LONDON CELTIC PUNKS PRESENTS THE BEST OF 2019!

Well here we go again. It only seems like five minutes since I was compiling all the votes into last years Best Of that saw The Rumjacks romping home with Album Of The Year. This year has been a bit quieter on the Celtic-Punk front but as last year was so busy that is perhaps not surprising. That’s not to say their weren’t some fantastic releases as their were plenty and it was still really difficult to come up with the various lists below. Not so many big bands this year so it was left to the lesser known bands to shine but remember this is only our opinion and these releases are only the tip of the iceberg of what came out last year. Feel free to comment, slag off or dissect our lists. As a bonus we are adding the Readers Poll again this year so you can even vote on your favourite release of 2019 yourself. If it’s not listed then simply add your choice.

We don’t pretend to be the final word as that my friends is for you…

(click on the green link to go where you will find more information on the release)

1. THE WALKER ROADERS – Self Titled

2. MICKEY RICKSHAW – Home In Song

3. FEROCIOUS DOG – Fake News And Propaganda

4. GREENLAND WHALEFISHERS – Based On A True Story

5. BARLEYJUICE – The Old Speakeasy

6. THE NARROWBACKS – By Hook Or By Crook

7. McDERMOTTS TWO HOURS – Besieged

8. PIPES AND PINTS – The Second Chapter

9. THE RUMJACKS – Live In Athens

10. SELFISH MURPHY – After Crying

11. TORTILLA FLAT – Live At The Old Capitol

12. FIDDLERS GREEN – Heyday

13. THE RUMJACKS – Live In London Acoustic Sessions

14. THE WHIPJACKS – This Wicked World

15. 13 KRAUSS – Redención

16. ALTERNATIVE ULSTER – Craic Agus Ceol

17. AIRES BASTARDOS – Self Titled

18. THE TEMPLARS OF DOOM – Hovels Of The Holy

19. THE FIGHTING JAMESONS – A Moment In California

20. ANGRY McFINN AND THE OLD YANK – Songs of Whiskey, Women & War

21. THE SHILLELAGHS – Ripples In The Rye

22. HELLRAISERS AND BEERDRINKERS – Pub Crawl

23. BODH’AKTAN – De Temps Et De Vents

24. HEATHEN APOSTLES – Dust To Dust

25. SONS OF CLOGGER – Return To The Stones’

26. THE CHERRY COKE$ – Old Fox

27. THE FILTHY SPECTACULA – The Howl Of The Underclasses

28. THE POTATO PIRATES – Hymns For The Wayward

29. TC COSTELLO– Horizon Songs

30. THE TENBAGS – ‘Bags o’ Craic’

How to compete with last year? Every single top band in the genre released an album so things were always going to be a bit quieter for 2019. Top spot this year unsurprisingly goes to The Walker Roaders Celtic-Punk super group! With Pogues, Mollys and Dropkicks making up the team how could they possibly go wrong! Everyone’s ‘next big thing’ Mickey Rickshaw came in a well deserved second and Ferocious Dog took third after releasing their best album, for me, since From Without. Greenland Whalefishers celebrated 25 years on the road with their best album for quite a while and what Best Of would be right without some bloody brilliant Irish-American bands challenging at the top too. Pipes And Pints new album with a new singer received acclaim from across the Punk media and The Rumjacks couldn’t follow up last years unanimous victory despite having two album releases (both sort of live) in the top thirteen. Fiddlers Green continue to make consistently great albums and go into 2020 celebrating thirty years together! Good to see homegrown bands The Whipjacks, The Tenbags, The Filthy Spectacula and Sons Of Clogger making it too. The top thirty was made up of thirteen countries from USA, England, Norway, Czech Republic, Australia, Switzerland, Germany, Argentina, Japan, Quebec, Hungary, Spain and Japan.

1. THE LUCKY TROLLS – Self Titled

2. DRUNKEN DOLLY – The Party

3. LORETTA PROBLEM – The Waltz Of My Drunken Dream

4. THE CLOVERHEARTS – Sick

5. KRAKIN’ KELLYS – Irish Tribute

6. THE PLACKS – Rebellious Sons

7. GYPSY VANNER – Five Distilled Celtic Punks

8. THE RUMPLED – Grace O’ Malley

9. FOX’N’FIRKIN – Hey Ho! We’re Fox n Firkin

10. SHANGHAI TREASON – Devil’s Basement

The Lucky Trolls took #1 spot with their brilliant self-titled EP following on from fellow countrymen the Krakin’ Kellys multi award winning 2018. Trust me it would have taken an exceptionally good release to keep The Party by Drunken Dolly off the top spot but that is what happened. Dolly’s excursions over to these shores this year j=has seen them grown in stature and you can’t go to a Ferocious Dog gig without spotting at least a dozen of their shirts. Loretta Problem wowed us with their single ‘Waltz Of My Drunken Dream’ which took us right back back to The Pogues glory days and what about that accompanying video too!! If we had a award for best video then that would have walked it. The Kellys had a quiet year with comparison to ’18 but still managed a respectable #5 and great debut releases from The Placks our sole representative from a Celtic nation (big things are going to happen to this band in 2020 mark my words), Italian/Aussies The Cloverhearts and, from just down the road from my Mammy, Shanghai Treason from Sheffield who only put out one song… but what a song! Eight countries represented from Belgium, Netherlands, Finland, Italy, Scotland, Argentina, Australia and Yorkshire!

AIRES BASTARDOS– ‘Self-Titled’

Argentina is becoming a bit of a hot-spot for Celtic-Punk with not only some well established bands but also some new ones starting up too and with this release Aires Bastardos announced their arrival on the international scene too. Not afraid to dive straight into a folk number after a Cock Sparrer cover they veer from standard Celtic-Punk to Folk and back to fast as hell Punk but in that really accessible way that only Celtic-Punk (and maybe Ska-Punk) bands can do.

1. THE DREADNOUGHTS – Into The North

2. CROCK OF BONES – Celtic Crossbones

3. 6’10 – Where We Are

4. BRYAN McPHERSON – Kings Corner

5. CALLUM HOUSTON – Gravities

6. PYROLYSIS – Daylight Is Fading

7. SEAMUS EGAN – Early Bright

8. LE VENT DU NORD – Territoires

9. DONNY ZUZULA – Chemicals

10. DERVISH – Great Irish Songbook

The Dreadnoughts don’t really think of themselves as Celtic-Punk so I reckon they’d be happier to win this than Celtic-Punk Album Of The Year. A superb collection of sea shanties that is a pleasure to listen to that was always going to be #1. Crock Of Bones representing the London Irish in 2nd with an album of trad folk with punk rock attitude and it’s especially good to hear some originals done in the style of the ‘auld ways’. 6’10 challenged for the top spot as they always do with everything they release and Bryan MacPherson and Callum Houston both produced great releases of singer-songwriter acoustic folk with Irish roots.

Sadly the Celtic-Punk world has shrunk a little regarding Web-Sites. Winners of the last two years the Mersey Celt Punks have been slacking (sort it out lads!) and enjoying their gigs too much to tell us while Shite’n’Onions have been too busy transferring everything onto a different platform and preparing for a bit of a re-launch I expect. Sadly celtic-rock.de have shut up shop after twelve years so it just makes it all the more clear how much we all miss Waldo and his fantastic Celtic-Folk-Punk And More site. As regular as clockwork and all the news that was ever fit (or not!) to print. Closing down the site in its 10th year in March must have been a tough decision to make and so this year we award best Website to Waldo and let it be known that no Celtic-Punk site will ever come close to replacing you. We would certainly not exist without his kind help and inspiration. All the best comrade enjoy your retirement! One welcome addition is Michu and his Celtic-Punk Encyclopedia site from Poland. Worth checking out especially if you are in a band.

We are not alone in doing these Best Of 2019 lists in fact all the major players in celtic-punk do them so click below to check out what they thought.

THE CELTIC PUNKCAST

FOLK’N’ROCK

MERSEY CELT PUNKS

So there you go. Remember we don’t pretend to be the final word on things in fact if you check the other Celtic-Punk media I’m sure we’ve all come up with relatively different lists. Our Best Of’s are cajoled and bullied out of the admins from the London Celtic Punks Facebook page. The assorted scraps of paper and beer mats were then tallied up please remember not all of us heard the same albums so like all the various Best Of’s ours is also subjective.

This is our 8th year of making these Best Of lists so if you would like to check out out who was where in our previous ones then just click on the link below the relevant year.

https://wp.me/p3Huvn-es

https://wp.me/p3Huvn-Oq

https://goo.gl/RXNtMC

https://wp.me/p3Huvn-21o

https://wp.me/p3Huvn-29L

https://wp.me/p3Huvn-37h

https://wp.me/p3Huvn-3EI

Last year we introduced a new feature THE READERS PICK. We had no idea if it would work or not but it was a raging success so we going to do it all again this year. With well over 500 votes cast you lot chose the debut album from the Krakin’ Kellys as a worthy winner. Only the Top Ten albums are listed but there is an option to write in your favourite release or just to send us love… or abuse!

You are allowed to vote twice but not for the same artist.

The Poll will close at midnight on Friday 31st January with the result announced soon after.

remember any views, comments or abuse or slander we would love to hear it…

 Sláinte, The London Celtic Punks Crew- January, 2020

ALBUM REVIEW: SELFISH MURPHY- ‘After Crying’ (2019)

The band from just about the coolest place in Celtic-Punk are back!

Transylvania natives Selfish Murphy have just released their third album in as many years of mainly acoustic fantastic Irish Folk-Punk. 

Selfish Murphy may hail from Romania but that is not where their hearts lie. Like us 2nd generation Irish here in England they have somewhere else to call home! Coming from Transylvania must be as cool a place for a band to come from but the area is home to over a million ethnic Hungarians so it is for Hungary that the boys from Selfish Murphy would be pulling on the shirt for in the World Cup if they were any good!

Selfish Murphy left to right: Péter Csanád László- Lead Guitar, Backing Vocals * László Zsolt- Drums * Csiki Zoltán ‘Zaza’- Lead Vocals, Violin, Accordion * Pusztai Lehel- Flute, Tin-Whistle, Accordion, Backing Vocals * Martinka János- Bass Guitar, Backing Vocals *

The band formed in 2011 in Transylvania and were the first band in Romania to play Irish music, let alone Celtic/Irish punk rock. In 2016 the band relocated back ‘home’ to Hungary and have since then released a steady stream of albums and EP’s as well touring throughout eastern Europe. They even managed a visit to these shores to play the Gobefest festival in Manchester this time last year celebrating the music, culture, food and drink of Transylvania and the Carpathian Basin.

The last few albums from Selfish Murphy have seen a steady progression from their debut album which was majority covers to the last album which was more or less a 50/50 split between original material and auld Irish folk covers to After Crying which I’m happy to report is all original Selfish Murphy material.

Selfish Murphy left to right: Péter Csanád László- Lead Guitar, Backing Vocals * László Zsolt- Drums * Csiki Zoltán ‘Zaza’- Lead Vocals, Violin, Accordion * Pusztai Lehel- Flute, Tin-Whistle, Accordion, Backing Vocals * Martinka János- Bass Guitar, Backing Vocals *

After Crying begins with a song that sets the standard for the whole album. ‘Brave Men’ begins as a straight forward (all be it pretty damn good) fast acoustic Irish folk tune but then Péter’s electric guitar kicks in and takes it firmly into Celtic-Punk territory. Zaza’s vocals are clear while Pusztai’s flute leads the song along. Keeping the sound going for next song ‘Bone Breaker’ and its Pusztai’s tin-whistle this time that leads. Celtic-Punk bands in Europe tend to favour the sound of the flute while it hasn’t caught on here or in North America it has really grown me (thanks to Firkin) as I myself was late-coming to it’s sound. The music here is definitely rooted in traditional Irish music but that’s not to say that Selfish Murphy don’t take a detour or two and on ‘Break The Silence’ the song begins as a straight rocker of a song before they introduce folky instruments and the song ends up as a real ‘thigh slapper’! On ‘I Live My Life’ the band keep the melodies flying at you and though it’s hardly breakneck speed it’s pacey enough and certainly about right to get people up on their feet and dancing. So far they could be best compared to any longstanding Celtic-Punk band as being of the Flogging Molly wing but on ‘Dignity’ they take a more Murphys turn and one of the highlights of the album with Pusztai again getting a mention here but for his accordion playing this time. A great song with an outstanding singalong chorus. ‘Honey Money’ is a fast number with some great guitar playing and Zaza’s vocals again worth mentioning. Time for the albums title track and ‘After Crying’. A brilliant instrumental kicking off with flute and electric guitar before setting off on a rowdy Irish tune that I’m sure is a real crowd pleaser. The rest of the lads join in and a song that would have plenty Irish music fans convinced that they from the Emerald Isle itself.

On ‘Shades Of Green’ the band play a different sort of ‘traditional’ Irish music and here the sounds of the 70’s Irish Showbands and ballad bands come together. Fast and over in a flash none of the songs here hang around long and if anything are over a bit too fast and the songs could be allowed to develop a little bit longer. With eleven songs the album is only half a hour long but this certainly ensures your interest. ‘To Win Your Heart’ is more of a pop-punk song where the Murphys play a standard rock tune before the flute comes in at the end. The song is one of the best here and shows the band at their ‘rocking’ best. We have to wait till the penultimate song for a song about that most treasured of subjects in Celtic-Punk and on ‘Hangover’ the guys don’t disappoint. It’s fast and catchy and worth the wait. After Crying ends with the albums longest song ‘Back To The Stage’ and at just over four minutes it is a bit of a epic for them. A cracking song that shows the band at their best. The production here is excellent and the music is powerful and Zaza’s vocals too. A great way to go out and I’m certain will please their legions of fans both at home and abroad.

As we said Selfish Murphy headlined a stage at the Gobefest in Manchester last year and this year they are going to do it all over again. The fest goes from May 24 to the 26th and last year’s event saw 17,000 adventurous revellers put their best foot forward to try some traditional folk dancing and listen to some of the regions most popular pop stars so a local band from home playing Irish folk-punk music might not stand out as much as you would think. Góbéfest was established in 2017 to celebrate the culture and traditions of the Székely people, the name for those ethnic Hungarians living in Transylvania. A Góbé is a friendly word for a ‘crafty Székely’. Check out the Facebook event for the 3-day fest here and Selfish Murphy are playing on Saturday 25th May.

(listen to After Crying on the Bandcamp player below before you buy it!!)

Discography

Cheers- EP (2011) * One Beer Is No Beer- Acoustic EP (2012) * With Or Without Us- EP (2014) * Dirty Bang- EP (2015) * Broad Jump- EP (2016) * Another Fork In The Road (2017) * Broad Jump ReLoaded (2018) * After Crying (2019)

Buy After Crying FromTheBand  Amazon

Contact Selfish Murphy  WebSite  Facebook  YouTube  Instagram  Bandcamp  Shop  YouTube

ALBUM REVIEW: SELFISH MURPHY- ‘Broad Jump. Reloaded’ (2018)

Irish Punk, Speed Folk from Hungary !

Now I cannot imagine there is many better places for a band, especially a Celtic-Punk band, to come from than Transylvania. Forever immortalised in Western culture as the home of Count Dracula by the Dublin born writer Bram Stoker in his Gothic horror novel published in 1897. The region in Romania is bordered by the Carpathian mountains and is roughly three times the size of Wales. The name,  Transylvania, translates as ‘the land beyond the forest’ in Latin and as the name suggests it has rich and diverse history that takes in the Celts, Dacia, the Roman Empire, the Hun Empire, the Gepid Kingdom and the Bulgarian Empire among others. Not bad for a place that most people think was a figment of an Irishman’s imagination! Besides Romanians the region is home to large pockets of ethnic Hungarians, Saxons and Roma and it is to the local Hungarian community (numbering well over a million) that Selfish Murphy hail from. So in a way they another in a long long line of fantastic Hungarian Celtic-Punk groups.

Founded in 2011 in Sepsiszentgyörgy they are Transylvania’s as well as Romania’s only Irish band, let alone Celtic-Punk band. Formed by Martinka, the band bassist played for many years in a famous Hungarian Irish band, and on return to Transylvania he decided to set up Selfish Murphy. Until then no one had played Irish music but the popularity of bands like The Pogues, the Dropkicks and Flogging Molly had caught on and, as in many other countries across the world, folk didn’t want to wait for the yearly visit, if they were lucky, from one of the scenes heavyweights they wanted their own band and so Selfish Murphy were born and in the words of Martinka

“To sum up: the band can be traced by:  Cheerful songs + Beer + Party = Selfish Murphy”.

To date the band have release a whole bunch of EP’s and their full length album Another Fork In The Road arrived on the scene last year. Broad Jump- Reloaded is basically their 2016 EP re-recorded and released with a bunch of new songs. Where Another Fork In The Road was mostly original compositions here the album is largely popular traditional Irish and Scottish folk covers.

Selfish Murphy left to right: Péter Csanád László- Lead Guitar, Backing Vocals *  László Zsolt- Drums * Csiki Zoltán ‘Zaza’- Lead Vocals, Violin, Accordion * Pusztai Lehel- Flute, Tin-Whistle, Accordion, Backing Vocals  * Martinka János- Bass Guitar, Backing Vocals *

The album begins with Nan’s favourite ‘Molly Malone’ and is a lively and jolly rendition that brings in throbbing bass and thrashy guitars but still firmly has its feet in folk music. As is common with a lot of other Hungarian bands Selfish Murphy make great use of the flute and Pusztai’s playing is impeccable. On lead vocals is Zaza, as well as accordion, and his voice is clear and the lyrics mostly in English and very easy to understand. They breathe new life into this song and it has more than enough punk for the punks and folk for the auld folkies too.

(A short live set from Selfish Murphy beginning with ‘Molly Malone’ recorded live earlier this year at the 15th Hunsrück Highlander Festival in May)

As stated earlier its not all covers and on the next two songs the band stretch their song writing talents starting with ‘Barleycorn’ and I’m glad to hear the Bhoys sing in their native language. I understand that a band feels like they have to sing in English to get any recognition in the scene but we like it when bands sing in their own language after all the Celtic nations had their’s banned and forbidden so that today most speak a foreign language, English, in their own lands so respect to Selfish Murphy for that. The song is fast and catchy and the guitar nicely mixed so that even though Péter thrashes away it doesn’t take over but I’m sure when playing live they turn it up a bit more! On ‘Touch the Sky’ they go pop-punk with the flute and accordion flowing nicely. Another classic song next with ‘Leaving Of Liverpool’ and as with ‘Molly Malone’ they give us a great version of one of Ireland’s most treasured crowd pleasers. Played with gusto and spirit(s!) they make a great job of it and again breathe new life into a song before I wouldn’t have worried if I ever heard again! A couple more original songs with ‘Scottish Song’ Selfish Murphy they come up with one of the album’s highlights. I was never taken much with the flute in Celtic-Punk until I was lucky to see fellow Hungarians Firkin over here on these shores and fell in love with the instrument then thanks to PJ and his amazing showmanship. It seems to suit the Flogging Molly/trad folk side of Celtic-Punk a lot so is well suited to Selfish Murphy and their style. Having been to Scotland another original composition follows with ‘Ireland’s So Far Away’ and its the album standout track for me. At times both gentle and hard it sits nicely between both wings of the scene and shows Zaza can even sing a bit too.

Broad Jump ends with a run of classic Irish folk tunes all made famous by a combination of The Dubliners or The Pogues and in couple of cases both together. Starting with ‘All For Me Grog’ its an upbeat song despite the songs words which tell of a man selling everything he owns, including his wife, to pay for his rum and tobacco. Though telling of a mans ruin the song is a joyous romp and the chorus is made to be shouted from the bottom of yer lungs as loud as possible. ‘Spanish Lady’ is  on of my favourites of these type of song and the song, dating from the 17th century, is perfect to be punked up a bit. What a tune.

Next up possibly the best Irish ‘pub’ song of all time- ‘The Irish Rover’ of course. Belted out at every pub sing-song in the last few decades it’s a song about a dog and a ship or something. No one is quite sure who wrote the song but whoever it was they have lost out on a fortune. Competition for ‘The Irish Rover’ as best pub song ever comes from penultimate song and Irish sports fan favourite ‘The Fields of Athenry’. Often thought of an old song it was in fact written in the 1970’s by Irish singer-songwriter Pete St. John and tells of the transportation of a young Irish rebel to Botany Bay, Australia, for stealing food for his starving family during An Gorta Mór, (the Great Irish Hunger) during 1845–1850. Selfish Murphy play it straight with as solid a version as you’ll hear and the energy is up to max and the rendition is infectious. Broad Jump comes to an end with the ultimate in Celtic-Punk covers and if I’ve heard ‘I’ll Tell Me Ma’ once I’ve heard it a thousand times but so fecking what. Its a brilliant song and well suited to be speeded up with a singalong chorus and catchy as hell beat and again its done more than justice here. The Bhoys have a bit of fun to bring the curtain down and only go to show how well they have mastered Irish music.

So eleven songs and thirty-five minutes and an album that is mostly covers that you will be very familiar with but it’s well worth getting hold of thanks to their own original songs. If you would prefer to hear their won material then I recommend obtaining their album. Packed with energy and passion but beware its contagious and will have you singing and jigging along to songs new and old ones you thought you were tired of ever hearing again. Selfish Murphy visited these shore earlier in the year to headline Góbéfest, the UK’s only Transylvanian festival of arts and culture in Manchester. Though we couldn’t make it a few of our northern readers did and reported their brought they house down so here’s hoping they make it again and a bit further south this time. In fact I’m surprised one person can remember anything at all so fond was he of pálinka, the traditional local spirit from the Carpathian region that he didn’t remember much else!

Discography

Cheers- EP (2011) * One Beer Is No Beer- Acoustic EP (2012) * With Or Without Us- EP (2014) * Dirty Bang- EP (2015) * Broad Jump- EP (2016) * Another Fork In The Road (2017) * Broad Jump ReLoaded (2018)

Buy Broad Jump. Reloaded

FromTheBand  Amazon

Contact Selfish Murphy

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