Celtic-Punk Rock – Made in Savoy in the Western Alps. The debut release from Sabaudia Mob.
A new band from France this three track EP was released into the Celtic-Punk world with little to non fanfare at the end of March and only came to our attention by pure luck. Not a great deal of information on the band is available so feel free to check them out yourselves at the links below. The self titled EP begins with the famous trad Irish instrumental ‘The Morrison Jig’. The song is named after the Sligo-born, Irish-American fiddler James Morrison, who recorded it in the 1930s. Tom Carmody, who played accordion in Morrison’s band, tells this story of its origin
“Jim was up at my house the night before we were to go to the studio, and I played him this jig. Jim asked me where I had got it from and I told him it was my father’s jig called “The Stick Across the Hob”. Jim asked me to play it again and he wrote it down as I played, then he got the fiddle and played it off. “I will put that on record tomorrow”, he said, and we’ll call it “Maurice Carmody’s Favourite”.
From such humble beginnings the song has become internationally famous and been performed across the world by, I dare say, every Irish trad artist of the last fifty years. It’s also a song that has had a a handful of Celtic-Punk covers with Swagger, the Krakin’ Kellys and The Dead Irish all recording it. Sabaudia Mob record it fairly faithfully to what you’d expect but the stand out thing here is the amazing accordion. We can often forget that ‘in’ France they have a very strong Celtic tradition and Breton people like in the rest of the Celtic nations have migrated around the country spreading their music and culture so that even a band from the western Alps can sound authentically Celtic as Sabaudia Mob. Their are only three songs here and the production is a but muddy with the vocals not particularly sharp but despite this the music is outstanding. The second track is a cover of The Dreadnoughts ‘Battleford 1885’ (from 2022’s Roll And Go) telling of the hanging on November 27, 1885, of eight Indigenous men for murders committed in the North-West Rebellion. Fast and angry here the song is played as much more Punk than Folk but again superb accordion lifts it up. The last song is another cover this time from Italian band The Rumpled. ‘Stand Up’ is from 2020’s Toss The Coin and while i’d have loved to hear more of their own material the choice of cover is very interesting. Again they don’t stray too far from the original but inject plenty of energy and vim into one of The Rumpled’s best tracks.
(You can stream or buy Sabaudia Mob via the Bandcamp app below)
In the olden days of cassettes I suppose this EP would have been labelled a ‘demo’ and as such is a great way to announce the band to the world. At €7 to download for three songs it is perhaps a little (!) ambitious to charge so much but it’s well worth a listen and a look forward to what they have planned for the future.
Another release from prolific Italian Celtic-Punkers The Rumpled. With a sound influenced by traditional Irish Folk they are already one of the best bands in the scene and a band to expect big things from in the near future.
The last few years have been quite a time for fans of Celtic-Punk in Italy. While the genre has always been popular due in no small part to to the friendly relations between Italy and the Celtic nations never before has Italy had quite so many great bands, among them some of the best in Europe. I won’t go into the names as I’m afraid to miss one of them but a simple search among the posts here will give you the opportunity to give your ears a real treat. The Rumpled are one such band and in their relatively short existence they have been as prolific as any band in Celtic-Punk. Formed in Trento in the north in 2013 it was five years before they got some songs down on record and the result was Ashes & Wishes, recorded and produced by Gianluca of Black Dingo Productions, who have supported The Rumpled ever since. A sixty date tour of Switzerland, France and Italy in 2119 promoting the Grace O’Malley EP was followed by another EP, Toss The Coin, and tour the following year. Of course Covid soon arrived and any plans the band had were shelved while the world came to terms with what was going on. Despite this the band ploughed on and did manage to release both Home Sessions, a EP of covers with the help of some pretty well known faces in Firkin and Uncle Bard And The Dirty Bastards, and an acoustic EP Rumplugged.
The Rumpled from left to right: Michele Mazzurana- Drums, Backing Vocals * Davide Butturini- Guitars * Patrizia Vaccari- Fiddle * Marco Andrea Micheli- Lead Vocals * Luca Tasin- Bassman, Backing Vocals * Tommaso Zamboni- Accordion *
The new album is called The Perfect Match and was released late last month again for Black Dingo and while new material is thin on the ground, with it being basically a re-recorded and re-vamped compilation of The Rumpled’s last two studio releases it is still an outstanding release and the perfect place to enter if you are new to the band. The Perfect Match kicks off with ‘Time To Go’, the album’s only new song and which was also the lead single for the album. The song is dedicated to Italian para-olympian athlete Giuliana Chiara Filippi and her story of fortitude and resilience, despite her many obstacles to overcome, and her dream to represent Italy in the Paralympics. Inspired they choose her to be featured as the main character in the video. A truly Perfect Match.
A great rocking start and a lovely tribute. We wish her well. Talking about the single The Rumpled said
“The song is an invitation to return to life with energy and enthusiasm and move into the future, throwing the difficult situation of last year behind us. After this long break, our desire to restart, to get back on stage and perform for a crowd is uncontainable, that’s why we all sing the in chorus: “hey ho, it’s time to go, we’re gonna raise hell tonight – So let’s go to another show and everything’s gonna be alright”!”
Musically The Rumpled play an energetic and lively style of Celtic-Punk. While The Rumjacks influence casts a shadow over much of the Italian Celtic-Punk scene The Rumpled have always done their own thing with a sound influenced by traditional Irish Folk music as much as anything. ‘Stand Up’ was the opening track on the Toss The Coin and sees the band accompanied by the Bold Rumjacker himself Frankie McLaughlin. Accordion led and with one hell of a catchy chorus it’s fist in the air time here as you swing your mates round and round. The energy is unrelenting and continues throughout the albums forty minutes with only a handful of pauses for breathe.
The following six songs also come from the Toss The Coin with ‘Take A Drop’ and ‘The Gipsy Dancer’, a lead single from Toss The Coin and you will see where the EP gets its title from in the excellent accompanying video. ‘The Road’ is less ‘traditional’ and more modern sounding Celtic-Punk combining elements of Ska with some great ‘Woah-Woah-Woahh’ gang vocals. ‘One Love’ is the first of two songs to feature guests from fellow Italian Celtic-Folk-Rockers Folkamiseria from western Piedmont. More Folk orientated but still with that harder edge while ‘Broken Romances’ has a more harder edge.
‘Patty’s Jig’ was the final song on the EP but here marks half way. Accompanied again by Folkamiseria on bouzouki The Rumpled show they can go full on traditional with a self penned Irish Folk tune that could have been written a hundred years ago!! Song #9 here is the song that began the Grace O’Malley EP ‘Song of Ill Repute’, a speedy accordion and fiddle led whirling dervish of a song which is followed by the EP’s title track, a extended version, ‘Grace O’Malley’. With over 1,000,000 plays on Spotify and a place in theTop Ten Celtic-Punk EP’s Of 2019on this here web-zine. Grace O’Malley was known as ‘The Pirate Queen’ and until recently was largely known only to Irish communities around the world with tales of her exploits being told and re-told through the generations. A fearless leader over land and sea, a politician and tactician, rebel and pirate, and the ’most notorious woman in all the coasts of Ireland’.
‘Fearless And Brave’ sees the band accompanied by Paddy O’Reilly from the awesome Celtic-Punk band Paddy And The Rats. Utterly brilliant the dual vocals work to great effect while the Celtic-Punk crosses into Ska and back. ‘Feelin’ Fine’ keeps up the pace going and finally ‘The Maiden’ brings down the curtain.
So while it’s a shame for us long time fans of the band not to have an album of brand new music its perfectly understandable that The Rumpled want to get their music out to as wider audience as possible and this is a great opportunity for them to do so. So if you’re a fan pass this on to someone who isn’t (yet!) and make their day. The album is available on both download and physical release and also why not read up on Grace O’Malley it really is a fascinating story.
After months of planning, organising and fund-raising the compilation album Raise Your Pints #6 has finally been delivered. Twenty bands from eleven countries celebrating (might be the wrong word- editor) the virus lockdowns in Celtic-Folk-Punk style.
Anyone remember the original Celtic-Punk samplers from Shite’n’Onions? I think they stretched to three volumes and came at a time when I had never been on the internet. Yes I was one of the select few who never even had a MySpace account! So to come across these samplers with upwards of twenty bands on and pretty much all new to me (even the English ones) was eye-opening… or should that be ear-opening? Them days are long ago and we can thank Shite’n’Onions for being early pioneers of the Celtic-Punk sampler though they have long passed the baton onto MacSlon’s Irish Radio. Now in their 11th year the radio station brings out the best in Celtic-Rock, Celtic-Punk and trad Irish Folk both modern and ancient(!). They have also for the last few years been a major player on the merchandise front organizing merch for a whole host of bands from across mainland Europe and even the United States.
This is the 6th in the Raise Your Pints series and all the songs have been written and recorded over the last 16 months while the Corona virus has done it’s best to wreck the music industry. We are yet to see what long term damage the lockdown have caused but already here in London, and across England, many music venues have closed their doors permanently and several bands have handed in their guitar straps. The thirst for live music though seems at a all time high but bands are still finding it difficult to book gigs and tours with so much uncertainty around about whether or not the lockdown will return.
So the arrival of Raise Your Pints #6 is to applauded for many reasons but chiefly among them is that the bands will directly benefit from the sales of the CD and with not much else going on it’s a chance for them to remind their fans and followers that they are still here and still fighting.
Reviewing a compilation album is hard enough but one made up of different bands is even harder so I will forego the usual review and just tell you a small bit about each artist and song and link to them so they can tell you more. Of course the best way to find out more is to buy the album!!!
RAISE YOUR PINTS VOLUME 6
THE MULLINS (France) – ‘Part Of Me’
The album kicks off with The Mullins. Hailing from the south of France their song began life before the lockdown but the band took the opportunity to perfect it and even managed to get together inbetween lockdowns to record the cracking video!
THE CEILI FAMILY (Germany) – ‘Corona Chesay’
The album is perhaps a bit top heavy with German bands but that is totally understandable. They do have the #1 scene in Europe you know. The Ceili Familyare one of the better known established bands. The band first stirred back in 1996 and even had a great recommendation from the late Philip Chevron: “Enjoyed listening to the CD, by the way. Always good to see people doing something of their own with the basic idea we invented!”
THE FEELGOOD McLOUDS (Germany) – ‘Dirty Bastards’
More Germans here with The Feelgood McLouds formed in January 2015 southwestern Germany. More than any country in Europe the Germans have embraced Celtic-Punk with the number of bands, gigs and fans far outstripping anywhere else this side of the Atlantic. This track is taken from this years critically popular ‘Saints & Sinners’ EP.
GRASS MUD HORSE (China) ‘ Absent Friends’
Grass Mud Horse only seem to have around a year or two but already have more releases than many more well established bands. Formed when Scouse-Irish musician Chris Barry mover to China the band has had some set backs with members coming and going because of the virus (they are based in Wuhan) but luckily things have settled down and they recently recorded a single with yer man Frankie McLoughlin.
UNCLE BARD AND THE DIRTY BASTARDS (Italy) – ‘Back On Your Feet’
From playing with ALL the Celtic-Punk superstars to headlining festivals across Europe and even getting to the United States several times Uncle Bard And The Dirty Bastards are without a doubt one of the select few you could describe as ‘Premier League’ Celtic-Punk bands. ‘Back On Your Feet’ is one of the standout tracks from last years album Men Behind The Glass that the Bhoys have recorded an acoustic version for here. One of many great Celtic-Punk highlights during the lockdown was the Bastards hour long acoustic live stream. Brilliant!
JACK IN THE GREEN (Germany) – ‘Old Maui’
Yeah we may have all heard it a 100 times by now but popular covers are popular for a reason. That we never tire of hearing them! Hamburg’s Jack In The Green play a great acoustic version rather than the ‘choir/acapello’ type I’m more use to hearing. Vocals remind me a lot of from The Whisky Priests who in their day were massive so wonder if they were an influence here.
THE MOORINGS (France) – ‘Champion At Keeping It Rolling’
Cracking version of the Ewan MacColl penned classic about lorry driving from French band The Moorings. Formed in 2011 the band have released several albums and EP’s a Folky version of this song appears on their debut EP Pints & Glory but they have re-recorded it in proper Celtic-PUNK style here. They have just completed a successful crowd-funding campaign for a new album so can’t wait for that.
JOHNNY HASH (Ireland) – ‘Ride On’
Johnny Hash is a bunch of people from various Belfast bands who got together during the lockdown and released a few videos of Irish Folk classics. Christy Moore’s ‘Ride On’ was their first attempt at a video. Still knocking them out months later let’s hope they develop into something more permanent.
THE RUMPLED (Italy) – ‘If I Should Fall from Grace With God’
The Pogues track gets an airing here from the Italian band The Rumpled. Hard to compete with the originals but gutsy to try and they give it a great go. A relatively new band having got together in 2013 in Trento, Italy. Known for fast paced Celtic-Punk, combining Irish Folk, Rock, Ska and Punk. They have a new album out at any moment so watch this space for news on that.
MEDUSAS WAKE (Australia) – War Of Independence
The debut album from Sydney based Celtic-Folk-Rockers Medusa’s Wake hit the top spots in all of 2018’s Celtic-Punk medias yearly ‘best of’s’ and since then they have gone from strength to strength. Writted by Tipperary born Eddie Lawlor, he sings from the heart of the war back home between 1919 and 1921 against the British. Much of that war took part in the fields and villages of the ‘Premier County’ and those of us with Tipp backgrounds grew up hearing of the tales of heroic activities of those ordinary men who took on the worlds strongest army.
HELLRAISERS AND BEERDRINKERS (Germany) – ‘Stay At Home’
Hellraisers And Beerdrinkers may just have the best name in Celtic-Punk but they are a pretty shit-hot band as well. They take their name from a song by rockers Motorhead so should give you an idea about them! Another band that hails from Germany from the small town of Schwäbisch Gemünd. ‘Stay At Home’ is a re-recorded re-jigged new version of a song from their debut album Folk’s Gaudi in 2016.
AN SPIORAD (Germany) – ‘Carry Me Home’
German band that began life as a two-piece band “The Plästik Päddies” in 1997 before changing name to the far more complicated An Spiorad (Scots Gaelic for The Spirit). ‘Carry me Home’ is taken from their recent album Album Dord Na Mara.
SONS OF O’FLAHERTY (Brittany) – ‘The Pack’
More Celtic Celtic-Punk now from Vannes in Brittany Sons Of O’Flaherty formed as a duo in 2010 they soon fleshed out to a whole band due in no small part to the popularity of Irish music in this Celtic nation. ‘The Pack’ is a new song and with it being four years since the release of their last album The Road Not Taken hopefully this signifies some new sounds on the way.
More bastards!! This time from Iserlohn in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Like many German bands their emphasis is on playing live such is the demand for their music so their recording output sometimes doesn’t match up with the age of the band. Kilkenny Bastards are one such band and we look forward to them rectifying this soon!
ALL THOSE EMPTY PUBS (Switzerland) – ’40 Days’
Based up in the Swiss alps ’40 Days’ was the debut release from All Those Empty Pubs (what a great name!) earlier this year. We loved it so much we ran a feature and a small interview with Diego the genius behind this one-man-band. Diego utilises all his talents here with mandolin, flute, acoustic guitar and even Hammond organ alongside your more usual Rock band instruments. It just don’t get more DIY than this.
RAPPAREES (Germany) – ‘Las Vegas (In The Hills Of Donegal)’
Another band from Hamburg Rapparees kicked off thirty years ago in the dive bars before changing their name. A straight up acoustic cover of the Goats Don’t Shave song. A ‘raparee’ was the name given to Irish soldiers who survived the Williamite war with the British in the 1690’s and used guerilla tactics or became highwaymen after the war ended.
LA STOATS (Germany) – ‘Raise Your Pints’
German band La Stoats come from Essenbach in Bavaria in the south-east of Germany and incorporate the traditional tunes and melodies of their Bavarian home into their brand of Celtic-Punk. ‘Raise Your Pints’ is one of the standout songs here with chugging guitar and a real cool early 80’s Punk Rock sound with some superb bagpipes. Definitely a band worth checking out.
MUIRSHEEN DURKIN (Germany) – ‘Riot’
The last of nine German bands on Raise Your Pints features one of the best Muirsheen Durkin And Friends. ‘Riot’ is a bloomin’ brilliant Celtic-Punk cover of a UK Subs song from 1997. The original is superb but here it is mastered with the energy intact and growling vocals and a core of Celtic instruments chugging along.
SEAN TOBIN (USA) – ‘St. Patrick’s Day Forever’
The last of the 20th songs belongs to New Jersey Irish singer/ songwriter Sean Tobin. Theirs 2 versions of ‘St’ Patrick’s Day Forever’ and I guess you could call this the ‘radio edit’. Blue-collar, working-class Irish American Folk music and one of the standout tracks on the album to bring down the curtain.
So that’s yer lot. There’s bound to be a load of bands here that you have never heard of. Some are new even to us and the styles of music is varied from Folk and trad right across to Punk but the songs are all totally accessible at all times. This (like the previous five volumes) is essential listening to all fans of Celtic-Punk and we cannot put it any clearer than that! Raise Your Pints #6 is out on July 9th and is available for pre-release order from the link below.
We want to move away from just being ‘ReviewReviewReviewReview’ so we have started this monthly feature that comes out on the last day of each month. All news items that we otherwise miss will get a mention but I need YOU to be the eyes and ears if it’s going to work so send over to us any band news, record releases, videos, tours (not individual gigs though yet sadly), live streams, crowd funders etc., to us at londoncelticpunks@hotmail.co.uk or through the Contact Us page and it will go in here!
New re-arranged dates are starting to trickle out and STIFF LITTLE FINGERS have announced new tour dates for the UK for March 2021 including London at the Roundhouse in Camden on the 20th.
I’ve made no secret of my love for the Norwegian band OGRAS over the last few months and at the end of June they made one of the best Live Streams of anyone during the whole ‘clampdown’. Playing as a full band aboard the MS Progress a 1914 built former fishing boat these guys showed why are they rapidly gaining a name for themselves in the Celtic-Punk scene. Well they just re-mastered and re-cut the show and put it up on You Tube so please I implore take just twenty minutes off and make yourself comfortable and feast your eyes and your ears on this magnificent production.
We had expected to be putting on PYROLYSIS live in London in July along with fellow Dutch Celtic-Punkers The Royal Spuds but the clampdown put paid to that! They have been busy though with a few irons in the fire starting with the release of ‘Leave Me’ on You Tube.
Chinese Celtic-Punk pioneers SMZB have a new album Once Upon A Time In The East coming out soon and released a superb video on July 1st for ‘Man Jiang Hong’ their first single from the album.
New Brunswick is Canada’s (self-proclaimed) most Irish City and home to a thriving Celtic community being 20% Irish and not far off the same Scottish. Its also home to RAGLAN ROAD ‘one Islander, one Newfoundlander, two Miramichiers and one party just waiting to happen’ We may have heard Drunken Sailor a 1000 times but you cannot beat it when its played just right!
Milwaukee, Wisconsin based WIDACRE are a Hardcore Punk band that dip their toe in and out of Irish music and have a very interesting back catalogue that encompasses everything from HC to Folk. They released a craicing cover of The Pogues track ‘If I Should Fall From Grace With God’ earlier in the year but we’re only just catching up now. Available as a ‘Name Your Price’ download.
The cousin of Johnny Piper from US band Alternative Ulster has a new band on the go. CHUCKY ARLA & THE PETROL BOMBERS describe themselves as ‘angry Irish rebels, happy Irish drunks, bomb tossing tossers, banjo playing punks’ and have an album out you can hear below.
New songs from NEVER SAY DIE Irish-American Punk band from Germantown, MD. The title track and ‘One More Time’ from their third full length album Never Say Die. Thirteen new tracks out June 29.
THE REAL McKENZIES – Beer And Loathing
THE CLOVES AND THE TOBACCO – Julan Palang
CELTICA PIPES ROCK! – Celtic Spirits
NEVER SAY DIE – Punk Rock Pirates
THE LANGER’S BALL – Appetite for Tradition
SHANGHAI TREASON – Covid Covers
THE RUMPLED – Rumplugged EP
THE LOGUES – Live Sessions
Even doing this we regularly come across music that we missed first time round so here’s a slight chance to make amends and also to listen to something different. Dublin born Daniel McDonnell spent time in England growing up before returning to Ballymun and later becoming a rising star in the Irish Hip-Hop scene. He goes by the stage name LUNITIC and his 2009 Based On A True Story features artist such as Irish Hip-Hop emcee Rí-Rá, 4Real & Moschops and Damien Dempsey. Available as a ‘Name Your Price’ download.
South Yorkshire Celtic-PUNKERS SHANGHAI TREASON have a new digital only EP out. Three DIY covers of traditional Folk songs now available to download Bandcamp. Only £3 an all profits raised from will be donated to NHS charities. Good lads.
Top German band FIDDLERS GREEN have released a new video for the Shamrock Castle (the Fiddler’s Green organised Irish music festival) official musical anthem!
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!
So you get the idea so all we need to do now is fill it 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.
We want to move away from just being ‘ReviewReviewReviewReview’ so we have started this monthly feature that comes out on the last day of each month. All news items that we otherwise miss will get a mention but I need YOU to be the eyes and ears if it’s going to work so send over to us any band news, record releases, videos, tours (not individual gigs though yet sadly), live streams, crowd funders etc., to us at londoncelticpunks@hotmail.co.uk or through the Contact Us page and it will go in here!
Celtic-Punk major leaguers THE REAL MCKENZIES are back with their eleventh full-length album, Beer And Loathing, set for release on July 3rd on Stomp Records. More epic tales of alcohol soaked debauchery, historic sagas and hard-fought personal battles are promised and it will be coming out we are promised on Seafarer’s green and Beer Piss yellow vinyl and is available for pre-orderfrom several different sites.
With the new album from THE O’REILLYS AND THE PADDYHATS, Dogs On The Leash, just released here’s their first single. Easily one of the most prolific bands in Celtic-Punk it never ceases to amaze me the high quality of their output. As an aside my Mammy is from Mitchelstown and she’s proud as punch to see a song named after her home town.
We’re still plodding our way through reviews from St. Patrick’s week releases but the Celtic-Punk/Folk-Punk world continues to turn and here are all of the most recent ones we aware of
BLACK ANEMONE – Chasing The Sun
KELTIKON – The Black Boar
THE O’REILLYS AND THE PADDYHATS – Dogs On The Leash
FIDDLER’S GREEN – Acoustic Pub Crawl II (Live In Hamburg)
NORTH ALONE – Quarantine Coverage (EP)
DAYS N DAZE – Show Me The Blueprints
THE GO SET – Of Bright Futures
THE GO SET – …And Broken Pasts
VARIOUS ARTISTS – Raise Yer Pints Volume 5 Compilation
(remember if you want a review of your release we have to hear it first!)
Manchester based Derry born Gaelic Hip-Hop maestro DANNY DIATRIBE released At War With The Morning on May Day. A five track EP of modern day Irish immigrant Rap’n’Roll for a fiver!
For those of you who may have missed it the GREENLAND WHALEFISHERS premiered via live stream the professionally recorded live concert Barely Alive On The Inside filmed live at Inside Rock Cafe in their home town of Bergen in Norway on February the 15th 2020. It’s now available to watch on You Tube and is incredibly good!
The fourth album in ten years from JOHNNY KOWALSKI AND THE SEXY WEIRDOS and the first with new fiddle player Katherine McWilliam. Seven original tracks with weird instrumentals rubbing up against references to anti-fascism and conversations with the undead!
We gave it a small mention last month but full details are now available for THE PLACKS upcoming 7″ vinyl single. Limited to only 300 copies and on red vinyl it’s available for pre-orderand features the songs ‘Rebellious Son’ and ‘The Bomb, The Bullet And The Gun’. Get it now as the pre-sale has gone fast.
South Yorkshire band SHANGHAI TREASON can do no wrong and their latest video is another masterpiece. Sooooo looking forward to seeing these Bhoys soon as the clampdowns over. ‘The North Shall Rise Again’ is dedicated to the music venues of the North of England and hopefully they’ll be some left to watch them in at the end of all this! Their debut release comes out in the next few days so keep a eye on these pages.
Aussies MEDUSA’S WAKE have some new material out soon and I can tell you now it’s very good and we are very excited to hear more. We will be interviewing their singer and writer the Premier county born Eddie on all things Aussie Irish very shortly.
With no festivals or concerts PADDY ROCK has put together an Online Celtic Feston 13th June 13th. No tickets, no commitments just eight hours of awesome Celtic music staring among others Bill-1916, Mike- Mickey Rickshaw, Sean- The Lucky Pistols and many more.
Scots born/Catalan based LOUIS RIVE has a excellent new single out called ‘Whitewashing‘ and we will be announcing a London Celtic Punks Live Stream with Louis soon! Just working on a date.
Our man in South Carolina T.C. COSTELLO has had a busy month. Two features on these pages for a single, ‘The Pandemic‘, and his forthcoming album The Bluebird and he released a new video for new song ‘Lord Randall’ as well. On top of that he played a very entertaining Live Stream for London Celtic Punks last week which is still available to view over on the London Celtic Punks Facebook page.
BRYAN McPHERSON spends his life on the road so holed up with his Mam and Dad in his hometown of Boston must be particularly tough on him. I’ve been loving his regular live streams and here’s one of the best ones. You can support Bryan by getting one his special limited edition Quarantine Time t-shirts and he also put out some Ramones themed tee’s too and on top of all that he also has a new single out, a cover of an old school Rancid song called ‘Olympia WA‘.
London Celtic Punks fave ANTO MORRA has no record to flog (but if you do like what you hear check out his last album Twenty) but he did put out this the other day and I loved it so here it is.
London Irish Punk Folker ANTOis keeping busy though and on Wednesday June 3rd is performing live on Facebook in the third in a short series of Live Streams of artists that we bloody love. Think Christy Moore meets Billy Bragg but more fun and a better singer! Join the FB event for up to date info and on the day see you at the London Celtic Punks FB page at 8pm for an hour of surprises!
This July CLOVER’S REVENGE were set to wing their way over from sunny Florida to play London and we were looking forward to sharing a few beers with them but well you know… Anyway to make up for it they are also performing a full band Live Stream on Tuesday 25th June which will be on the London Celtic Punks Facebook page. Check the FB events page for any further information.
The new album from French band CelKILT, The Next One Down, came out yesterday and will be reviewed here any day soon but in the meantime enjoy this excellent track from the album.
The Irish music scene in Serbia is extremely popular with the biggest being the amazing Irish Stew Of Sindidun and SCORDISCI are the latest to throw their hat into the ring. Celtic-Punk from Belgrade, Serbia formed early in 2014 they have just released a new single – ‘In a Year Or Two’.
Ambitious plans from Holland’s MAGGIE’S FLOCK. A single released on the 23rd of every month during 2020 and then at the end of the year all twelve songs will become the album Party At The Cemetery. Aprils’s song is ‘Drunken Train’ and earlier this year the singles ‘Battle Song‘, ‘Bored Beyond Death‘ and ‘Maggie Of The Moor‘ were also released. Since I wrote this they have already released another song so to to be kept in the loop like them on Facebook.
New ‘clampdown’ video from THE RUMPLED one of the best bands in what seems to be the hottest Celtic-Punk scene around at the moment over there in Italy. They also put out a video with Silvano from UNCLE BARD AND THE DIRTY BASTARDS last week too.
The clamor for a decent DROPKICK MURPHYS group on Facebook has been getting increasingly louder and its finally arrived so hightail it to the DROPKICK MURPHYS FAN PAGE and join up for all the best news, views and reminiscences on the DKM’s. If you missed their live stream on May 29th then it’s now uploaded to YouTube and is worth multiple views. The Springsteen songs are right at the end.
… and finally it doesn’t seem like it but it’s ten years since THE LAGAN set out on the rocky road. A pity they couldn’t celebrate it in style down at the sweatbox that is The Fighting Cocks but Brendan and Andy got together on Saturday 10th May and rattled off a handful of original Lagan songs and a few covers and it was terrific. If it’s still up get the beers in, settle down and UP THE FUCKING LAGAN!
So you get the idea so all we need to do now is fill it 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.
Yet more brilliant Italian Celtic-Folk-Punk has arrived on the London Celtic Punks doorstep. The new seven track EP from the Rumpled is here! “Are you ready to face fate? Are you going to accept your destiny or will you challenge it? Toss the Coin!”
The last month has seen a resurgence of Italian Celtic-Punk with several releases around St. Patrick’s Day of bands like PatricksandThe Cloverhearts who have both featured on these pages in the last few weeks (and not only that but probably the best band in the scene Uncle Bard And The Dirty Bastards have a new album due out very very soon!!). The Rumpled have appeared on these pages several times and although only formed in 2013 have long become a solid fixture on the Italian Celtic-Folk-Punk scene. Based in northern Italian city of Trento they have a steady collection of releases behind them including their debut album Ashes And Wishes in 2018 recorded and produced by Gianluca Amendolara of Black Dingo Productions. Last year saw the well received release of Grace O’Malley, a 5-track EP based on the story of the Irish pirate Queen that made the Top Ten Celtic-Punk EP’s Of 2019 on this here web-zine.
The Rumpled from left to right: Michele Mazzurana- Drums, Backing Vocals * Davide Butturini- Guitars * Patrizia Vaccari- Fiddle * Marco Andrea Micheli- Lead Vocals * Luca Tasin- Bassman, Backing Vocals * Tommaso Zamboni- Accordion *
Toss The Coin continues The Rumpled story with seven self penned original songs that maintains The Rumpled way of fresh and original Celtic-Punk. As I have stated before the Italian scene in particular has very strong links to Ireland and Irish music and culture and this comes across in their Celtic-Punk music. Toss The Coin begins with ‘Stand Up’ and sees the band once again accompanied by the Bold Rumjacker himself Frankie McLaughlin. The Rumjacks influence on the Italian scene is immense and allthough many of the bands take inspiration from The Rumjacks sound you won’t find many ‘covers bands’ here! Singing in English and accordion led they blast through the longest song here (only 3 and 1/2 Minutes) in a fast and breezy way with Frankie doing what Frankie does best and his unmistakable voice. The song tells of the time when it doesn’t matter which side of the coin falls. ‘Take A Drop’ has an Irish air but has still plenty of Punk Rock energy. Again the accordion is the fore and Tommaso is certainly a very very good player. ‘The Gipsy Dancer’ was the first single to be released from the EP from back at the beginning of March (seems a lot longer!!) and one thing that is quite common among Italian Celtic-Punk bands is the quality of their videos and The Rumpled like to make theirs interesting and The Gipsy Dancer’ is no different so be be sure to check it out.
Again it’s the story of tossing a coin. Head or tails? Fate speaks to us and while the coin spins there is the illusion that anything is possible. Next ‘The Road’ and for me the EP’s high point. Less ‘traditional’ or maybe more modern sounding Celtic-Punk that combines elements of Ska it’s a great song and I always love a bit of group ‘Woah-Woah-Woahh’ gang vocals. ‘One Love’ features another guest this time on banjo from Andrea Verga from fellow Italian Celtic-Folk-Rockers Folkamiseria from western Piedmont. A more Folk orientated song and catchy as hell while ‘Broken Romances’ has a harder edge to it and Marco’s vocals shine here. All the songs are sung in English and very easy to understand. My guess is we will be seeing a lot more videos like this but even with the restrictions imposed them they still manage something interesting and worth a view. The Bhoys go full out for the last song and ‘Patty’s Jig’ is the perfect way to bring the curtain down on an album of class Irish Punk. Accompanied again by Andrea and this time by Jacopo Ventura from Folkamiseria on bouzouki here they show they can go full on traditional with a self penned Irish Folk tune that could have been written a hundred years ago!!
The EP came out in St. Patrick’s week and was set to be followed by a massive series of dates across Europe labelled the ‘2020 Saint Patrick’s Tour’ similar in size to their 40 (!) date ‘Ashes And Wishes” tour which was them hitting 60+ stages and festivals. They were set to be joined on stage at several of those gigs by their friends The Rumjacks and the last I heard most of these have been re-arranged for later in the year so check the press for details.
The second EP from one of the brightest new bands in the Celtic-Punk scene has descended! The Cloverhearts follow a great tradition of Italian bands that capture perfectly what Celtic-Punk is about.
Only a few months after their debut release The Sick took the Celtic-Punk scene by storm The Cloverhearts return with another blockbuster EP. Like their debut its six original tracks that pull in influences from around the scene and their obvious affiliation to The Rumjacks sound is not just down to Sam their Australian singer but one that doesn’t overpower their own sound. The Sick came a very respectful 4th in the London Celtic Punks Top Ten EP’s/Singles Of 2019 for last year. Not bad at all for a release that had only been out a matter of weeks before the Poll took place.
(you can stream The Sick on the Bandcamp player below)
So The Cloverhearts stick to exactly the same format for The Sacred. Six songs all original compositions and they even come in at virtually the same length of time (only one minute short!). The EP begins with the single ‘Caught Ya In A Lie’, basically a ‘Pop’-Punk song with some fantastic bagpipes laid on top. When you have a piper that is good as Chiara is then it makes perfect sense to fit the songs around her piping. The Folk melodies are left at the dock as The Cloverhearts concentrate on their harder edge and Punkier sound. Catchy as hell melodic Punk and definitly the right choice to lead the EP.
A song about people trying to get the better of you and the consequences of lying. A great start to things that they follow up with the pipes heavy ‘Drunk Tank’ where Sam tackles that most prevalent of Celtic-Punk subjects! On ‘I’ll Be Home Soon’ they showcase a whole raft of genres with Celtic and Country among others. The most folky of all their songs so far but still that melodic Punk attitude. Sam’s vocals are great and unusually for Celtic-Punk he makes absolutely no attempt at a Shane MacGowan drawl but croons away magnificently! A very personal song for Sam about never feeling at home after a lifetime spent living in Australia, Singapore, England and Italy. They return to harder material on ‘Walk’ with plenty of band “Wo-Oh” chants and chugging guitar and a cool chorus it’s a class song that at four minutes has plenty of time to develop. It leads us nicely into ‘Gutters To Graves’ another catchy number and though I may be making it sound like I’m reviewing the same song six times The Sacred is a very diverse sounding EP. It all revolves around the tight melodic Punk sound with Sams clear as crystal vocals and Chiara’s excellent piping. I wouldn’t come to The Sacred perhaps as a lover of Celtic music but if you like your Punk well played and gimmick free then The Cloverhearts are a band that you will love. The last song here ‘Where Did We Go Wrong?’ just goes to show how wrong I can be with a song that revisits the Celtic/Country sound from earlier but much more blatantly and I bloody love it!!
So another successful release but tempered with the sad news that their most ambitious tour to date has had to be cancelled due to the current medical crisis in Italy. A tour that would have took them to Germany, Czech Republic, Austria and around Italy so hopefully it will be re-scheduled soon. Their are some utterly fantastic Italian bands around and its good that The Cloverhearts have found their niche among them. A bunch of bands that fit nicely together with all them sounding just that bit different from each other. A while back I went to a Psychobilly all-dayer and it got a bit boring but a all-dayer starring The Cloverhearts, The Rumpled, The Clan, Uncle Bard And The Dirty Bastards, Tullamore and Dirty Artichiokes would be one hell of a gig. Any millionaires out there give me a shout!!
(Stream The Sacred before you buy it on the Bandcamp player below)
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)
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.
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 videotoo!! 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!
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.
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 Encyclopediasite 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.
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.
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
Italian Celtic/Irish Rockers The Rumpled follow up last years debut album with a digital only 5-track EP. Five different stories about love.
After last weeks review of The Clan’s new 4-track EP, Quattro Giorni Fuori Porta, it’s time for another Italian Celtic-Punk to be featured and another EP as well. The Rumpled haven’t been around as long as The Clan and are in fact one of the newest of the bunch of bands that we consider make up the Italian Celtic-punk scene.
The band were formed in 2011 in the northern Italian city of Trento and began with the name Seven Deadly Folk but as is often the way with bands with so many members it’s hard to keep everyone together and with the coming and going of new and old members the band decided in 2014 to change their name to The Rumpled. Last year saw the release of their debut album Ashes & Wishes for which they also took on a mammoth tour of home that saw them play every corner of Italy. The album was a surefire hit among the Celtic-Punk community and saw the band placed in all the various Best Of’s the scenes media had to offer. In the London Celtic Punks Top Thirty of 2018 they managed a very respectable #14. Not bad at all for a debut album.
In common with bands like The Clan and Uncle Bard And The Dirty Bastards The Rumpled embrace a certain kind of Celtic-Punk sound. It’s neither the Dropkicks or the Murphys but a Celtic-Punk that is very much focused on Irish traditional music. That may sound strange as you may think that is what all Celtic-Punk is but it is in fact quite rare. Irish folk music and Irish traditional music are different things and when Punk is added to it it can sound very different.
Is love an ideal? Is it love we feel for some friends? Can love be also sad or even frightening? Can love become an addiction, a source of pain or even violence? All is answered on this EP titled as a tribute to the legendary Grace O’Malley but more on her in a moment as the disc kicks off with the raging ‘Song Of Ill Repute’, A swift accordion and fiddle led whirling dervish of a song that you can imagine couples swirling each other round a dance floor. The Irish sound is paramount here but with both feet still in Celtic-Punk. It’s kind of untraditional traditional music if you will! This is swiftly followed by a extended version of the title track ‘Grace O’Malley’. Now Grace has become quite famous in the last few years. She was born in Ireland in around 1530 and was a fearless leader over land and by sea, politician and tactician, a rebel, pirate and matriarch, and the ’most notorious woman in all the coasts of Ireland’. Although she was always famous as The Pirate Queen in Ireland and among Irish communities, notorious for their long memories ( I remember being told bed-time stories about her taking on the British Empire’s fleets as a small child) and glee at being able to rely a story in which the Irish didn’t lose to the English for a change! Her life is far too complicated to take up in a review of a single song so take the time to read up on her fascinating and inspiring story. Anyhow back to The Rumpled and the song ‘Grace O’Malley’. The song has racked up an incredible raked more than 50,000 streams in less than a month on Spotify and has been chosen for two of the most important playlists curated by the platform (New Punk Tracks & Celtic Punk).
Great lyrics, with thanks for assistance from Stephen Trollip, and Marco’s raspy tuneful voice telling the tale in English , not that that matters on first listen you’d never be able to tell his first language wasn’t English. Next up is another song that has set the internet alight and on ‘Fearless And Brave’ you may recognise the voice that is accompanying Marco and yes its the fearless Paddy O’Reilly from awesome Celtic-Punk band Paddy And The Rats. A utterly fantastic song with Paddy and Marco sharing vocals to great effect while the Celtic-Punk crosses into Ska but by hell it certainly doesn’t get much more catchy that this I tell you. The story is again dedicated to Grace O’Malley and steams along at a healthy pace that would be totally accessible to both Folk and Punk fans. On ‘Feelin’ Fine’ the song keeps up the same pace and has a ‘piratey’ feel to it with the heavy sound of the accordion while the final track ‘The Maiden’ brings down the curtain on 15-minutes of proper brilliant Celtic-Punk that will only go to further The Rumpled’s reputation.
(the full 5-track ‘Grace O’Malley’ EP by The Rumpled)
The album has been produced by Gianluca Amendolara of Black Dingo Productions (who look after any Celtic-Punk band who hits Italy through being a independent record label, booking gigs and general management) who started his many appearances on these pages as drummer with The Clan before setting sail to join Aussie bhoys The Rumjacks. He has done an incredible job here and a special mention also for our Frankie out of The Rumjacks who has taken The Rumpled under his wing and assisted them throughout their career, who appears here as ‘vocal coaching and supervisor’ which must be a first for a Glaswegian! To celebrate the release of the EP The Rumpled have set sail on another massive tour that will take in Italy, Switzerland and France and will I am sure gain them legions of new fans.
Another release from one of the most productive and popular bands in Celtic-Punk. The Clan from Italy balance high tempo folk and country alongside Celtic-Punk to make one of the best records of the year so far.
It has been a funny week in the world of Celtic-Punk! Fresh from catching the superb Dropkick Murphys live in London last Friday two EP’s land on our doorstep on the same morning from very well respected Italian Celtic-Punk bands. The first was from this band, The Clan. One of the first bands heard and a band that has featured several times on these pages with previous album reviews. The second was a relatively new band The Rumpled who arrived on the scene properly in 2014 but it was with last years highly rated Ashes & Wishes album featuring guest vocals from The Rumjacks Frankie McLaughlin.
But more on The Rumpled later in the week for now we have The Clan. Probably the better known of the Italian bands in the scene. Along with bands like The Clan and The Rumpled, Modena City Ramblers, Kitchen Implosion, Dirty Artichokes and Uncle Bard And The Dirty Bastards all the Italian bands share a deep love for Ireland and it’s culture and musical traditions. If Celtic-Punk was about taking the folk tradition and the punk tradition , moulding them together but still staying true to those traditions then it is the Italians who do the job best. There is a sort of generic Celtic music that incorporates music from all the Celtic nations and though instantly recognisable as Celtic-Punk it doesn’t belong to one place in particular. The Italian bands are different and has produced a truly unique style of Irish music. The Clan hail from the small town of Muggiò in Lombardy which is in the north of Italy and have been together since 2013. With a bunch of fine albums behind them, three in five years, The Clan in 2014, All In The Name Of Folk in 2016 and last years Here To Stay, here on their new EP they have carried on their progression and taken a new direction to forsake English and decided to record the EP’s four songs in their native language. It’s understandable that bands think they need to sing in English, with the vast majority of Celtic-Punks fanbase in English speaking countries, but we have long been supporters of native languages so sing on Bhoys. We’ll still get it you know.
The title of the EP is Quattro Giorni Fuori Porta which translated into English means Four Days Out Of Door and though it only has four songs they are sung and played with the same passion that The Clan are renowned for. To this par of big Irish ears the words, sung by guitarist/mandolin player Angelo, sound great. Italian is famous for being a beautiful language and it fits the music here perfectly. The music itself flits from Celtic to upbeat Country and Folk and sounds jolly and fun though the subjects contained in the songs are not always! The EP begins with ‘Il Giorno Più Freddo Dell’anno’ (The Coldest Day Of The Year’) which is a song about animal-rights, a subject The Clan have visited before and a cause close to their hearts. The longest song here at over four minutes its sound leans heavily on Francesco’s fiddle and is against hunting as it tells of a day spent with a mother and her puppies out in the wild. The sound sits fairly perfectly between Country and Celtic but as with The Clan they don’t make music to stand still to! They follow this up with ‘Il Giorno Con Te’ (‘The Day With You’) and the bands sound is perfect with Francisco’s fiddle again leading but venturing from manic to melancholy and while it is annoying not to know what the words are about this is only because The Clan have nailed it on their lyrics in the past and I have always enjoyed reading them. Still it’s a small price to pay to hear the songs sung as they should be. ‘Il Giorno Prima Di Morire’ (‘The Day Before Dying’) keeps the tempo right up and is a hymn to freedom. The time we have here on earth is fleeting and we must each make the most of all we have. Catchy, fast and passionate it’s another corker and leads us nicely onto the final track ‘Il Giorno Migliore’ (‘The Best Day’) which, for me, is the standout track here with its upbeat sound that would move even the shyest mans feet!
The Clan have announced their may well be an English version of this EP but for now this is to show their appreciation to their Italian fan base and why not? The balance they have between genres is quite the feat and yet they still remain at heart a Celtic-Punk band more in the acoustic tradition say of Flogging Molly but with a sound all of their own making. The Clan have carved out quite the movement behind them thanks to intelligent lyrics, well made videos, respect for folk tradition and the love of a bloody good time! In common with those previous releases it’s been excellently produced and the whole band shine through. This is a great EP and though part of me is looking forward to hearing the English versions another part wants to leave it like this.
There’s an interview with The Clan here at Traks magazine where you can play the whole EP. I couldn’t work out how to embed the EP from Spotify! Remember to translate from Italian though!!
Well it seems like only yesterday that I was sitting in Mannions in north London totting up the votes for the Best Album Of 2017 over a couple of pints and so here we are again. Everyone loves to give out there opinions and we are no different so for what it’s worth, here’s who we think made the best music in the celtic-punk scene over the last year. It’s been another outstanding year for the music that we all love and some truly fantastic records came out in the last twelve months. 2017 saw just about every major player in the scene release an album while in 2018 they left it to many of the lesser known bands to dominate! Remember though this is only our opinion and these thirty album’s are only the tip of the iceberg of what was released last year. Feel free to comment, slag off or dissect our lists. As a bonus we figured out how to attach a poll at the end so you can even vote on your favourite release of 2018 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…
So absolutely no surprises here at all. In fact The Rumjacks have pretty much swept the board across the Celtic-Punk scene with what we even thought was their best release since their groundbreaking debut album Gangs Of New Holland. The Bhoys are going from strength to strength and are set to go through the roof in 2019. They remain as humble as ever and downright lovely folk to know which reminds me, congrats from us all here to Frankie and LCP’er Anna on their engagement. Other notables were Sir Reg who even flew over to London to premier their new album The Underdogs before later returning to embark on a successful nationwide tour… while I was on holiday! London-Irish band Clan Of Celts, despite a few teething problems, delivered a fantastic debut album as well as, my personal favourite of the year, Belgium’s Krakin’ Kellys. A dual release of an album and a EP on the same day is a novel approach but it paid dividends for Lexington Field as they were both brilliant. Sinful Maggie have just been getting bigger and bigger all year and we expect this to continue into 2019. Three albums from the Celtic nations with two from Galicia from Falperrys and Bastards On Parade and Cornwall’s Pirate Copy. All together we have bands from twelve countries with Germany with the most placings alongside Australia, USA, England, Belgium, Sweden, Hungary, Canada, Italy, Galicia, Cornwall and Japan.
I was not the only one at London Celtic Punks Towers to be abso-fecking-lutely blown away by the Krakin’ Kellys debut album. Fast and melodic skater style punk rock with bagpipes that will blow the cobwebs away off off anyone! They made quite a wave in the scene thanks to their brilliant videos so go check them outhere. This section was the easiest one to award by far!
MOSCHE DI VELLUTO GRIGIO- Of Pain And Glory hereand RAISE MY KILT- A New Tartan here
At one point this was heading towards being an Australian #1, #2 and #3 but at the last minute our local favourites The Lagan released Let’s Do It Again at the end of December and wrestled it away from Medusa’s Wake. Their first studio release in a hell of a long time it came out too late to trouble many of our friends ‘Best Of’ lists but their loss is our gain! Besides them and our Aussie friends the list was made up from bands from the USA, Holland, Italy and Austria which goes to show the international nature of the scene. As an aside you can get the brilliant bagpipe punk debut EP from Scotch for free by following the link to their review. For lovers of the McKenzies you’ll not be disappointed!
bubbling under: THE BRANDY THIEVES- The Devil’s Wine here
Always the hardest to do this section as our scope has become fairly wide over the years and gone beyond Celtic-Punk but Irish-American’s Marys Lane managed at once to be a record both me and my Mammy love! Even better the Cleveland based band have made it available to download for free/donation so follow the link above. Scot Louis Rive’s debut album really impressed me and was one of my most played albums of the year and The Craicheads capped a great year with a fantastic single and their lead singer Mick making the papers and the telly for saving a Mum and her babies lives (here). Good on yer Mick. It’s a privilege to know you. More local talent at #4 which ended a year where Man The Lifeboats have gone from first band on to headline shows and a mention for the amazing Finbar Furey who put a most excellent LP at the tender age of only 72.
MERSEY CELT PUNKS
We may be a wee bit biased here but last years winners take it again this year too. 2018 saw them continue to develop the site into an all-round resource for Liverpudlians and further afield. Yeah these guys are always blowing our trumpet we know and we have shared a good few scoops with them, and will again not long after this is published, but we enjoy what they write and it’s all done with an enthusiasm that us auld hacks are constantly jealous of. Plus you are not a major player in the Celtic-Punk scene unless you had your picture took with Elliot! You can also join in their fun and games on their Twitterand Facebookand their Web-Zine. Be sure to subscribe.
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 6th year of us making these lists so if you would like to check out out who was where in our previous Best Of’s then just click on the link below the relevant year.
Here To Stay the third studio album from the Milan based Irish rockers The Clan. Celtic rock band formed 2013 from a group of musicians coming from diverse musical directions but with the same deep love for Ireland and its unique sound.
Back in 2016 The Clan were one of the first bands on the site that had been reviewed a second album. Time marches on and here we are now reviewing third third album and if we ranted and raved about the previous two then prepare yourselves for some more of the same as this album rates up there with both of them! The Clan hail from the small town of Muggiò in the province of Lombardy in the north of Italy and have been playing music together since 2013. The relationship between Italy and Ireland has in my own experience been a happy one. At my Catholic school here in England the two communities got on well while in the States, as far as I know, there has always been a high degree of inter-marriage. Plenty of Italians have passed through Ireland over the decades and more than a few have passed the other way with pretty much all of my Irish relations having chosen Rome for their honeymoon destination! We are both sitting out the World Cup too!! The Celtic-Punk scene in Italy is also quite unique as the scene is so bound up with the music of Ireland. There is a sort of generic Celtic music that incorporates music from all the Celtic nations and though instantly recognisable as Celtic-Punk it doesn’t belong to one place in particular. The Italian bands are different. The music from bands like The Clan, Modena City Ramblers, Uncle Bard And The Dirty Bastards, Kitchen Implosion, The Rumpled and Dirty Artichokes (coming to London in August!) all have the same deep love for Ireland, it’s culture and musical traditions. That love dominates their music throughout and has produced a truly unique style of Irish music.
As we have said many a time it’s no good expecting the best Celtic-Punk bands out there to have Celtic blood in them as you will be sorely disappointed! The Clan come from a beautiful place and play beautiful music that fills your heart with cheer and will surely plant a smile right across your face. Here To Stay begins with a kick-arse tune from the very off with ‘Pocket Money Heroes’ and it may start as if it’s heading down the hard’n’heavy route but before you know it’s completely changed track and your listening to a high energy poppy punk song with reggae interludes and great bagpipes and fiddle that change the direction of the song on arrival. A massive gang chorus of ‘whoah’ the opener covers everything and shows their songwriting abilities from the first beat. The Clan to more trad territory next with ‘Glory Waits’ and one of the standout tracks here for me.Mandolin and tin-whistle and one hell of a folk rocker with a dead nice country feel to it. Catchy as hell and just what we came here looking for. The next song up is ‘Jail Times’ and I have to say it’s not my cup of Barry’s. It’s well played and will especially appeal to fans of bands like Rancid with even a organ interlude! We are back on more solid ground next with ‘Rebel Town’ and finally the Irish influence comes spilling out. Now this is Irish-punk music with a brilliant singalong chorus and a foot stomping beat that will fill the dance floor. That a band can take two such diverse genres like punk and trad folk and then mix them into something so infectious it would get even the most miserable onto their feet is always something that never ceases to amaze me. The bagpipes open for ‘Johnny’ along with the drums giving its a Scots feel before the ‘whoahs’ start again and it’s a catchy punk number with Angel’s voice given full range and his gravelly strained tones portray a passion for what he’s doing. ‘Rat Race’ again takes the standard Celtic-Punk weapons of tin-whistle and mandolin and teams them with punk and comes out with a real beauty of a track. This is followed by the album’s title tune and ‘Here to Stay’ is a lively upbeat reggae infused number that’s duel vocals give it a Black Water County feel. There’s more of a punk rock influence here then before but it still sits within the Rancid description I think. The pipes are back again for ‘Prodigal Son’ and Chiara’s playing is immaculate as The Clan throw out yet more ‘whoahs’ making for a great audience song where arms are flung aloft and lungs are loosened and beer is no doubt spilt. Catchy as hell as is the whole album The Clan have an ear for a good tune. ‘Seize the Day’ is the album’s nearest tune to a ballad with Angel accompanied for most of the song only by a frantically strummed acoustic guitar though later Frisco joins in with some exquisite fiddle playing. Finally we reach my favourite song of the album, the western influenced, in style and content, ‘Wayfaring Stranger’ and if I was to make a Top Ten Celtic-Punk videos then The Clan would feature heavily so don’t pass by without watching the great video below. The music like the video is heavily influenced by both western and country but with that unmistakable Clan Irish-punk feel to it.
We are nearing the end and ‘Vesuvius’ is up and the album’s only instrumental and takes Irish music to another level. You may hear stuff like this every now and then but rarely, i repeat rarely, do you hear it so well played and executed like this. It takes all the best elements of The Clan and exploits them to good use especially Chiara this time on the tin-whistle. Brilliant Irish folk music played by Bhoys from Milan. One to get up the noses of the folk snobs! Absolutely fantastic. The album goes out though on ‘Easy Roller’ and The Clan love a heavy metal song and here they sound like the band they love, AC/DC, thrashing it out with the bagpipes. There were a couple of bonus tracks on my download and the earlier track ‘Johnny’ is re-recorded in Italian as ‘Johnny Non Parla’ and finally Here To Stay comes to an end with another Italian version of the album’s opening track this time called ‘Rievoluzione’ and the band are accompanied by Cippa and Paletta of the Italian punk band Punkreas.
Fourteen original songs that rocks in at just under fifty minutes Here To Stay was released last St. Patrick’s Day eve on the 16th March 2018 on Black Dingo records. It’s a fantastic album and, as others around the world’s Celtic-Punk media have written, a definite contender for those end of year Best Of polls. The Clan have been one of the best bands within the scene for a few years now coming to the fore on the strength of a handful of excellently produced videos but have managed to keep up the quality and prove they are no novelty outfit. While the posh wankers can whinge and groan about so-called cultural appropriation bands like The Clan take Irish music and play it with a love and respect for the past while keeping an eye to to the future.
Dance, scream, jump, sweat, clap hands and wear out your feet. Italian celtic-rockers The Rumpled come wrapped up with heaps of enthusiasm and energy and on hearing this they will soon have you trapped in their spell!
If you ever think that celtic-punk music is confined only to the Celtic nations and the Celtic diaspora then you couldn’t be more wrong! Those days are long ago, if indeed they ever really existed at all, and these days celtic-punk music is spread literally all over the globe. Today’s review is of Italian band The Rumpled’s debut album Ashes & Wishes and if celtic-punk was designed as a vehicle to take elements of traditional Irish folk and punk rock and blend them together while staying true to both genres roots then The Rumpled have nailed it.
The band was born in 2011 in the northern Italian city of Trento and began with the name Seven Deadly Folk but as is often the way with celtic-punk bands with the coming and going of new and old members the band decided in 2014 to change their name to The Rumpled. This led to the release of a 4-track demo in June 2015 and the change of name did them no harm and in the summer of last year they won the prestigious European Celtic Contest organized during the Montelago Celtic Festival. Having already performed over a hundred concerts at pubs, festivals, on the street and many more unlikely places and with this award under their belt and the release of their album last month they set off later this month on their biggest ever tour of Italy.
(the first demo release from The Rumpled)
The celtic-punk scene in Italy leans very heavily towards the Irish side of things and in bands like The Clan and Uncle Bard And The Dirty Bastards Irish traditional folk music is referenced heavily. Another band I have started to notice being referenced quite often, and for good reason, is Aussie celt’s The Rumjacks. Kicking off with ‘Rumpled Time’ and its catchy, riff laden, accordion led celtic-punk heaven! Its more the folky side of things but still with plenty of bite to it and, in common with the above Italian bands, Marco, the vocalist, has a strong voice and when singing in English is perfectly understandable. Following this is ‘Just Say No!’ and the Irish influence is strong on a song that bounces along with tin whistle leading this time. So far the emphasis has been on good time music but the Bhoys ramp it up for ‘Jig Of Death’ and was the second single released from the album the week after St. Patrick’s Day. According to the video the ‘vocal supervisor’ was one Francis D. McLaughlin so we could have half expected them to singing in broad Scots!
Another thing they have in common with The Clan is their elaborate and well made videos. Take a few minutes to check them out as they are well worth your time. The album carries on with ‘I Wanna Know’ and by know I’m getting the vibe off them that they are very much a live band. Music like this belongs in the public house but they have made a very decent job of transferring it onto disc so well done lads. The Rumjacks connection continues with ‘The Ugly Side’ featuring the Rumjacks themselves. Don’t these guys ever intend returning to Australia?? One of the punkier songs on Ashes And Wishes but without losing any of its catchiness. The bagpipes are loud and proud for next song ‘Don’t Follow Me’ the video of which features the local Celtic interest group Il Clan della Fossa. This was the lead single released last November and sparked up a lot of interest in the band around Europe.
As I already mentioned Italian celtic-punk bands have really embraced the sound of trad Ireland and on ‘County Clare’ The Rumpled take that music and inject it with a healthy dose of punkiness and an energy oft times missing. The song is again led by the accordion and Marco’s voice combine for the album standout for me. The album continues with ‘Bang!’ and a catchy ska beat knocks shoulders with a country folk base and nice wee track with very well played fiddle from Patrizia. We are nearing the end and still no covers just some excellent original celtic/Irish influenced folk punk. ‘Dead Man Runnin’ continues the punkier side of things before ‘Ramblin’On’ brings us back to their more folky side. Again its catchy as hell and finally the album comes to an end with ‘Letter To You’ and if the only thing missing from Ashes And Wishes was a lovely wee ballad then they almost pull it off with this wonderful song that they can’t quite help sticking a jig in the middle of it. The sort of song Springsteen would do if he ever records an Irish themed album.
Ashes And Wishes is a real fun album the sort of music that would see you certain of a good night out among friends and comrades. With the spirit of great Irish bands like The Dubliners, The Pogues, Dropkick Murphys and Flogging Molly infused here celtic-punk is not a genre built entirely on originality in fact it skates by on a massive dose of nostalgia as much as anything else. In which case it’s sometimes hard to judge bands and with the best place to hear this kind of music being the pub its the feelings it evokes that tell us whether the music is good or bad or in between. What you have here is just plain good old time party music. There is no hidden meaning to it just the wish from The Rumpled for us, the listener, to enjoy ourselves and to forget our troubles.
Which is exactly what I did for thirty-four minutes!!
1. 
years so it just makes it all the more clear how much we all miss Waldo and his fantastic 
The band were formed in 2011 in the northern Italian city of Trento and began with the name Seven Deadly Folk but as is often the way with bands with so many members it’s hard to keep everyone together and with the coming and going of new and old members the band decided in 2014 to change their name to The Rumpled. Last year saw the release of their debut album Ashes & Wishes for which they also took on a mammoth tour of home that saw them play every corner of Italy. The album was a surefire hit among the Celtic-Punk community and saw the band placed in all the various Best Of’s the scenes media had to offer. In the London Celtic Punks Top Thirty of 2018 they managed a very respectable #14. Not bad at all for a debut album.
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