Canada or maybe the worlds only Celtic polka punk klezmer band have a new single, Problem, and a new album, Roll and Go, out soon. From the press release……
The Dreadnoughts have just announced their new single Problem to support the release of their upcoming full length out June 24th on Stomp Records. The new album “Roll & Go” was written primarily by singer/guitarist Nicholas Smyth in his one bedroom apartment in New York City at the peak of the first wave of the pandemic, with a newborn infant, during lockdown. With band members based in New York, Vancouver, London, and Edmonton, the band decided to record in the unlikely location of Norwalk, Connecticut at the Factory Underground Studios. After ducking and weaving through countless travel restrictions, the Dreadnoughts managed to learn, record and mix an entire album in nine days. It was a harrowing, intense experience, one made even more intense by the fact that six guest musicians were recording their own parts in six different cities around the world, and that all of this had to be coordinated with virtually no time. But they got it done! The result is Roll & Go: the Dreadnoughts fifth, and possibly finest, studio album.
Reflecting on the meaning behind the advance single Problem, Smyth remarks, “This song is about our love-hate-mostly-love-but-sometimes-really-hate relationship with Poland, a country we’ve toured many times. In particular, it’s about a winter tour we did where everything just kept breaking and going wrong, and we kept fighting it and raging against it until we realized that this was normal in Poland, and that you needed to just do what everyone else did: sit back, have a beer and a smoke, and say “to hell with it.” The Poles are amazing at this, it’s actually a really healthy attitude to have in a lot of situations. The song’s title comes from a word that means the same in English and Polish, and we quickly realized that we were going to hear it from our tour manager (who spoke no English) about 18 times a day. ‘Ah…’ he would say, his face scrunching up and worry-creasing his forehead… ‘Problem’.”
It’s hard to believe but Shite’n’Onions is about to hit the legal drinking age – that’s 21 for anyone not in the USA. Shite’n’Onions was started because I couldn’t find anything about Celtic-punk in one place on the web. The original inspiration was a paper zine called BROADSIDE that features folk-punk. Having some basic HTML skills I decided to replicate online. Grabbing some CDs from my collection I reviewed them and posted the reviews. Next, I wrote to various Celtic-punk bands and, asked them to send in music to review and to my delight bands like The Mahones and The Town Pants did. Here Shite’n’Onions was officially born. Over the years, on top of hundreds of reviews, Shite’n’Onons has released two Celtic-punk compilations CDs, a split CD, watched the death of CDs as a medium, released two vinyl albums by legendary Irish punk band The Radiators from Space as well as a Celtic-punk tribute to Horslips.
To celebrate the big 21 I wanted to give a shoutout to some great bands that unfortunately flew under the radar of most folks but deserved to be heard and enjoyed by way more people.
Catgut Mary is from Sydney Australia. (I think they are still going) and featured future founding member of The Rumjacks, Will Swan. Very similar to The Rumjacks, just maybe a little more rougher and gruffer. Only one full-length album, BOURBON & BLACK PORTER, was released as well as a split EP with The Mahones that Shite’n’Onions put out. BTW if anyone has a copy of BOURBON & BLACK PORTER that they want to part with let me know.
The Bloody Irish Boys. Initially a one-man band for their (his) first album, Drunk Rock, with a sound that was just a little too close to Flogging Molly they became a Myspace sensation. The second album, Auld St. Patrick (2011), saw the Bloody Irish Boys become a full band and it’s a bloody great album.
The Fisticuffs from the southside of Chicago followed in the steps of The Tossers and showed huge potential. Three studio albums of supercharged, attitude-filled DIY Celtic-punk were released with the last release, You’ll Not Take Us Alive, coming out in 2011. I’m not sure if they are still going or not but they have been quiet.
Nogoodnix. From update NY. Nogodnix released one album Pub Punx United in 2001. Punk with touches of Irish. They contribute Angelina to our Shite’n’Onions volume 1 comp.
Hailing from the blue-collar, Irish American enclave of South Buffalo, New York, came Jackdaw. I thought these guys were going to be huge. Raw, nail spitting, in-your-face rock’n’roll ala classic AC/DC with bagpipes, tin whistle and accordion. The band built a huge following in their hometown, winning best of Buffalo four times. The band self-released four albums and, killed live.
Big Bad Bollocks was one of the earliest Pogues-inspired bands on the US scene. Based in western Massachusetts but fronted by English ex-pat Johnny Allen the Bollock had a certain north of England Ah-up charm and a love for whiskey in their tea.
The Skels. Despite near God-like status in North Jersey and parts of Boston The Skels profile was never as high as it should have been. Still going after 25 years so there is always a chance of well-deserved greatness happening.
If I could get away with doing a one-word review for any release then this would be the one. The word? Beautiful!
But……even I’m not that lazy.
So expanding. Icons is a collaboration between Nick Burbridge (vocals, acoustic guitar, national treasure) who with McDermotts 2 Hours was one of the pioneers of folk-punk highly influencing both the Levellers and Ferocious Dog; and Dan Booth (fiddle) of the aforementioned Ferocious Dog and soon to be national treasures.
Icons is stripped down acoustic and fiddle versions of some of McDermotts best songs and new tracks co-written by Nick and Dan. And as mentioned before it’s beautiful – musically, lyrically, and sounding.
Whiskey’s Wake is a new band to me. From Salt Lake City, Utah of all places. Wake Up, Whiskey, the bands second release is a six-song collection of what I would describe as 90s indie rock – you know, all happy and jingly – meets a bottle of Paddy Irish Whiskey. Well for the first four songs at least. By song five (Bloodlust) they’ve downed the bottle of whiskey and gone is happy and jingly and now they are barroom brawling and by the close they are in Dingle, fighting with the Tinkers over Red Haired Mary.
I really enjoyed Wake Up, Whiskey. Whiskey’s Wake have great pop sensibilities, strong melodies and the music is a lot of energetic fun. The album is available digitally on bandcamp.
Blood, Glass & Gasoline is the second full-length release from Dublin rockers, Trouble Pilgrims. The Pilgrims arose out of the ashes of the seminal punk band, The Radiators from Space, who disbanded after the untimely death of founding member Philip Chevron in 2013.
Trouble Pilgrims take their name from the last Radiators album of original songs, Trouble Pilgrim. Trouble Pilgrims continues on with former Rads, Steve Rapid (vocals), Pete Holidai (guitars) and Johnny Bonnie (drums) with the latterday Rad’s sound – 50’s rockabilly/surf, 60’s beat, the glam of Bowie and T-Rex and some ’77 for old times sake.
Blood, Glass & Gasoline is a great follow up album to the band’s excellent debut, Dark Shadows and Rust, that does their legacy proud.
And now for something completely different. Bow To Your Masters is a Heavy Metal tribute to legendary Irish hard rockers, Thin Lizzy. Released on double coloured vinyl, in a gatefold sleeve with art that pays homage to the work of original Lizzy artist, the great Jim Fitzpatrick. In all, a beautiful package.
With the exception of Worshiper (a Boston band I’ve caught live), I’m unfamiliar with the contributing artists. That doesn’t matter as the material they have to work with is great. What I really like about Bow To Your Masters is the choice of material – it’s not the obvious Lizzy material. There is no Whiskey in the Jar (a good thing as Metallica fans may get confused) or The Boys Are Back In Town. Here there are lots of overlooked classics such as Johnny, Massacre and It’s Only Money. Some of their later career metal stuff – Cold Sweat and Thunder & Lightning. The Celtic rocker Emerald and some real deep cuts from the bands Decca days (Ray Gun/Vagabond of the Western World)
Honestly, I don’t know too much about The Dead Rabbits except that they are from Texas and they seem to have been around since about 2009. I’m guessing they are named after the infamous New York Irish gang rather than a deceased bunny.
The vinyl version of 7 Ol’ Jerks which I’m reviewing is a mini album i.e while it plays at 45 RPMs they manage to squeeze in an impressive nine songs.
Side A opens with the pure hardcore of “A Mic, A Band, A Pint, A Fan”. The Pogues’ “If I Should Fall From Grace With God follows” in a hooligan plays bluegrass style. “L. Elaine” the first original is great aggressive Celtic-punk with strained vocals from the appropriately named Seamus Strain. “Fr. McGregor” is Dropkick Murphys meets classic Blood or Whiskey in a brawl in the confessional box. Side A closer “Danny Boy Medley” is more fast Celtic-punk that swings from “Danny Boy” to “My Bonnie” to “The Gambler” to “You’re Not The Boss of Me”.
There are 4 tracks on the flip side opening with the aggressive yet catchy Celtic-punk meets Americana “Train Song” which rolls into a bruising “Leaving of Liverpool”. “7 Ol’Jerks” is very Dropkick Murphys-ish. The side closes with a powerful cover of The Cranberries “Dreams”.
I’m very impressed with the whole thing. Here is a band that is as aggressive as hell but never loses that sense of melody while they make a huge racket. Now I need to track down their back catalog.
Blaggards are the long running Celtic-punk’n’rock’n’a bit of country band outta Houston, Texas. Fronted by the irrepressible Dub, Paddy Devlin. Amazingly Blagmatic is only Blaggards second studio album, the first being “Standards” from the early 2000s (and to think I gave The Peelers a hard time over the gap between their albums).
What we have here on Blagmatic is 11 tracks of fun and energetic celtic-punk with a Texas swagger. The songs are almost evenly split between originals and traditional Irish standards punked-up and countrified (the album Standards was, well, all standards). The originals songs to me sound like they have as much a hard-rock / metal influence as punk – the intro of Lights of El Paso is pure Danzig until the song takes a cow-punk twist. Wild Rover (“and I spent all my money on the hookers and beer”) is an irreverent punk’n’hoedown. The only disappointment is that I was speaking with Paddy a few years ago and he mentioned a song he was writing about growing up on some of Dublin’s meanest streets (cough, cough) called The Slums of Killiney but it’s not here.
So if you’re looking for a good time (musically speaking) then Blagmatic is the place to head to.
SnO – Palace of the Fiend is in my list of top 5 Celtic-punk albums of all time (and depending on the mood sometimes it’s #1). After six plus months of spinning your newest release, Down and Out in the City of Saints, it is catching up fast on Palace of the Fiend. Looking back on the album, were you happy with it? How do you think it compares to Palace? It must have been a disappointment not to be able to go on tour to support.
Dave – Hey John, I understand the question in terms of the tonal differences between the two albums, ‘Down & Out’ being much more guitar driven, and I see how that could isolate fans of ‘Palace’, much like that album is different from ‘Liquordale’. The most obvious explanation for the disparity between the two, is what I was going through at the time; ‘Palace’ is a darker album. I was dealing with some personal issues when I wrote it and that’s evident in the lyrical content. ‘Down & Out’ is me coming to terms with a lot of that, and I think it’s a much more positive album. Maybe that’s why it’s more aggressive?
I am happy with ‘Down & Out’, it’s the album that we needed to make at the time. I think first and foremost, it’s a well written, well performed, and immaculately produced album. The personnel in the band has changed, and that’s a part of the evolution of the sound as well. There are currently only two original members in The Peelers, me and Eric (Irish Whistle/ Organ). When we started the band in Glengarry County in Eastern Ontario, Canada, the players were mostly local musicians whose background was rooted in traditional Irish and Scottish music, and I was as well… but I was also a punk, a fan of The Ramones, Clash, Two-Tone and Oi, and for me ‘The Pogues’ were the perfect melding of both genres. The writing on ‘Boots and Suits’ and ‘Liquordale’ reflects both the lineup and the influences in my opinion. It was always my goal to get a little dirtier in terms of guitars and you can see that through the progression of the last two albums.
The band is now based in a major city, rather than rural, and in a definite way the sound has followed suit. I can tell you that there was a conscious decision to push the guitars on ‘Down & Out’. This was due to the musical stimuluses at the time of writing, so there are some songs with a more traditional punk feel. It was also a concession to the constraints of touring as an independent act. It’s almost impossible to put a seven-piece traditional Celtic punk band on the road in 2021, for a myriad of financial and logistical reasons I’m sure you understand. Driving the sound electrically fills in the holes when you’ve only got one or two trad instruments on stage.
Having this album as the first release for our label Stomp Records, has opened our music up to a whole new audience as well. That is important to me and I was aware of this during production. The last thing, nearest to my heart, is that I made this record with some of the best and closest people in my life. And in the end, that’s what I’m most proud of. And yes, it’s been disappointing not to have toured to support the album yet, but we’ll just call it a delay, and that’ll happen beginning in March. We began recording it in December ’19 and like everyone else, we had no idea what was coming. We just played our first show in 617 days, since we had everything cancelled mid-tour in March 2020. It felt great.
SnO – 617 days! Quebec City, right? How did the show go?
Dave – Quebec City, the old town, very beautiful. The actual performance was ‘acceptable’ lol, a few hiccups here and there but that was to be expected. We could’ve used a few more bodies in the room, but with the Covid numbers jumping back up a bit recently up North, I think people are still a bit wary.
SnO – You mentioned Down & Out being the peelers first release on Stomp and that it’s opening your music to a whole new audience. Who is this new audience? Down & Out also came out on vinyl. Has the vinyl release been successful? Any chance the peelers back catalog gets the vinyl treatment?
Dave – When I say “a whole new audience”, I mean it in terms of music fans being exposed to us who might not have been without the exposure of the label, lovers of our genre or not. I feel like we’ve always kind of floated in this netherworld doomed to wander aimlessly between trad and Celtic punk with no real definition. Stomp Records, have given us a platform and admittedly credibility on the scene and we’re grateful for that. I’ve had people say, “we had no idea there was a Celtic punk band in Montréal” lol despite the fact we’ve been around for 22yrs. So yes, visibility has been a big part of the label experience.
The vinyl release of “Down & Out” has been successful in as much as people are actually buying records anymore. Record sales are still not staggering, but we’re stoked to have the option. And moreover, as child of the waning years of the heyday of vinyl, it’s still hard to believe there’s a 33 rpm option with our music on it. And we had fun doing the artwork and content. As far as the back catalog; I have spoken to our business manager Eric, who also plays Irish whistle and organ in the band, as well as our producer and it’s a definite possibility. At least for ‘Liquordale’ and ‘Palace’. We wanted to wait and see how the new album worked out first. The problem with vinyl right now, is that Covid has created a massive backlog in production. So we’ll concern ourselves with the upcoming album and then address the old stuff later.
SnO – You mention the upcoming album. Where are you in that process and what can we expect from the new album?
Dave – We are still in pre-production. Songs and lyrics are written, and tracked for recording. Drums are up first, probably just after Christmas. I would say it’ll be similar to ‘Down & Out’ in style, maybe a bit less guitar driven. But it’s hard to say until we start laying down tracks and hearing the songs develop in the studio. I think I mentioned before that there’s a big backlog on vinyl production right now, so we want to get it recorded asap, but also not compromise anything by rushing
SnO – Thanks Dave. Final question. Will we every get you across the border and playing shows in the US (esp. Boston) when the world gets back to normal?
Dave – Ha!! Well we used to play quite a bit in the U.S. before we took that hiatus. But strangely enough, we’ve never played in Massachusetts. I’d like to, Boston is a city close to my heart, wandered her streets many times. So yes, we want to get back to playing U.S. dates, and we’ve been looking for a booker down there. We have Canada and Europe covered, but nothing stateside, as we always booked ourselves. So if anyone knows a good agent… wink wink.
The other impediment to crossing the border that no one likes to talk about is the red tape for Canadian bands. A work visa is required for all members, and the initial admin and application costs before we even set foot there put us way behind before playing a show. It’s not easy. And it’s disappointing. I understand completely the goal of keeping jobs in country, but I love travelling stateside. I write about the places I’ve been before, and we just want to spread the love and see all the faces. It’s not a monetary thing at all. Hopefully we can get back at it once the border opens up fully. And we’ll make Boston a priority. Thanks John
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