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ALBUM REVIEW: AIRS AND GRACES- ‘Voting At The Hall’ (2018)

With a mix of folk and punk with a dash of country Airs & Graces have that boundless enthusiasm and infectious energy creating a superb medley of melodies, chants and sing-a-longs that will have you howling for more!

Born in 2012 Airs & Graces are the latest in a long line of utterly fantastic German celtic-punk band’s to grace our scene. We have featured many German bands over the years and Germany has always been the country with the third most views every year since we started of (behind the ‘UK’ and the USA). We have a feeling to why celtic-punk is so popular in Germany so if you not tired of hearing it then head over to our review of Ghosttown Company’s debut album here and find out. Just recently we have had reviews of records from Distillery Rats, Restless Feet and The O’Reillys And The Paddyhats and a new review will be coming soon of perhaps the best known of all German celtic-punk bands Mr. Irish Bastard.

Airs & Graces hail from the south-eastern German town of Regensburg but if you like me then you’ll be wondering what a maple leaf is doing as part of their logo. Well it turns out that the bands guitar player Arlyn is Canadian (a native of Saint John, New Brunswick) and has lived in Germany since 2008. She is married to Philipp who plays mandolin and sings lead vocals in the band, Together they were both members of celtic-punk band The Buccaneers till they disbanded in 2012. The Canadian connection does not stop there either with Ayron Mortely and Lindsey O’Connell from Toronto who were also part of The Buccaneers and who also play in Airs & Graces but are not featured on Voting At The Hall but do look out for their other celtic-punk band The O’Deadlys.

Airs & Grace from left to right: Arlyn- Guitar/Back Vocals * Philipp- Mandolin/Lead Vocals * Kerni- Drums * Asche- Bass

Voting At The Hall is the bands first official release after a four track Demo from October 2014, Six Men Were Put On Trial, with Matty from Northern-England folk-punkers The Roughneck Riot contributing vocals on one track and despite not having much of a recording history they certainly have made a name for themselves by word of mouth. A couple of high profile gigs have done them the world of good and with their debut album I’m sure they hoping to further capitalise on their good name. Here we have fourteen tracks and every one an original composition, composed by lead vocalist Philipp and arranged by Airs&Graces.

Starting off with ‘Card’ Voting At The Hall is fourteen tracks that comes in just under forty minutes. From the very off it’s reminiscent of 70’s/80’s English punk but with with some nice Celtic flourishes. ‘Cards’ is in fact one of the best tracks on the album with Philipp’s clear vocals shouting out loud and proud. It has a certain Dropkicks feel to it too with its catchy chorus and driving punk and mandolin. Excellent start. The lyrics deal with the betrayal of workers by their trade union leaders. ‘These Hands Master’ tells of working class life that was taken for granted until they realised that not only can these hands build they can also vote.

“These are the hands that built this cities walls, These are the hands voting at the hall”

Great as it is to hear such things I also like a bit of humour and ‘Ginger Red Bastard’ supplies it. Real foot-tapper this and may be a bit slower than previous and that English punk rock sound is even more clearer here with them reminding me of a band from my youth that I can’t quite put my finger on. It will probably come to after this is published! ‘Four Corners’ appeared on the MacSlon’s Irish Pub Radio compilation and was a standout track upon it even though surrounded by the cream of today’s celtic-punk scene.

Telling the story of the Winnipeg General Strike of 1919 it’s brilliant to hear history told this way. Never forget the past people. You can get the compilation here. The album continues with ‘Ringing of The Bell’ and it’s short and sweet and over in two minutes but me heads nearly falling off me shoulders before ‘Turn Her Into The Wind’ and you can hear in the songs that if you took away the Celtic instruments then Airs & Graces would still be a very very good punk band. Another standout here is ‘Throat’ with a memorable hook that would get you up on yer feet if you weren’t already and you can see why the band have got such a good reputation as these are songs that were made for the live setting. ‘Straighten Your Back’ is the shortest track here clocking in at dead on ninety seconds and its catchy as hell while they follow this up with ‘A Town So Black’ which is the most Celtic they get so far with mandolin kicking the song off before the rest of the band come clashing in. Seems the band have a score to settle here but that’s all i’ll be drawn on.

(‘A Town So Black’ featuring David De Prest from Boston punkers Continental)

We’re well over halfway now and ‘Refuse To Go’ continues with another solid slab of punk rock. Now you’d expect me to be biased in favour of the more Celtic numbers but my miss-spent youth and embarrassing photos of multi-coloured mohicans are testimony to my love of old school punk rock and that’s in plentiful supply here and on ‘Devil’s Factory’ where Airs & Graces prove they have a stock of catchy songs that are well played with boundless energy and abandon. ‘Three Sisters’ again has a great hook and singalong chorus and ‘bounce’ to it and the words speak of a landmark at sea that welcomes you back to home soil.

‘Never Wanted Trouble’ is another track that sails by in less than two minutes before ‘Pull Me Out’gs down the curtain on Voting At The Hall and a great ending. No slow songs here its just fast and furious celtic-PUNK rock. People I know who I have been lucky enough to catch them in concert remarked on their excellent live show and their it seems that Airs & Graces have managed to capture their live sound rather well here in the studio and that energetic, raucous and ‘shantyish’ punk rock sound has transferred well. They have a grand sense of history too and all working class people should be proud of our labour history. As someone once said “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”. It seems an obvious thing to say so I will say it but lovers of Dropkicks style celtic-punk would absolutely love Airs & Graces and this album is full of good songs that these days the Dropkicks would love to play! At the moment the album is only available From MacSlon’s shop but will be coming as a download in around 3-4 weeks on Spotify, iTunes, Apple Music, Amazon, Deezer etc so if you can wait that long get in touch with the band.nearer the time.

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ALBUM REVIEW: FM359- ‘Truth, Love And Liberty’ (2014)

The first album of 2014 hits my doorstep and have to say it is a corker! For a while there last year it looked like trouble was abrewing in Street Dog town and it seemed they may be splitting up. Looking back they like just needed a break from the constant touring and as a consequence they came up with this in their spare time.

Two members of the Street Dogs, Mike McColgan and Johnny Rioux, Murder The Stouts Hugh Morrison, original Dropkick Murphy guitarist Rick Barton and a few mates came up with this album of country, gospel inspired, mostly, acoustic punk rock. I suppose you could call this as a side-project but for Johnny Rioux he’s already got this here, Rick Barton has Continental, who only just toured the UK with their country tinged punk, and Hugh Morrison, who is also playing in loads of bands, so for some this is a side-side-side-project so gotta have your doubts we’ll see them in britland anytime soon!

They’ve described it themselves as having ‘a humanitarian (non-religious) GOSPEL Americana (punk) rock sound’ and that’s as good a description as anyone could make. Vocal duties are split around the various members with Johnny Rioux particularly impressing on ‘I Saw The Light’ the albums most country song.

“I travelled far from sea to sea, to see if I could find my heart of gold. And when I found the one that I loved, I fucked it up and now I’m all alone”

Topics seem to revolve around the struggle of the American everyman and the politics are a lot more subdued than previously but still ramped up higher than 99% of most American bands. It all seems a bit personal and autobiographical as on Mike McColgan’s ‘It Stay’s With Me’

“Remember cold Tuttle Street days, just to run down Grampian Way. Dreamers sprung loose by Catholic cages, come take a walk with me, I’ll read my pages”

There’s plenty of touches of celtic-punk here but the various members are to be congratulated on making a superb album containing so many disparate strands of music and yet marrying them together to make something pretty much unique as well as perfect!