EP REVIEW: BogZH CELTIC CATS!- ‘Kazh al Lagenn’ (2017)

Celtic celtic-punk and rock, rage and Celtic swing from Naoned.

Rearranged and adapted Breton rock, trad Irish and Scottish Celtic rock’n’roll punk-folk.

Released last month this is the debut release form the latest Breton celtic-punk band to grace these pages. Earlier this year we published a review of the great debut album from Sons Of O’Flaherty. In that review we told a faction of the history of Brittany so rather than go over it again hightail it here and learn a little of the story of this proud Celtic nation. The Breton’s have embraced the celtic-punk revolution with open arms and bands like Les Ramoneurs De Menhirs, The Maggie Whackers and Sons Of O’Flaherty use their Celtic heritage and music to push for more civil rights and recognition for their language.

BogZH Celtic Cats! were formed in late 2014 out of the ashes of famed Breton rock band Daonet by three of their former members. Daonet were a rock band playing dynamic rock music with celtic rock melodies with lyrics mostly in Breton embodying the image of a free, conscious and future-oriented Brittany. Hervé and Gilles were drummer and bassist in the Daonet and were playing in a rock and blues band Bogzh until they were joined by JJ, blues harp player and singer and Hervé’s brother, Fabien who also played in Daonet and Gilles son Gwenolé on both bass guitar and upright bass though not at the same time! The band started off with a repertoire of celtic-punk classics from the likes of the Dropkick Murphys and the Real McKenzies as well as adapting some traditional folk songs of Brittany, Ireland, Scotland and singing in a combination of Breton, English and French. Kazh al Lagenn is the bands first release and came out last September. Self produced and distributed by the band themselves it’s truly a DIY release and a sign of the healthy celtic-punk scene in Brittany.

The EP begins with ‘Ye Jacobites By Name’ a traditional Scottish folk song written in 1791 by the legendary Scots poet Robert Burns. The Jacobites were Scots rebels trying to return James II, the last Catholic British monarch,  to the throne after he had been deposed by Parliament during the Glorious Revolution. The series of battles took its name Jacobitism, from Jacobus, the Latin form of James. With the defeat of the Jacobite army at the battle of Culloden in 1746, the union of England and Scotland was sealed, and this song is a call to the Jacobites to take up Scottish independence but with a more anti-war outlook. Recorded untold times through the years it’s a song that lends itself well to celtic-punk and BogZH Celtic Cats! give it a good seeing too playing with a heap of gusto with strong performances from all.  Starting off with some lovely western overtones before the band jumps in and harmonica, pipes, electric guitar, bass and drum taking us firmly into celtic-punk territory. Fast and catchy before slowing down and speeding back up again before ending on a flourish. Gilles’s voice is powerful and backing vocals from the rest of the band are equally as strong. Next up is the EP highlight for me the extremely brilliant ‘An Avel’ ( meaning ‘The Wind’). I love harmonica and wish it was more widely used in celtic-punk circles. Sang in Breton the song is catchy as hell and harks back to the days of Daonet with a song fit to grace any rock bands set. We are in Ireland next for a song covered by just about everyone in the scene and it takes a lot to get much of a rise out of me for ‘Star Of The County Down’ these days but BogZh Celtic Cats! keep it slowish and rocky rather than punky and yeah it’s fine and faithful to the original.

Does the scene need another cover of this admittedly great song? Probably not but there’s a very good reason why songs like these are so popular and while we may be a little jaded on hearing it we have to realise that to fans of BogZh Celtic Cats! it’s quite possibly a new song to them. The pipes are the standout on the next track ‘Kenavo Da Viken Ma Breur’ (meaning ‘Farewell My Brother’) and in the longest track on the EP the Bhoys really go for it and at times it could drift off into Goth or Post-Punk but always Celt.

Dropkick Murphys ‘Prisoner’s Song’ from their Signed And Sealed In Blood album is given a faithful and if anything outCelts the Murphys on this great track. The EP ends with the lads version of the traditional Breton folk song ‘Son Ar Chistr’ and those elements are out in force again and it’s a winning combination for me. As a punk with a few Goth tendencies I love that that they aren’t just a straight up punk band but something a little different. Vocals on the EP are shared between JJ, Gilles, Gwenolé and Fabien and work extremely well.

A great way to start their recording history and another welcome addition to the Breton scene. With bands like this the Celtic revolution is in safe hands. While they may not be as celtic-punk as say the Sons Of O’Flaherty they have taken the rock sound of Daonet and embraced punkier elements to it and come up with something that actually sounds quite fresh to these ears. The only problem being that five songs is not enough and we want to hear a lot more from these.

BogZH Celtic Cats! from left to right: JJ- Harmonica, Vocals * Maxime- Bagpipes, Vocals * Corentin- Tin Whistle * Gwenolé- Bass Guitar, Upright Bass, Vocals * Fabien- Folk/Electric Guitars, Vocals * Hervé- Drums * Gilles- Tenor Banjo, Guitar, Vocals.

(you can listen to Kazh al Lagenn for *free* on the Bandcamp player player below before you buy. Available as download or CD)

Buy Kazh al Lagenn

FromTheBand

Contact BogZH Celtic Cats!

WebSite  Facebook  Bandcamp  YouTube

You should also check out THE FOLK’N’PUNK BRIGADE which is a local celtic-punk collective similar to London Celtic Punks. A group of friends and musicians from French bands The Moorings and Saints and Sinners and Breton bands The Maggie Whackers and Sons Of O’Flaherty- Facebook

The Celtic League is an inter-Celtic political organisation, which campaigns for the political, language, cultural and social rights, affecting one or more of the Celtic nations- Facebook  WebSite

Gilles from the band also runs an extensive Blog featuring both Daonet and BogZH Celtic Cats! as well as heaps of Breton and Celtic music so check that out here- WebSite

ALBUM REVIEW: SONS OF O’FLAHERTY- ‘The Road Not Taken’ (2017)

Who are Sons Of O’Flaherty? Six good friends who grew up in the Celtic nation of Brittany in love with punk rock, folk and traditional Celtic music.

Yec’hed Mad and see you soon !

Now the history of the celtic nations and their people and culture and their languages has never been a particularly happy one with each nation experiencing waves of repression ever since they were taken over and with none of them free this repression continues but out of adversity springs hope and what I love above all else is to hear a band out of the Celtic nations embrace celtic-punk as a way to promote their identity and culture. The Sons Of O’Flaherty hail from Vannes in the north-western tip of Brittany, an area where almost 10% of children are brought up in Breton speaking schooling so were definitely talking about that rare thing here. A Celtic celtic-punk band!!

Now the Celtic League, the main body incorporating all the Celtic nations, identifies only Brittany, Scotland, Ireland, Isle of Man, Cornwall and Wales as being Celtic nations. What is left of the once mighty Celtic peoples who stretched from Ireland to Turkey and tied by language and culture and traditions. There are of large Celtic connections to all of Britain and present day France and parts of Belgium (the Gaulic tribes) and Spain (Galicia) but these are not considered to be “Celtic” by some. The Celtic League classifies only the 6 nations as countries where their native Celtic language is spoken into modern times. I’m not alone in thinking this a rather closed mind classification and anyone visiting Galicia for example is struck by how similar it is to the Celtic nations rather than Spain. Every Celtic nation has suffered war and plunder as well as suffering attempts to destroy their culture and languages. The British governments crimes in this regard are well documented but the French have also long tried to suppress any cultural and lingual distinctions of the Celtic Bretons. Like the other five nations this has led to massive emigration and Celtic Breton communities all over the world especially in Canada and America.

Now, like me, you may remember Asterix the Gaul and his band of merry men and their exploits fighting against the Roman invader. Originally as a comic and then a cartoon that featured on the TV all through my childhood and it was it is in the northwest tip of France, in Brittany, that the famous stories were set. Asterix and his tribe were Gauls taking on the ‘Latin’ invaders who had spread across a large part of western Europe, establishing their towns and villas and changing for ever the history of Europe. Pushed westward it was only in the furthest northwestern extremity of France that the ancient Gauls, with their Celtic language and culture, managed to survive; and they have done so to this day, leaving Brittany – the land of the Bretons – as the largest outstanding stronghold of Celtic heritage on the continent of Europe. The Breton people are proud of their identity, and many think of themselves as Bretons not French. Throughout Brittany, small festivals and other events strongly stress the region’s distinct Celtic heritage and cultural identity. The most important event in the annual calendar is however the massive annual InterCeltique festival. Taking place every year in early August, in the port of Lorient. Founded in 1971 it has now become one of the biggest festivals in Brittany and France with well over 600,000 visitors attending each year.

The flag of the Bretons may be a modern design but is now recognized and accepted as a representation of the Breton folk. The nine horizontal stripes represent the traditional dioceses of Brittany. The five black stripes indicate the French speaking areas, while the four white stripes represent the Breton speaking regions. The flag has a canton in the upper left corner, indicating an ancient Breton coat of arms. Speaking and teaching Breton was prohibited til 1951 but ever since the French government have tried to chip away at the Celtic speaking inhabitants. 

Successive French governments, left and right, have consistently refused to sign the European Charter of Minority Languages and to recognize the linguistic rights of the Bretons. Despite the large amount of speakers and the interest in learning the language there are little to none radio and television broadcasts. The use of the Breton language in legal and commercial documents, as well as in publicity, is against French law and are therefore illegal. It remarkable then that the language has survived to the extant that it has and has been expanding for over a decade with more and more young people taking it up and Breton nurseries and children’s schools opening up across the region.

Alan Stivell

In the world of celtic-rock Breton music has played a major role with the Breton cultural revival of the 1960’s exemplified by Alan Stivell who became the leading proponent of the Breton harp and other instruments from about 1960, he also adopted elements of Irish, Welsh and Scottish traditional music in an attempt to create pan-Celtic folk music. This had considerable impact elsewhere, particularly in Wales and Cornwall. From 1972 he began to play electric folk with a band including guitarists Dan Ar Braz and Gabriel Yacoub. Yacoub went on to form Malicorne in 1974 one of the most successful electric folk band in France. After an extensive career that included a stint playing as part of Fairport Convention in 1976, Ar Braz formed the pan-Celtic band Heritage Des Celts, who managed to achieve mainstream success in France in the 1990s. Probably the best known and most certainly the most enduring electric folk band in France were Tri Yann formed in 1971 and still recording and performing today. As is often the case the Breton’s have embraced the celtic-punk revolution with open arms and bands like Les Ramoneurs De Menhirs, The Maggie Whackers and Sons Of O’Flaherty use their Celtic heritage to push for more civil rights and recognition for their language. The Breton’s have often looked to the Irish for influence when organising resistance to this oppression with several armed groups going back to the 1930’s with Gwenn Ha Du (Breton for “white and black”) to the Breton Liberation Front (Talbenn Dieubiñ Breizh) which was active in the 1960’s up to the 1990’s which in turn led to the militant Breton Revolutionary Army (Armée Révolutionnaire Bretonne, ARB) which is still active to this day. The ARB, unlike its counterparts in Corsica with the (FLNC) and the Basque country (ETA) does not seek to hurt any individuals but instead to cause economic damage. Support for the ARB may be smaller than at it’s hayday in the 70’s when it attracted thousands to its demonstrations but its non-lethal attacks and policies still attract widespread tolerance and a certain level of support.

Sons Of O’Flaherty debut record was a self-titled five track EP released back in 2010. Clearly influenced by trad Irish ballad groups like The Wolfe Tones and that is reflected in the choice of songs with two Irish folk covers and a song titled ‘Bobby’ about legendary Irish hero and rebel Bobby Sands. It has since been made available as a Free/Name Your Price download so follow the link below.

Though not a ‘proper’ release they also gathered a few random tracks and released them as a 3 track EP titled Misc Songs last year and have also made them free to download.

The Road Not Taken was released at the end of last month and from the first couple of bars you know you are in for a good time here! I don’t know how much content their is of Breton music here as the Bhoys sound soooo fecking Irish they could be from Ballylooby! From the first song onwards I am simply astounded (and extremely, extremely jealous) at the quality of the lyrics here. ‘Dead And Gone’ opens the album and is a fast and furious pipes’n’punk tune about the day we die and then party/wake we want in our honour that name checks “the sweet hoarse voice of” Mike Ness, the Dropkicks and Sick Of It All.

“Have one last drink, one last laugh and maybe one last song
The last one for the road, the funeral’s upbeat
We’ll see you soon, we’ll miss you and please keep us a warm seat”

What a start. Ticking all the required boxes to get a great review after just one song the Sons Of O’Flaherty confirm it next with the Dubliners favoured ‘Sam Hall’. An old English folk song about a bitterly unrepentant criminal condemned to death. The song was known originally as ‘Jack Hall’ an infamous thief who was hanged in 1707 at Tyburn. Jack Hall’s parents sold him as a climbing boy for one guinea, which is why he is identified as a chimney sweep. The celtic-punk is flowing out and ‘The Lucky Ones’ tells about how lucky the Bhoys feel to be in a band and their determination to keep going.

“I don’t care how hard it will be, my songs I’ll always stammer out”

The harmonica is out for this and I always love hearing it. It may finally be finding its rightful place in the celtic-punk world judging by recent album’s I have heard.

We hit our first drinking song next with ‘Once Upon A Binge’, a straight forward punk rock tune garnished with mandolin and tin whistle while ‘Saint or Sinner’ tells of a bartender’s guilty conscience while the punk is turned up even louder with mandolin standing out proudest above the thrashing guitar.

“I don’t care what they think or say it’s death I’m selling”

The wonderful of pipes take the song out into ‘Red Wine Teeth’ and it’s more of the same. The Sons Of O’Flaherty could stand on their own feet as a punk band but the Celtic instruments add so much more. They are not just played over the top of the rock music but you the impression if anything it’s the other way round. 

Now any band who records ‘Fields Of Athenry’ in this day and age better be prepared to have it savaged unless they have managed to find a way to record it that takes it out of Irish ‘showband’ territory. They play a solid punk rock version with gang vocals and I always love to hear the “Let the free bird fly” add on. Gang chorus and the whole band having a go on vocals give the song a nice touch even though its pretty much influenced by the Dropkicks version.

The DKM’s influence pops up again on next song ‘The Better Claim’ with male/female vocals about the break up of a love affair that was never meant to be with some wickedly hilarious lines

“I met you, I loved you, you were all I hoped for
I gave you all I had, everything I had in store
I met you, I loved you, and your loss I’ll deplore
But things changed, now this can’t go on anymore”

that of course has the fella as the villain and rightly so in my experience! Rolling towards the end and ‘Glory Days’ starts off with a country vibe before the band rock out. A class song with the band playing magnificently here. Slow and epic sounding with a great chorus and clever and meaningful lyrics about a old mans life and what he has left to show for them. 

“I am now facing an old wrinkled man, his life has come and passed and his skin’s there to show
That even though his glory days might be far behind, there’s no regrets to have and no will to let go”

This is the album standout for me and though English may not be their first language, or even their second, by Christ you wouldn’t know that reading through their lyrics. Luckily for you they are included on the Bandcamp page so follow the link below and have a good read of them. ‘Love Me’ returns us to fast paced punk and then ‘The Townspeople’ brings the curtain down on an album with a gentle country folk number that is the perfect ending.

Those expecting a band from a Celtic nation to provide a purely folk album will be sorely disappointed here as Sons Of O’Flaherty are as equally influenced by Social Distortion as they are by Soldat Louis! Here is eleven songs with two covers lasting near forty minutes that keeps your interest up right until the very end. If we ever needed evidence that celtic-punk has begun to make inroads into celtic music we need look no further than Brittany and Sons Of O’Flaherty.

(have a listen to The Road Not Taken before you buy at the Bandcamp link below)

Buy The Road Not Taken

FromTheBand  iTunes

Contact The Sons Of O’Flaherty

WebSite  Facebook  Bandcamp  YouTube

You should also check out THE FOLK’N’PUNK BRIGADE which is a local celtic-punk collective similar to London Celtic Punks. A group of friends and musicians from French bands The Moorings and Saints and Sinners and Breton bands The Maggie Whackers and Sons Of O’Flaherty- Facebook

The Celtic League is an inter-Celtic political organisation, which campaigns for the political, language, cultural and social rights, affecting one or more of the Celtic nations- Facebook  WebSite

LONDON CELTIC PUNKS PRESENTS OUR BEST OF 2014!

TOP TWENTY CELTIC PUNK ALBUMS OF 2014

Last year our ‘Best Of’ list was completely dominated by bands from these shores but this time there’s a much more international flavour to 2014’s Best Album’s list. Again Irish influenced bands dominate but the absolute standout album for me was without a doubt Uncle Bard And The Dirty Bastards from Italy who nailed their fusion of punk rock and traditional music completely. With their own roots and influences included along with some amazing uilleann piping they are deserved winners of the Best Album spot. Kitchen Implosion join them in what has been a great year for Italian bands. Sure not all of these twenty bands are celtic-punk in the dictionary definition of the phrase but sod that anyway. These are what we liked and they all fit in in some way. Twenty bands from thirteen countries (Italy, England, Sweden, Brittany, Canada, Ireland, USA, Australia, Brazil, Catalonia, Germany, Switzerland and Belguim) which only goes to show the international appeal of the celtic-punk scene these days. A special mention for London Irish band Creeds Cross superb debut album. Only just caught them live and they were awesome so hoping to see much more of them around town in 2015.

As ever we have reviewed some, though not all of these albums, so click (here) after the title and you will be re-directed to our review.

We compiled the ‘Best Of’ lists together from the scraps of paper handed to me by the various admins from the London Celtic Punks facebook page.

1. UNCLE BARD AND THE DIRTY BASTARDS- ‘Get The Folk Out!’ (here)

2. CREEDS CROSS- ‘Gods And Fighting Men (here)

3. ROVERS AHEAD- Always The Sinner, Never The Saint (here)

4. LES RAMONEURS DE MENHIRS- Tan Ar Bobl (here)

5. THE MAHONES- The Hunger And The Fight

6. BLOOD OR WHISKEY- Tell The Truth And Shame The Devil (here)

7. THE ROUGHNECK RIOT- Out Of Anger

8. BASTARD BEARDED IRISHMEN- Rise Of The Bastard (here)

9. JAY WARS- Carry Me Home (here)

10. THE RAMSHACKLE ARMY- Letters from the Road Less Travelled

11. 6’10- The Humble Beginnings Of A Rovin’ Soul (here)

12. LUGH- Quando Os Canecos Batem (here)

13. SIGELPA- TerraMorte (here)

14. KITCHEN IMPLOSION- Pretty Work Brave Boys! (here)

15. THE KILKENNY KNIGHTS- Bradys Pub Tales (here)

16. BEYOND THE FIELDS- The Falcon Lives (here)

17. THE YOUNG DUBLINERS- ‘Nine (here)

18. KELTIKON- Agenbite Of Inwit (here)

19. FM 359- Truth, Love And Liberty (here)

20. THE BLACK TARTAN CLAN – Scotland in Our Hearts

a special special mention for three absolutely brilliant compilation albums too. Can’t really include them in the Best of charts so heres all three in no particular order at all as they are all 11 out of 10!

a class album with 4 songs per band and an absolutely beautifully put together record. THE PORTERS/ THE JUDAS BUNCH/ THE MAHONES/ MALASANERS 4-WAY SPLIT DOUBLE ALBUM- ‘Welcome To The Folk Punk Show’ (2014)  here

a mostly Russian compilation paying tribute to all (lets just face it they are!) our favourite celtic-punk band- ‘Ex-USSR Tribute To The Dropkick Murphys’ (2014)  here

this ought to be the number one album of the year to be honest. a fecking amazing compilation of Indonesian celtic-punk bands.the quality is amazing throughout.absolutely stunning. I cannot recommend enough!! ‘Wind From The Foreign Land- Indonesian Celtic-Punk Compilation’ (2014)  here

TOP FIVE CELTIC PUNK EP’S OF 2015

No question which EP deserved this and Russia’s Middle Class Bastards just blasted us away with their follow up to their 2013 album. Superb use of bagpipes and brass instruments combined with fast but tuneful punk rock. A bit unfortunate for Black Water County who looked nailed on to win this for most of the year with their fantastic 2nd EP. The Breton band The Maggie Whackers released their EP back at the start of the year while The South Sea Ramblers from South Africa literally released theirs just a couple of weeks ago while LQR from Holland slipped theirs out in time for St Patricks Day… ooh err missus! So spread out across the year but these are the ones that left their mark. Looking forward to hearing more from them all and long players must be arriving soon I hope.

1. MIDDLE CLASS BASTARD- Rebel To The Core (here)

2. BLACK WATER COUNTY- Fellowship Of the Craic (here)

3. THE MAGGIE WHACKERS- Naoned Whisky (here)

4. LQR- A Touch Of Liquor (here)

5. SOUTH SHORE RAMBLERS- Bare Knuckle Blackout

TOP FIVE TRAD ALBUMS OF 2014

As the blog is for (mostly) celtic punk so it is that we only review stuff that isn’t celtic punk if we really really (really!!) like it. All these rocked our boat and we loved them all to bits. Hard to decide which order they should go in but this is how we ended up. Turned out to be an all Irish list with I DRAW SLOW from Dublin with beautiful alternative country sounds and both Cork’s THE BUACHAILLS and London’s THE CRAICHEADS going head to head with both bands playing similar styles of music while Irish-American supergroup THE ALT’s debut album was a worthy runner-up to fellow Irish-Americans RUNA’s brillliant fourth album.

1. RUNA- Current Affairs (here)

2. THE ALT- ‘The Alt (here)

3. THE CRAICHEADS- Brewed in London (here) 

3. THE BUACHAILLS- At Your Call (here)

5. I DRAW SLOW- ‘WhiteWave Chapel (here)

BEST CELTIC PUNK WEB-SITE OF 2014

once again there is no question who gets this

CELTIC FOLK PUNK AND MORE

(find it here)

 keeping the whole wide world up to date with what’s going on and who is doing who within celtic punk (and more!) while also supplying us with regular free downloads and free compilations. Waldo you’re great. Keep it up mate!

BEST GIGS

Apart from the ones we put on which were all amazing and showcased some amazing performances from JAY WARS and THE DEAD MAGGIES from Aus, THE GREENLAND WHALEFISHERS from Norway, a couple of benefit gigs for Mad Dog out The Popes (hope youre back on your guitar highkicking soon pal!), BLACK WATER COUNTY played their London debut and went down a fecking storm, me O’s mates STEVE WHITE AND THE PROTEST FAMILY were as superb as ever and released a fantastic album. One of the major highlights was discovering the quintessential London Celtic Punk in ANTO MORRA and we look forward to working with him again in the future. We teamed up with fellow Londoners of Urbankelt and will be doing so again too.

I also saw DAVID ROVICS for the first time, THE MEN THEY COULDN’T HANG’s amazing 30th anniversary show was incredible, NECK and their sadly ended residency at TChances which had us all pissed on Polish lager on Sunday afternoons for the first 6 months of the year, FLOGGING MOLLY in Reading in June which showed they havent lost a thing and are as great as ever, THE POGUE TRADERS were the best Pogues tribute band I ever seen. Disappointing was missing so many gigs where I just didnt have the cash especially The Pogues various outings. THE STANFIELDS from Canada seemed like a decent bunch of lads but their London gig was a total rip-off. The pre-gig ticket price was £7-50 which more than doubled to £15 on the door on the night. Oi bands watch out for charlaten promoters won’t you? Rebellion music fest brings loads of decent bands over to play but that means that they all end up playing in the same week so I had to forgo THE GO-SET’s return to London. Missed out on THE WOLFE TONES London gigs too due to work. All three of them! THE LAGAN have been brilliant. Far far too many of their gigs to go into detail so we have choosen the whole of St Patricks Weekend as our Number One! With NECK playing three gigs over the weekend and both THE BIBLE CODE SUNDAYS and THE LAGAN playing on the same day as well it seen a clean sweep of all the London bands done. Afterwards sick days were phoned in, headache pills were taken and the best St Patricks in donkeys was had.

Now were just looking forward to catching THE DROPKICK MURPHYS ‘Celtic Invasion ‘ Tour in Dublin and London this year round St Patricks Day.

Sláinte, The London Celtic Punks Crew- 2015

 

Of course all these things are very subjective so don’t be dismayed if your album ain’t here. What appeals to one don’t neccessarily appeal to another. It would be impossible to keep up with the multitude of celtic-punk related releases so these are the best of of what we actually did get to hear. All the various sites in the celtic-punk family had different winners so to see what they thought check out the Best Of lists of the following sites…

CELTIC FOLK PUNK AND MORE

IRISH PUNK

PADDYROCK/GRINNNING BEGGAR

MacSLONS IRISH PUB RADIO

click on the blog logo at the top of the page to find more of this kind of stuff…

ALBUM REVIEW: LES RAMONEURS DE MENHIRS- ‘Tan Ar Bobl’ (2014)

We here at London Celtic Punks love our celtic-punk and as much as we love our celtic-punk we really really love celtic celtic-punk!By that I mean there’s some fantastic bands from the States or Canada or Indonesia and Italy or Australia, in fact there’s some amazing bands from all over the world truly making celtic-punk an international thing. Saying that though there is something extra special about a band from one of the celtic nations taking up the gauntlet. In Ireland there’s Blood Or Whiskey, Wales has Kilnaboy and in Galicia there’s Bastards On Parade and The Falperry’s but no celtic nation has as many, and are as good, as those from Brittany.

We’ve touched previously on the blog on the history of Brittany as a celtic nation, in this review (here) of the Breton band The Maggie Whackers latest EP, so click there to stop us repeating ourselves! Suffice to say there’s a massive resurgence in both Breton feeling and the Breton language. Through centuries of oppression France has failed to absorb Brittany or kill off the Breton language and Les Ramoneurs De Menhirs are a perfect example of what’s happening in Brittany.

Formed in 2006 its members include Éric Gorce on the bombardon, Richard Bévillon on the bagpipes, the traditional vannetais singer Maurice Jouanno and Loran, guitarist from the the group Bérurier Noir. The most amazing thing though about Les Ramoneurs De Menhirs is that they sing in Breton, the ancient language of Brittany which is closely linked to both Cornish and Welsh. Their first album, ‘Dañs an Diaoul’ (The Dance of the devil) was released in 2007 by the former label of Bérurier Noir, Folklore De La Zone Mondiale. The singer Louise Ebrel, daughter of Eugénie Goadec, a famous traditional Breton musician, guests on several songs on the album. Les Ramoneurs De Menhirs participated at the massive celtic festival ‘Festival Interceltique de Lorient’ in 2007, having performed outside the official programme. Back in 2008 they toured Scotland with the only band comparable to them Scot’s punkers Oi Polloi. Second album ‘Amzer An Dispac’h’ followed in 2010 and featured more of the same with  hardcore punk accompanied by celtic instruments and shouty  gang choruses and vocals. Guests from across the musical spectrum were asked to perform and did freely showing the lack of snobbery within the Breton folk/language scene. They choose to embrace Les Ramoneurs De Menhirs (not that it’s always been plain sailing) while Oi Polloi are put down and, even worse, ignored by their Scots compatriots despite all the positive work they are doing to promote gaelic in Scotland.

As its impossible to comment on the lyrics I have to talk about the music and the feelings that the album gives me. Knowing a little about the band through a Breton friend the first thing that strikes you when looking up the band is how they have managed to cross generational boundaries and I must admit to a tear in the eye at one video where in front of the stage is a huge crowd of young punks moshing about while at the back a huge crowd of, ahem, more elderly fans are performing traditional dance to the same song. Its this link to the past that makes them so special. The ability to connect the struggles of the past to the struggles of the here and now and even of the future. In an age when there is a revival in celtic awareness its in the language movement and especially in celtic music that people are finding their roots and their pride. Celtic-punk is but a tiny part of that but in Brittany, thanks to bands like Les Ramoneurs De Menhirs, The Maggie Whackers and the Sons Of O’Flaherty, its helping to lead the way.

Musically the album doesn’t break any new ground from the first two LP’s but as they were both bloody brilliant that doesn’t really matter! They’ve a new singer in tow but the same chugging guitar, metal riffs, industrial style drum machine drumming and all with clear shouty hoarse vocals and no bassist that keep the toe tapping going while the celtic instruments are played with absolute gusto by champions in their fields. Eleven explosive songs clocking in at just under 45 minutes and all originals except a fun cover of The Adicts 1980’s punk classic ‘Viva La Revolution’. The best way to describe the music I think would be to say you’d find it impossible to stand still listening to this. Within a minute or two you’ll be be slapping yer thigh and a-tappin them toes. Catchy just doesn’t come into it. Les Ramoneurs De Menhirs are not just a celtic punk band they are a movement and one of which in everyone with a interest in celtic affairs should keep abreast of. Who said music cannot change the world?

Contact The Band

WebSite  Facebook

email- contact@ramoneursdemenhirs.fr

Buy The Album

Coop Breizh

here’s a list of YouTube videos here mostly from 2014 well worth trawling through on a quiet night accompanied by a few beers!

for easily the best english language web site concerning Brittany then check out THE BRETON CONNECTION “a portal to the Breton movement for self-determination and cultural rights”.

EP REVIEW: THE MAGGIE WHACKERS- ‘Naoned Whisky’ (2014)

Sans Regrets Sans Remords

This great celtic-punk band were formed in the city of Nantes in 2009 and are at the forefront of an amazing Breton celtic-punk scene along with Les Ramoneurs De Menhirs and the Sons Of O’Flaherty. We noticed recently that our pages were starting to become a little dominated by solely Irish music so we’ve tried to rectify that by trying to cover more about the other celtic nations and their influences so recently we’ve had articles on Scotland and Wales.

Sadly one of the lesser known celtic nations is Brittany. Occupied by France since the 15th century it is simply incredible and a remarkable testament to the people that despite, in common with all the other celtic nations, centuries of repression, discrimination and emigration that Brittany has clung so solidly to its celtic roots. Their language is very closely related to both Cornish and Welsh and despite the French government being able to show the British a few things in how to suppress native languages more than a quarter million people still speak Breton fluently! Today estimates suggest over 20% of the population have a knowledge of Breton and with the language and independence movement stronger than it has been for decades things are looking good for Brittany and whose to say it wont follow Scotland and Catalonia into independence. The sooner the better say we!

This release follows the path of their 2011 self titled release in that it also has 5 songs, also has a couple of traditional covers and the rest of the EP is made up of funny, drinking and political songs. That first release got them plenty of critical acclaim but this was followed by a period of silence that led me to believe they had split up. I was delighted then to recently come across a video of them playing with hip-hop world superstar Macklemore (here) at a gig last year and that was followed by news of a St Patrick’s 2014 tour of Brittany with the aforementioned Sons Of O’Flaherty…that would surely have been a set of gigs to die for!

So what do you get here. First track is the celtic-punk standard ‘Drunken Sailor’ which starts off as you’d expect but soon speeds up and the fiddle, mandolin and tin-whistle are soon working overtime to keep up with the vocals. Track 2 is ‘Sans Regrets Sans Remords’ which translates as ‘Without Regrets Without Remorse’ and is the only song not in English and is also the EP’s most punk rock song though the Breton bagpipes stand out enormously. ‘Fucking Goblins’ makes use of the electric guitar and mandolin again in a song about drinking too much whiskey! The fourth track is ‘I’m A Man You Don’t Meet Everyday’, a trad Irish song made famous by the Godfathers of celtic-punk The Pogues and would I’m sure make them as pleased as punch to hear it. The final song is my favourite and I could be a bit biased here as the chorus to it is

“Burn in hell Maggie Thatcher”

ska, celt and punk collide in a real fist in the air singalong and brings this fantastic EP to a end. Don’t come along to the Maggie Whackers expecting to hear ‘Irish’ celtic-punk as Brittany has its own celtic ways and traditions and sounds and this is evident in everything the band do and ought to ensure they are heard far and wide.

Contact The Band

Facebook  WebSite  MySpace  YouTube  Bandcamp  Noomiz

Buy The Record

Bandcamp

*By the way the title of the record is in Breton and simply means Nantes Whisky!

For everything you need to know about Brittany and its drive to independence The Breton Connection is an absolutely fantastic place to look so click here and find out more.

 

CELTIC HIP-HOP’S TOP SEVEN ARTISTS AND BANDS

For the sake of this article I have defined celtic hip-hop as being of two things… hip-hop made by people from a celtic background and hip-hop that is fused with celtic music. For that reason I haven’t included any rappers/hip-hop from the countries of origin. Mainly because I don’t know any but also partly because this blog is to celebrate and promote the celtic diaspora and the influence of that diaspora.

1. HOUSE OF PAIN

Not a lot to be said about these. Their are probably tribal villagers in the rain jungle who have at some point jumped around to that song!! Formed in 1991 in New York the group of school-friends became absolutely-bleeding-massive with the release of, yes, ‘that’ song in 1992. They released three albums and a compilation ‘Shamrocks And Shenanigans’. Although they stuck pretty close to the standard hip-hop way of doing things and never really included any celtic/Irish instruments they did occasionally use signatures reminiscent of Irish jigs. Absolutely huge world wide and can be credited with being a huge influence on Irish-America and the wider Irish diaspora, even today. Still performing but more so these days to promote the lead singer Everlast’s solo career.

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2. MARXMAN

From their name you ought to be able to tell they veered a wee bit to the left. Formed in Bristol by college friends towards the end of the 1980’s these boys did not mess around! Marxman were unrepentant socialists and championed the underdog and victims of social injustice. Their first album ’33 Revolutions Per Minute’ included the song ‘Sad Affair’ which comprised lyrics from the Christy Moore penned song ‘Irish Ways And Irish Laws’ and was subsequently banned by the BBC. They also touched on themes such as domestic violence and slavery. They incorporated Irish instruments alongside the music making something totally original for that time. They sadly faded away after their much less politicised 2nd album came out though they are credited with being one of the fore-runners of the ‘Trip-Hop’ (see Portishead or Tricky) genre which originated in Bristol.

LastFM  Discogs

3. MACKLEMORE

We’ve already done an article on the Seattle born rapper Ben Haggerty here so head there if you want to read a bit more on him. Suffice to say he’s another Irish-American rapper who wears his roots proudly on his sleeve. Debut album ‘The Heist’ came out in 2012 and this year his massive hit ‘Thrift Shop’ hit #1 in far too many countries to mention here! His lyrics are a million miles away from most major hip-hop artists and although he doesn’t use any celtic instruments or tunes his song ‘Irish Celebration’ can leave you in absolutely no doubt where he stands!

Web-Site  Facebook  Twitter

4. BELTAINE’S FIRE

Formed in 2005 in San Francisco by solo-anarchist rapper Emcee Lynx they started out as ‘folk-rap’ with influences alongside their hip-hop from Scottish and Irish music but soon evolved and introduced other musical elements and aspects into their sound. They have released 3 studio albums, the last being ‘Anarchitecture’ in 2011 (the profits of which they donated to Occupy Wall Street). Huge supporters of file-sharing much of their music is either free or ‘pay as much as you can’. Another highly political band and they have played many benefits and appeared on many compilation albums for causes such as the Anarchist Black Cross and Iraq Veterans Against the War.

Web-Site  MySpace

5. SEANCHAI AND THE UNITY SQUAD

Chris Byrne a Irish-American cop co-founded the celtic-rock band Black47 with Larry Kirwan in 1989. While playing with Black47 Chris set up these lot as a side-project. A ‘seanchai’ is a traditional Irish storyteller/historian and ancient teller of old tales so in this respect its a absolutely spot on name! They’ve released several albums and all contain the same mix of hip-hop, Irish folk, rock and punk, R&B, reggae/ska, protest anthems, rebel songs and prank phone calls to radio hosts that we have come to expect. Really, when you put on a Seanchai LP you never know if you’re gonna hit a punk song like ‘Irish Catholic Boy’ or hip-hop like ‘Sportin Paddy! A casserole of cultures that will soon make them a staple on your musical menu.

MySpace  LastFM 

6. MANAU

Not being a huge hip-hop fan I was going to keep it short and just do the Top Five but after coming across this band I thought I better expand it into a Top Six. Manua (the old Breton gaelic name for the Isle Of Man) were formed in 1998 in Paris by members of that cities huge Breton diaspora. In 1998 they had a massive hit with ‘La Tribu de Dana’ which tells the story of the tribe of Dana, and is the name of a group of figures in Irish mythology. They have released six albums, the last being this years ‘Fantasy’ and although they have moved somewhat away from the celtic sound sometimes those early releases are absolute stand-outs in the celtic-music world.

Web-Site  Facebook

7. SLAINE

Well so much for a Top Six! Slaine, or George Carroll as he’s known to his mammy, is a Boston born rapper and these days a quite famous actor as well. Inspired by the House Of Pain and a move to New York he became active in that city’s burgeoning underground hip-hop scene. He’s released several albums and been on countless compilations and has just released his latest called ‘The Boston Project’. He teams up with Danny Boy O’Connor from the House Of Pain to perform as the House Of Slaine and they sell some of the most brilliant alternative Irish t-shirts on the internet. Well worth a look here.

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A couple other notables are the ‘Lordz Of Brookyln’ and ‘Da Ded Rabbitz’ but no one could tell me anything about them …

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• Celtic-Hip Hop! Macklemore and Ryan Lewis – ‘Irish Celebration’ (londoncelticpunks.wordpress.com)