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

Summer is over. Was it ever really here? Anyway it’s hard to get seriously Rock’n’Roll in the sunlight so time for dark nights and mischief and also for this months London Celtic Punks round-up of all the band news, record releases and videos from bands big and small from across the Celtic-Punk scene.

They only just missed last months Odds’n’Sods so pride of place to French Celtic-Punk band TOXIC FROGS. Officially the Celtic-Punk-Rock Chicks band!! The new video for ‘Bestie Life’ taken from My Lucky Own EP released earlier this year.

THE O’REILLYS AND THE PADDYHATS celebrate their tenth anniversary with In Strange Waters and reaching the highly impressive target of 100,000 subscribers on You Tube. A greatest hits album with their favourite songs adapted into Pop, Metal, Ska and even Barbershop! In case you missed we were lucky to have Anto Morra review it on its release.

Nebraskan band THE KILLIGANS recently announced on their Facebook page a grand album give away!! All you need to do to receive a free download code for their album Dance On Your Grave is to send them a personal message on their Facebook page. The album made the 2018 Celtic-Punk Top Twenty and our review of the album can be found here. The Bhoys are busy working on a new album, with 3 songs already recorded. Expect a video for the first single sometime around Christmas.

A new mix, courtesy of ChuckRD, of the superb Christmas track ‘It’s In These Times’ from the sadly missed now defunct Irish/ Danish Celtic-Punkers ROVERS AHEAD. They really were one hell of a band and very high up my list of bands I wish would reform. To be honest I can’t tell any difference. I don’t have an ear for this sort of thing.

PALAZOR is a solo music project who describes himself as a “mediocre musician”. I quite liked it!

THE WILD COLONIAL BHOYS – Remote Ruaille Buaille

GREEN GUARD – Devil’s Lung

FEROCIOUS DOG – The Hope

HOLD FAST –  Last Of The Rebels

JOLLY ROGER – Ship Or Bust

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

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. We tried to book the Welsh band KILNABOY several times to play in London but it never came off for several reasons. At the time they were quite the name on the Punk scene but I was pretty sure they had split up but it seems not so keep a eye out for them. Sharing their name with a tiny village on the West Coast of Ireland they played energetic catchy Irish Folk-Punk and Prison Bars And Battle Scars dates from 2014. If you like it check out the rest of their back catalogue on Bandcamp as it is all available for ‘name your price’.

Live footage from one of the trailblazers of the Celtic-Punk scene. THE CROPDUSTERS were contempories of The Pogues and The Men They Couldn’t Hang and played their brand of ‘Cow-Punk’ / Folk-Punk back in the day. I went to their rather under whelming final gig at The 100 Club a good few years back after they had an almighty falling out but things must be sorted now as they recently played the Barnstormer festival at the Cerne Abbas Brewery in Devon. Watch this space for news of other gigs. Also playing the same festival was another blast from the past with Brit band PRONGHORN announcing a new album next year.

Now it’s been a looooong time since I was a fan of Grunge pioneers THE MELVINS and there was a time this news would have really got me excited but that was then. They have just announced a 4-disc reimaging of all their favourites songs done acoustically. Five Legged Dog is out now.

Moscow based ‘Punk And Bagpipes’ band ZUNAME announced a new album, Vertigo, to be released on Christmas Day and the first single to follow shortly!

Man can’t live on Celtic-Punk alone and personally I’m rather partial to the sound of Psychobilly and one of the scenes leading lights Philip ‘Doyley’ Doyle has just written a book detailing his time growing up in Ireland and moving to London. Starting the infamous Klingonz and the wild stories of a life spent in the Psychobilly scene. A crazy but lovable journey packed with funny and interesting stories/ You can pre-order the book with optional CD’s from the Diablo Records Bandcamp site.

In case you haven’t noticed our big rival out there is the American Celtic-Punk site SHITE’N’ONIONS. I think they were the first and are still going strong now. I much prefer the site now it’s moved over to WordPress and of course we only mean a friendly rivalry as its all #onebigcelticpunkfamily as you all know. They recently had an interesting interview with Nashville based Dubliner singer-songwriter Dylan Walshe well worth checking out.

Cornish Pirates JOLLY ROGER UK have a new EP out in the next few days. Ship Or Bust is available now on a pre-save link. As we’ve said before theres barely a fag paper between Celtic-Punk and ‘Pirate’ music at times and Jolly Roger are one of the best I’ve heard in a good while. They’ve just ran a successful Kickstarter appeal to buy a new van so hopefully we might see them away from the South-West coast soon. They’ve recorded a bunch of short promos on their You Tube channel besides this one.

One of my favourite bands the American Celtic-Rock/Punkers SEVEN NATIONS have just put out a rather amazing animated video for a track from their last album Tales From The Eighth Nation.

TROLL BENDS FIR are based in Saint Petersburg, Russia and have just released a new single. ‘В плену грибов’ (or in English ‘Taken Captive By Mushrooms’) from the upcoming new album Troll Gnet Yel. Russian beer folk they call it and it has some cool bagpipes and fiddle. I also have a soft spot for dual vocals too which they pull off here very well and even fit in a bit of Metal style riffs and vocals too.

The more I see of Facebook the more and more I dislike it. It has a stranglehold on all forms of expression and any wrongdoing in it’s eyes is punishable by excommunication. This isn’t good and anything that breaks their monopoly is a great thing (except Twitter!) 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 and don’t miss a single post! https://t.me/londoncelticpunks/  

Some live music news for all you Londoners. Luton Irish band MISSING THE FERRY play The Cock Tavern, Phoenix Road, NW1 1HB  and MATT McMANAMON and THE BIBLECODE SUNDAYS play the Castle, Commercial Road, E1 1LN sadly both on Saturday November 13th. Bit of a dilemma that! DAOIRI FARRELL plays Nell’s, 3 North End Crescent, W14 8TG the following day on the Sunday. The legendary WOLFE TONES (now 50+ years strong!) play Camden IC on November 17th and 18th; and the Hare & Hounds, 325 Purley Way, Croydon CR0 4NU on November 19th. We can’t promise to print all live news but please send in anything for consideration.

Some London Celtic Punks news now and we still have a handful of Green’n’White ‘Skully Cap’ ringer t-shirts available. They come in all sizes from Small right up to XXX-L and are available from our online store. Also available are 2 other shirt designs so click the link below for our full range of other tatt. Shirts, badges, stickers, flags, CD’s and fridge magnets all the discerning Celtic-Punk fan could ever need!  https://the30492shop.fwscart.com/

Also now 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.

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 and join in the fun!

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ODDS’N’SODS. CELTIC-PUNK ROUND UP JANUARY 2021

In a attempt to get away from just doing ‘ReviewReviewReviewReview…’ we started a monthly feature of all the Celtic-Punk news that passed us by. All will get a mention but I need YOU to help if it’s going to work. Any band news, record releases, videos, tours (not individual gigs though yet sadly), live streams, crowd funders etc., send it into us at londoncelticpunks@hotmail.co.uk or through the Contact Us page.

In case you missed this month has seen a flurry of Celtic-Punk Christmas song releases from across the world. Anti-Depresants from Ireland, Grass Mud Horse from China, The Feelgood McLouds from Germany, Batallón De San Patricio from Mexico, Nova Scotia’s Stanfields and London’s very own Clan Of Celts all putting out new songs and videos in time for Christmas Day. These were featured in a special post just after Christmas Day so if you missed it then click below to find it.

NEW CHRISTMASSY CELTIC-PUNK SONGS FROM MEXICO, GERMANY, CHINA, IRELAND AND LONDON

One band that would have featured in that post was London’s MAN THE LIFEBOATS Crimbo song ‘Whisky For Christmas’. Sadly I didn’t hear it until recently so be happy I could sneak it in here.

..by the way that aint how you spell whiskey!!

A compilation release of northern Irish Oi!/Punk/Ska/Reggae bands in the memory of Desi Cush and Colin Riot. Dancing With The Fallen normally organise a charity all-dayer but as the pandemic has ground everything to a halt it was decided to raise money through a compilation of bands that would normally be on the festivals bill.

LORETTA PROBLEM are back with another wonderful song and video (please take the time to watch their 2019 smash hit The Waltz Of My Drunken Dream featuring Juha Lagström on vocals. As close to Poguesy perfection as anyone has ever got!). 30 years old this year this bunch of Finnish Punks and Celts just keep on getting better and better and just to prove it ‘Another Kind Of Love Song’ is a remake of one of the songs from an LP they made about 25 years ago.

A new Folk release from DECLAN MILLAR recorded in the back of a caravan with a 30 year old microphone. Produced and recorded by Jay Terrestrial from Punk/Dub legends the Inner Terrestrials. As Jay says

“This LP is about one bard with his voice and instrument, grass roots and no frills. I’m really impressed with the result, the man’s still in his early 20’s and is a songsmith with a voice that speaks from the heart.”

Boston singer/ songwriter BRYAN McPHERSON has a new double album in the planning stage titled How to Draw Everything provisionally set for release in September 2021. You can get on board at the very beginning by checking out the Kickstarter Campaign and pledging. Therefore keeping Bryan out of the hands of record company vultures!

KIRK McLEOD of the bloomin’ brilliant Celtic-Rock band SEVEN NATIONS has a solo album out. He has released A Time For Pilots earlier than expected and even though I’ve not heard it I am sure it will be his usual brilliance. The album is available on his website now, and will be available on streaming services soon!

Official video for the new song ‘Away’ by IRISH STEW OF SINDIDUN from Belgrade, Serbia. Founded in 2003 this band is massive at home and are one of the best known bands in Eastern Europe.  ‘Away is their first release from their album, City of Grigs.

CALLUM HOUSTON fresh from his two summer London Celtic Punks Live Streams is still knocking them out the ball park and he recently recorded The Pogues highly under rated classic ‘Tranmetropolitan’. Callum is back playing live gigs in Brittany so give him a shout if you’re nearby.

MAGGIES FLOCK – Party at the Cemetery

THE MAHONES – 30 Years and This Is All We’ve Got To Show For It …

DROPKICK MURPHYS – ‘Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)’ Single

DROPKICK MURPHYS – ‘I Wish You Were Here’ Single

Remember if you want your release featured then we have to have heard it first!

Now not only is the accordion the backbone of Irish music but also of Celtic-Punk as well and their are plenty of fantastic players around but I only recently came across the album Roaring Accordion by STRANGELY. He is based in Bellingham, Washington and plays oddball Folky drinking songs. Think along the lines of a higher pitched pirate Tom Waits with Celtic roots. Strangely performs this music usually as part of a solo show that incorporates theatre and comedy and is joined here by a whole host of mates.

THE RUMJACKS recorded an acoustic version of their new song ‘Sainted Millions’. The proper version will feature on their new album Hestia. Out next March and available for pre-order now.

Dutch Celtic-Folk-Punk band MAGGIES FLOCK recently performed for the on-line People 4 Music Festival which has now been uploaded onto You Tube.

Absolutely stunning new video for ‘I’m Free’ taken from THE CELTIC SOCIAL CLUB album From Babylon To Avalon which we reviewed recently and heartily loved.

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 and join in the fun!

All we need to do now is for you to help fill this page with news and remember if you are new to the London Celtic Punks blog it is easy to subscribe / follow and never miss a post. Also if anyone is interested in helping out on the reviews front then let us know via the Contact Us page.

ALBUM REVIEW: CELKILT- ‘Stand’ (2017)

” …Then the Great Alchemist gathered Water, Air, Earth and Fire around the Muse.

He gave them the High Voltage Energy of Rock and the cheerful power of the Irish Jigs, gave them fiddle, drums, guitar, bass, whistles and bagpipes, and then told them:
” You shall be embodied, you shall live, you shall play and you shall discover the great power of the Kilt.”
And it was so, and so was CelKilt born, serving a bouncy, joyful and energetic music.
The Alchemist contemplated the Greatness of his Work and thought “This kicks ass “, then he went to the pub for a good old pint of Guinness”

Celkilt are a bloody brilliant five piece celtic-punk band from Roanne, near to Lyon, which is almost splat bang in the middle of France and have been together for it would seem about seven years. I say it would seem as all their web site is in French so if you speak French then good for you. I have come across them before but to be honest hadn’t given them much of a chance. Various YouTube videos and the odd song but until their On The Table album that was it and even then it had to be squeezed in as part of our end of year review round up’s. Silly really as on listening to Stand I have really been missing out on something good.

Stand is Celkilt’s sixth release and their third studio album but they began their recording history with a self-titled mini-album back in 2011 and have had pretty much a record release per year ever since. They followed Celkilt with another mini-album called Hey What’s Under your Kilt? in 2012, then their debut full lengther, Everyday’s St Patrick’s Day in 2013 and it’s follow up, On The Table in 2014. A year off in 2015 and their last release was the ten track Kiltmas Songs of spoofed up celtic-punk versions of Christmas carols and Christmas themed originals. In common with all their releases it was served up in only twenty five minutes. Fast, frantic and furious Celkilt are the ultimate good time band but, and I am glad to say, here they have taken a slightly more relaxed approach and have put out a record that, amazingly for them, even has two songs that last over five minutes!

Celkilt left to right: Ana- Fiddle * Titou- Guitar/Vocals * Loic- Bagpipes/Whistles * Rems- Drums * Drik- Bass

Stand begins with ‘Sometimes I Care’ and is as good an album kick-off as I have heard in years. The sound of pipes blasts straight out the speakers at you. First impression is of the legendary AC/DC track ‘Thunderstruck’ but is followed up with a great tune with an absolutely wonderful arrangement. Superb! This is a loud album and designed to be played LOUD so kick up the sound and get right into it. ‘Kilt Up!’ follows with more great piping and some fast paced melodic punk packed with celtic fiddle and pipes.

One thing we reviewers don’t like to be short of in any review is good videos and Celkilt have tonnes of them. Be sure to subscribe to their You Tube channel and put a hour or two away to one side to check them out you won’t be disappointed. ‘I Don’t Have a Brain’ is another celtic-pop punk blast with Titou’s voice leading us through. He may be French but sounds almost perfect American and is completely clear. You can make out everything he is singing despite the punky background to it. As we said before Celkilt are not a band for hanging about. Usually they like to get through things super fast but it’s good they have decided to take their time even if it didn’t mean slowing down. ‘Fall in Place’ may be five minutes plus but  certainly never drags and brings in plenty of Celkilt’s famous Breton influences. Here they also sound like one of my all-time favourite bands Seven Nations and believe me that is only a compliment.

So just as you are all relaxed and settling in they then bring out ‘Lost and Found’ and they step completely away from what we are expecting. A slow rock ballad number with a small fiddle part until the end when it begins to sound more like the Celkilt we know. Fear not though as we are back in classic celtic territory next with the amazing instrumental ‘Gavotte Party / Whipping Reel / Motherjigger’. Three tunes combined that show simply what top musicians they are. While I was expecting them to keep it trad’ they couldn’t help themselves and its more of the fast, frantic and furious style that they are famous for. Completely respectful of the tune but updated for the modern era. If anyone ever thought folk music was boring then play them this bugger and they will soon change their minds! A real change of pace next with the acapello sea shanty ‘All the Way’. All the band share vocals and the gang chorus makes this a good choice of song despite its brevity. My album highlight is up next and ‘I Gotta Run’ has it all. Fast, tuneful, celtic-punk that is so catchy you’ll be humming it for days I warns you. My only complaint is it’s too bloody short!!

The album’s second and last instrumental is up next and ‘Hornjig’ is done trad style this time. Nothing added, just the music of our forefathers. The song leads into ‘Superpower’ and has a much more traditional Irish punk sound to my ears. We back in Cali next and some more of their trademark celtic-pop-punk sound with ‘Better’. Catchy as hell and a real foot stomper. It may not sound exactly like a celtic version Of Green Day or NOFX but Celkilt have this sound absolutely nailed. We are coming up to the final bend and ‘The Last Day of My Life’ returns the LP to a more traditional folky sound. Stepping away from their usual style it still doesn’t sound out of place at all. Another great song.

The album ends with the outstanding ‘Stand’. Plenty of gang vocal “Woo Hooo Hooo’s” bring to mind the best tracks of the new Murphys album but once again Celkilt know exactly when to step it up and take their songs to another level. The fantastic production here manages to capture perfectly the various musicians at their best and though it is certainly well polished it is never overdone at all.

So there you go and I have to say on listening to Stand I’ve had to promote Celkilt up to the Premier League of top celtic-punk bands. As one of only a handful of European bands to tour the United States they surely deserve that place at the top table and this stunning album easily gives the likes of the Murphys, Mollys, Flatfoot, Tossers, Mahones, MacKenzies a run for their money. This album has it all. Both the folk and the punk sides of Celkilts music are good enough to keep either sides purists happy and the combination of the two will I am sure be converting many of them to celtic-punk. An absolute stunner of an album that I cannot recommend enough. Don’t be a fool like me and let this band pass you by for a moment longer.

Buy Stand

FromTheBand (available on CD, Download and Double Album)  iTunes  Amazon  GooglePlay

Contact Celkilt

WebSite  Facebook  Twitter  YouTube  Google+

• you can check out Celtic Folk Punk And More’s review of Stand here which also links you to reviews of all Celkilt’s previous releases.

ALBUM REVIEW: SEVEN NATIONS- ‘Tales From the Eighth Nation’ (2014)

you’d be hard pressed to find a more original, unique but accessible group. powerful self-penned tunes and transcendent live shows.

Seven Nations’ day has come

With over a dozen albums behind them Seven nations are one of the most successful and popular independent celtic-rock bands in the USA today. Formed originally in New York city back in 1993 with the name Clann Na Gael but later that year the process began by adding bagpipes to the sound and so began the evolution to the band as we know it today. 

As a kid lead singer and founder Kirk McLeod was sent away to Scottish music camp to learn how to play traditional bagpipes. Eventually he assembled a group from friends in his hometown Orlando in Florida.

“We soon introduced bagpipes into the show, and over time the number of songs utilizing bagpipes grew until it became obvious that they were integral to our emerging sound, most of the band members grew up playing celtic music, and we’ve been performing original compositions since we began. Our instrumentation, and bagpipes and fiddle mostly, give us a distinctive sound and that’s what makes us different”

Touring pretty much non-stop during the last decade they’ve clocked up nearly a million miles and gigs all over North America and Europe. Not bad for a band who have stuck defiantly to their independent roots and even go as far as to book their own tours. Totally admirable. Yeah but are they any good I hear you say… well I may be biased but I think they are fecking marvelous!!! 

‘Tales From The Eighth Nation’ relates to America as being the Eighth celtic nation after Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Brittany, Cornwall, the Isle Of Man and Galicia. For a band with such an amazing back catalogue it never ceases to surprise me that they can come up with such quality songs album after album. On ‘Tales…’ you get sixteen songs and a hours worth of the best celtic-rock band coming out of North America.

Having been on the verge of a major breakthrough several times in their career and with quality music such as this its only a matter of time before something very major happens for Seven Nations and this album will hopefully provide it. Two songs of instrumentals ‘Pipe Set’ and ‘Fiddle Set’ are simply amazing and as the backbone for Kirk McLeod’ very distinctive soaring vocal style Seven Nations are at their best when taking traditional tunes and stamping them with their own seal. Hard to compare to any current scene bands they truly are out their on their own. ‘Tales…’ starts with ‘Happy That You’re Here’ one of the standout tracks and with the pipes and fiddle flying its typical 7N and when they slow it right down for the next song ‘In Different Company’ its still typical 7N! From there on Seven Nations plough much the same furrow for the rest of the LP but do it with great vocals and with a group of musicians at the top of their game. A couple of the standout track’s are ‘Go Daddy’ and ‘Nostradamus’, all the elements come together perfectly. Barely known outside of North America it’s time you lot got to know Seven Nations it will be well worth the wait.

Contact The Band

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Buy The Album

Direct From The Band