NEW SINGLE FROM NOVA SCOTIAN CELTIC ROCKERS THE STAB ROVERS

The Stab Rovers have a strong connection to the Atlantic. Born and raised in the Maritime Provinces, and now calling Nova Scotia home these maritime boys play a mix of Trad and original Celtic and Folk inspired tunes, reimagined in a high energy format.

The Irish outside Ireland outnumber those at home many many times. For instance in the mid-70’s it was estimated their were more people from Mayo in Leeds than in the capital of Mayo itself! The children of those Irish are now fathers themselves and so the Irish diaspora continues to grow and hopefully flourish.  Now some places just roll off the tongue when discussing the Irish diaspora, Boston, Liverpool, New York and London but their is nowhere as proud of their Gaelic roots as Nova Scotia is. The very name Nova Scotia translates as ‘New Scotland in both Scots and Latin and the Irish have been calling the area Talimh An Eisc (‘The Land of the Fish’) for centuries. With over 25% of residents ticking the Irish ethnicity box on recent census and many doing likewise with ‘Scottish’ it’s no surprise to find out that wherever Celtic music is you’ll also find Celtic-Punk too.

Formed as a trio in 2014, The Stab Rovers have since grown to include 5 members. The band members possess decades of experience playing in alternative rock and punk bands all over Eastern Canada. Their self titled debut album was released in 2018 and included several traditional tunes but all with original Stab Rover arrangements.

“We like to think that the songs sound much more interesting when re-imagined as if performed by rowdy pirates.”

During the pandemic, the Stab Rovers used their time in the studio to write and record and after two years without live performances The Stab Rovers are happy to be back playing before the masses! Their new single ‘Off To War’ reflects back on the strong military and naval traditions that are so important and engrained here in the Maritimes. It also paves the way for many more forthcoming releases.

The Stab Rovers left to right : Reece Baird – Mandolin, Guitar * Allan Muir – Guitar, Whistle, Vocals * Alden Huskins – Drums, Bass * Kory Wade – Bass, Guitar, Vocals * Cameron Strong – Banjo, Guitar, Harmonica, Vocals *

We like to think we have our collective finger on the pulse of Celtic-Punk but occasionally a band will slip through and we’ll wonder how on earth we hadn’t heard of them. When we first heard of The Stab Rovers we had thought they had disbanded years ago but were delighted to find out we were wrong. It  may have been a few years since their debut album but it’s not that unusual with Celtic-Punk bands who tend to concentrate more on playing live than recording. That debut album is available for download at the link below.

So absolutely great to have The Stab Rovers back in the fold and we look forward to hearing lots more by them in the near future.

Download Off To War  Bandcamp

Contact The Stab Rovers  Facebook  YouTube

ODDS’N’SODS. CELTIC-PUNK ROUND UP DECEMBER 2020

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

So much has written about it but here is our one and only take on FONY and it comes from the man himself. The Pogues’ Shane MacGowan brands decision to censor Fairytale of New York ‘ridiculous’  from The Irish Post, 25th November 2020.

We may have heard it a million times before but here’s a different spin on FONY but with a New York Puerto Rican influence by ST. DOYLE AND THE LAST CALL PHILHARMONIC.

‘Johnny Depp Presents’ it states right at the beginning of this feature length documentary on the Godfather of Celtic-Punk the legendary Shane MacGowan. Featuring unseen archival footage from The Pogues and Shane’s family, as well as animation from Ralph Steadman, Julien Temple’s rollicking love letter spotlights the iconic frontman up to his 60th birthday celebration, where singers, movie stars and Rock’n’Roll outlaws gathered to celebrate the man and his legacy. Available everywhere December 4th!!

The BRICK TOP BLAGGERS are a wicked band and here’s a full band live performance originally streamed on the internet but shown here on You Tube. The Blaggers been as active as any band can over the last few months and we’ve enjoyed some great Live Streams from them but this one, performed for the 2020 Samhain Celtic New Year Festival, is one of the better ones regarding sound.

We’ve seen plenty of the DROPKICK MURPHYS since Paddy’s Day but each time with no one there so here’s a recently released video of their storming full set from their last tour at Zenith in Paris on the 9th of February.

Two new songs have been released by the DROPKICK MURPHYS. A cover of Darlene Love’s ‘Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) and a new song ‘I Wish You Were Here’ are out on limited edition 7″ flexi-discs available from the Murphys store. They, unsurprisingly, have some wicked new merch available too and just in time for Christmas! At the same time it was announced that the new album will be out in mid-January.

BARBAR’O’RHUM – Pirate Des Champs

EFA SUPERTRAMP – Rhyddid yw y Freuddwyd

LQR – Barrel-Aged

PYROLYSIS – Alotsle

PENNILESS TENANTS – Lockdown Sessions (review next week!!)

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

Love these daft feckers! They done the Murphys ‘Shipping Up To Boston’ a while back and now they turn their attention to The Rumjacks absolutely-mega-fecking-internet hit ‘An Irish Pub’. I’ll not go into it but sit back and have a listen and again top marks for destroying the ridiculous notion of cultural appropriation. Yes lads it is bollocks.

Life goes on and THE RUMJACKS have a brand new video out seeing them performing ‘McAlpine’s Fusiliers’ dahn an Irish pub in Milan, Italy with new vocalist Mikee from Mickey Rickshaw.

French Pirate Punkers BARBAR’O’RHUM have a new album out and also released the epic ‘Pirate Des Champs’ video. Nearly ten minutes of Pirate themed fun!

Mariner Rock, and Celtic Shenanigans, homebrewed on the South Shore of Nova Scotia. Even doing this we still come across stuff we missed from the past that is worth another look. This time we turn once again to Nova Scotia where we turn our attention to THE STAB ROVERS. Nova Scotia is home to vast amounts of Celtic folk and Celtic folk Folk bands and the area has featured here regularly. The Stab Rovers debut album came out in June, 2018 and is available as a ‘name your price’ download. The Bhoys are happily still together and looking forward to recording soon.

Now I don’t pretend to know anything about Hip-Hop and I do know what I like and here’s a couple of new releases that got me. The first video is ‘Back Around The Way’ featuring a bunch of rappers from Boston and New England including our auld favourite SLAINE and American Irish bhoy MILLYZ.

Another rapper to feature on these pages before is the Manchester born Irish D’LYFA REILLY who has a new single out available as a ‘name your price’ download. If you remember he performed with DANNY DIATRIBE on the utterly fantastic ‘Paddys Cure’. Irish immigrant Hip-Hop at its finest!

The Polish band PIJUN have released their debut release, a 5-track demo called Jigra. The band play Slavic Folk which I’m sure you’ll hear is close to Celtic in both sound and vibe.

Dutch band PYROLYSIS had to postpone their dates in England earlier in the year but have just released a mini album of six songs. They play an incredibly joyful mix of Celtic music and Folk and are still not wearing any shoes!

Swedish Celtic/ Folk/ Irish Punk-Rock band PUNK MAHONE performed a bloomin’ brilliant Live Stream on Facebook at the end of October and it has just come out on You Tube. Not to be missed!

A plug for some good friends of ours over on Facebook. The Dropkick Murphys- Fan Page and the Celtic Punk, Folk And Rock Fans are two of the best music forums on FB let alone Celtic-Punk. Ran By Fans For Fans. Just like and join in the fun!

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