BEYOND THE FIELDS NEW VIDEO AND TRIBUTE TO ALISTAIR HULETT

The new video from Swiss band Beyond The Fields is a fantastic cover of the Alistair Hulett penned classic ‘Blue Murder’.  Their fine homage to one of Scotland’s finest folk musicians was recorded live at this year’s traditional Grabenhalle Irish Night in St. Gallen, Switzerland on March 18th, 2017. Mixed by Eddy Sloof and filmed by Metunar.

By kind permission of The Alistair Hulett Memorial Trust.

They say it’s easy money
A full page ad in the local rag,
Always nice and sunny.
Come on lad, and pack your bag.
It’s off to West Australia.
Leave the old hometown behind.
Be a winner, not a failure.
There’s money to be made in the Wittenoom Mine.

Day in, day out, everyday they drive us harder.
Day in, day out, they’re getting away with blue murder.

They took me to my quarters,
A stinking bed in an old tin shed.
Got my working orders,
With a lamp, and tin hat on my head.

Day in, day out, everyday they drive us harder.
Day in, day out, they’re getting away with blue murder.

My girl she’s a cook and a cleaner.
Works all day in the canteen hall.
Six days since I’ve seen her.
Some don’t have no girl at all.

Day in, day out, everyday they drive us harder.
Day in, day out, they’re getting away with blue murder.

Sweeps the fine blue dust up.
Tips it into an old wool pack.
Never had a check-up.
If she did she’d get the sack

Day in, day out, everyday they drive us harder.
Day in, day out, they’re getting away with blue murder.

I feel my health is failing
Working down in the thick blue dust.
The kids play in the tailings.
The boss says work, and work I must.

Day in, day out, everyday they drive us harder.
Day in, day out, they’re getting away with blue murder.

For those who aren’t too familiar with Alistair Hulett’s (1951 – 2010) life and work, he was born and raised in Scotland but spent half of his life in Australia. He made a name for himself both as a solo artist and as the lead singer of legendary Australian folk rock band Roaring Jack. Apart from being a gifted singer/songwriter, Alistair was a committed socialist and a dedicated political and community activist. He was indeed one of those artists who consequently used his art trying to make a difference, to fight injustice and exploitation wherever and whenever he could. Alistair wrote songs about crimes against indigenous people, whether it was the British nuclear tests in Australia (‘Plains of Maralinga’) or human rights violations in Papua New Guinea (‘Good Morning Bougainville’). He wrote songs about the Highland Clearances (‘Destitution Road’), detention centres (‘Behind Barbed Wire’), the mistreatment of workers, you name it. ‘Blue Murder’ was one of two songs he wrote about the suffering of those who worked in the blue asbestos mine in Wittenoom, Western Australia. Countless miners and their families who paid with their health and lives after being exposed to lethal asbestos fibres, a health hazard well known to those who ran the mine.

Alistair originally wrote the song for a play while still in Roaring Jack. He eventually recorded it for his third solo album “Saturday Johnny & Jimmy the Rat”, together with folk legend Dave Swarbrick on fiddle!

To find out more about Alistair Hulett and his amazing body of work, visit
http://www.alistairhulett.com

BEYOND THE FIELDS

Eva Wey (Fiddle) * André Bollier (Vocals and Acoustic Guitar) * Marcel Bollier (Bass) * Uwe Schaefer (Mandolin) * Eddy Sloof (Drums and Percussion)

A Celtic folk rock band from the Lake Constance area, playing both acoustic and electric shows. Founded by singer/songwriter Andre Bollier, and featuring classical, folk, jazz and rock musicians from both Switzerland and Germany, the band offers its own distinctive mix of Irish and American folk traditions with rock, punk and other elements.

WebSite  Facebook  YouTube

LONDON CELTIC PUNKS PRESENTS OUR BEST OF 2014!

TOP TWENTY CELTIC PUNK ALBUMS OF 2014

Last year our ‘Best Of’ list was completely dominated by bands from these shores but this time there’s a much more international flavour to 2014’s Best Album’s list. Again Irish influenced bands dominate but the absolute standout album for me was without a doubt Uncle Bard And The Dirty Bastards from Italy who nailed their fusion of punk rock and traditional music completely. With their own roots and influences included along with some amazing uilleann piping they are deserved winners of the Best Album spot. Kitchen Implosion join them in what has been a great year for Italian bands. Sure not all of these twenty bands are celtic-punk in the dictionary definition of the phrase but sod that anyway. These are what we liked and they all fit in in some way. Twenty bands from thirteen countries (Italy, England, Sweden, Brittany, Canada, Ireland, USA, Australia, Brazil, Catalonia, Germany, Switzerland and Belguim) which only goes to show the international appeal of the celtic-punk scene these days. A special mention for London Irish band Creeds Cross superb debut album. Only just caught them live and they were awesome so hoping to see much more of them around town in 2015.

As ever we have reviewed some, though not all of these albums, so click (here) after the title and you will be re-directed to our review.

We compiled the ‘Best Of’ lists together from the scraps of paper handed to me by the various admins from the London Celtic Punks facebook page.

1. UNCLE BARD AND THE DIRTY BASTARDS- ‘Get The Folk Out!’ (here)

2. CREEDS CROSS- ‘Gods And Fighting Men (here)

3. ROVERS AHEAD- Always The Sinner, Never The Saint (here)

4. LES RAMONEURS DE MENHIRS- Tan Ar Bobl (here)

5. THE MAHONES- The Hunger And The Fight

6. BLOOD OR WHISKEY- Tell The Truth And Shame The Devil (here)

7. THE ROUGHNECK RIOT- Out Of Anger

8. BASTARD BEARDED IRISHMEN- Rise Of The Bastard (here)

9. JAY WARS- Carry Me Home (here)

10. THE RAMSHACKLE ARMY- Letters from the Road Less Travelled

11. 6’10- The Humble Beginnings Of A Rovin’ Soul (here)

12. LUGH- Quando Os Canecos Batem (here)

13. SIGELPA- TerraMorte (here)

14. KITCHEN IMPLOSION- Pretty Work Brave Boys! (here)

15. THE KILKENNY KNIGHTS- Bradys Pub Tales (here)

16. BEYOND THE FIELDS- The Falcon Lives (here)

17. THE YOUNG DUBLINERS- ‘Nine (here)

18. KELTIKON- Agenbite Of Inwit (here)

19. FM 359- Truth, Love And Liberty (here)

20. THE BLACK TARTAN CLAN – Scotland in Our Hearts

a special special mention for three absolutely brilliant compilation albums too. Can’t really include them in the Best of charts so heres all three in no particular order at all as they are all 11 out of 10!

a class album with 4 songs per band and an absolutely beautifully put together record. THE PORTERS/ THE JUDAS BUNCH/ THE MAHONES/ MALASANERS 4-WAY SPLIT DOUBLE ALBUM- ‘Welcome To The Folk Punk Show’ (2014)  here

a mostly Russian compilation paying tribute to all (lets just face it they are!) our favourite celtic-punk band- ‘Ex-USSR Tribute To The Dropkick Murphys’ (2014)  here

this ought to be the number one album of the year to be honest. a fecking amazing compilation of Indonesian celtic-punk bands.the quality is amazing throughout.absolutely stunning. I cannot recommend enough!! ‘Wind From The Foreign Land- Indonesian Celtic-Punk Compilation’ (2014)  here

TOP FIVE CELTIC PUNK EP’S OF 2015

No question which EP deserved this and Russia’s Middle Class Bastards just blasted us away with their follow up to their 2013 album. Superb use of bagpipes and brass instruments combined with fast but tuneful punk rock. A bit unfortunate for Black Water County who looked nailed on to win this for most of the year with their fantastic 2nd EP. The Breton band The Maggie Whackers released their EP back at the start of the year while The South Sea Ramblers from South Africa literally released theirs just a couple of weeks ago while LQR from Holland slipped theirs out in time for St Patricks Day… ooh err missus! So spread out across the year but these are the ones that left their mark. Looking forward to hearing more from them all and long players must be arriving soon I hope.

1. MIDDLE CLASS BASTARD- Rebel To The Core (here)

2. BLACK WATER COUNTY- Fellowship Of the Craic (here)

3. THE MAGGIE WHACKERS- Naoned Whisky (here)

4. LQR- A Touch Of Liquor (here)

5. SOUTH SHORE RAMBLERS- Bare Knuckle Blackout

TOP FIVE TRAD ALBUMS OF 2014

As the blog is for (mostly) celtic punk so it is that we only review stuff that isn’t celtic punk if we really really (really!!) like it. All these rocked our boat and we loved them all to bits. Hard to decide which order they should go in but this is how we ended up. Turned out to be an all Irish list with I DRAW SLOW from Dublin with beautiful alternative country sounds and both Cork’s THE BUACHAILLS and London’s THE CRAICHEADS going head to head with both bands playing similar styles of music while Irish-American supergroup THE ALT’s debut album was a worthy runner-up to fellow Irish-Americans RUNA’s brillliant fourth album.

1. RUNA- Current Affairs (here)

2. THE ALT- ‘The Alt (here)

3. THE CRAICHEADS- Brewed in London (here) 

3. THE BUACHAILLS- At Your Call (here)

5. I DRAW SLOW- ‘WhiteWave Chapel (here)

BEST CELTIC PUNK WEB-SITE OF 2014

once again there is no question who gets this

CELTIC FOLK PUNK AND MORE

(find it here)

 keeping the whole wide world up to date with what’s going on and who is doing who within celtic punk (and more!) while also supplying us with regular free downloads and free compilations. Waldo you’re great. Keep it up mate!

BEST GIGS

Apart from the ones we put on which were all amazing and showcased some amazing performances from JAY WARS and THE DEAD MAGGIES from Aus, THE GREENLAND WHALEFISHERS from Norway, a couple of benefit gigs for Mad Dog out The Popes (hope youre back on your guitar highkicking soon pal!), BLACK WATER COUNTY played their London debut and went down a fecking storm, me O’s mates STEVE WHITE AND THE PROTEST FAMILY were as superb as ever and released a fantastic album. One of the major highlights was discovering the quintessential London Celtic Punk in ANTO MORRA and we look forward to working with him again in the future. We teamed up with fellow Londoners of Urbankelt and will be doing so again too.

I also saw DAVID ROVICS for the first time, THE MEN THEY COULDN’T HANG’s amazing 30th anniversary show was incredible, NECK and their sadly ended residency at TChances which had us all pissed on Polish lager on Sunday afternoons for the first 6 months of the year, FLOGGING MOLLY in Reading in June which showed they havent lost a thing and are as great as ever, THE POGUE TRADERS were the best Pogues tribute band I ever seen. Disappointing was missing so many gigs where I just didnt have the cash especially The Pogues various outings. THE STANFIELDS from Canada seemed like a decent bunch of lads but their London gig was a total rip-off. The pre-gig ticket price was £7-50 which more than doubled to £15 on the door on the night. Oi bands watch out for charlaten promoters won’t you? Rebellion music fest brings loads of decent bands over to play but that means that they all end up playing in the same week so I had to forgo THE GO-SET’s return to London. Missed out on THE WOLFE TONES London gigs too due to work. All three of them! THE LAGAN have been brilliant. Far far too many of their gigs to go into detail so we have choosen the whole of St Patricks Weekend as our Number One! With NECK playing three gigs over the weekend and both THE BIBLE CODE SUNDAYS and THE LAGAN playing on the same day as well it seen a clean sweep of all the London bands done. Afterwards sick days were phoned in, headache pills were taken and the best St Patricks in donkeys was had.

Now were just looking forward to catching THE DROPKICK MURPHYS ‘Celtic Invasion ‘ Tour in Dublin and London this year round St Patricks Day.

Sláinte, The London Celtic Punks Crew- 2015

 

Of course all these things are very subjective so don’t be dismayed if your album ain’t here. What appeals to one don’t neccessarily appeal to another. It would be impossible to keep up with the multitude of celtic-punk related releases so these are the best of of what we actually did get to hear. All the various sites in the celtic-punk family had different winners so to see what they thought check out the Best Of lists of the following sites…

CELTIC FOLK PUNK AND MORE

IRISH PUNK

PADDYROCK/GRINNNING BEGGAR

MacSLONS IRISH PUB RADIO

click on the blog logo at the top of the page to find more of this kind of stuff…

ALBUM REVIEW: BEYOND THE FIELDS- ‘The Falcon Lives’ (2014)

Bordered by three countries the area of Lake Constance in Switzerland is not only one of the most beautiful spots in Europe but also home to one of Europe’s hardest working celtic bands. Beyond The Fields were formed in 1998 by Swiss singer-songwriter Andre Bollier. Within a year the band had released their first record, a 3 track CD of original numbers titled ‘Home’. And that my friends was that. For the next decade or so Beyond The Fields continued to tour and play gigs until only after being harassed by fans for some new recordings they finally buckled and have come up with ‘The Falcon Lives’ only 15 years after that single!

The Falcon Lives’ was produced by the bands drummer Eddy Sloof and I have to say that the mix is great. All the various instruments are as clear as day and all combine perfectly, capturing the live sound of the band accurately. Coming in at over 45 minutes long the album is great value and eleven of the twelve songs are the bands own compositions. That other track ‘Blue Murder’ was written by Alistair Hulett, Scots born singer of Aussie celtic-punk legends Roaring Jack. Sadly Alistair passed away back in 2010 but I’m sure he’s up there smiling proudly away at this version.

left to right Eva Wey (Fiddle) André Bollier (Vocals and Acoustic Guitar) Marcel Bollier (Bass) Uwe Schaefer (Mandolin) Eddy Sloof (Drums and Percussion)

The album kicks off with ‘Perfect’ and straight away its the acoustic folky side of celtic-punk that Beyond The Fields inhabit. A song about being in love with someone your friends don’t like mixes in country sounds and some absolutely amazing fiddling from Eva and straight away its bands like The Waterboys and The Saw Doctors that comes to mind. Not in any copycat way and maybe its Andre’s rasping vocals but its hugely impressive. ‘One of Those Days’ is about well one of them days you should have stayed in bed and is classic celtic-punk in the folk rock  vein of bands like the Mollys or The Tossers, though not so obviously Irish. Beyond The Fields are more of a punk folk band rather than a folk punk band if you know what I mean. ‘The Artists Song’ is a slow ballad becrying the lack of proper music these days and the plastic clones that make up the ‘industry’ these days

“who needs Britpop when we’ve got The Beatles”

‘The Canterbury Tales’ certainly raised a smile with one of the albums more lively tracks and shows they got a black sense of humour with this tale of living in England and supermarket queues, snooker and gardening on the telly, shit food, expensive rents and

“they love their football

they even think that English teams rule

get real”

‘Blue Murder’ is the aforementioned cover of Alistair Hulett and tells of moving to western Australia to work down the Wittenoom mine digging blue asbestos where everyday the bosses get away with the ‘Blue Murder’ of the poor sods who worked the pit. A beautifully played track with the drums keeping the beat as Andre repeats the simple but effective lines of the song.  ‘Dark Waters’ is another black song but ultimately the message is of survival. ‘Beyond The Fields’ has a celtic-rock feel to it with once again Eva’s fiddle soaring high over the music. Title track ‘The Falcon Lives’ is a slower track with great heartfelt lyrics of a long gone friend that bursts into life before dying down again.

“There’s nothing I cant take

I am too strong to break

There’s nothing I can’t be

As long as you live on in me”

‘Home’ is a re-recording of that early track with great mandolin playing from German born Uwe and is the simple tale of returning home after years away. ‘I Wonder If You’re The one (Guess I’ll Never Know)’ is another dark love story. The band combine perfect on this track with a simple tune with the emphasis on the great lyrics. ‘All I Really Need’ keeps up the darkness before ‘Any Time’ brings the album to a close with another of the album’s standout tracks. A big sound again with again the band combining well and is a great way to end things.

There really is some amazing music out there and I find it really heartening that the celtic-punk scene is producing such diverse music. Even though much more to the folkier side of things there’s plenty here to keep everyone happy. Elements of American folk sit side by side with Irish traditional music and if I had one quibble it would be that I would have liked to hear a bit of a Swiss influence in there too. Andre’s vocal style is very distinctive and if anything turns Beyond The Fields into much more of a celtic-punk band than they would be otherwise. A word here on Andre’s song writing and I have to say how refreshing it is to hear a celtic album that steers clear of all the usual celtic-punk subjects and instead opts for a different approach. Although there’s no obvious celtic themes within the songs that idea of story telling is very much there and I would recommend getting the actual CD rather than the download as those lyrics will bear repeated reading. The actual CD is an amazing digipak with an incredible 20 page booklet with band photos and the lyrics. Great stores but I do worry that Andre’s heart must have been broken a few times to keep coming up with this!

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