With a name like Cruel Seamus and former members of Ceann I was expecting “The Irish Wake of Cruel Seamus” the new release from the New York area based Cruel Seamus to be a little jokey (at least). It’s not! The former members of Gael Force and The Rising obviously have the steering wheel. That said the music here is strong melodic Celtic rock (not punk) with the emphasis on the fiddle as the Celtic weapon of choice. And that said! And with diversity our greatest strength (or so we are told) Cruel Seamus have experimented a wee bit with rap – the in your face “Irish pride” and the ska-ish “Beauty of your Creation” and regga-ish “3000 miles”. Long may the experiments continue.
I’m sure in real life The Rum Fellows are nice guys who help little old ladies cross the road, rescue kittens stuck in trees and the like. Their music does not indicate that – after a lot of spins of “ Okie Maritime Music for the Landlocked Pirate ” – I picture a crew of crystal meth soaked white trash hillbilly’s who’ve high jacked the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disney while taking great pleasure in making all the 7 year olds they cut in front of cry.
I been waiting almost a full year for The Currency to release their debut album – from the moment I first laid my ears on the incredible 888 single in fact. I can now happily attest that the bastard children of Fletcher Christian and Ned Kelly have made one amazing slab of Colonial folk punk* that will blow you away.
*folk rooted in the sounds of the British Isles with lyrics reflecting the colonial experience and a punk rock snarl only a case of XXXX can cause.
There used to be a commercial when I was a kid for an electric razor and basically the premise was that the razor gave such a good shave that the old American geezer in the commercial “bought the company”.
Hung, Drawn and Portered is the musical equivalent of that 1970s razor – so good the I was willing to put down the cash to finance the release of the EP. 5 tracks in all: 3 fast folk/punkers with strong Australian roots, an incredible cover of the old Belfast skipping rhyme, “I’ll Tell Me Ma” and the amazing ska/reggie meets Irish of the appropriately titled “Paddy goes to Babylon”
Buy this EP. You won’t hear a better new band this year and I’m not saying that because I put my own hard earned cash down but because it’s good enough for me to put my cash down on.
I used to have a roommate from Cork city at one point who’s favorite term of endearment/insult was to call a person a “Langer” – not being a Cork man, I’m still not exactly sure what a langer is, but I think it’s a guys third leg. That been said then “Langer’s Ball” is a really great name for a band! Our friends here on “Ships are Sailing” are a 2 piece – with some help from their friends – from deepest MN playing Irish folk standards with an growl, a scowl and tattoos to match. If you’re looking for straight ahead no frills Irish ballads with just a hint of razor blades and safety pins and American rock n roll this is for you.
I picked up Barry McCabe’s newie at a rather intimate acoustic show Barry (along with great Dutch guitarist Danny Vlaspoel) played at Bull McCabe’s pub in Somerville, MA as part of his and Danny’s recent US tour. Both the CD and recent gigs are both a departure for Barry who is best noted as an electric blues rocker in the vein of Rory Gallagher. The CD itself is a good representation of the acoustic show and contains both studio and live tracks – one of the live one being “Sheilagh” which brought tears to the eyes of at least one girl in Bull McCabe’s. The music is acoustic blues of both the modern and tuned down tradition with soulful vocals and a twist of Irish (Mountains of Mourne is covered) and Barry is joined by guitarist and cousin Pat McManus (Mamas Boys & Celtus). Hope to see Barry back in the States next year for another tour and maybe with the full electric band.
“Shore Leave” is the 4th full length (I think) from Vancouver’s Celt-rockers The Town Pants and I can happily testify that it is deffo a return to the spit and sawdust sound of their first two releases – “Weight of Words”, their last, was just a little too polished and I blame the major label they were on for that. Shore Leave is self-released so there is no chance of the A&R guy messing with the sound to “get a hit”. Must hears include the galloping, “….Unlikely redemption of Oliver Reed”, a ode to legendry English boozehound and the really frickin’ head banging, air banjo cover of Iron Maidens “Run to the Hills” – folk for muthas – now, how ‘bout some devil horns.
I wasn’t expecting to be quite blown away by this 4 track EP from Pipes ‘n’ Pints, a Celtic punk band from the Czech Republic – actually, I was expecting to have to suffer through it and then struggle to find something nice to say. This wasn’t the case at all, at all!! Basically, if you like you punk loud and with bagpipes in the vein of Dropkick Murphys, The Real McKenzies or The PubCrawlers then this will truly blow you away. The band is tight, powerful – the drummer beats the shite outta the drums like you wouldn’t believe, the pipes wail, at the vocal will rip your face off. I would wager the 3 aforementioned bands would be proud to have written any of the 4 tracks on this EP. Find of the year, maybe!
Farler’s Fury (not to be confused with NYCs Finns Fury) are a French-Canadian Celt/punk band from Quebec. The music on this 7 track CD is fast, spunky and punky with wailing bag pipes prominent in about half the tracks The songs are also split between being sung in English and French – at times I’m reminded of the great early 80s French punk/metal band Trust. Like the lead track of the CD says; “Real men wear kilts”.
Pat McManus is a Northern Ireland born and based, blues/rock guitarist – now why would this might organ of Celtic-punk be doing a review of a blues rock artist? Well without Pat there may never have been a Shite’n’Onions – his 80’s metal power three-o – Mama’s Boys – he formed with his brothers was the first band I ever heard combine hard rockin’ music with Irish trad., (I’m too young for Horslips and Black Rose era Thin Lizzy) and not only was Pat lead guitarist he was also a former all-Ireland fiddle champion (a certain Dave King was lead vocalist of Mama’s Boys for a short period). After the demise of Mamas Boys in the early 90’s (due to the tragic death of youngest brother Tommy), Pat along with other brother John dove into Celtic music with the new age sounding Celtus. Pat ultimately moved back to Ireland from London where he had been based for many years and got back to his guitar roots – ‘In My Own Time’ is the result. ‘In My Own Time’ is slick blues rock that shouts out to American blues icons like Stevie Ray, ZZ Top and Robert Cray – but especially to the Irish master of all blues players, Rory Gallagher (“Return of the G Man” is a heart felt tribute to the might Rory). For me it’s great to hear Pat still doing his own thing and producing great music and that he’s still such a great player (he even breaks out the fiddle – though country not trad., this time).
Shite'n'Onions 