versions of this but this is seriously one of the best. Next onto ‘Ballad Of The Working Man’ and more traditional music but this time trad Punk. A bog standard Punk-Rock tune and absolutely fantastic. The tin whistles are put away this time for saxophone and the tale of working-class life strikes a chord in these tough times as the protagonist sees not much solidarity around him. David was lead singer of Irish Punks Hooligan who featured many times on these pages and his vocals are still as strong and powerful and here backed up by Rachel Lally on vocals is a great contrast.

For the last song we turn to Hooligan again and a cover of their great song ‘No Blacks No Irish No Dogs’. If Hooligan are remembered for anything then it should be this song. Recalling the anti-Irish racism of the 1950’s that newly arrived working class Irish immigrants found when arriving in England, especially the major cities, to work. Some play this down, even staggeringly In Ireland as it destroys their silly notions of ‘white privilege’, but talk to any Irish of that era or look up what they had to say and they’ll tell you.

(You can stream ‘No Blacks, No Irish, No Dogs’ on the Bandcamp player below where it is also available to download as ‘name your price’)

Sadly that generation are in the main no more. Many moved back home and others passed away but we can be thankful for them. They were the people who fought and struggled and lived their lives so that one day the Irish as a race here could live in peace. The song rattles along in that accessible way The Dead Irish seem to have with chugging guitars and thumping drums and bass with plenty ‘whoops’ and mandolin keeping it well lit!

I was a huge fan of Hooligan back in the day (though I’m not sure if they are officially no more?) so it’s great to hear David back again. He has a real knack for writing superbly catchy and accessible music that is neither weak kneed or cliched. On top of that The Dead Irish have found a fresh approach to Celtic-Punk that will gain them plenty of fans. The band are doing something pretty novel for both the Irish Punk and Folk scenes and surely to God their must be market for it back on ‘the auld sod’ as I’m pretty sure their is over here!

CD’s of Lost In The City are available via the bands Facebook page

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Here is Hooligan’s original version of ‘No Blacks, No Irish, No Dogs’ performed in north London a few years back on my birthday with me there singing along in the background!

CELTIC-PUNK LIVE AND LOUD IN DEPTFORD

The Lagan / Dirty Artichokes / Anto Morra at The Bird’s Nest, Deptford, London

Thursday 4th August 2022

It had been a while since we put on any bands and had even debated whether or not to keep doing so but presented with the opportunity to put on Italian band Dirty Artichokes we just couldn’t say no. On their way to Outcider Festival down south and (sort of) passing through the big smoke we rounded up a couple of the best the London Irish had to offer and let the bands do what they do best. Séan Cregan was there and enjoyed the night so much he had to get it into print!

A lovely sunny Thursday evening sees me heading down to Deptford south London. I arrive at the Little Crown, a small recently refurbished Irish pub, for a few liveners with Mark, Amy and Pat before making the short walk to the Birds Nest one of the few remaining live music venues where gigs are usually free (as tonight’s is) and the drinks are reasonably priced unlike the eye watering six pounds fifty at the New Cross Inn down the road.

The Birds Nest has also had a makeover in recent years, which was well needed as in the past you’d struggle to see the band stuck in the corner with no stage. This has now thankfully been rectified with a stage centre front of the bar, making for a small cosy up close and personal experience for both bands and punters alike.
As it’s Amy’s birthday the drinks are flowing and the bar is getting another makeover by way of London Celtic Punks stickers (get your own from the LCP Shop) liberally splattered about the gaff. The evening’s entertainment begins by way of Punk / Folk legend Anto Morra who warms up the still arriving crowd with his humour and medleys of Punk and Folk classics. For a Thursday night the place is jumping and it’s standing room only for the late arrivals. The Dirty Artichokes are a new one for me but boy were we in for a treat! The nine piece Italian band from Turin shuffle onto the stage filling every inch. The fiddle player had to stand on a speaker cab as there was literally no room left. We are then entertained for the next forty minutes by some of the most energetic Celtic Folk / Punk it has been my pleasure to witness.

(The Dirty Artichokes final song of the night recorded now for posterity!)

The lead singer is a bald, bearded, whirling dervish who engages the audience with his energy and passion. He also plays a mean tin whistle. The fact that most of the songs are in Italian matters not a jot to the crowd who have started jigging about loving every minute. I can’t recommend this lot enough and I was left wanting more and cheering like a lunatic. Nothing to do with the trays of Sambucas that have been necked to toast the birthday girl I’m sure.

The band finish with a rousing cover of the Anti Fascist favourite ‘Bella Ciao’ before leaving the stage to make way for the evening’s final turn. The Lagan (named after the Belfast river) are a five piece that play souped up traditional Irish Celtic-Punk at its best. I’ve seen them a few times now and they never ever disappoint and tonight is no different as they put on a blinder of a set, with loads of us singing along, as the night draws to a close. Well at the Bird’s Nest anyway. Check out their debut album ‘Where’s Your Messiah Now?’

We saunter off into the night well oiled and satisfied. We find the Amersham Arms still open and serving and drink into the small wee hours. Not too shabby for a Thursday night in South London.

Up the Celts!

Photos – Anto / Amy / Séan / Donny / Pat

We are pleased to welcome Séan Cregan to our ‘roster’ of London Celtic Punks writers. Séan is a second-generation London-Irish boy through and through. Lived here all his days and has absolutely no interest in ever moving away. “A man who is tired of London is tired of life” said someone once. He is currently in the process of writing his autobiography of a life well lived. His previous works include 24/7 – Prison Poems From An Anti-Fascist still available from https://www.paypal.me/AFpoems for £4 and we look forward to many more pieces here.

 

NEW SINGLE: THE DEAD IRISH ‘Lost In The City’ OUT NOW

Trad Punk from the depths of Dublin city!

Lost In The City is the first release from Irish trad punk band The Dead Irish. Filmed in Dublin, Ireland during February 2022 and released one evening in July. The band was formed during Ireland’s strict lockdown during 2021 and Lost In The City is the first single to come out from their first EP.

As I walked down to Dublin town one evening in July

I met a little girl on Grafton Street She smiled as she passed me by

Such a charmin’ elf I had to coax myself to see if I was really there

She looked so neat from her head to her feet

The colour of her nut brown hair

I said “hey little girl won’t you tell me your name”

And “can I walk with you a while?”

I’m lost in the city all on my own

Lost in the city far away from home

*

 On Chancery Street at the Christian Mission I was looking for a place to hide

At the gates of Mountjoy Prison I was trying to get inside

She looked at me through her big brown eyes

She looked at me and smiled

She said I am your destiny

We took off side by side

We wandered north, we wandered south

And then we wandered back again

We were lost in the city all on our own

Lost in the city far away from home

*

 When I woke up the next morning

 Well I knew she wasn’t there

She left no note, nothing that she wrote

Just a lock of her nut brown hair

Won’t you listen to my story boys Its a tale I have to tell

If you see the girl with the nut brown hair

 Won’t you say that I wish her well

We talked all night till the break of dawn

 And fell asleep in each others arms

Lost in the city to all her charms

Lost in the city

 All night long

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IRISH BAND THE WINTER CODES RELEASE FIRST SINGLE FROM NEW ALBUM

Irish folk duo The Winter Codes release the first single, ‘Too Sly To Die’, from their upcoming new album Set The Darkness Reeling. Led by Barney Murray of Blood Or Whiskey fame the song is fuelled by classic Irish folk influences.

Just the other day we received a track in the mail from The Winter Codes, a duo based in the capital town of county Offaly, Tullamore, almost bang centre in the middle of Ireland. Now sorry local folk but Tullamore is only known for one thing. A big thing admittedly mind, the Irish whiskey Tullamore Dew. Traced back to 1828 the original distillery closed in the 1950’s only for the brand to be bought by Powers and resurrected at their Midleton Distillery in Cork, until 2010 when the brand was sold to new owners, William Grant & Sons,  who brought whiskey production back to the town when a new distillery was opened back in Tullamore. Now I’m fond of a bit of waffle (see above for prime example!) but it surprised me that The Winter Codes neglected to make any mention of their ‘heritage’ in one of Celtic-Punk’s all time greatest bands. Now this is a Winter Codes review not Blood Or Whiskey review but you simply cannot understate the effect and influence Blood Or Whiskey had upon Celtic-Punk and it’s development. Here the sound is uncannily similar to BorW and no surprise with Barney Murrray with his unmistakable vocals having teamed up with David Walshe, brother of the late Paul who was also a founding member of Blood Or Whiskey. With a new album, Set The Darkness Reeling, to be released for the 1st August they have put out lead single ‘Too Sly To Die’ this week. The album is an emotional tribute to Paul Walshe who passed away ten years ago. With this release he is immortalised with the album even features some of his expert banjo musicianship on some of the tracks.

Saw you on the high stool holding court I know you ruled by pain and fear

Dishing out the suffering for the sport I’m glad I never got too near

All that unease you couldn’t show you had a conscience like a sieve

Anyone who crossed you came to know you didn’t forget or forgive

Chorus :

I thought you were too sly to die

I thought you were too sly to die

I thought you were too sly to die

But you bought it still

You were no stranger to revenge I know you gave more than you took

Half of the time it made no sense you would avenge a crooked look

Paranoid feelings in your heart though you ignored them come what may

Many had tried to take your part but you held the tide at bay

One cold night one simple mistake they had the whole thing organised

Didn’t feel sad or go to the wake but I really was surprised

(David Walshe and Barney Murray)

On the strength of this single I cannot wait to hear the album August 1st roll round quickly please. The lads are joined on the album by a wealth of Irish music expertise including Daithi Meila from the Irish/Bluegrass band Jig Jam, folk singer Lisa Loughrey, and engineer Sean Montgomery. The album saw the duo travel to the famous Grouse Lodge recording studio in Westmeath, which famously housed Michael Jackson when he recorded there.

“We got the idea to record an EP of five of our songs which then became the Set The Darkness Reeling album.”

‘With Too Sly To Die’ the band stick to their roots of trad Irish folk but with an uplifting and positive twist. The single’s accompanying video was filmed in landmark Dublin pub The Cobblestones. Having hosted traditional Irish music for decades, and being located in one of Dublin’s oldest neighbourhoods, the bar is synonymous with music from the region and with Too Sly to Die, The Winter Codes join the annuls of such musical greats.

Too Sly to Die available across all platforms now. 

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ALBUM REVIEW: AFTER HOURS VOLUME TWO – BLACK 47 TRIBUTE COMPILATION (2022)

Thirty years on from the release of Black 47’s eponymous first album and a year after Volume One comes the second part of a trilogy of tribute albums celebrating this popular and most controversial of Celtic-Punk bands of whom Time magazine wrote in 1993

“the proletariat passion of Black 47’s songs that make the group stand out”.

Celebrating the songs of Larry Kirwan and Black 47 with Finbar Furey, Barleyjuice, Jonee Earthquake Band, Finny McConnell, Bangers And Mash, The PoguestrA and The Muckers and once again produced by Peter Walsh of The Gobshites and Larry Kirwan himself.

While not strictly a Celtic-Punk band their influence on Celtic-Punk, especially in the States, is immeasurable. A New York band made up of Irish expatriates playing a mixture of several genres but with traditional Celtic and Irish Folk music at its very core and led by the distinctive and talented songwriting of Larry Kirwan.

Taking their name from the year 1847 which was the worst period of An Gorta Mór / The Great Hunger when blight wiped out the potato crop the staple of the Irish working class diet. This blight caused famine in the land while all the time the British army escorted Irelkand’s numerous other crops, under armed guard, to the docks and away from Ireland. A conservative estimate puts the number killed between 1845 and 1850 as way more than the official figures of one million people and another two million forced into exile with most of them washing up to North America.

THE JONEE EARTHQUAKE BAND – ‘Who Killed Bobby Fuller?’

Punk-Rock pirates hailing from the  Boston, Massachusetts playing a crazy mix of Surf, Country-Punk and Rockabilly… and whatever else they feel like playing! ‘Who Killed Bobby Fuller?’ was originally released by Black 47 on their second album, Home of the Brave, in 1994. Bobby was an American singer-songwriter best known for ‘Let Her Dance’ and his cover of the Crickets’ ‘I Fought the Law’ who was found dead in his car in Los Angeles in 1966 at only 23. One of the great unsolved Rock’n’Roll mystery songs!

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FINBAR FUREY – ‘Mychal’

Finbar Furey needs no introduction except to reiterate what a true legend of Irish music he really is. His song is ‘Mychal’ perhaps the highest emotional peak Black 47 ever reached. Written as a tribute to Father Mychal Judge a Franciscan friar and Catholic priest, who served as chaplain of the New York City Fire Department. On September 11, 2001 Fr. Mychal entered the North Tower of the World Trade Centre alongside other firefighters and rescue personnel. As the South Tower collapsed, debris flew through the North Tower lobby killing many including Fr. Mychal.  Though many had perished before him, he was given the solemn honour of being designated Victim 0001 – the first recorded casualty of 9/11.

“When Larry asked me if I would sing this song, I told him I  would be honoured. Mychal was a wonderful human being who did so much for the people of New York and never left their side in their darkest hour. A beautiful song for a beautiful man.“

BARLEYJUICE – ‘Celtic Rocker’

Barleyjuice are a nationally-known Celtic Rock band from Philadelphia who play mainly original but also a few traditional Irish music. Their songs over seven albums have been heard in movies, TV and radio programmes for over twenty years.

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FINNY McCONNELL- ‘I Got Laid On James Joyce’s Grave’

Another legend of Irish music Finny has been making music with premier league Canadian Celtic-Punk knock-outs The Mahones since 1990 over a dozen studio albums plus several other full players. Finny finally branched out on his own last year recording his first solo album The Dark Streets Of Love.

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BANGERS AND MASH – ‘Izzy’s Irish Rose’

Formed in 2003 in Suffolk County, New York Bangers And Mash have a personal recommendation from Larry Kirwan- “If you’re looking for a band with strong songs who can rev up the party and get punters dancing, you should have Bangers and Mash on your menu. Guaranteed to go well with Guinness and good times!”

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THE POGUESTRA – ‘Green Suede Shoes’

The PoguestrA is a group of musically diverse musicians from across the world united by a love of The Pogues playing together remotely. Tending to usually only record Pogues related material here they branch out to take in another of Black 47’s more popular and well known songs. Always on the lookout for new members feel free to contact them and join the gang.

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THE MUCKERS – ‘Five Points’

After Hours 2 comes to an end with another of the Celtic-Punk scene’s favourite bands The Muckers. A five-piece Celtic-Folk-Punk band from Atlanta. With a strong emphasis on Irish music, the band also blends influences of Gypsy music, sea shanties, Country, Rockabilly, and plenty more!

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Another top notch production from Valley Entertainment and we await Volume Three eagerly. Their are links included for a variety of places to order from but if possible get it from the label directly instead of funding vultures who make money out of other peoples hard work and risks.

Buy After Hours  Fanlink  ValleyEntertainent  Bandcamp

Released by Valley Entertainment. Independent record label based in New York City. The label includes an eclectic repertoire with focus on singer-songwriters, modern Irish musicians and World music.

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AFTER HOURS VOLUME ONE COMPILATION

Volume 1 of the trilogy featured 7 more songs from Larry Kirwan and Black 47 by Celtic Cross, Pat McGuire, Screaming Orphans, The Gobshites, Rory K, Gary Óg and Martin Furey. 

Further Recommended Reading:

Let Ireland Remember

Irish National Famine Memorial Day

but the most extensive resource on Facebook about this period is to be found at

Irish Holocaust –Not Famine: The Push To Educate In Facts

THE ROCKAWAY REBEL OF THE EASTER RISING – JOHN ‘THE YANK’ KILGALLON

“Of all the Irish-American towns in America, it had to be a Rockaway guy that wound up in the middle of the bloody battle at the Post Office” 

Often on these pages we have spoken of the Easter Rising. A somewhat mythical event doomed to failure when heavily outnumbered Irishmen and women rose up against the full might of the most powerful empire in the world. Even now over 100 years later it remains an event unparalleled in Irish history. The rebellion began on Easter Monday and the spark would soon ignite a nation and it’s people.

Here our friend ‘cross the broad Atlantic’ Kevin Rooney writes of the involvement in the Easter Rising of one John Kilgannon, better known as ‘The Yank’.

JOHN ‘THE YANK’ KILGALLON

The Rebel Of The Rising From Rockaway

John Aloysius Kilgallon was born in Queens, New York on September 5, 1891. His father Luke came from Coogue, Co. Mayo. His mother Nora (née) Walsh came from Knock, Co. Mayo. The family lived in Far Rockaway. His father ran a blacksmith shop, which became a successful auto repair shop on Beach 19th Street. He also owned Real Estate. John was their only son.

On 20 August, 1912 John attended a Chauffeur’s Ball in the Imperial Hotel in Far Rockaway. He took a customer’s car from his father’s garage without permission to give his friends a ride home on a rainy night. Ten young people were piled in the car when it struck a farm wagon in the Springfield Gardens neighbourhood in Queens at 2am. Seventeen year old Cecelia Wellstead was crippled after being thrown from the car. She initiated a lawsuit against John for $50,000 amid much publicity. She was awarded $20,000 by Justice Scudder of the Queens County Supreme Court. In the meantime between the accident and the judgement, John had gone to Ireland.

Patrick Pearce

It is believed the family attended a speech given by Pádraig Pearse at the Brooklyn Academy of Music on March 2, 1914. It was attended by about 2,500 people despite being in the midst of a terrible snowstorm. Pearse was on a speaking tour to raise much needed funds for Scoil Éanna/St. Enda’s School in Rathfarnham, Dublin. It was a secondary school for boys emphasising Irish cultural identity; particularly history, mythology, poetry, and most especially the Irish language. Pearse believed passionately that the existing system of education sought to eradicate Irish identity in favour of obedience to Britain.

(‘Easter Mourn’ by In For A Penny. Beginning with the words of Patrick Pearce)

Pearse’s speech was for an annual commemoration of Robert Emmet marking his birth on 4 March, 1778. The young, courageous and eloquent Irish rebel martyr, who was hanged in 1803; holds a place in the hearts of all Irish patriots, but especially that of Pearse. In fact, St. Enda’s site in Rathfarnham, Dublin was much associated with Emmet. The school was relocated there in 1910 from Ranelagh; where it was founded in 1908. Emmet walked its grounds as he courted Sarah Curran, and sat in the same room and was inspired by the same scenery as Pearse a century later. Along with much needed funds to keep the school running, he returned to Dublin with a young Irish-American student from Brooklyn named Eugene Cronin. Pearse wrote to a friend in July, 1914:

“I have got another Irish-American for next term. His name is Kilgallon, his father owns real estate in Far Rockaway and he is quite a young man. He will rank as a university resident.”

Kilgallon is said to have been well-liked and to have thrived in this environment, which included honor and discipline of an increasingly military nature; as well as academics.

Photograph of John ‘The Yank’ Kilgallon in what looks like a Fianna Eireann uniform at St. Enda’s, Maundy Thursday, 1916.

Kilgallon appears to have belonged to Na Fianna Éireann youth organization, and the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB), an oath-bound organization dedicated to establishing an Irish Republic by force. He was closely associated with many fellow students who shared this joint membership and was photographed in a Fianna uniform. He became a member of E Company, 4th Battalion, Dublin Brigade of the Irish Volunteers. The company was called “Pearse’s Own” as it contained his former students. They made preparations for the Rising by making grenades, filling cartridges with shot, and making batons.

On Easter Monday, 24 April 1916, E Company arrived at the rebel headquarters at the General Post Office (GPO) on O’Connell Street. Kilgallon, who was nicknamed ‘The Yank’ was quoted by Desmond Ryan to have exclaimed in his American accent:

“Holy Gee! This ain’t no half-arsed revolution! This is the business. Thousands of troops and siege guns outside. The whole country is ablaze. Twenty transports are coming in when the submarines have sunk the rest of the warships. We have our own mint. Light your pipes with Treasury notes and fling all but the gold away. When we do things, we do things.”

After reading the Proclamation of the Irish Republic, Pearse ordered them to take up positions on the roof; where they fired and were fired upon by British troops, and took artillery fire from the British gunboat Helga, positioned in the Liffey. Among his comrades there was Éamonn Bulfin, who was born and raised in Argentina. It was Bulfin who raised the green “Irish Republic” flag on the roof of the GPO. Bulfin later remembered: “One of the pictures that stands out in my mind, is seeing Kilgallon running round on the roof trying to stop fires.” Kilgallon was also said to have saved Bulfin’s life by pulling him from a window in the GPO, which was under heavy fire.

(The most famous of all the many Easter Rising songs ‘The Foggy Dew’ played here by The Chieftains with Sinead O’Connor. It was written by Father (later Canon) Charles O’Neill from Portglenone, County Antrim)

Kilgallon is also remembered for a humorous event that occurred during the week. E Company members crossed Henry Street into Henry Place and Moore Lane and battered an evacuation and escape route through the houses, so that they could access all the houses while remaining sheltered indoors. Bulfin said:

“Myself, Desmond Ryan, Kilgallon, and all of the St Enda’s boys proceeded to break the divisions between the houses for about half the length of the street. The walls were quite thin, and there was no bother breaking them. We reached as far as Price’s or O’Hanlon’s which was a fish shop”.

This included the Henry St. Waxworks, where Kilgallon; who stood 6’2 returned wearing a costume looted from a wax figure of Queen Elizabeth I!

When the order to surrender was given on Saturday 29 April, E Company was huddled together to the Rotunda Gardens. Sunday, they were marched to Richmond Barracks. Kilgallon was sent first to Stafford Jail in England, then to Frongoch internment Camp in Wales with many other rebel prisoners. He gave his address at Stafford as The Heritage, Rathfarnham, Dublin; St. Enda’s. He appears in a group photograph taken at Stafford with a young Michael Collins. He had written to his parents before the Rising that he saw that trouble was coming. When they heard no news from him for a while they feared he might have been killed in the fighting. Bulfin’s sister was able to smuggle out a letter from Frongoch for him which read:

“The authorities said they would release some of us if we would sign a form promising not to take arms against His Majesty’s forces and give bonds to that effect. You know there are none of us here who could do that without betraying the cause we fought for, so I suppose we will have to stay. But it is worth it after all for if we signed these forms they would say they were justified in shooting our leaders as we were only dupes who did not know what we were fighting for. But they will never get us to do that, if they keep us here until we rot.”

The US Consul in Dublin, Edward L. Adams inquired as to the treatment of American citizens Kilgallon, Diarmuid Lynch (who became a naturalised citizen) and Éamon de Valera, who was also born in New York City. How much influence this actually carried is still a matter of debate, particularly in the case of de Valera; who had actually been sentenced to be executed. He held a position of command at Boland’s Mill. Some believe his American birth did save him, on diplomatic grounds. Others believe by the time his turn had come, they had decided the executions had become counter-productive and finished with executing the last two signatories; Seán MacDiarmada and James Connolly. Tom Clarke was a naturalised US citizen, and no issue was raised on his behalf. He and Pearse were among the first to be executed.

Part of the legacy of John ‘The Yank’ Kilgallon’s participation in the Easter Rising was a series of photographs he took at St Enda’s of comrades the day before the Rising begun.

Kilgallon was released before Christmas of 1916 and returned back to the US as part of a general amnesty. The following poem was published in The Brooklyn Eagle newspaper 28 December 1916:

“Under a spreading chestnut tree

The village blacksmith stands

The Smith a mighty man is he

With strong and sinewy hands

Yet worried Luke Kilgallon felt

And mourned since Easter Day

His son, a fine uprising Celt

Was far from Rockaway

For John had been at school with Pearse

That Dublin patriot grim

And when Pearse led his outbreak fierce

The Lion seized on him

Since then poor John, locked up in Wales

And even wails suppressed

Had shared the fare of British jails

Not quite a merry jest

‘A Merry Christmas I am free’

Flashed ‘neath the ocean foam

The smith a jolly man is he

His John is coming home.”

On his return, Kilgallon joined the US Navy and served as a machinist during World War I; though he doesn’t appear to have served overseas. He lived a quiet, apparently uneventful life afterwards managing the family business on Beach 19th Street. He died on 30 January, 1972, coincidentally an important date in Irish history known as ‘Bloody Sunday’ in Derry. The Rockaway peninsula, with its long strip of beaches on the Atlantic Ocean has often been called ‘The Irish Riviera’ and maintains a strong Irish presence to this day.

John Kilgannon Commeration, St. Mary Star of the Sea Cemetery in Cedarhurst, New York.

Online Sources:

https://www.independent.ie/…/remembering-the-rising-of…

https://www.nytimes.com/…/student-of-irish-language…

https://www.rockawave.com/…/the-1916-easter-rising-and…/

https://fiannaeireannhistory.wordpress.com/…/john-the…/

https://www.rockawave.com/articles/kilgallon-commemoration/

(‘Who Fears To Speak Of Easter Week’ written and sung by famed Irish writer Brendan Behan – ‘Ireland’s laughing boy and resident working-class Dublin genius’)

 *

Our thanks go out to Kevin Rooney for this fascinating article. You can hear more from Kevin over at the Irish History 1916 through to 1923 and Everything Irish Facebook pages where he is an admin. Kevin also contributed to the Happy Birthday Mr Bob book, a celebration of Bob Dylan’s 80th Birthday, with submissions from Irish poets, writers, singers, songwriters, artists, photographers and an eclectic mix of admirers! Kevin is an excellent writer and earlier in the year we published Irish Born And Irish Americans : Separated By Common Heritage? about the sometimes troublesome relationship between the two.

THE SCRATCH FROM DUBLIN. NEW SINGLE ‘Another Round’ OUT NOW!’

The Scratch come from Dublin and have become the latest sensation on the Irish music scene with their loud and catchy as hell acoustic owing much to alternative forms of music as the auld Irish Folk legends.

The Scratch just played in London on St. Patrick’s Day and even though a couple of us noticed the advertisements for it we dismissed the gig and The Scratch as heavy metal. One reason was the name and the other was because the gig was at London’s premier metal venue the Underworld in Camden. It’s no surprise anymore to see shamrocks plastered over everything during St. Patrick’s even when the event has no Irish connection. It wasn’t until a few days later and one of the readers over on the London Celtic Punks FB page left a comment recommending them so I checked them out and bloody hell was I impressed. The band consider ‘Another Round’ as their best work to date so it’s just the perfect way to come in!. ‘Another Round’ is an energetic (soooo energetic) five minute track that builds and builds and builds in what has become their signature and unique way blurring the line between their metal roots and love of old Irish storytelling. The story tells realistically the perils and joys of a night out on the piss.

(Recorded and Engineered by Ben Wanders at Wanderland Studios, Limerick, Ireland.

Starring: The Scratch * Rob Earley * Emma Walsh * Bonnie Dean *)

*

I was down the back of another aul snug just taking the time to watch the wall paint dry

The sound of a bauld aul crowds dull chattering filling the air within an inch of its life

A man on either side of me, the bar to the right

I’d be lucky to make it outta here with me life

And isn’t that your man that barred us last time for singing ‘Ra tunes on a Tuesday night?

➖

Crawling up the walls lookin’ like a rabid hound

Get up outta that, get up off the ground

I’ll tie ya to that chair if ya don’t simmer down

You’re the worlds worst patron saint of stout

Actually didn’t I barr yous last week and what are ya doin’ with a spliff in your mouth?

Alright then never mind what’ll it be lads? Another Round (x12)

➖

Take the edge off the knife

Catch the rain before it all runs dry

Cure the dog of all that ails it

You’ll still be that bitter man inside

➖

They are changing all the taps

Switching off the lights in every room

If the last call has an ending

I swear to god there’s nothing left for you

➖

I was down the back of another aul snug just taking the time to watch the wall paint dry

The sound of a bauld aul crowds dull chattering filling the air within an inch of its life

A man on either side of me, the bar to the right

I’d be lucky to make it outta here with me life

And isn’t that your man that barred us last time for singing ‘Ra tunes on a tuesday night

For singing IRA tunes on a Tuesday night

☘

Guitarist Jordan O’Leary writes

“The song is at its core a drinking song. I don’t think it’s necessarily for or against excessive alcohol consumption, and all that comes with it, but more of an honest portrayal of my own experience with that way of life. It was written back during the first lockdown in 2020. I was craving the warm cozy embrace of my favourite Dublin snug, Bowes bar on Fleet Street. I wrote the song while stuck sitting in a gaff in Palmerstown, Dublin dreaming of the countless nights of craic we used to have in that pub. Most of the references heard in the song are directly related to those nights. The chatter and manic atmosphere of a busy pub, the ever growing rowdiness as the night progresses and the rounds keep coming, the couple of lads in the group that are thrown out for reaching a belligerent state of patriotic pride and singing unsolicited rebel songs at the top of their lungs, and the perpetual and dizzying nature of all of these things combined. The songs structure is essentially a three and a half minute build up that grows more and more tense as it progresses, until eventually it reaches the release and payoff that repeats until its end.”

Contact The Scratch  WebSite   Facebook  YouTube

Download / Stream ‘Another Round’  https://linktr.ee/TheScratch

MOLLYS vs MURPHYS ST. PATRICK’S FACE OFF!

As usual it’s been impossible to keep up with the flow of new music over the St. Patrick’s day period. Not just singles but many EP’s and albums landed on our doorstep that we will get to over the following few weeks but we couldn’t let this years festivities go without a special mention for that oh-so rare occurrence a double release for both the most popular bands in Celtic-Punk – Flogging Molly and the Dropkick Murphys. 

First off the mark on the 10th March were Flogging Molly with “These Time Have Got Me Drinking / Tripping Up The Stairs’. A solid return to form and if anything the classic FM sound of early Flogging Molly. The track is available for streaming and download.

“Morning starts with sunset

As the darkness fills my eye

It’s been so long since another soul,

Occupied this life”

This year the band have been busy with a tour leading up to a all day show at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles on the big day itself that was live streamed but was only online for 72 hours before being withdrawn ensuring I never got (and plenty of you too i suppose) to see it!

The Murphys followed this just a few days after with a tremendous cover of the auld Gospel religious song ‘We Shall Overcome’. Descended from a hymn that was first published in 1901 it has since been sung by strikers and protesters and famously civil rights activists in the United States and the north of Ireland. The song begins with the words of Bobby Kennedy as he calls for unity on the day of Martin Luther King’s assassination and they have never ever sounded so relevant. The Murphys belt it out of the ball park and their is surely no better band in the world at turning any song into a full blown anthem.

“Oh, deep in my heart
I know that I do believe
We shall overcome, someday”

The video sees footage of the band included along with historical photos and film of American protest movements – from striking workers and picket lines to the civil rights movement. No band stands up for the working class like the Dropkick Murphys do. As busy as ever too with a tour that went across the States accompanied by The Rumjacks among others that one of the gang was lucky to catch and review. They also managed a fantastic St. Patrick’s Day live stream from the House Of Blues in hometown Boston though theirs was free but in common with Flogging Mollys was also withdrawn after a couple of days. What’s that about I wonder?

Dropkick Murphys Fan Page By the fans – From the fans – Of the fans

Check back with us at the weekend for as comprehensive a round up of all the St. Patrick’s Celtic-Punk music that was released last week as possible!

BEANNACHTAÍ NA FÉILE PÁDRAIG ORAIBH 2022

It seems like ages since St. Patrick’s Day and well it kind of is. It was early March 2019 when the Covid lockdowns began and that years St. Patrick’s festivities were among the first to fall. So fast forward two years and here we are again except this time with plenty to be grateful for. 

So with our favourite day of the year just about to arrive in some parts of the world Irish-American writer Kevin Rooney takes us through the life of Ireland’s patron saint.

Much of St. Patrick’s life is still mysterious and it’s sometimes difficult to separate fact from legend. According to several sources, St. Patrick was born in Roman-occupied Britain; in what is now Wales around the end of the 4th century, and his birth name was Maewyn Succat. His father Calpurnius was a deacon. His mother Conchessa was said to have been a relative of St. Martin of Tours. His parents were both from influential Roman families among those who had brought the Christian faith to Britain. Despite his background, he was not religious or well educated in the Christian faith as a child. His first language also seems to have been a Celtic language rather than Latin.

At the age of 16, he was captured by pirates and brought to Ireland as a slave, during which time he learned the Irish language and became familiar with Irish customs. The Irish were pagans, worshipping spirits of nature and many Gods. He is said to have toiled as a shepherd on Slemish Mountain in Co. Antrim for 6 years. During this time, he prayed fervently and grew in Christian faith and understanding. One night, he was guided by a voice in a dream to escape; and was told a ship was waiting for him. He walked over 200 miles and boarded a ship. He escaped to France and studied for the priesthood. He was driven by a vision of the Irish people asking him to return, to teach them about the one God. He was ordained as a bishop and was sent to Ireland.

Portrait of Saint Patrick by Jim FitzPatrick

Patricius is the name he gave to himself; in Irish – Pádraig, Patrick in English. It appears to mean “noble”, but is said also to mean “father” as in patriarch. In his “Confessio” he writes of himself with great humility: “I am a sinner, a simple country person, and the least of all believers. I am looked down upon by many.” He believed his abduction and time of slavery was a deserved punishment for his ignorance of God’s teaching and commandments. St. Patrick is credited with doing more than anyone to convert the Irish to Christianity. He is supposed to have built about 300 churches and baptized 120,000 people. He is said to have used the three-leaf shamrock to symbolize and explain the Holy Trinity; which is why that symbol is closely associated with him. He is also said to have adapted an ancient symbol of the sun into the Christian symbol now known as the Celtic cross. Perhaps his most famous legend has him driving all the snakes out of Ireland. Some scholars argue this is thought to represent his purge of the influence of the pagan ways and druids’ teaching, rather than taken literally.

Patrick also fasted for the 40 days of Lent atop the mountain in Co. Mayo known ever since as Croagh Patrick (Patrick’s stack). At the end of his fast, an angel appeared to tell him all his petitions for the Irish people would be granted; that they would retain their Christian faith until Judgement Day. On the last Sunday in July, called “Reek Sunday”; pilgrims climb Croagh Patrick (sometimes barefoot) and attend a church at the summit. Also in Co. Mayo is Downpatrick Head, which means “Patrick’s Fortress” where he built a church.

There are stories of pagan enemies wishing to harm him, particularly druids (priests of the ancient religion). His weapons were faith and prayer. He went with several monks to Slane in Co. Meath, near Tara. It was the seat of Laoghaire, the High King of Ireland. He intended to light a paschal fire to celebrate Easter. The druids are said to have made a prophecy to King Laoghaire that once lit, this fire would burn forever; symbolizing the permanence of the Christian faith in Ireland. They were determined to stop him. He and his followers chanted a recitation called St. Patrick’s Breastplate, which included:

“Christ with me, Christ before me,

Christ behind me, Christ within me,

Christ beneath me, Christ above me,

Christ at my right, Christ at my left,

Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me,

Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks to me,

Christ in every eye that sees me,

Christ in every ear that hears me.”

His would-be assailants didn’t see St. Patrick and his followers, but instead saw a wild deer followed by fawns. This prayer is also known as “The Deer’s Cry”. Laoghaire decided to let Patrick continue to preach and convert, after being impressed with his courage and eloquence. He died on March 17 in 493, which is why his feast is celebrated on that date. He is buried in Downpatrick, Co. Down. His feast day has become not only a solemn religious observance in Ireland, but also a celebration of Irish heritage and culture all over the world.

Beannachtaí na Féile Pádraig oraibh! – St. Patrick’s Day blessing upon you

(/ban-ock-tee na fay-lah paw-rig ur-iv/)

Our thanks go out to Kevin Rooney for this fascinating article. You can hear more from Kevin over at the Irish History 1916 through to 1923 and Everything Irish Facebook pages where he is an admin. Kevin also contributed to the Happy Birthday Mr Bob book, a celebration of Bob Dylan’s 80th Birthday, with submissions from Irish poets, writers, singers, songwriters, artists, photographers and an eclectic mix of admirers! Kevin is an excellent writer and earlier in the year we published Irish Born And Irish Americans : Separated By Common Heritage? about the sometimes troublesome relationship between the two.

EASTER PEOPLE RISING

St. Paddy’s day, here we go again. 

Rising with his prayer, 

Christ is here, Christ is there 

Patrick says he’s everywhere. 

 

 Of course the day in Lent falling, 

For what is Irish laughter peeling 

Bodhran beating, fiddles reeling 

Without a Catholic nagging feeling? 

 

 We are an Easter people rising. 

If you prick us are we not bleeding?

If you jest are we not laughing? 

And in our collective memory crying? 

 

Bleeding, laughing, crying,   

Lilly wearing, martyr remembering, 

Living life afull then dying. 

We are an Easter people rising.

 

We are an Easter people rising.

Stephen Francis Bourke

SIR REG NEW SINGLE ‘OPEN THE PUBS’ OUT NOW

With impeccable timing the new single from Sir Reg just beat the Irish government to ‘Open The Pubs’. A sentiment we can all agree with!

In a world of uncertainty, there’s few things that will lift your spirits like a raucous, rollicking slice of Celtic-Folk-Punk, and Swedish/Irish band Sir Reg are happy to oblige! Formed by Irishman Brendan Sheehy, who left his home-town of Dublin and headed to Sweden with a guitar and a dream.
Boasting songs that bring together everything from the issues of modern day society to finding the right bar on a Saturday night, powered by strong melodies and irresistible energy. Add to the mix an explosive live show and it’s easy to see why, Sir Reg have a formidable reputation in the Celtic-Punk scene. Since 2009 they have released five critically acclaimed albums and 2022 will shortly see them return with album #6 ‘Kings of Sweet Feck All’. First new single from the album is called ‘Open The Pubs’ on Despotz Records.

“If anyone told you a few years ago that pubs would be closed for months on end, you’d think they were having a laugh! Was no laughing matter indeed! That delicious pint of Guinness your favourite bartender pulled for you was suddenly taken away and you could only dream about it midst the ongoing nightmare!”

Lyrics: Brendan Sheehy, Chris Inoue

Directed by: Johan Lundsten

It’s 3 in the morning, I’m lying in bed

I stare the ceiling, shit thoughts in my head

I’m sick of the Netflix, it fills me with dread

Would rather a beer with my buddies instead

*

The pubs they are closed and we can’t buy a beer

I’ve been fucked during lockdown, this lousy year

Me liver is screaming to feed him a sup

So come on you bastards and open the pubs

*

The sound of the postman, highlight of my day

Whistling his song through the echoed hallway

Would rather be drinking a round at the Dub

So come on you bastards and open the pubs

*

Drinking at home, no it isn’t the same

I’m scratching me balls here just watching a game

But nobody’s cheering when they score a goal

Ah just open the pubs, I’ve a pain in me hole

(you can listen/ stream/ download the track on the Bandcamp player below)

Contact Sir Reg  WebSite  Facebook  YouTube

2021 CATCH UP REVIEWS. PART 1 – PHIL ODGERS, CHRISTY MOORE, JIM LINDBERG, DAN WALSH

Here’s hoping you all had a great Christmas and New Year.  Despite everything it’s been another great year for music. Maybe not quite as much of it but things are picking up and the end of 2021 saw us caught in a deluge of music we couldn’t keep up with. Any regular reader will know we prefer to do detailed reviews and even though we can’t do them justice here are some notable release we simply had to mention before the end of the year.  Each one impressed us immensely and are worthy of your time so go ahead and check them out. We start with Part 1 and a bunch of solo artists.

PHIL ODGERS – Ghosts Of Rock’n’Roll  (Bandcamp)

Phil ‘Swill’ Odgers has been one half of the legendary joint vocal strike force of legendary folk rebel rockers The Men They Couldn’t Hang since the early 80’s and has recorded under many various monikers over the years. In fact this is his fifth solo album. In February TMTCH announced the sad death Of Swill’s fellow vocalist Stefan Cush and many wondered where The Men would go from here. Well The Men still continue to perform and Swill put out Ghosts Of Rock’n’Roll in September after a successful campaign to raise the necessary to release it. Eleven tracks of acoustic folkiness accompanied by guests galore including Sid Griffin and The Men fiddler Bobby Valentino. The music itself owes much to The Men perhaps inevitable given Phil Odgers distinctive vocals. Of the songs here the opening ‘The Serpent, The Maiden and The Bear’ kicks off with a county-ish happy-go-lucky jaunty banjo led song with the warm vocals telling of guiding your way home from reading the stars.

The following song, a cover of Phil Ochs, ‘Flower Lady’ is another high point standing out from the more Folky songs with its R’n’R guitar while it is ‘Brooklyn Bridge’ that is most memorable. A beautiful study in aging and dementia originally written by Joe Solo. Ghosts Of Rock’n’Roll is like a Men album it that it does encompass several distinct influences and also like a Men album it is both uplifting and sobering. Though the sadness of the death of Cush hangs over the album is dedicated to Cush and is a fitting memorial to him.

CHRISTY MOORE – Flying Into Mystery   (Here)

A ‘proper’ new album from one of the last remaining true legends of Irish music. Christy Moore’s first studio album since 2016 features twelve songs Christy has brought to life and made unique even if some we have heard before. For the first time (with the exception of health induced breaks) since 1969 Christy’s life hasn’t revolved around live performances and so as he says “all my focus has been on this album”. As is common with a lot of his work the album consists of his own interpretations of others and a handful of his own compositions. There are Gary Moore’s ‘Johnny Boy’ and Bob Dylan’s ‘I Pity The Poor Immigrant’ among the better known but also the less well known like the chilling ‘December 1942’ by Cork singer/ songwriter Ricky Lynch telling of the arrival of a train from the Warsaw ghetto at Auschwitz “to unload its human cargo/met by demons and by devils and their savage dogs”. While I do sometimes despair of the dreaded ‘celebrity opinion’ and their desire to stay relevant Christy’s politics at least come from the heart and on the album’s lead single ‘Clock Winds Down’ he sings of the mess the planet is in. Written by American singer Jim Page who was also covered by The Moving Hearts when they recorded his anti-nuclear classic ‘Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Russian Roulette’.

This is followed by another harrowing song, the traditional ‘Van Diemen’s Land’ telling the cautionary tale of a young lad Henry tried and convicted for poaching and sentenced to transportation to the horrors of the British penal colony in Van Diemen’s Land (now Tasmania).

“Young men, all now beware, Lest you are drawn into a snare”

My own favourite here is one of his own songs and ‘Bord na Móna Man’ is always the kind of song I think of when I think of Christy Moore. A comic tale and a tribute to the art of turf cutting and turf cutters. Their was a time when it was a feature of Irish national life but these days the government would rather import it from overseas.

Their is something very familiar about this album. That mix of trad, modern covers and rowdy self penned numbers is very much the Christy formula but he does it with such style that the whole thing still sounds fresh and new.

JIM LINDBERG – Songs From The Elkhorn Trail (Here)       

Here’s another ‘Punk’ vocalist taking time out from his usual duties to lay down a solo album but unlike Cush this is the Pennywise frontman Jim Lindberg’s first album. Known for shouty Pop Punk friendly anthems he takes a far more reflective turn here and once again the subject of getting old comes up and again is handled beautifully. His father passed away in 2018 from Alzheimer’s Disease and was obviously a huge influence on his life supporting him in his career with Pennywise and even buying him his first guitar. The album cover depicts Jim playing guitar by his old mans Palm Desert home by the Elkhorn Trail and on the cello infused ‘Don’t Lay Me Down’ he opens his heart to us

“Drove to the desert house to say my last goodbye / I ran every light, didn’t make it there in time … A toast to those who gave us life”

Some of the songs here are over twenty years old and the upbeat music often disguises something more serious. The opening track ‘The Palm Of Your Hand’ is a great rousing start and call to sort ourselves out despite the pain we may hold.

On ‘You’re Not Alone’ Jim keeps it catchy as hell, poppy even with an inspiring message keeping the cringe at arms bay. ‘Hello Again’ is a gentle number that verges on exploding into something else but is reigned in magnificently. The words of a man who loves a drink while he reminisces about his Dad before the piano led ending. A truly lovely song though dark as much of the album is. The full band ‘Not One Of Them’ comes as close to a rock-song as possible here but still retains a country-ish feel to it while ‘Good Enough’ also comes close but in acoustic way. On such a good album it may be hard to pick a standout track but along with the two songs featured here a special mention for the strings laden ‘It’s Only’ and an emotional journey through the life of a life well lived.

Not being much of a Pennywise fan I was initially reluctant to give this a spin but I am glad I did and I am sure it will connect with many people in the same way it has with me. The album features some star guests in Social Distortions David Hidalgo Jr. on drums, The Mighty, Mighty Bosstones Joe Gittleman on bass, Dropkick Murphys / Walker Roaders guitarist Marc Orrell and award-winning record producer, musician, and songwriter Ted Hutt working the knobs. Lindberg will be celebrating his Mammy’s Irish roots supporting the Dropkick Murphys for their St. Patrick’s home town gigs so no doubt plenty of you will be lucky to see him then.

DAN WALSH – Live at the Floodgate   (Here)

There ain’t many instruments so suited to Celtic-Punk as the banjo is and while this is a Folk album there is plenty to love about the way Dan Walsh plays for everyone. Since his debut album, Tomorrow’s Still To Come, in 2009 Dan has made a considerable impact n the UK music scene with collaborations with all sorts from The Levellers to Seth Lakeman but he is more than just a ‘banjo to hire’ and his own material displays influences from some pretty imaginative sources! Born into a Irish family in the English town of Stafford Dan has been playing since 13 when so impressed by the likes of Barney McKenna and Gerry O’Connor he begged his parents to buy him a banjo and he has never looked back since. Now several album’s in he has recorded a live album ‘Live At The Floodgate’ at a pub in his own home town.

Recorded just before the first lockdown but only recently released, Live At The Floodgate sees Dan re-visiting all five of his previous albums as well as some new material and also some of his favourite covers like his outstanding version of Paul Simon’s ‘You Can Call Me Al’ that he has never released before. He kicks off with a thoughtful and tentative instrumental ‘Over The Border’ which ever so slowly builds into the equivalent of banjo Motorhead! The first time we hear Dan’s voice is on ‘Still A Town’ about gentrification and perhaps the destruction of the kind of places where this kind of music can still be heard. There’s a couple of auld Saw Doctors tracks ‘The Suilin’ and ‘At Least Pretend’ while ‘Late Night Drive’ at half way through the album begins to show Dan’s confidence as he plays with such speed it’s incredible and all note perfect too. You can hear from the audience too that the excitement is building. Two of the previous reviews have touched on the treatment of the elderly and here Dan puts the banjo down for acoustic guitar as he tells the moving story of an elderly man in a care home on ‘The Song Always Stays’. The song was actually inspired by a visit to Scots singer Glen Mason in a Surrey care home. Glen was often visited by musicians, whose repertoire would sometimes include his own songs, up to his death in 2014. The beauty of music eh? One of the highlights is the epic (over seven minutes!) ‘Joxers Set’ which starts off with you expecting another ballad before speeding up several times to the point where you cant imagine he can go any faster… before getting faster! Dan could have left it there but returns for the obligatory encore and the alcohol has flowed enough even for some audience participation as he sends his appreciative fans home (no doubt with the song playing in their heads for the following couple of days!) to Lester Flatt’s ‘Sleep with One Eye Open’

The live album can be very much a mixed bag but here Dan plays with such an intensity and comes across as so likeable that it’s impossible not to get drawn in. Over an hour that shows him at his very best and with the varied material here this is an album that anyone could love even them as don’t like banjos. If such a person does exist?

WATCH OUT FOR PART 2 COMING THIS WEEKEND!

IRISH-BORN AND IRISH-AMERICANS; SEPERATED BY COMMON HERITAGE?

by Kevin Rooney

Before I became active on social media; I had noticed a lot of hostility, even abuse directed toward Irish-Americans on Irish groups and pages. I even experienced a bit myself. Before that I suppose I was aware of how unpopular Americans are abroad, but had hoped the relationship of the Irish with their American cousins would somehow have overridden that.

      Here, I would like to sincerely and sensitively (as objectively as I can) examine what I have observed about Irish-American attitudes toward Ireland and native Irish attitudes toward Irish-Americans. My purpose is for understanding and bringing together the branches of our worldwide diaspora. In trying to see both sides of the issues, I am not trying to be patronising, derogatory or offensive. The opinions and observations here are mine alone. I speak for nobody else.

       More than blood, I believe the millions all over the world who love Ireland makes a worldwide family. I mention that for the sake of members of that family with no Irish blood. The blood thing really hit home for me, though when I visited my cousins in Yorkshire, England. There we were with our different accents; English-born Irish, American-born Irish, Irish-born Irish. The distinctions disappeared into the common denominator, our shared heritage. My cousin in England is a gifted musician. I make some noise myself. When we play Irish music together, we instantly can read each other’s minds. It’s an instinct. American or English birth doesn’t undo that.

DIASPORA

      Four out of five children born in Ireland in the 1930’s, emigrated in the 1950’s, including my parents who came to the US. Of course, untold numbers fled here from the genocide of the Great Hunger in the 1840’s and afterward and spread pretty thoroughly so that one isn’t surprised to hear anyone here say that they have Irish heritage. The US version of the show “Who Do You Think You Are” featured many US celebrities who had Irish heritage of which they didn’t even know. A big part of tourism to Ireland is genealogy from Americans wanting to trace their Irish roots. With the popularity of ancestral DNA, many people are discovering they have Irish ancestry.  I have seen much of this myself.

CONNECTION 

        There is a wide variance of connection to Ireland among the over 33 million Americans who claim Irish ancestry. Some, like myself; were born of Irish parents (first generation), have been to Ireland many times, keep up with current events there, and maintain close ties with relatives there. It’s important to know and remember that I grew up in New York, a city with a large Irish community.

        That community enabled me to grow up with a strong sense of what it was to have Irish heritage. Having spent summers in Ireland as kid made me fall in love with Ireland in my own personal way. This also made me take a strong interest in Irish history and what was then happening in the North. I read Irish-American newspapers such as The Irish Echo that kept its American readers well-informed on events there. We even got a Republican newspaper called The Irish People. I rubbed elbows in pubs drinking and singing with Irish immigrants. We had Gaelic Park in The Bronx where my dad took my brother and I to see hurling and Gaelic football played. I went to Irish fairs and festivals where I was able to hear lots of good live Irish music and buy lots of books and videos of historical interest.

       All these things I mention would not have been accessible years ago to probably most of the number in America who call themselves Irish, that did not live in places with large Irish communities. This information is all available to them now that we have the internet, and Facebook, which is the purpose of our pages; to promote Irish history and culture. I have known people who are several generations removed from Ireland that have an instinct, or a calling for their heritage that even they don’t understand.

       Their link may be only that they have an Irish last name, red hair, freckles, oral family tradition, or have recently discovered that an ancestor came from Ireland. My brother lives in a city in the southern US where there is no Irish community to speak of, nor many catholics. When I have gone to visit, I meet people who think or suspect they may have Irish heritage. I am amazed at how one wouldn’t know that, but this is what happened over the course of generations in the US. The people there know so little about Ireland that they would probably believe anything they heard about it.  I recently met a nurse here in New York named Megan who wore a shamrock on her name tag, identifying herself as Irish. When I asked where her family was from, she said “Cork, I think. Not sure.”

NATIONALITY/ETHNICITY 

         Why would she call herself Irish? Because in the States, many of us tend to define ourselves by whence our families came. Remember, the US is a nation made up of people who came from everywhere else. Every language on earth is spoken in my county of Queens, NY. American is a nationality, not an ethnicity. For a person of Irish heritage who is born in Ireland, his nationality and ethnicity are one and the same. One does not have “American” blood or an “American” family name (except Native Americans, of course. That’s a whole other story…).  Here in the states we tend to confuse the term nationality with ethnicity, which is ironic considering it is a nation of multiple ethnicities.

“What nationality are you?”

“Irish” (This is how an Irish-American would respond in the US.)

“Why? What are you?”

“Half Irish/half Italian”.

That’s another thing I think people in Ireland couldn’t understand; how someone could be “half Irish”.  My neighbourhood was full of such Irish-Italian and Irish-German kids.

          A bartender I knew was nicknamed Scotty for his Glasgow accent. The subject of nationalities came up and referring to himself he said; “You figure it out. I’m from Scotland. My parents were from Kerry, I was raised in Canada, and now I’m an American citizen.”

I saw it this way:

He was born in Scotland, with Irish blood.

He was raised in Canada, with Irish blood.

He will likely die in the USA, with Irish blood.

Your nationality can change, but your ethnicity doesn’t change. Ironically in Ireland now, because of the immigration that came from The Celtic Tiger, there are lots of people who are Irish by birth, but not by blood. I believe this serves well to expand the idea of an inclusive Irishness, “cherishing all children of the nation equally”.

       I hear people from Ireland say that they feel that their nationality is being watered down or cheapened by Americans calling themselves Irish, particularly those with only a remote connection. I must admit at times I have been disgusted with the ignorance of many of my fellow Americans who call themselves Irish, who know or care nothing about Ireland. That is, except for one day of the year. I have been accused of being arrogant in my attitude about my own Irishness. I have strong opinions on Irish things because of my familiarity with them. I have little tolerance for fools and bullshit in general, but most especially when it comes to Ireland. So I do understand the irritation.

      However, those who do care about Ireland (to varying degrees) see her as our Motherland, that instinct again. People from Ireland don’t seem to understand this feeling that’s widely felt all over the diaspora…until they leave Ireland. Just as one fails to see the forest for the trees. That’s who our parents and grandparents are, the ones who left and subconsciously passed along their homesickness. Christy Moore described this longing of which I speak quite beautifully:

“In the City of Chicago

As the evening shadows fall

There are people dreaming

Of the hills of Donegal.”

       I have a friend I have known for 30 years since he came to New York from Ireland. When he first met me, I don’t think he understood how I felt about Ireland. In the years since, he has married a woman from Ireland and had a son, whom they had baptised in Ireland. He totally gets it now. His son is an American, but I’m sure he will also know he is Irish and be proud of it.

KNOWLEDGE/PERCEPTION 

      As I mentioned earlier, people without close ties to Ireland or who have never been there may not know very much about Ireland. Something I would ask people to remember is that Ireland is a country you hear nearly nothing about in the US. No more than you’d hear about Finland. So, many Irish-Americans have never heard of Dáil Éireann, Fine Gael or Fianna  Fáil, etc. Contrast this to how much the Irish hear about US politics, quite a lot.

       Even during the conflict in the North, the mainstream media in the US reported little and it was one-sided. Proportionally very few Americans were knowledgeable about the North, though let it be said the few who were were active in taking a role in putting pressure on the US Government to get involved in the peace process. They were also very supportive of the Republican movement. This lead to another perception that Irish-Americans are naive and romantic on the subject. I have recently seen venomous hatred directed at Irish-Americans from Loyalists for their reputation of support for the Republicans, which actually made me quite proud.

        A lot of misconceptions about Ireland were put out by terrible Hollywood movies. Also a lot of misconceptions about Ireland survive because of folk memory; the Irish grandparents fill them with the image of the land they left, not as it is now. I have seen this with my own eyes. People who return after many years are total strangers in their own hometown and don’t recognise the place.

       The image of the backward, superstitious, strictly catholic country is dying hard. When I predicted confidently and correctly that the Gay Marriage referendum would pass in Ireland, Americans were astonished, could hardly believe it. Some  don’t realise, (or maybe don’t want to realise) that Ireland is no longer as it was depicted in “The Quiet Man”.

SOCIAL MEDIA 

         The invention of Social Media has definitely added a new dimension to this discussion. It has put Americans who would normally not interact with anyone from Ireland, let alone someone in Ireland; conversing with Irish people who only meet the Americans who go there, some of whom are just tourists. Of course, so many Irish have relatives here that return to visit. I would hope the Irish with a negative image of Americans make exceptions for or overlook their own cousins. I hope mine do. But even if not, they’re still my cousins.

        Social Media is where I first became aware of this hostility toward Irish-Americans and experienced it a bit myself. It was usually to the effect of that I’m not Irish because I wasn’t born there. Of course I wasn’t, but I feel that doesn’t negate my right to claim it as my heritage, to take an interest or contribute my knowledge where it is helpful or informative.

       I don’t claim to be Irish in the same way as someone who was born there, did live there or does live there, but I do claim to be Irish. How are you not what your parents are? One guy commented to me “You may have an Irish passport, but it doesn’t mean you’re an Irish citizen!” To which I responded “Actually, it does. One must be a citizen to obtain a passport.”

         I was well able for it, but who wants to subject themselves to that? I thought then about how discouraging that is to Americans who visit sites and pages to learn about their heritage who didn’t have access to the stuff I did. What bothers me is that I have heard more than one American tell me they have reconsidered going to Ireland because the abuse they get on some pages makes them feel that they wouldn’t be welcome. That’s the damage that does, and it is sad. That is something about which I have sought to do what I can, and why I’ve written this piece.

           Many Americans sometimes do also fail to appreciate or understand Irish humour, in which sometimes insults are terms of endearment. Many Irish also enjoy doing the “wind-up”; provoking an argument to flare tempers purely for entertainment. We see this especially on Social Media. Also, the word “Yank” applies to all Americans, even Americans from the South. Being called a Yank can be affectionate or insulting, depending how it’s used. Normally, no offense is meant. I take no offence to it. But if you choose to always take offense, then prepare to be constantly insulted. I say own it.

         To be honest, I never personally experienced any hostility about being an American in Ireland. But then, I have relatives all over and know my way around pretty well. I used to visit regularly until 2000. My next and last visit was in 2005. The political climate had changed a lot in those few years. After a few days, I had noticed that nobody said anything political pertaining to the US around me, which was unusual. I broke the ice by saying “Say what you will. You will not offend me.” There’s nothing so uncomfortable as feeling like you have to watch what you say. Once I said that, the hair came down, and shoes came off, so to speak. That being said, perhaps in general, a change in the political climate is a source of this gap.

WORLD VIEW 

        Here I will discuss politics in the general, historical sense. I will not comment on current US or Irish politics or personalities. I think there is a huge difference in how the US perceives itself as opposed to how it is perceived around the world, including Ireland. Americans believe their troops are protecting them, and keeping the world safe for democracy and from terrorism. Many people in Ireland see the US as an imperialist power that goes to war for oil and business in which thousands are being slaughtered. The Irish have suffered from occupation by an imperialist power, so their natural sympathy is for those who are occupied or oppressed. Many Irish see the Middle East, particularly the Palestinian/Israeli conflict very differently than Americans; sympathising with the Palestinians.  Many Irish, particularly Republicans admired Gaddafi of Libya, whereas Americans saw him an a crazy tyrant.

        Americans believe Communism was a great evil that was necessary to eradicate with great loss of life. Many Irish sympathised with the people of Vietnam during the war with the US. Ho Chi Minh, the Vietnamese leader was inspired by Irish revolutionaries, particularly Tom Barry; who commanded the Third (West) Cork Brigade of the IRA in the Irish War of Independence. Recently, we saw another example of the disparity of opinion about Ernesto “Che” Guevara, who now graces an Irish stamp. Americans couldn’t fathom that they would put Che on a stamp. Americans consider him an evil communist tyrant fanatic. The Irish consider him a freedom fighter (of Irish descent) who was killed by the CIA. Ireland was neutral during the Cold War and did not share American paranoia about communism.

       A key thing for Americans to remember about Ireland is that it is a small, peaceful European nation. It has a history of neutrality going back to World War II. Ireland did not join NATO. It does not have nuclear weapons nor does it want them. But, if huge world power nations like the US destroy the world with nuclear weapons, that would include Ireland. This is why they hear a lot about the US in Ireland, but very little vice versa. There is a certain amount of resentment about that as well as the fact that US military aircraft stop and refuel in Shannon Airport. I for one wish they would do so elsewhere, as I don’t want Ireland involved in any other nation’s disputes or to become a target for terrorism for this reason.

SUGGESTIONS

Irish-Americans: Go to Ireland. Don’t live up to negative expectations about Americans. Visit Irish sites and pages on-line. Let your love for Ireland be based on truth, not misconception. Learn about your roots. Learn especially about where your people are from in Ireland. Learn about the history and culture. Remember that people from Ireland have a very different view of the world. Don’t let anyone stop you.

Irish-born: Try to to understand why we call ourselves Irish. Try to understand how little we may know. When we do ask dumb questions, please try to educate or advise, rather than abuse. That way you will be strengthening the diaspora, spreading knowledge instead of misinformation, correcting misconceptions, contributing to her “exaltation among the nations”. These people have a calling for their Irish heritage Please don’t discourage them.

Our thanks go out to Kevin Rooney for this fascinating article. Hopefully it will help educate those that make disparaging remarks about the foreign born Irish. A 2nd generation Mayo American Irish writer and musician living in Queens, New York. You can hear more from Kevin over at the Irish History 1916 through to 1923 and Everything Irish Facebook pages where he is an admin. Kevin also contributed to the Happy Birthday Mr Bob book, a celebration of Bob Dylan’s 80th Birthday, with submissions from Irish poets, writers, singers, songwriters, artists, photographers and an eclectic mix of admirers!

CELEBRATING A CELTIC CHRISTMAS 2021. MERRY CHRISTMAS TO THE LONDON CELTIC PUNKS FAMILY

We think Celtic-Punk is about embracing the traditions of the past and bringing them to the present so here’s some of the Christmas customs of each of the Celtic nations.

At this point we also pick the best Christmas themed song we’ve heard to showcase. Their was a time it was quite easy to choose which song. Not any more!

This year our chosen Christmas track is by the fantastic Walker Roaders. Already a bit of a supergroup what with James Fearnley from the Pogues, Marc Orrell, and occasionally Tim Brennan, from the Dropkick Murphys and Ted Hutt from Flogging Molly but they are joined here by the wonderful KT Tunstall and Chris Leonard and fueled by coffee and mince pies got to work and came out the other end with ‘Run Rudolph Run’.

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CELEBRATING A CELTIC CHRISTMAS

According to long standing theory, the origins of Christmas stems from pagan winter festivals. One main reason early Christians were able to spread their religion across Europe so quickly came from their willingness to embrace celebrations already common among regional populations. One such example is the Celtic ‘Alban Arthuan’, a Druidic festival that took place around December 21st. the Winter Solstice. This traditional fire festival celebrated the re-birth of the Sun. Although a celebration of the Son’s birth replaced that of the Sun’s, still a number of ancient Celtic Christmas traditions remain today.

As we look across the Celtic nations, it is interesting to note some similarities among Christmas traditions that cross geographic boundaries. They include, for example: Holly (a symbol of rebirth among Pagan Celts, but also of hospitality—it was believed fairies sought shelter inside the evergreen leaves to escape the cold); Mistletoe (believed to have healing powers so strong that it warded off evil spirits, cured illnesses and even facilitated a truce between enemies); fire and light (most notably the Yule log or candles placed in windows to light the way for strangers and symbolically welcoming Mary and Joseph); and door-to-door processions, from wassailing to Wren Hunts.

Each of the seven nations possesses its own variations of Celtic Christmas customs. Surrounding cultures and local identify shape theses practices as well.

SCOTLAND

Christmas was not officially recognized in Scotland for nearly four centuries. The Puritan English Parliament banned Christmas in 1647 and it did not become a recognized public holiday in Scotland until 1958. However, according to Andrew Halliday, in his 1833 piece Christmas in Scotland, Scots were not discouraged from celebrating Christmas. Halliday wrote

“We remember it stated in a popular periodical, one Christmas season not long ago, that Christmas-day was not kept at all in Scotland. Such is not the case; the Scots do keep Christmas-day, and in the same kindly Christian spirit that we do, though the Presbyterian austerity of their church does not acknowledge it as a religious festival”

Halliday’s 19th century account went on to describe festive sowens (sweetened oat gruel) ceremonies, “beggars” (actually “strapping fellows”) singing yule song, dances and card parties and children’s teetotum games. Despite Puritan rule, some long-time Christmas traditions are preserved. These include burning the Cailleach (a piece of wood carved to look like an old woman’s face or the Spirit of Winter) to start the new year fresh; or on Christmas Eve burning rowan tree branches to signify the resolution of any disputes. The Celtic tradition of placing candles in windows was also done in Scotland to welcome “first footers” (strangers, bearing a small gift) into the home. Traditional dishes also continue to be featured at Christmas lunch and throughout the holidays, including Cock-a-Leekie soup, smoked salmon, beef or duck, Clootie dumplings, black buns, sun cakes, Christmas pudding and Crannachan.

Because Christmas was not an official holiday until the late ‘50s it is no surprise that today, for some Scots, Hogmanay (New Year’s Eve) is the most important event of the season. Arguably, locals ring in the new year with much more gusto than any other place on the planet.

IRELAND

An Autumn clean up was a common practice in Irish homes to prepare for Christmas. Women looked after cleaning the interior, while men took care of the outdoors, including whitewashing all exterior surfaces. Then holly, grown wild in Ireland, was spread throughout the house with cheer. Contemporary Ireland also highlights this clean-up ritual; once complete, fresh Christmas linens are taken out of storage.

Other customs include the Bloc na Nollaig or Christmas Block (the Irish version of the Yule log), candles in the window (perhaps one for each family member), and leading up to Christmas, ‘Calling the Waites’ where musicians would wake up townspeople through serenades and shouting out the morning hour. Christmas Eve Mass is still a grand affair; a time for friends and family to reconnect. It is not uncommon for churchgoers to end up at the local pub after service to ring in Christmas morn. On Christmas Day, traditional dishes include roast goose or ham and sausages, potatoes (such as champ), vegetables (such as cabbage with bacon) and plum pudding, whiskey, Christmas cake and barmbrack (currant loaf) for sweets. Traditionally on December 26th, St. Stephen’s Day, Wren Boys with blackened faces, carrying a pole with a dead bird pierced at the top, tramped from house to house. Today the custom sometimes sees children caroling throughout the neighbourhood to raise money for charity. It is also quite common to go out visiting on this day.

WALES

Music was and still is a major part of Welsh holidays. Plygain is a Christmas day church service, traditionally held between three and six in the morning featuring males singing acapella in three or four-part harmonies. While today this may be mainly practised in rural areas, Eisteddfodde (caroling) is abundantly popular in homes, door-to-door and as part of annual song-writing competitions.

Dylan Thomas’ story ‘A Child’s Christmas in Wales’ is renowned around the world. An excerpt offers a glimpse of a traditional Welsh festive season:

“Always on Christmas night there was music. An uncle played the fiddle, a cousin sang ‘Cherry Ripe’ and another uncle sang ‘Drake’s Drum’… Looking through my bedroom window, out into the moonlight and the unending smoke-coloured snow, I could see the lights in the windows of all the other houses on our hill and hear the music rising from them up the long, steady falling night”

Other intriguing Welsh traditions include toffee making; drinking from a communal wassail bowl of fruit, spices, sugar and beer; children visiting homes on New Year’s Day looking for their Callenig gift; and Mary Lwyd (Grey Mare) featuring wassail singers going door-to-door carrying a horse’s skull and challenging residents in a contest of mocking rhymes.

ISLE OF MAN

Carolling also holds a special place in Manx Christmas celebrations, but traditionally an unconventional twist characterized it. On Christmas Eve, large numbers attended church for Carval. While the congregation sang, all of a sudden women would begin the traditional food fight, having peas on hand to throw at their male counterparts! Accounts from the 1700s and 1800s describe 12 days of non-stop Christmas celebrations where every barn was filled with dancers accompanied by fiddlers the local parish hired. The Reverend John Entick recorded in 1774

“On the twelfth day the fiddler lays his head on one of the women’s laps, which posture they look upon as a kind of oracle. For one of the company coming up and naming every maiden in the company, asks the fiddler, who shall this or that girl marry? And whatever he answers it is absolutely depended on as an oracle”

As in Celtic fashion, Hunting the Wren processions occurred on the Isle of Man and today the practice is going through a revival, characterized by costumes, singing and dancing.

Other Manx customs include Mollag Bands, wearing eccentric clothing, swinging a mollag (fishing float) and demanding money (a practice since outlawed); the kissing bush (a more elaborate ornament than a sprig of mistletoe); and Cammag, a sport that originated on the Isle of Man traditionally played on December 26th and/or Easter Monday. In older times but even as recently as the early 20th century, Christmas decorations were not taken down until Pancake Tuesday (when they were burnt under the pancake pan). Now holiday décor tends to be packed away on Old Christmas (January 6th).

CORNWALL

As a result of Oliver Cromwell banning Christmas, authentic holiday carols began to fade through much of Britain. However, throughout the 1800’s, Cornish composers and collectors sparked a revival of local Christmas song.Certain carols well-known around the world, such as Hark the Herald Angels and While Shepherds, are credited to Cornish origins.

“Contrary to the effect Methodism might have had on the English carollers, in Cornwall its impact was to stimulate song,” states the Cornwall Council (Cornish Christmas Carols – Or Curls, 2011). “In those areas where Methodism was strongest, music and signing had their greatest appeal, and notably so at Christmas. The singers would practice in chapels and school-rooms, some of them walking miles to be there”

Today, Cornwall erupts in festivals, fairs and markets during the holidays. The Montol Festival in Penzance (named for Montol Eve on December 21st) is a six-day celebration highlighting many Cornish traditions. These include Mummers plays, lantern processions, Guise dancing (participants dress in masks and costume, such as mock formal dress, to play music and dance).

Montol is also the time for burning the Mock (yule log). A stickman or woman is drawn on the block of wood with chalk. When the log burns, it symbolizes the death of the old year and birth of the year to come.

BRITTANY

Brittany boasts a wealth of folklore and supernatural beliefs around Christmas time. Christmas Eve was known as a night of miraculous apparitions from fairies to Korrigans, and at midnight, for just a brief moment, waters in the wells would turn into the most sweet-tasting wine. It was also at midnight, when families were either at mass or in bed, that ghosts would surface; traditionally food was left out for deceased loved ones just in case they visited.

During the holidays, Christmas markets come alive in many Breton towns vending hand-made crafts and toys, baked cakes and bread and ingredients for Christmas dinner. You can also buy Gallette des Rois at stalls, as well as bakeries, which is traditionally eaten on January 6th (Epiphany). A tiny figurine (the fève) is hidden inside the puff pastry cake; the person who finds the figurine in their piece gets to be king or queen for the day and wear a crown. Another special tradition through all of France is a meal after Christmas Eve’s midnight mass, called Réveillon. Specifically in Britany, the traditional dish for this occasion is buckwheat crêpes with cream.

GALICIA

Galicia has its own unique Christmas gift-bearer that pre-dates Christianity. He is called Apalpador, a giant who lives in the mountains. For Christmas, he descends into the villages below to make sure each child has a full belly. He brings treats, such as chestnuts, and well wishes for a year full of delicious sustenance. While Apalpador may not be widely observed in Galicia, his legend is seeing a revival.

Food is very important during the Galician holidays, featuring at least two feasts (on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day). Not surprisingly, seafood is on the menu, including lobster, prawns, shrimp, sea bass, and cod with garlic and paprika sauce. Other culinary delights consist of cured meat, cheese and bread, roast beef with vegetables and for dessert tarta de Santiago (almond cake), filloas (stuffed pancakes) and turrones (nougats). The children of anticipate the coming of the Three Kings or Magis by filling their shoes and leaving them outside on Epiphany Eve, January 5th. Many Galician’s communities also parade on the 5th.

So there you have it the old traditions just like the traditional music we all love live on…

Nollick Ghennal as Blein Vie Noa (Manx Gaelic)

Nollaig Chridheil agus Bliadhna Mhath ùr (Scottish Gaelic)

Nollaig Shona Dhuit agus Bliain Nua Fe Mhaise (Irish Gaelic)

Nedeleg Laouen na Bloavezh Mat  (Breton)

Nadolig Llawen a Blwyddyn Newydd Dda (Welsh)

Nadelik Lowen ha Bledhen Nowyth Da (Cornish)

Further Christmas themed fun with this London Celtic Punks Top Twenty

GET IN THE FESTIVE SPIRIT WITH THE LONDON CELTIC PUNKS CHRISTMAS CELTIC PUNK TOP-TWENTY!

CLICK HERE

Couldn’t leave it there without another ’21 Christmassa! ‘I Auditioned To Be Santa’ by our most favourite Pirate-Punk band Jolly Roger. All the way from the historic Celtic nation of Kernow. It’s the hilarious tale of two friends competing to be a store Santa Claus. One loves Christmas time and the other loves being a pirate. Listen on for what happens and who gets the job. Jolly Roger recently released a great EP Ship Or Bust and have a new van and are looking to busk in YOUR town!

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ALBUM REVIEW: THE OUTCAST CREW – ‘Myths & Yarns’ (2021)

The debut album from Ireland’s newest Celtic-Punk band- The Outcast Crew. Ten original roaring trad punk songs about myths, folklore and singalong sea shanties!

Strangely there aren’t a huge amount of Celtic Punk bands based in Ireland, so we were delighted to receive the debut album Myths & Yarns from The Outcast Crew. It is extremely encouraging that the genre is alive and kicking back in the homeland.

The Outcast Crew are 6-piece band including Brian O’Mahoney (Vocals/Guitars); Paul Flynn (Drums); Niall Harney (Bass); Adela Mealy (Accordion); John Davidson (Fiddle) and Alasdair McCann on banjo. Myths & Yarns has been released though the Los Angeles publishing company ‘Songs to your Eyes’.

Lead singer and songwriter Brian O’Mahoney explains how the album came about.

“I had written a couple of instrumental folk/trad albums for publishers in both London and LA. Austin Seltzer had mixed and mastered a previous album of mine and he suggested I write an album with folk instruments along with heavy guitars and vocals.”

The album is made up of 10 songs and is a perfect blend of all that is Celtic Punk. You can clearly hear influences of 70’s classic punk (The Clash, Stiff Little Fingers, Sex Pistols) which are blended perfectly with the more Celtic influences of The Pogues and more recently bands like Dropkick Murphys and Flogging Molly.

As the title suggests the album is fully of tales of folklore, myths, sea voyages and of course the odd session which are brilliantly delivered with gritty vocals, guitar, banjo and fiddle.

“You are the one I want”, “Renegade” and “Bound for Hell” are worthy of a specific mention as songs which stand out on the album. In saying that the whole album is an excellent offering as a debut album. I have no doubt that based on Myths & Yarns we will be hearing much more of The Outcast Crew in the future. Keep it coming lads.

Buy Myths & Yarns  Amazon  Apple

Contact The Outcast Crew  Facebook   Spotify

INTERVIEW: RICHARD BALLS – A FURIOUS DEVOTION

There is always one thing that I’ll keep within me / Deep in my heart, a furious devotion / The love of old Ireland, and Mother Mo Chroi.

In part 2 of our Shane MacGowan special, we’ve interviewed Richard Balls, the author of the new Shane biography A Furious Devotion: The Life of Shane MacGowan. The interview was recorded, so if you’ve read the book, or if you plan to, or if ya need a last-minute Christmas present for someone special, check out the video below ☘

^{Shane and Richard share a drink back in the day 🍻}

If ya missed the recent release of A Furious Devotion, then be sure to check out part 1 HERE. It provides a bite size overview of this Shane biography. But apart from that, let’s get the full low-down from the author 😎 Without further ado, here’s the interview…

Once again, congrats to Richard on a thorough job of portraying the life of Shane. A Furious Devotion: The Life of Shane MacGowan is available now on Omnibus Press. Sláinte! 🥃

THE DUNES

What happened when Shane MacGowan met Ronnie Drew back in the ’90s? Well, a few things happened, but here’s one thing ye might not know about. Let’s take a trip back through time, but not one that will bore you.

Back in the day, Ronnie Drew was makin’ a solo record called Dirty Rotten Shame. He was short of a few songs, so he contacted the ol’ legend himself, Shane MacGowan. Shane sent him a song he’d written, called The Dunes.

Like most of MacGowan’s work, it’s a beautiful piece of music, and it shines a light on the ugly side of life. On one of Ireland’s toughest times. The Famine of 1845-52.

^{The Potato Famine. A terrible blow to the Irish population.}

The Great Hunger

I walked today on the cold grey shore
Where I watched when I was much younger
Where they built the dunes upon the sand
For the dead from The Great Hunger.

Those are the first lines Ronnie sings in the song. It sets the scene of the terrible famine of 1845 to 1852, caused by a potato blight. The Irish, especially the working class, were heavily dependent on the potato, often eating 5 kilos a day. So the Famine struck right at the heart of their livelihood.

Ultimately, a quarter of Ireland’s population was either wiped out, or left to find a home elsewhere. This is what Shane writes and Ronnie sings about in the song, almost like they were there. More to the point, Shane was, when he was 18 or 19. “I was up near Louisburgh in Co. Mayo, and I heard the story about people burying their dead on the beach, during the Famine times,” the singer said once. “The place was eerie, all these bones lying about. I’ll never forget it.”

And Shane didn’t forget. Just listen to the line, “the children kicked the sand about, and the bones they are revealed, then”, and there’s your proof.

Shane at his best

  Despite being about such a grim topic, The Dunes showcases MacGowan at his finest. While it’s hard to pick out the best lines Shane’s ever written, I particularly like the penultimate verse, which goes like this: 

A crack of lightning split the sky 
The rain on the dunes, it poured 
I left them lying where I shot them down 
The bailiff and the landlord 
Then I went for a drink in Westport. 

  He’s had his problems, but Shane is a fucking genius. And the “Westport” line is the only moment of hope in the song. The only moment where the narrator seems to hint at a normal life, like going for a drink in the pub. Sadly, it’s also a strong reminder of the part of Ireland that was hit the hardest by the great hunger. 

  It was the West, and the South, that copped the worst of it. Many of those who died were Catholics, as referenced by the “rosary” line earlier in the song. And one of the truly tragic factors about it all was the soup kitchens. These were set up to provide relief to the starving poor, and it did help. But since the kitchens were Protestant, and Catholics were sometimes reluctant to go in case they got converted, we’ll never know how many people died out of fear of losing their religion.

^{Shane and Ronnie. A pair o’ legends.}

Busting a myth

 Most of what I know about the Famine was written in a book by Joseph Coohill. His father was an Irish-American, and Coohill is a respected academic. His book Ireland: A Short History is informative without being hard to follow. Also, to Coohill’s credit, the book is fair to the Nationalist and to the Unionist sides. It’s fair to the Irish, but portrays the British in a factual light too. 

  That brings me on to something. The myth you’ll sometimes hear is that the Famine was entirely the fault of the British. While it’s a popular myth, it’s not completely true. The Quakers, and even Queen Victoria, donated a shitload of money, to try and stem the impact of the Famine. Robert Peel was PM when the Famine started, and he genuinely tried to help, but was stabbed in the back by his own government. They didn’t want him importing cheap food from abroad, even though people in Ireland were already starving to death. Sometimes it was the rich Irish landlords and bailiffs who turfed the starving people out of their homes, and effectively “stole their grain”, like it says in The Dunes. 

 If you’re looking for people in Britain who cocked things right up, try the following: 

1. Peel’s successor, PM John Russell. He believed in economics, rather than fixing an agricultural problem. 

2. The scientists appointed by PM Peel to investigate the Famine. They disregarded a specialist’s opinion that the potato blight was caused by a fungus (which it was). 

3. The arrogant people among the British, who believed the Famine was “sent by God to punish the Irish”. So much for love thy neighbour. Ireland was part of the UK at the time, so why didn’t more people look out for them? 

4. Charles Trevelyan, treasurer to PM John Russell. Trevelyan was slow to give the Irish any kind of proper aid, and he also believed in the God-punishing-the-Irish crap. A poor treasurer and economist if ever there was one. 

The takeaway

  As Ronnie returns to the opening verse of The Dunes to finish, he sings about a man walking on the same shores where he witnessed the horrors of the Famine as a young boy. That implies that the Famine may have passed, but that it lives in the hearts and minds of the people connected with it. There’s a lesson to be learned in life, then. And that lesson is this: do what you can to help others. As human beings, we can’t work miracles. But we can all do something or other to make a difference. 

  It could be doing a Ferocious Dog and organising a food bank at a music venue. It could be raising money for, or donating money to the homeless, as I’ve done in the past and still do. It could even be as simple as looking out for folks during the terrible COVID-19 pandemic. In a world where ordinary people can feel powerless, let’s all do a little bit to make it a better, more humane place. 

Listen to The Dunes HERE.  Or, you can watch an old video of Ronnie singing it HERE. 

R.I.P. Ronnie, we love ya x

Andy

ALBUM REVIEW: BLAGGARDS – Blagmatic’ (2021)

Texas Celtic-Punk band Blaggards (there is no ‘the’) play what they call Stout Irish Rock. Traditional Irish mixed with Rock’n’Roll, informed by everything from Johnny Cash and Elvis to Thin Lizzy and Sabbath. Their new album has just hit the shops 

Unbelievably this is the fourth Celtic-Punk album out of Texas in just the last few months. The Real McCoys, The Dead Rabbits and Die Strömms have all released albums we have raved about and it will be bloody hard to separate them come the end of year best of 2021 polls. The band’s name is pronounced “bla’guards” and was a word used continuously by my Grandad back in the day.

“A scoundrel; an unprincipled contemptible person; an untrustworthy person. Usually, only used to refer to a male person.”

The band formed in July 2004 in Houston, Texas after Dublin born Patrick Devlin emigrated from Ireland in his early 20′s. Working as a jobbing musician for several years, Patrick saw the popularity of Celtic-Punk and that nobody was taking advantage of. So in 1996 he formed On The Dole who would go on to play with the likes of the Wolfe Tones and the Saw Doctors. It was in 2003 though that Patrick met Chad Smalley, a bassist and singer and veteran of the local music scene. Having just returned from New York Chad was looking for a new project they hit it off and the two of them soon began singing and performing together and a year later, Blaggards was born. Eric C. Hughes would later join on drums officially in January 2020 after several ‘unoffical’ performances. Blaggards have one of the busiest touring schedules of any band in the American Celtic-Punk scene. Playing constantly throughout Texas and nationally and also touring Ireland every year (except lockdown)  since 2010. This busy schedule has perhaps hampered their recording output as Blagmatic is only the bands third album after Standards, an album of exuberant, irreverent Irish Folk covers from 2005 and Live In Texas, recorded at the Continental Club in Houston, in June 2009.

Blagmatic begins with the first of a handful of Irish trad covers. Some may be a bit overplayed and some are not but each and every one are injected with new life, given the Blaggards original stamp and played with a good healthy dose of irreverence. ‘The Moonshiner’ begins with a bit of guitar I can only describe as Horslips-ish before slipping straight into a good bit of headbanging Irish Folk-Rock. Maybe if AC/DC were Paddies and not Jocks this may be old hat but it all sounds pretty damn fresh to me. Following this is another Irish cover and ‘Spanish Lady’ is played a lot more traditional Celtic-Punk sounding.  An old song I first heard it by the Dubliners when I was a kid but the song dates back a hundred years or so. Like a lot of Irish Folk songs it’s all a bit unclear.

‘Sweet 16’ is the first of the Blaggards compositions all written by Patrick. The Celtic instrumentation is kept at a bare minimum as they play another rocker that gets the toes tapping and the neck snapping! The irreverence continues with a fantastic cover of ‘Delilah’. Originally recorded by Welsh singing legend Tom Jones it’s great singalong chorus has for years disguised the true meaning of the song. A man discovers that Delilah has been cheating on him, so waiting outside for her lover to leave, he enters the house and stabs her to death. When the ‘cancellers’ find out they’ll be horrified!

“My, my, my, Delilah
Why, why, why, Delilah
So before they come to break down the door
Forgive me, Delilah, I just couldn’t take anymore”

A couple of Blaggards songs now beginning with ‘Rain Or Shine’ which starts off with a great hard rock guitar riff. No wonder Patrick wields a v-shaped guitar! The slips into some more Horslips style Rock before a wee Gaelic flourish and some lovely fiddle before returning to its metal origins.

‘PLFM’ is a modern sea-shanty with a nod to Alestorm. Catchy as feck as every song on Blagmatic is trust me. The Bhoys are not afraid to revisit some stone cold classic (some may say overdone!) but there’s a very good reason why people still want to hear songs like ‘The Wild Rover’. I always think of it is a real rabble rouser as at school this was one of only a small number of songs they could get the boys to sing. We loved as we could beat up the desks with our fists in the chorus! Needless to say Blaggards rip it to pieces and be sure to avert yer ears if you are a sensitive soul!

‘2nd Worse’ is a great song and a good old fashioned rocker in both style and subject matter. The 2nd worse of the title is an ex-girlfriend and the song bops along with some good laughs and a bit of mean fiddling. When I spotted the next song I must admit to cringing a little. I’m sure unbeknown to Blaggards were not to know that ‘Wagon Wheel’ has become a bit of a joke in the London Irish scene. Played so often that folk now call out for it and even one famous London Irish Celtic Punk band are known to have a go occasionally. Not that I would need to worry as the song is a total hard-rocker and f’all to do with a hitchhiker going to meet his girlfriend. We nearing the end and time for an emigration song. ‘Spancil Hill’ is without doubt one of the saddest (and let’s face it the competition is immense!) and beautiful of all Irish emigration songs. I can still clearly remember properly listening to this song for the first time. I had heard it plenty of times growing up but the first time I took care to listen to the words brought a tear to my eye the sadness of it all.

“Then the cock he crew in the morning, he crew both loud and shrill
I awoke in California, many miles from Spancil Hill”

The curtain comes down with another original ‘Lights Of El Paso’ and a touch of western Americana and tongue in cheek humour rounds the album off expertly.

Blaggards left to right: Chad Richard Smalley – Bass and Backing Vocals * Patrick Devlin – Guitars and Vocals * Eric C. Hughes – Drums and Backing Vocals *

As well as the three Blaggards they have been assisted on Blagmatic with some truly talented guest musicians. Jeff Duncan – fiddle, Patrick Brennan – keyboards, Willy T. Golden – pedal steel, Shane Farrell – mandolin and banjo and Paul Beebe on backing vocals, who also produced, engineered and mixed the album too. The album is available on CD, vinyl and download and although it’s available on all the various streaming sites we’d ask you to get it from the Blaggards themselves. There is even a option when you buy the album to ‘reforest Ireland’ by donating an extra $5 to CatchMyCarbon.ie who plant native Irish trees in new forest sites in the West of Ireland. A fantastic album and despite the hard rock at times I think it would still be totally accessible to even the folkiest of Folk fans. Not all of what is here can be described as Celtic-Punk or even Celtic-Rock but i feel I can say that everyone of you would still enjoy this great album and oh my God they must be fecking brilliant to watch live!

Buy Blagmatic  FromTheBand CD/Download  or Vinyl

Contact Blaggards  WebSite  Facebook  Instagram  YouTube

As well as working their arses off Blaggards also do a regular podcasts called SlapperCast: a weekly talk show where the guys share their experiences and occasionally chat with guests. The episodes passed #130 a good while ago and last anything from a few minutes to over a hour and have never failed to put a smile on me face. 

https://slappercast.fireside.fm

Full live show recorded in their mates warehouse A & A Supply Company streamed live on You Tube on Sunday, April 26, 2020. In full HD with stereo sound the set includes many songs from Blagmatic.

ALBUM REVIEW: FINNY McCONNELL – The Dark Streets Of Love (2021)

After 30 years of leading renowned Celtic-Punk rockers, The Mahones, Finny McConnell decided that it was time to make an album for himself. Showcasing his intimate songwriting skills, Finny also includes covers of songs with deep meaning to him. The Dark Streets of Love is a collection of his most intimate music, stripped bare.

Earlier this year Finny made an announcement over on The Mahones Facebook page that the band’s days of spending months on end touring round the world were at an end. It didn’t come as much as a shock admittedly as I don’t think it was possible to keep up that level of commitment indefinitely. I mean The Mahones not only covered more miles than any other Celtic-Punk band in a year but I daresay any band!

It must be strange being in a band where you alone are the chief songwriter as well as singer and for all and purposes the leader so where does the urge to go solo come from I wonder? In just the past couple of years The Mahones have recorded an acoustic album where much of the ground covered on The Dark Streets Of Love is covered. But this album is much more than just a Mahones album in Finny’s name you feel. The songs he has chosen, and among them are a few of his composition, are obviously very close to his heart. Finny has always been one for wearing his heart on his sleeve and it’s rare that a performer can come across so honestly especially at a time when honesty is at a premium.

Of the eleven songs presented here seven are covers the rest by Finny. To a causal observer though it would seem like they were all covers such is the quality of Finny’s songwriting. Whether writing about going on the piss in north London, basketball, Irish history, loss or love or unrequited love he put’s the same passion into everything. That with other people is sometimes their undoing though Finny seems to thrive on it. The Dark Streets Of Love kicks off with a song by everyone’s favourite Irish-German-American and The Bosses ‘Atlantic City’. From the opening few seconds even before Finny comes in you know you’re onto a winner here. When he does come in he sings with a sort of weariness that even Bruce didn’t achieve. Gentle accordion adds to the atmosphere only coming into the open during the musical sections and so taking none of the spotlight away from Finny’s voice. ‘Someone Save Me’ is from a recent Mahones album, The Hunger And The Fight Pt. 1 from 2014. Co-written with his now ex- wife Katie I thought it was a beautiful song then but now… Gina Romantini’s beautiful fiddle lends subtle support to Finny’s voice just as Kevin Hearn’s accordion did during the opening track. A magnificent tribute to love and such is the passion expressed it can sometimes feel like you’re sitting in on a private conversation.

‘Stars’ is again from the same Mahones album as ‘Someone Save Me’ and again was co-written with Katie. A loving tribute to the life of Oscar Wilde. A sad tale of the famed Irish poet and playwright convicted of “gross indecency” at a time when homosexuality was illegal. He was imprisoned and died in poverty in 1900 at the tragically early age of 46. One of The Mahones better ‘modern’ songs it has a fantastic chorus and Finny tells the story with grace. Finny has always had a bit of a Shane drawl and puts it to good use on ‘A Pair of Brown Eyes’. Even among the stone cold classics Shane MacGowan penned this song is one of a handful that tower above even them. Fellow Mahone Michael O’Grady adds haunting tin-whistle and Glenn Milchem drums as Finny sticks closely to the original. Maybe a bit too closely at the end!! On a album that is so tender ‘New York City’ seems a bit out place with its Glam-Rock bounce and chunky guitar but then why wouldn’t a solo album follow the same pattern as The Mahones. He never said it was going to be a quiet album. Loud and bombastic and taken from The Hunger And The Fight Pt. 2 from 2015 Finny channels the 1970’s for the next few songs beginning with this tribute to NYC. Maybe the cities best era as despite it’s high crime rate and poverty it wasn’t full of fucking yuppies. The introduction of piano for ‘So Far Away’ is masterful as Finny sounds like he’s chatting someone in a pub in the early hours. Again piano led ‘Pale Blue Eyes’ sees Finny’s gravelly vocal chords giving a simple but stunning rendition of Lou Reed’s original. Though the covers here are great it is Finny’s own material that shines through. On ‘We’re Miles Apart’ he talks maybe about himself and maybe he doesn’t. A sad song about lovers who become friends. I’ve always though Finny was cut from the same cloth as the legendary Tom Waits and on the Waitsy ‘Cocktail Blues’, swishing drums and jazz piano steer clear of ‘Jazz Club’ comparisons thank God. From one of the earliest Mahones albums The Hellfire Club Sessions from 1999 it drops the Gaelic touches and sticks tightly to ‘lounge lizard’ territory. The curtain comes down with a song in tribute to Gord Downie from Finny’s home town of Kingston in Ontario. Gord passed away in 2017 of cancer and is remembered as lead singer and lyricist for the The Tragically Hip’ ‘Fiddlers Green’ is a great tribute and played stripped back with just Finny and acoustic guitar.

As is the way though there’s a bonus track and it’s ‘Back Home’. One of The Mahones best ever tracks taken from Draggin’ The Days from 1994.

“Hey, it’s not long till we get home
Say, you know I hate to drink alone
Did I tell you, you send shivers through my bones
And I wish I was back home with you again”

A great way to end things buy why bother with this ‘bonus track’ hooey!

The album was produced by Finny himself and engineered by Gene Hughes and recorded as live over St. Patrick’s Day 2021, in Toronto. It’s not your typical Mahones album in fact the Irish touches here are far and few between but Finny’s Irish soul shines through. A beautiful and at times heart wrenching journey through one of Ireland’s true musical geniuses.

Buy The Dark Streets Of Love  TrueNorthRecords   OtherCorporateBullshitSites

Contact Finny McConnell  Facebook  Instagram  Twitter

As suspected you can’t keep a good man down for long and Finny will still need his suitcase and shower cap as he’s now a part of the Punk-Rock trio Ultrabomb with Greg Norton of Hüsker Dü and Jamie Oliver of the U.K. Subs. The guys will be performing a mix of all three bands songs plus material they’ve written for a new album. They have announced a handful of gigs as we to press including Ireland and one here in London at 229 The Venue in the west end. Sadly though we are going to have to wait till April 2022. You can find all the relevant details including ticket information over on the band’s Facebook event.

CELTIC PUNK OLD AND NEW

The Pogues. The Mahones. Flogging Molly. The Dropkicks. All bands who’ve made their mark on the Celtic-Punk genre. But we can’t forget the lesser-known bands too, the musicians working tirelessly to keep the flag up and flyin’! In his first guest post, Andy Beck (aka. The Celtic Punk Author) showcases the old and new from his small, but growing Celtic Punk playlist on Spotify.

We kick things off with Sir Reg, an energetic six-piece from Sweden with a top Irish singer in Brendan Sheehy. “Giving It Up (The Drink)” is a prime example of what these guys can do, arguably bettered only by the irresistible “FOOL (Fight Of Our Lives)”. This outstanding track appears further down the playlist, and is taken from the same album, 2018’s The Underdogs.

If Reg are still too well-known for ya, then how about the acoustic fun of Anthony Leclair? “A Prayer To Spirits” is an expletive-laden number that sits finely among the rest (before proceeding to fall drunk under the table). “Jack Daniels can just fuck right off, I’d rather drink shite beer”, is how it goes. And I can get behind that. Sorry, but you’re talking to a single malts guy who’s visited about half the distilleries in Scotland, so mine’s a Lagavulin 16.

One more fun acoustic one before we get back into the heavier shit. Check out “McGuffin” by an outfit called Gypsy Rebel Rabble, hailing from Dublin’s fair city. This song was written about a man with some sort of grudge, and an unstoppable urge for revenge, and I’ve been hooked on it since first it was recommended to me. So be sure to give that one a spin for proof that Celtic punk don’t always gotta be distorted.

Gypsy Rebel Rabble hail from Dublin. Give the uptempo “McGuffin” a spin!

Meet the Germans!

If you’re lookin’ for Celtic music beyond the Celtic countries, you’ll go a long way to find a more fertile place than Germany. There are about a dozen Irish pubs in Berlin alone, and I’m unashamed to tell you that it’s precisely this fine city that got me into Irish music properly. I lived there for 6 years, travelled around the country a bit, and came across a number of awesome acts who can hold a candle (and a Guinness) to any Irish, Scottish, American or Canadian folk punk band out there.

On the playlist, we kick shit off with The Feelgood McLouds. If “McGuffin” (see above) had me hooked from the go, so did these guys’ track “Dirty Bastards”. It’s a catchy offering by the Saarland group, with lyrics about camaraderie and a bagpipe leading the tune against a wall of distorted guitars. I challenge you to listen to it and not start nodding your head, tapping your feet or whatever the feck else one does when enjoyin’ a tune.

Another band you shouldn’t miss is the Kilkenny Knights. I had the honour of playing the same festival as these guys in 2015, when they won the Newcomer Award that my old band The Celtic Gobshites had won the previous year. And sure enough, “A Drinker’s Song” boasts a catchy accordion riff that takes me right back to them Irish pubs and mediaeval markets that I loved so well.

No reference to German Celtic punk would be complete without a nod to the kings of ’em all – Fiddler’s Green. These guys organise an entire festival every year in North Bavaria, known as the Shamrock Castle Festival, and it would have taken place this year too had it not been for that bastard virus. Still, “John Kanaka” is the band’s fine-ass reworking of an old Hawaiian sea shanty, complete with beer cup antics before the guitars and drums knock your ears into gear. “Yindy” is another one I chucked on the playlist, with fun – albeit slightly silly – lyrics to keep ye grinning.

The Kilkenny Knights, all the way from Coburg, Germany

A Few Surprises!

I’ll leave yers with a few surprise tracks that ye may not have expected on a Celtic punk playlist. Ever heard of Saor Patrol? If no, these guys are aboot as Scottish as it gets, ya wee bawbags. They’re a pipes and drums band whose proceeds go entirely to the Clanranald Trust, an educational establishment that preserves and spreads medieval Scottish culture. “Three Wee Jigs” is a perfect example o’ how these guys can rock ya socks off, so stick it on, crank the volume and go mental.

If the Germans had ya riveted earlier with their take on the music, then check out French outfit Toxic Frogs too. This all-female act knows how to sing, scream and folk with the best of ’em. The lyrics are admittedly a tad difficult to understand, but show me a punk fan who cares much about that and I’ll show ya a bad seed.

Last of all – but by nae means least – I have to cite the mighty Alestorm! Though pirate metal is these dudes’ specialty rather than Celtic punk, I believe they deserve a spot or two on the playlist. Almost all of their songs are about pirates and sailing the seven seas, so the outrageously funny “Wooden Leg” will surely not disappoint! Check it out, but be prepared to be hooked (no pun intended).

So where’s the damn playlist, then?

Thought you might ask me that Click HERE to be taken there, ye gobshites.

If ya like what you hear, the creator would sure appreciate a like. Feel free to tell someone else about it if ya think they’d like it too (in English: please share). Got any recommendations for what should be on the ol’ list? Send ’em to The Celtic Punk Author on Instagram -> @thecelticpunkauthor

Sláinte mhaith and enjoy the ceol, ya bollockses x

THE DAY THE MUSIC DIED. THE MASSACRE OF THE MIAMI SHOWBAND

In 1975 The Miami Showband were riding high in the Irish music scene, known as The Irish Beatles and credited with being Ireland’s #1 band. The showband scene had enjoyed huge popularity from the late 1950’s, through the 60’s and on into 70’s… until one fateful night in July 1975. Here we discuss the background and the devastating aftermath of what became known as The Miami Showband Massacre. 

Led by singer Dickie Rock and later by Fran O’Toole the Miami Showband had thirteen Top 10 singles, including seven number one records in the Irish singles chart. From their debut #1 in 1963 a cover of Elvis’ ‘There’s Always Me’ until that fateful day in 1975 The Miami Showband reigned as Ireland’s premier ‘showband’. In the 1950’s the Irish music scene was dominated by Ceili bands, orchestras and ballad singers and it was from all those influences that the ‘showband’ in the 60’s/70’s took their sound. There’s an excellent history of the progression of the Irish Showbands on the aptly named Irish Showbands site. The term would come to be used to cover many different bands and styles but in its very early days, in the 1950’s it was used to describe a show where a band would play two sets with another act in the middle, more than likely a comedian. Success didn’t come easy for the Miami Showband travelling the length and breadth of Ireland every night to play anywhere from village halls to large city venues. The hard work paid off with several high points for the band like representing Ireland in the 1966 Eurovision Song Contest and appearing on British TV on Sunday Night at the London Palladium. Band members came and went and by 1975 all the original members had left and the new line up of the now bell-bottomed, wide-collared Miami Showband comprised of Des Lee, Brian McCoy, Tony Geraghty, Fran O’Toole, Steve Travers and Ray Millar.

Steve Travers joined the band at 24. Six weeks later half the band would be murdered.

From left: Stephen Travers, Tony Geraghty, Ray Millar, Brian McCoy, Fran O’Toole, Des Lee

The band were a ‘mixed’ band meaning they had members who were both Catholic and Protestant and from both sides of the border. Politics was not on the agenda for them. All they cared about was the music and bringing joy and excitement into peoples lives. It is estimated at the height of the showband scene there were over 650 fully professional groups operating across the island. At the time violence in the north and censorship in the south were rife and folk longed for a escape and they found it through music. Later Punk would fulfill the same role in bringing people together. As Stephen Travers explains

“There was no sectarianism at these dances, people left their religion at the door.”

So popular were they that they breezed through Police and Army checkpoints on the border often being recognised and asked for autographs. No stranger to the London Irish scene either performing regularly at famed London venues The Galtymore and The National to packed houses. There really was no one to touch them at the time. London Celtic Punker Gerard recalls

“I was only 12 and I knew very little about them, but I could realise something terrible had happened, the sombre mood about the place, people involved in the entertainment business (like my relatives in Galway) were shocked and very scared. Bomb scares were a regular part of a night out to our pub. They were seriously worried that these murders would escalate things. They were scared that the places the Showbands played in would become a target, like Seapoint ballroom in Salthill.”

It’s hard to fathom how popular a band they were and the Showband scene was. Ireland was littered with these places at the time and they were absolutely central to rural nightlife as well as cities.

(the BBC documentary The Day The Music Died)

On the 31st July 1975 the band had played another successful gig in the northern town of Banbridge. After loading their gear drummer Ray Millar bid farewell and headed off on his own back to nearby Antrim. The bands manager Brian Maguire got in the van containing the groups equipment and set off just a few minutes ahead of the remaining five band members on the trip back home to Dublin.

Sometime after 2.30am they were stopped in the townland of Buskill outside Newry by what they thought was a routine military checkpoint. The Ulster Defence Regiment (a local part time regiment of the British Army) regularly patrolled the border and random stop and searches and harassment of nationalists was common. They were directed into a lay-by and ordered to exit the van while their van was searched. They were questioned at gunpoint and told to give their names and other details. While the search continued, another member of the gang appeared on the scene and according to Stephen Travers and Des McAlea began barking orders at  the others in what was described as a “crisp English accent”. Naturally concerned that the UDR men who were searching the van would damage their instruments Stephen Travers attempted to go towards the van to ask them to be careful but was pushed back into line and it was at that moment an massive explosion ripped through the van throwing band and gang members in all directions.

The bogus checkpoint had in fact been set up the Ulster Volunteer Force (an illegal Protestant paramilitary force involved in the indiscriminate murder and intimidation of innocent Catholics and Republicans) dressed in UDR uniforms. A bomb with a timer had been placed on the van that had gone off. Intended to explode after they has crossed the border into the Irish Republic killing the Showband and giving a convenient excuse for sealing the border completely. Two of gang, Wesley Somerville and Harris Boyle, died instantly. Besides being members of the UDR they were also senior members of the UVF who gave them a full paramilitary funeral. 

None of the band members were killed in the bomb blast. Des McAlea was thrown over a ditch by the force of the explosion, suffering minor injuries and managing to make good his escape across fields. Fellow band members Fran O’Toole, Tony Geraghty and  Brian McCoy were not so lucky. They survived the blast but the gang were intent on killing and opened fire. Stephen Travers was hit and was seriously wounded, the bullet that struck him breaking into sixteen pieces. Tony and Fran had tried to help him off to safety but were unable and as Stephen lay there pretending to be dead he could hear the men chase down his friends in the neighboring fields and despite their pleas for mercy murder them in cold blood. Brian McCoy, hit by machine gun fire, was the first to die. Tony Geraghty was shot four times laying helpless on the ground. Frontman Fran O’Toole died after being shot twenty two times. The gang walked around the aftermath of the explosion kicking at bodies to ensure that they were all dead. Seriously wounded, traumatised and terrified, Stephen decided to lie still as he was approached. Luckily for Stephen, just as he came near, one of the other soldiers shouted that

“those bastards are dead.  I got them with dum-dums”.

The soldiers then departed the scene, and despite suffering horrific injuries Stephen survived the attack.

A leaflet distributed in Catholic areas during the war.

The 6-man gang involved in the massacre included Wesley Somerville’s brother and alongside other UDR men were all part of the ‘Glenane gang’, a notorious UVF unit responsible for countless sectarian atrocities. This unit led by Robin Jackson were suspected of killing up to 50 Catholics, and who organised the bomb attacks in Dundalk in 1975 that killed two and the worse atrocity of the War the 1974 bombings in Dublin and Monaghan that killed 33 and a unborn child and injured almost 300. The weapon used to kill Brian McCoy was traced back to other murders in the Mid-Ulster area and fingerprints found on a silencer would link Robin Jackson to the massacre, but charges were mysteriously dropped with allegations he was protected from prosecution by British special branch. Only three members of the gang would be convicted, with two members and one former member of the UDR, sentenced to life in prison. Former British army Intelligence operatives have gone on record since to confirm that undercover British Military intelligence were collaborating with the Glenane Gang and heavily involved in the planning and carrying out of the Miami Showband massacre.

The involvement of the British state in the murders of the Miami Showband and other atrocities have been dismissed as the actions of ‘rogue’ soldiers, RUC (Northern Irish Police force) or Intelligence operatives but the evidence shows otherwise. The refusal of the British government to co-operate with the inquiry into the Dublin/Monaghan attacks and the record of shady British military engagement shows they have something to hide. The history of the army in Ireland has been a bloody one, directly, and indirectly through collusion with their allies in groups like the UVF. Catholics and nationalists throughout the north of Ireland at the time lived with the British state actively assisting Loyalist death squads to terrorise whole communities through intimation and murder. Any attempt to get to the truth of what happened on 31st July 1975 has been hampered and blocked by the British state. Back in 2017 the Ministry of Defence was ordered to release documents relating to the murders. It was also revealed that a substantial amount of documents were destroyed in 2005 with no explanation as to why, or how, this happened. Despite this, the families and surviving members of the band continue to campaign tirelessly for the truth and justice that for too long has been denied to them.

Further Information

For those of you with Netflix the Miamia Showband were featured as part of eight ReMastered music documentaries. ReMastered claims to “investigate high-profile events affecting some of the most legendary names in music” such as Bob Marley, Johnny Cash and Sam Cooke. March 2019 saw The Miami Showband Massacre come under the spotlight and Stephen Travers’ search for the truth of what happened on 31st July 1975.

The Miami Showband Massacre: A Survivor’s Search for the Truth – by Stephen Travers and journalist Neil Fetherstonhaugh, was published in 2007.

The Miami Showband web-site.

ALBUM REVIEW: RAISE YOUR PINTS. CELTIC- PUNK SAMPLER. VOLUME 6 – VARIOUS ARTISTS (2021)

From the scene. For the scene.

After months of planning, organising and fund-raising the compilation album Raise Your Pints #6 has finally been delivered. Twenty bands from eleven countries celebrating (might be the wrong word- editor) the virus lockdowns in Celtic-Folk-Punk style. 

Anyone remember the original Celtic-Punk samplers from Shite’n’Onions? I think they stretched to three volumes and came at a time when I had never been on the internet. Yes I was one of the select few who never even had a MySpace account! So to come across these samplers with upwards of twenty  bands on and pretty much all new to me (even the English ones) was eye-opening… or should that be ear-opening? Them days are long ago and we can thank Shite’n’Onions for being early pioneers of the Celtic-Punk sampler though they have long passed the baton onto MacSlon’s Irish Radio. Now in their 11th year the radio station brings out the best in Celtic-Rock, Celtic-Punk and trad Irish Folk both modern and ancient(!). They have also for the last few years been a major player on the merchandise front organizing merch for a whole host of bands from across mainland Europe and even the United States.

This is the 6th in the Raise Your Pints series and all the songs have been written and recorded over the last 16 months while the Corona virus has done it’s best to wreck the music industry. We are yet to see what long term damage the lockdown have caused but already here in London, and across England, many music venues have closed their doors permanently and several bands have handed in their guitar straps. The thirst for live music though seems at a all time high but bands are still finding it difficult to book gigs and tours with so much uncertainty around about whether or not the lockdown will return.

So the arrival of Raise Your Pints #6 is to applauded for many reasons but chiefly among them is that the bands will directly benefit from the sales of the CD and with not much else going on it’s a chance for them to remind their fans and followers that they are still here and still fighting.

Reviewing a compilation album is hard enough but one made up of different bands is even harder so I will forego the usual review and just tell you a small bit about each artist and song and link to them so they can tell you more. Of course the best way to find out more is to buy the album!!!

RAISE YOUR PINTS VOLUME 6

THE MULLINS (France) – ‘Part Of Me’

The album kicks off with The Mullins. Hailing from the south of France their song began life before the lockdown but the band took the opportunity to perfect it and even managed to get together inbetween lockdowns to record the cracking video!

THE CEILI FAMILY (Germany) – ‘Corona Chesay’

The album is perhaps a bit top heavy with German bands but that is totally understandable. They do have the #1 scene in Europe you know. The Ceili Family are one of the better known established bands. The band first stirred back in 1996 and even had a great recommendation from the late Philip Chevron: “Enjoyed listening to the CD, by the way. Always good to see people doing something of their own with the basic idea we invented!”

THE FEELGOOD McLOUDS (Germany) – ‘Dirty Bastards’

More Germans here with The Feelgood McLouds formed in January 2015 southwestern Germany. More than any country in Europe the Germans have embraced Celtic-Punk with the number of bands, gigs and fans far outstripping anywhere else this side of the Atlantic. This track is taken from this years critically popular ‘Saints & Sinners’ EP.

GRASS MUD HORSE (China) ‘ Absent Friends’

Grass Mud Horse only seem to have around a year or two but already have more releases than many more well established bands. Formed when Scouse-Irish musician Chris Barry mover to China the band has had some set backs with members coming and going because of the virus (they are based in Wuhan) but luckily things have settled down and they recently recorded a single with yer man Frankie McLoughlin.

UNCLE BARD AND THE DIRTY BASTARDS (Italy) – ‘Back On Your Feet’

From playing with ALL the Celtic-Punk superstars to headlining festivals across Europe and even getting to the United States several times Uncle Bard And The Dirty Bastards are without a doubt one of the select few you could describe as ‘Premier League’ Celtic-Punk bands. ‘Back On Your Feet’ is one of the standout tracks from last years album Men Behind The Glass that the Bhoys have recorded an acoustic version for here. One of many great Celtic-Punk highlights during the lockdown was the Bastards hour long acoustic live stream. Brilliant!

JACK IN THE GREEN (Germany) – ‘Old Maui’

Yeah we may have all heard it a 100 times by now but popular covers are popular for a reason. That we never tire of hearing them! Hamburg’s Jack In The Green play a great acoustic version rather than the ‘choir/acapello’ type I’m more use to hearing. Vocals remind me a lot of from The Whisky Priests who in their day were massive so wonder if they were an influence here. 

THE MOORINGS (France) – ‘Champion At Keeping It Rolling’

Cracking version of the Ewan MacColl penned classic about lorry driving from French band The Moorings. Formed in 2011 the band have released several albums and EP’s a Folky version of this song appears on their debut EP Pints & Glory but they have re-recorded it in proper Celtic-PUNK style here. They have just completed a successful crowd-funding campaign for a new album so can’t wait for that.

JOHNNY HASH (Ireland) – ‘Ride On’

Johnny Hash is a bunch of people from various Belfast bands who got together during the lockdown and released a few videos of Irish Folk classics. Christy Moore’s ‘Ride On’ was their first attempt at a video. Still knocking them out months later let’s hope they develop into something more permanent.

THE RUMPLED (Italy) – ‘If I Should Fall from Grace With God’

The Pogues track gets an airing here from the Italian band The Rumpled. Hard to compete with the originals but gutsy to try and they give it a great go. A relatively new band having got together in 2013 in Trento, Italy. Known for fast paced Celtic-Punk, combining Irish Folk, Rock, Ska and Punk. They have a new album out at any moment so watch this space for news on that.

MEDUSAS WAKE (Australia) – War Of Independence

The debut album from Sydney based Celtic-Folk-Rockers Medusa’s Wake hit the top spots in all of 2018’s Celtic-Punk medias yearly ‘best of’s’ and since then they have gone from strength to strength. Writted by Tipperary born Eddie Lawlor, he sings from the heart of the war back home between 1919 and 1921 against the British. Much of that war took part in the fields and villages of the ‘Premier County’ and those of us with Tipp backgrounds grew up hearing of the tales of heroic activities of those ordinary men who took on the worlds strongest army.

HELLRAISERS AND BEERDRINKERS (Germany) – ‘Stay At Home’

Hellraisers And Beerdrinkers may just have the best name in Celtic-Punk but they are a pretty shit-hot band as well. They take their name from a song by rockers Motorhead so should give you an idea about them! Another band that hails from Germany from the small town of Schwäbisch Gemünd. ‘Stay At Home’ is a re-recorded re-jigged new version of a song from their debut album Folk’s Gaudi in 2016.

AN SPIORAD (Germany) – ‘Carry Me Home’

German band that began life as a two-piece band “The Plästik Päddies” in 1997 before changing name to the far more complicated An Spiorad (Scots Gaelic for The Spirit). ‘Carry me Home’ is taken from their recent album Album Dord Na Mara.

SONS OF O’FLAHERTY (Brittany) – ‘The Pack’

More Celtic Celtic-Punk now from Vannes in Brittany Sons Of O’Flaherty formed as a duo in 2010 they soon fleshed out to a whole band due in no small part to the popularity of Irish music in this Celtic nation. ‘The Pack’ is a new song and with it being four years since the release of their last album The Road Not Taken hopefully this signifies some new sounds on the way.

NEVERMIND NESSIE (Belgium) – ‘Lock Him Up’

Formed in Belgium in 2009 Nevermind Nessie‘s track comes from this years EP Another Six Pack Of Drinking Songs that came out in March. A fast, raucous song about Donald Trump.

KILKENNY BASTARDS (Germany) – ‘Be A Bastard’

More bastards!! This time from Iserlohn in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Like many German bands their emphasis is on playing live such is the demand for their music so their recording output sometimes doesn’t match up with the age of the band. Kilkenny Bastards are one such band and we look forward to them rectifying this soon!

ALL THOSE EMPTY PUBS (Switzerland) – ’40 Days’

Based up in the Swiss alps ’40 Days’ was the debut release from All Those Empty Pubs (what a great name!) earlier this year. We loved it so much we ran a feature and a small interview with Diego the genius behind this one-man-band. Diego utilises all his talents here with mandolin, flute, acoustic guitar and even Hammond organ alongside your more usual Rock band instruments. It just don’t get more DIY than this.

RAPPAREES (Germany) – ‘Las Vegas (In The Hills Of Donegal)’

Another band from Hamburg Rapparees kicked off thirty years ago in the dive bars before changing their name. A straight up acoustic cover of the Goats Don’t Shave song. A ‘raparee’ was the name given to Irish soldiers who survived the Williamite war with the British in the 1690’s and used guerilla tactics or became highwaymen after the war ended.

LA STOATS (Germany) – ‘Raise Your Pints’

German band La Stoats come from Essenbach in Bavaria in the south-east of Germany and incorporate the traditional tunes and melodies of their Bavarian home into their brand of Celtic-Punk. ‘Raise Your Pints’ is one of the standout songs here with chugging guitar and a real cool early 80’s Punk Rock sound with some superb bagpipes. Definitely a band worth checking out.

MUIRSHEEN DURKIN (Germany) – ‘Riot’

The last of nine German bands on Raise Your Pints features one of the best Muirsheen Durkin And Friends. ‘Riot’ is a bloomin’ brilliant Celtic-Punk cover of a UK Subs song from 1997. The original is superb but here it is mastered with the energy intact and growling vocals and a core of Celtic instruments chugging along.

SEAN TOBIN (USA) – ‘St. Patrick’s Day Forever’

The last of the 20th songs belongs to New Jersey Irish singer/ songwriter Sean Tobin. Theirs 2 versions of ‘St’ Patrick’s Day Forever’ and I guess you could call this the ‘radio edit’. Blue-collar, working-class Irish American Folk music and one of the standout tracks on the album to bring down the curtain.

So that’s yer lot. There’s bound to be a load of bands here that you have never heard of. Some are new even to us and the styles of music is varied from Folk and trad right across to Punk but the songs are all totally accessible at all times. This (like the previous five volumes) is essential listening to all fans of Celtic-Punk and we cannot put it any clearer than that! Raise Your Pints #6 is out on July 9th and is available for pre-release order from the link below.

https://macslons-shop.com/v-a-raise-your-pints-vol-6-cd

NEW SINGLE ‘As I Roved Out One Morning’ FROM CALLUM HOUSTON

Acoustic Alternative Folk Rock.
Made in Bretagne. Inspired in Ireland.

We’re big fans of Callum Houston and when we heard he had a new single out we had a quick chat to find out the lowdown on what it was all about.

This song first started out as a chord pattern I randomly came up with and posted on Facebook. I was then convinced to make a song out of it by my friend Anthony who plays with the Ska band The Groovin’ Jailers from the North of France. I had meet him previously while on tour with the Graveyard Johnnys when we had shared a stage together. I quickly made a structure for the song and sent it to him to put record some Dobro over the top. I had just got back from doing a week long St Patrick’s Facebook tour where I played live with a number of musicians in different locations all across Bretagne. My head was full of old Irish ballads so I cut a load of lines from songs and pasted them together to make a Frankenstein style ballad of my own. The words seemed to fall into place easily and actually pretty well portrayed the week that proceeded them. Both my parts and Anthony’s parts were recorded in our own home studios. I then sent the track over to another great friend and even better musician Sleeper Bill from Rennes, he added some piano and then with ease took over the mixing and mastering malarkey which I am hopeless at. The beautiful artwork was hand crafted by my good neighbor Maire Pauline. It was great fun creating it together and I hope you can enjoy it as much as I did. More music will follow in the coming months and some concerts (fingers crossed).

As I roved out one morning, at the dawning of the day,

I meet a pretty maid, traipsing along my way,

Like a fox caught in the headlights,

I looked with surprise,

My mind being bent on rambling,

away I did fly

*

I said no nay never, no never again,

I’ve traveled many miles, from glen to glen,

There’s some that you fuss over, and some that you forgo,

I fell right for a raggle taggle gypsyo,

*

 Her eyes they shone like diamonds,

she’s the queen of this town,

Like an angel I have lost my wings, fallen to the ground,

There was whiskey in the jar, and the maid behind the bar, it was the parting glass,

Her eyes they shone like diamonds,

she’s the queen of this town,

Like an angel I have lost my wings, fallen to the ground,

There was whiskey in the jar, and the maid behind the bar gave the parting glass,

That went just a little too far

*

 Now through the Foggy Dew,

I search for you, as I rove around,

the streets of this Dirty old Town.

*

Callum Houston – Guitar, Vocals / Anthony Francois – Dobro / Sleeper Bill – Piano
Mixed and mastered by Sleeper Bill / Artwork by Marie Pauline Van Parys

To promote the single Callum performed a craicing live stream set of original material. If you missed it fear not click here to be re-directed straight there! Music begins from 3 minutes in and lasts just over a hour. The single costs just €0.99 so help out struggling artists by helping them to get a pint!

Download As I Roved Out One Morning  FromCallum

Contact Callum Houston  Facebook  Bandcamp  YouTube  Spotify

NEW SINGLE ‘Camden Lullaby’ FROM TRAVIS O’NEILL FROM PINTS AND PIPES

First new solo music in four years from Travis O’Neill Sligo born resident of Prague and vocalist for legendary Czech Celtic-Punk band great Pipes And Pints. An ode to his days in North London!

Camden and North London at the time I lived there was a real stronghold of the Irish and the London Irish and it had a massive sense of community. Like all cities, sometimes it could get dangerous but mostly fun. However it always had a this sense of family especially among the minorities and outcasts, I count the Punks, Skins, Goths, Irish and London Irish. The diaspora as big family or a movement. It made you feel like you were living in a separate island apart from the rest. It was an amazing time, I have friends that still feel as close as family from there and that will never leave, although I moved on from Camden. Ten incredible years that made me more streetwise, a better musician and more connected to my roots than actually living in Ireland. Very proud of what we had there, Miss the old stale beer smell of the Elephants Head and stagger home after a night there.

Travis O’Neill. March 2021

Walking down by Camden lock

Punker’s, Skins and the junkies flock

We sat on our leather jackets and listened to the band

Hearts full of dreams,

Black stout in my hand

*

 The Irish, Flats, Goths stood as one

this was our home, castle, kingdom

Call me a romantic ol drunken fool

Those were days we stood together we ruled

*

 Sweet Camden lullaby

Memories soaked in whiskey till we die

raising our glass to London Irish skies.

*

 Ronnie, Damo, Luke singing scripture

Philo Lynott comin to get ya

Don’t you ever feel so alone,

Céad míle fáilte in every Irish pub around the world

we scream, Sláinte

*

Camden lullaby

Memories soaked with whiskey until we die

and we fly raising our glass from London Irish skies.

*

 I will leave you one day, for distant winds I am sailing

Singing the parting glass through tear soaked eyes

 This is my Camden lullaby