ODDS’N’SODS. A CELTIC-PUNK ROUND UP NOVEMBER 2022

2022 is nearly over and hasn’t it gone quickly blah, blah, blah. But it has hasn’t it? November already and almost time to raise a beer to the freedom fighter Guy Fawkes. The only person to enter parliament with good intentions!

A brand new Odds’n’Sods round-up of all this months Celtic-Punk entertainment from the scene’s bands big and small, established or just starting out.

Irish sensation (that’s the only word possible!) THE MARY WALLOPERS released their debut album a couple of days ago. The self titled album is eleven songs and forty minutes and is a collection of both unusual and rare and a some pretty well worn covers but brought to life in the unique Wallopers way.  Looking forward to them visiting London in December as they head off on a major tour of the UK and Ireland.

We often repeat the mantra that Celtic-Punk man cannot live by Dropkick Murphys alone but we are as guilty as anyone with being obsessed with them! With their new album out a month now here’s the guys with a short eleven minute set recorded live at The Boch Center Wang Theatre by the The Folk Americana Roots Hall of Fame.

During the recording Ken mentions the new video they filmed of ‘The Last One’ that features Evan Felker of TURNPIKE TROUBADOURS who will be supporting the Murphys in Boston on March 16.

In case you missed them we recently had the pleasure of interviewing a couple of Dropkick Murphys with ex-member Marc Orrell and drummer Matt Kelly gracing these pages.

We featured MADIGAN’S WAKE and their debut single last month and here is their follow up a song written after the night terrors and they can be added to the list of great Aussie Celtic-Punk bands in my head! Available on Spotify or to pre-order.

Ukrainian band O’HAMSTERS have a 13-track album out soon and available for download as a pre-order from Bandcamp for $7. A band we have followed for a few years always great music and we look forward to more. All money raised from this album pre-order will go to HMV.UA – the team of volunteers headed by our friend Alex Sedov helping the army of Ukraine.

Another band we have been huge fans of over the years is ZUNAME Punk-Rock with bagpipes from Moscow. They just released a new album as well called Vertigo. Their fifth album and is on all streaming platforms  https://band.link/vertigo. Recording of Vertigo began four years ago and events since then no one could have ever foreseen so they decided to stop postponing the release again and again and hope it will give folk the strength to get through these hard times and the best way for the band to support you.

The Black Tartan Clan were onew of the best and most popular Celtic-Punk bands in Europe with their McKenzies-ish bagpipe heavy Scots Celtic Rock’n’Roll so we were all saddened to hear they were non more but they re-surfaced and began life again as THE BLACK TARTANS and have been recording and playing live. They have a new song called ‘F’Corona’.

Even as this is ready to publish I’m still adding to it and THE MULLINS from the South of France have a new album, Gold In Our Hands, that I am writing the review to at the moment. It’s a cracking 40+ minutes of uptempo Celtic Punk’n’Roll I can’t wait to share with you. In the meantime here’s the latest single from the album.

This is an incredible live performance from French Celtic-Punk band CelKILT recorded live at this years Hellfest Open Air Festival in Clisson, France. Fifty glorious minutes!!

Great video from the Horslips influenced THE POXMEN. Formed in the bogs of Donegal thousands of years ago and recently ventured out into the cold modern air, with a bag of songs and a wheelbarrow full of instruments. Fuelled by Poitín, mushrooms and spuds, roaring and shouting and singing and playin, about the horses, the wee folk, the witches, the turf, the thunder and lightnin’, and the silver tractors of ancient times.

Not quite a new video from SWAINN but I only just rediscovered it so here it is again. It is from their awesome Under A Willow Tree album which we did review last year.

Brilliant Argentinian Celtic-Punk band RAISE MY KILT were on the telly last week. It’s all in Spanish of course but there’s a wee interview and the music starts about a minute in. They have 2 (two!) pipers!!!

Kings of Cow-Punk PRONGHORN still out there entertaining the masses in the South-West of England. This is them with an old traditional Ukrainian Folk song just a few days ago as I’m writing this.

THE REAL McKENZIES – Songs Of The Highlands, Songs Of The Sea

THE MAHONES – Jameson Street

MARCUS MUMFORD – (self-titled)

ZUNAME – Vertigo

MAN THE LIFEBOATS – Soul Of Albion

ZECKYBOYS – Dirty Brands (reviewed last week)

THE MULLINS – Gold In Our Hands (review coming!)

THE MARY WALLOPERS – The Mary Wallopers

Remember we can’t review it if we don’t hear it!

We’ve been doing this now for nearly 10 years and in that time we have covered 100’s of bands and musicians but still plenty of bands have passed us by. We can’t see everything after all so this column is to remind us of bands that never made these pages at the time but deserve another mention. These hopefully come with a free download like today so you can help yourself to some free music. DOOZER McDOOZE is a singer songwriter from Essex with a passion to play everywhere and anywhere! This is his debut album from 2014 but look a little closer and all his music is available for ‘name your price’ download from Bandcamp. In a download world of media solitude, Doozer likes to give music back to the people. He has a new single out now ‘Pirate Captain‘ and as usual if you can afford to leave him enough for a Guinness or two as a tip please do so.

The BIBLECODE SUNDAYS are at the Powerhaus in Camden (formerly Dingwalls) on Saturday November 5th. NEW MODEL ARMY play 3 Christmas dates ending at the Roundhouse starting on the 10th. SHEELANAGIG play groove heady traditional folk and have quite the following and play November 18 at their regular haunt in Brixton, the Hootananny. An interesting night in store on Decem,ber 15 with both THE SCRATCH and THE MARY WALLOPERS playing in Camden (mad I know!) so if you’re stuck check out our preview, One Night In Camden,  to help you make your mind up which way to jump on the day itself! DROPKICK MURPHYS have announced THE RUMJACKS, PENNYWISE and JESSE AHEARNE as support for their Euro tour starting in Jan. One for the diary now and DAMIEN DEMPSEY is back at the Electric Ballroom in Camden the day after St. Patrick’s day which means he’ll probably be at the St. Patrick’s Parade in the afternoon though that is now shite and I promised myself I would never go again after last years abomination!

If you like what we do then you can support us by checking out our online store. The Harp’n’Bones design is back in all sizes and on black or white shirts. Also we have new polo shirts, in all sizes, and some nifty woolly hats as well as the Green’n’White ‘Skully Cap’ ringer shirts. Click the link below for the full range of all our other tatt. Shirts, badges, stickers, flags, CD’s and fridge magnets all the discerning Celtic-Punk fan could ever need! Help keep Punk Celtic! https://the30492shop.fwscart.com/

It’s been great watching MAN THE LIFEBOATS career and we played ever such a tiny tiny part in it having put them on a couple of times but they truly are a great band. Funny, fast and raucous Folk-Punk with a few Celtic style flourishes. We’d call them Celtic-Punk though I doubt they would themselves still whatever they are their new album is tremendous. 11 songs but check out the first couple of songs here for an idea of the scope of their songs.

London Celtic Punks north-American writer Ray has a new EP out with his band RAVENSWALK out for Halloween. All-Hallows is 5 songs of his typical eclectic taste with spirited versions of  Echo And The Bunnymen, The Rocky Horor Picture Show among 2!

RADARNA were founded by Rikard Falk after joining forces with José Miguel Martinez to write their debut album. With all the artists living in different countries live shows are unlikely to happen but they continue to record and just released a 3-track EP of FINNTROLL inspired Folk-Metal.

Accomplished multi-instrumentalist DAMIEN O’NEILL of legendary bands The Undertones and That Petrol Emotion has a solo project and has just released his third album, a collection of largely instrumental tracks, mixed by veteran producer Paul Tipler. The title ‘an crann’ is Irish for ‘The Tree’, a symbol of growth and inspiration.

I don’t know much about TIM LOUD except some people whose musical taste I respect are huge fans of his. He describes his new release as “These are some tunes I wrote for what was going to be an album but now it won’t be”. It’s available as a ‘name your price’ download via Bandcamp.

The re-released and re-mixed second album from DEXY’S MIDNIGHT RUNNERS (now just to be called DEXY’S) Too-Rye-Aye from 1982 is out now on vinyl, CD, download and a beautiful 3 disc box set packed with extras. I have compared it to the original and yes it is much improved. It’s down with the treble and strip back the echo and give Kevin Rowland’s vocals room to breathe. As my mate said “it’s like they have taken off the polish and added wood stain”.

Finnish Celtic flavoured Punk band THE LORETTA PROBLEM have a new single Green ‘n Gray out in a couple of weeks. Expect a feature here of this fantastic innovative band.

Facebook is rubbish and I can’t wait to see it fold. It has a stranglehold on all forms of expression that is not good and it’s no surprise to see people leaving in droves. Don’t despair though if you are one of them as you can keep up with London Celtic Punks posts via group on the phone app Telegram. Similar to What’s App but completely free from outside interference. Join us on Telegram, don’t miss a single post and even receive the odd exclusive and special offer! https://t.me/londoncelticpunks/

Well we have been blown away by the response to the new London Celtic Punk badge. Not surprising really as they are so bloomin’ gorgeous. Just about the nicest bit of merchandise in Celtic-Punk if you ask me! Comes with butterfly clip and made in Ireland (Guaranteed Irish!) It’s available for just £5 – UK and £7 – EU post-paid and we’ll throw in a few stickers and a button badge too. For further overseas contact us and we’ll work it out. Send to Paypal (friends & family) to londoncelticpunks@hotmail.co.uk

Even though we hate it Facebook does supply the (very) occasional ray of sunshine so a shout out to some good friends of ours over on Facebook. The Dropkick Murphys- Fan Page and the Celtic Punk,  Folk And Rock Fans are two of the best music forums on FB let alone Celtic-Punk. Ran By Fans For Fans just like you and me. Like and join in the fun!

Finally a message to bands. Its Christmas soon (yes I know!) and if you are planning on doing a Christmas release then be sure to get the details to us by the beginning of December. Last year we could hardly keep up so give us a chance folks!

A reminder too that we need your news so anything you would like to share with the rest of the Celtic-Punk scene send it onto us.

If you are new to the London Celtic Punks blog it is easy to subscribe / follow and never miss a post. Bands, promoters, record labels, venues send in any news to londoncelticpunks@hotmail.co.uk or via the Contact Us page.

ODDS’N’SODS. A CELTIC-PUNK ROUND UP DECEMBER 2021

We take Christmas very seriously at London Celtic Punks and so begins the countdown to the second best day of the year! Expect much Christmas themed Celtic-Punk in the coming weeks but in the meantime here’s this months biggest yet round-up of all the band news, record releases and videos from bands big and small from across the Celtic-Punk scene.

6’10 the utterly brilliant offshoot from Flatfoot 56 just put out a new video to accompany ‘The Road’ taken from their awesome last album, Carried In Retrospect.

We missed the release of the new SHANGHAI TREASON single but needless to say it is again fantastic fast and punky Celtic-Punk and quite unlike anyone else knocking about. The album draws ever nearer and we cannot bloody wait to her it! Catch’em on tour in the UK with The Rumjacks soon.

It is probably easier to stop a train going at full speed than to convince the former members of the Black Tartan Clan to put an end to their musical adventure. After a small pose due to a change of line up at the end of 2017, the black kilt wearers have reformed ranks and changed their name, becoming BLACK TARTANS. The new group has a solid experience of live and studio work and continues to bring an energetic mix between trad Celtic instruments (bagpipes and banjo) and Punk-Rock. Here’s some footage of them playing live from their Facebook page. They’ve also started a You Tube channel so give that a follow if you can. Lots of new footage promised.

A little late for Halloween or especially early for next years? PADDY FINNEGAN’S GREEN MACHINE is no other than London Celtic Punks columnist Raymond and he put out a five track EP of scary covers and originals just in time to go trick or treating!

Another Halloween release we missed (except this was from last year!!) was When The Tombstones Speak a 4-track EP from Chicago band WORK THE COUNT. A collaborative music project that draws inspiration from American and Celtic Folk, Punk and Pop. Available as a ‘name your price’ download.

While it’s been many a year since The Dublin Castle in Camden has been much of a Irish pub Peggy Conlon talks about life behind the bar at the iconic pub.

THE RUMJACKS released a new video last month for the lead single off an upcoming new release. A eight track EP titled Brass for Gold is due out 11th February 2022 and is available for pre-order. 

BLACK MATILDA are a new Celtic-Punk band from Lunenburg, Nova Scotia in Canada and just put out their debut song, ‘I Must sail Away’, on You Tube accompanied by a fantastic stop motion animation video. You can find the band on their Instagram page.

THE CUNDEEZ new single ‘The Stornoway Stomp’ is out now on major download sites along with the bands brilliant Scottish football anthem ‘Kilts On Taps Aff’. Both tracks are taken from the forthcoming album ‘Geeez It’ and the song tells the tale of a trip to the Isle o Lewis.

Acclaimed Pirate band and pure theatrical spectacle YE BANISHED PRIVATEERS announced the release of a Christmas themed album next month and I am really hoping we get a copy! A Pirate Stole My Christmas comes out on December 3rd and is on preorder here: https://smarturl.it/APirateStoleMyXmas

London Gaelic Athletic Association launched a commemorative 125th anniversary booklet, which lays out the history of the county’s past century and a quarter. You can read it here.

Speaking of Instagram (Remember it is owned by Facebook so none of your photos are safe!) THE TENBAGS from Birmingham have just discovered it and have been posting some great content on their page. Well worth looking up.

I’m not much of a whiskey man I’d be the first to admit. My father-in-law always gets the Bells out for me and my brother just shakes his head disappointedly when I put Cola in but here’s a good wee video from a couple of Aussies reviewing THE POGUES Irish whiskey.

HAWTHORN are from Tucson, Arizona and just released their second album, All The Light We Cannot See. An aggressive mix of raw energy and fast punk rooted in traditional Celtic music.

SONS OF CLOGGER are a well known fixture on the English Folk-Punk and festival scene with a good few releases behind them. On finding a bass player they are now casting their net out for a rhythm guitarist and keyboard player so if you live anywhere near Staffs. give them a shout on their Facebook page. ‘Siabost Beach’ is taken from their last album The Neolithic as filmed in the Outer Hebrides/ Western Isles.

Irish born Barcelona based tongue-in-cheek singer-songwriter CAL MURPHY released The Partin’ Rocky Rattlin’ Lass 4-track EP earlier in the year but we only just got round to hearing it. All cover versions the EP covers modern day Irish music pretty damn well from the Celtic-Punk of ‘Will Ye Go, Lassie, Go’ to it’s polar opposite ‘The Parting Glass’ stripped down to just vocals and acoustic guitar. 

THE OUTCAST CREW – Myths And Yarns (review coming)

WHISKEY OF THE DAMNED – We Made Bail

BRIAN FALLON – Night Devine

THE GROGGY DAYS – Grog ‘o’ Clock

HAWTHORN – All The Light We Cannot See

remember we can’t review it if we don’t hear it

A wee plug for London Irish Rugby Club. After years in the wilderness out in Reading and some would say a watering down of the club’s Irish ethos they arrived back in London at the tail end of last season and a joy to behold it was too, except for the last minute defeat after being miles ahead at half time!! The club is back in the heart of the Irish community so check out the clubs merchandise and show your roots and get some mates together and get down there. Eight train and tube stations within a 20 minute walk and no shortage of decent pubs too means their is literally no excuse. Games against Newcastle Falcons December 4th, CA Brive in the EPCR Cup December 19th and the first home fixture of the New Year against Bath on Monday January 3rd.

This section is for Celtic-Punk bands that have (on the large) left us but their music is still deserving to be heard and heard for free courtesy of a free download. Well here’s a band that are still together and playing. FALPERRYS are one of them actual Celtic-Punk bands from an actual Celtic country (I use to call that Keltic Celtic-Punk) in Galicia. Do Amor e das Mentiras was their debut album from 2011 and is available as a ‘Name Your Price’ download as is their more recent album Nova Abordagem.

Everyone is wetting themselves that THE DROPOUTS are fronted by former Booze & Glory singer and guitarist Liam well we remember his glory days when he nonchalantly would play the banjo for London Irish Ceilidh rockers Neck whilst dreaming of the day he could be in a Oi! band! A top geezer he moved off to Sydney a couple of years back and hasn’t looked back since. This self-titled release is the bands debut and though only seven tracks it’s all great stuff and perfect melodic and hard hitting Punk Rock.

The more I see of Facebook the more and more I dislike it. It has a stranglehold on all forms of expression and this isn’t good. Anything that breaks their monopoly is a great thing (except Twitter equally as shit!) so if you feel the same you can now subscribe to London Celtic Punks posts via our group on the new phone app Telegram. Very similar in style (but better and easier to use) than What’s App but the best thing is that it is completely free from Facebook control. Join us on Telegram, don’t miss a single post and even receive the odd exclusive and special offer! https://t.me/londoncelticpunks/  

We’re not beyond a wee bit of crass commercialism so just to let you know that London Celtic Punks merchandise would make great Christmas presents! We still have a handful of Green’n’White ‘Skully Cap’ ringer t-shirts available in all sizes from Small right up to XXX-L from our online store. Also available are 2 other shirt designs so click the link below for our full range of all our other tatt. Shirts, badges, stickers, flags, CD’s and fridge magnets all the discerning Celtic-Punk fan could ever need!  https://the30492shop.fwscart.com/

On the live front here in London town we have the return of London Irish Pyscho-Ceildh rockers NECK to the New Cross Inn on December 10th with support form the awesome CROCK OF CELTS. The following day sees THE MEN THEY COULDN’T HANG at the Subterania in Ladbroke Grove and then  a choice of the London Folk legend SEAMUS MOORE at the Sporting Green in Enfield EN3 5JF or THE FIREPIT COLLECTIVE Irish-Folk offshoot from the Inner Terrestrials at the New Cross Inn sees us into Christmas on Sunday 19th. There was also talk of a secret POGUES TRADERS afternoon show somewhere in Central London. Keep an eye out for that. Lots of gigs being announced check the LCP FB events page but the new year will see the return of our dedicated London ‘What’s On’ page.

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

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If you are new to the London Celtic Punks blog it is easy to subscribe / follow and never miss a post. Bands, promoters, record labels, venues send in any news to londoncelticpunks@hotmail.co.uk or via the Contact Us page.

NO ODDS’N’SODS NEXT MONTH BUT IT WILL RETURN FOR FEBRUARY