If June be sunny, harvest comes early, June damp and warm does the farmer no harm.
in this month’s Odds’n’Sods all the news fit to print on what’s going in our wonderful Celtic-Punk world. From the scene’s biggest and well established bands to those just starting out it’s all in here!
We had a great night out watching THE MARY WALLOPERS playing their final date of their UK tour last month and what a lovely surprise to see legendary Pogues blow-hard Spider Stacy coming on to play a wild ‘Holy ground’ with the Dundalk bhoys.
There’s a couple of different tracks floating round on You Tube from popular Californians THE PROVOS set at the Constellation Room during St. Patrick’s weekend but ‘From Hell To Sea’ is my favourite. New single due out later this week. Really fallen for this band!
CHEERS! Celtic Folk-Punk band brewed in Pilsen in the Czech Republic. The track comes from their new release ‘Flowers In Rye’ – out now.
Still footage appearing from around St. Patrick’s Day and here’s fifteen minutes of the BRICK TOP BLAGGERS playing live at the St. Pat’s 2023 Fremont St. Experience in Las Vegas.
The brilliant new Galician Celtic Celtic-Punk band TECOR SOCIETARIO live in Sala Capitol, Compostela, on February 4th with a new song influenced by Woody Guthrie’s ‘This Land Is Our Land’.
Hungarian Celtic-Punks THE CRAZY ROGUES recorded a live session at the Hungarian National Library for the HUN State TV Channel 2. It premiered on TV a couple of weeks ago and is fantastic. Sad news for the band and their fans is that Laszlo, the long-time singer of the band, has decided to move onto pastures new. His decision is amicable and he will return as a guest in the future. The new singer is already up and running!
JESSE AHERN has been over to these shores a couple of times of course the last being the support to the Dropkick Murphys and The Rumjacks and on his new single he’s roped in over all talented bastard Mikee from The Rumjacks to produce and direct the video. The track is from his forthcoming album Roots Rock Rebel – out September 15. Pre-order at https://jesseahern.store
More amazing traditonal Hungarian Celtic-Folk-Punk from a great band JOLLY JACKERS that we have featured several times over the years.
Italian Celtic / Irish trad. Folk band PATRICKS knocked out a great version of ‘I’ll Tell Ma’ last month. I may have heard it a 100,000 times but theirs a very good reason why its so popular… its because its a brilliant song!
DROPKICK MURPHYS – Okemah Rising
DROPKICK MURPHYS – Live At Ryman Auditorium
BRAVE THE SEA – Lady Death
BLOOD OR WHISKEY – Poxy Pub (EP)
BEYOND THE LAMPLIGHT – Don’t Forget to Leave It All Behind
MERRY HELL – Let The Music Speak For Itself
NO MURDER NO MOUSTACHE – There’s A War Going On For Your Mind
Remember we can’t review it if we don’t hear it!
NORTH ALONE are a Folk-Punk/acoustic band from Osnabrück, Germany who have been together just over 10 years and have a new EP out.
WAYNE BRERETON is a Folk and ballad singer-songwriter from Co. Offaly in Ireland. He cites Luke Kelly, Shane McGowan, Sean Keane and of course his multi-talented father as his biggest influences for the crafting of his own style. Wayne is a Gaelic Speaker with a great love for Irish culture, songs and ballads. Pre-order his new album The Robin’s Call via the Bandcamp app.
London alt-folk band LOCKS new single ‘Jars’ is out now taken from their forthcoming EP Tall Tales.
Award winning North- West of England Folk-Rock 8-piece MERRY HELL came from the embers of the much loved Folk-Punk band The Tansads, developing a life and feel all of its own. Through twelve years, six albums and hundreds of gigs they have released Let The Music Speak For Itself a 28 track Greatest hits of sorts. As they say
This collection does not represent the beginning of the end; it represents the end of the beginning…
An ‘eclectic’ (I think the word is!) cover of The Pogues ‘If I Should Fall From Grace With God’ by THE WIGGINS which is essentially Jon Read over there in Houston, Texas. I love it!!
THE TENBAGS are a Folk-Punk outfit hailing from Birmingham, with original boozy Brummie ballads and traditional woozy wailers. Their first release since since the Bags O’ Craic album in 2019.
Welsh one-man-band NO MURDER NO MOUSTACHE have a new album out on May 26. Anti-establishment Punk Rock with Celtic influences. Sometimes acoustic, sometimes not, always #punk.
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. Last month we had the music of Folk-Punk band Tail Light rebellion and today we go to the where they began their musical adventure in the Celtic-Punk band THE SWAGGERING GROWLERS. A traditional Irish Folk-Punk band based in Boston, Mass. Infusing the spirit and the tradition of Irish session players with the fire, intensity, and heart of Boston Punk and Hardcore, and tempered with the earnestness and soul of American Folk and created an unforgettable musical juggernaut. Here is Outlaw Waltz the last of their three studio albums but all are available here as ‘name your price’ downloads.
With the demise of the four piece Wolfe Tones and the inevitable split into two bands and while both offer a great night out we can’t recommend DEREK WARFIELD AND THE YOUNG WOLFE TONES enough. Power, passion and history with their charismatic leader. Playing the 229 on Great Portland Street on Friday 2nd June. The 3rd sees SKIMMINGTON RIDE play McCaffertys in Seven Kings. American political singer-songwriter DAVID ROVICS is supported by ROBB JOHNSON at LARC in East London on the 8th and Trad band FLOOK are at the Irish Cultural Centre Hammersmith on June 10th. Fast-paced trashgrass and blues band from Colorado the TEJON CORNER STREET THIEVES are at the Islington Assembly Hall supported by AMIGO THE DEVIL on Thursday June 22. The following day on the 23rd is the world’s #1 Pogues tribute band THE POGUE TRADERS live at Mill Hill Golf Club. July 18th sees Scandinavian Celtic-Punk pirates YE BANISHED PRIVATEERS at The Black Heart, Camden and the following day American Folk-Country-Doombilly band the HEATHEN APOSTLES play The Lexington in Kings Cross on Wednesday 19th July. The founders of Alt-Country THE LONG RYDERS are coming back to these shores this month with a full Europe and UK tour. RETURN TO LONDON, London’s 25th Festival of traditional Irish music, song and dance is between Friday 27th – Monday 30th October 2023 at The Crown Hotel (Cricklewood) and other local venues – http://www.returntolondontown.org The postponed MR. IRISH BASTARD UK tour is back on and during November they will be heading to Brixton (22nd), Southampton, Bridgwater, Manchester and Edinburgh. Can’t wait! One more thing we saw the OLD TIME SAILORS recently and they were incredible. A 17-piece band playing Irish Folk and sea-shanties half theatre and half the best music show you’ll see all year. Check their Fan-Page on Facebook for gigs near you. They literally play everywhere. I saw them in Guildford and they had driven down from Scotland the night before and the next day theu were heading to wonderful Doncaster to play for my Mammy… and others!
COMING SOON !!!
LONDON CELTIC PUNKS PRESENTS
BRAVE THE SEA (OH. USA) | ANTO MORRA | MORE TBC
American Celtic-Rock / Punk band BRAVE THE SEA on tour in the UK and playing London for the first time supported by London-Irish Folk-Punker ANTO MORRA and GREENFORD BHOY playing all your favourite Irish rock rebel late into the night or until we are asked to leave! Support to be confirmed soon but we promise it will be a packed show. Entry is free but their will be a whip round – as you can imagine getting here from the States as a DIY musicians isn’t cheap. Live at The Bird’s Nest, one of the last standing live venues in SE London and one of the best. Located at 32 Deptford Church Street, Lewisham, London SE8 4RZ. close to New Cross and New Cross Gate tube stations so easily accessible from across London. http://www.thebirdsnestpub.co.uk/
All money we raise from our merch we put back into the Celtic-Punk scene so if you like what we do then you can support us by checking out our online store and buying something. The Harp’n’Bones design is back in all sizes and also on black or white shirts. Also we have the last few remaining polo shirts, nifty woolly hats and Green’n’White ‘Skully Cap’ ringer shirts that we need to get rid of. 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/
Facebook is rubbish and I can’t wait to see it go broke and a return to the era of paper flyers and fanzines. It has a stranglehold on all forms of expression that is far from healthy. If you are thinking of leaving and still want to keep up with us you can do via the London Celtic Punks 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/
Some new London Celtic Punks merch. The LCP ‘Tricolour Skull’ mug is back after a couple of years. Available for a tenner in the UK (£20 EU) with free badge / coaster/ sticker. I nearly fell over when I found out its £20 to post to the States but there you go if you desperately want one it’s £30! The ‘Celtic Punks’ metal badge is selling well only a handful left and 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. Also if you want to add more merch from the store above contact us. It helps us out if you buy from Paypal (friends & family) for these items 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!
With the sad demise of The Celtic Punkcast over there in Oz we have thrown in our lot with the good folks over at MacSlon’s Irish Pub Radio. Check them out for all the best in Celtic-Punk, Irish Folk and Rock. They also have just about the biggest selection of shirts and hoodys and all sorts of other gear over at the https://www.macslons.com shop.
There are around 600,000 Irish living in Britain, the true figure, if we look at those who are first and second generation, is probably something like 10% of the population of this country – some 6 million people and nowhere is it greater than London and THE KINKS are representative of those numbers.
The response to the new London Celtic Punks badge has been amazing. Not surprising really as they are just about the nicest bit of merchandise in Celtic-Punk if you ask me! Comes with butterfly clip and made in Ireland (Guaranteed Irish!) 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
A home grown band now hailing from the smugglers dens along the East Suffolk coastline of ye Olde Ipswich Towne they have come. With two critically acclaimed album’s behind them, 2011’s self-titled debut album on their own Rumrunner Records label and the follow up, 2013’s Seven Seas Of Sin they have been labelled quite appropriately as ‘Motorhead meets The Pogues’! A regular feature on the UK’s punk circuit and with regular headline appearances they are rapidly becoming one of this island’s better known punk bands. Similar in style to Pirate Copy from Kernow, who we featured in Part One of our Round-Up’s, in that while they have no Celtic instrumentation they do play in that style that is probably best known as Pirate-Punk that crosses into Celtic-Punk quite easily. So has the five year wait since the release of Seven Seas Of Sin been kind to them? Well you bet you last doubloon it has!!
We end Part Two with easily the most blatant Celtic of our releases today, the fourth album from Irish Stew Of Sindidun. Born in Belgrade, Serbia back in 2003 it’s been six years since their last album, New Tomorrow, was released so it’s been quite a long wait but worth it! On City Of Grigs they have never sounded so Irish! With ten songs and three traditional Irish covers, ‘Paddy’s Lamentation’, ‘Step It Out Mary’ and ‘Down By The Glenside’, that are well chosen and show the bands connection with Irish music goes well beyond that of just a covers band. These songs topics feature the three most important subjects in Irish music, emigration, rebellion and romantic tragedy! It’s indeed a shame we don’t more folk like Sindidun vocalist Bojan Petrovic back at home when he explains
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
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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