Hi Gerard, thanks for taking the time to answer a few questions. Can we start with your musical history? Where are you from, who are your inspirations, how did you get involved in Celtic-rock?
Hey, John, I was born in Detroit, however, my parents moved us to a Christmas Tree farm in the township of Emmett, Michigan, about fifty miles North of Detroit, when I was three years old. I grew up out in the country.
#1 Hi Mike, thanks for taking the time to answer my questions. First off, can you give me some background on the band (history of the band, where are you from, when did you get together, who’s in the band, influences, where did the band name come from, etc.)?
Hi John, Thanks for reaching out and letting us spew! We’re from Ulster County NY, the New Paltz area. Bruynswick, NY specifically, but that’s a speck on the road. I live out by the Shawangunk Ridge, a kinda well known spot for hiking, rock climbing, and rattle snakes.
Our guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter is Rory Quinn, he is a fantastic multi-instrumentalist musician and master recording engineer. He records music for a living, doing live sound, recordings, and teaching digital studio and more. He’s whiz on guitar and does all our recording now, he’s teaching me. I started out recording the band -our first LP and parts of the second album- on my ADAT, that’s digital info on an analog tape, and I’ve recently switched over to a laptop. His brother Falco Sparvarious recently joined us on drums. He’s a young drummer with a lot of good energy and vibes that he brings to the band. For reasons I’d rather not get into, we had to part ways with our drummer on the first two albums. It was really hard, but the rest of us as a band reached a point where we had to go our separate ways. We wish Eric well.
Continue reading The Templars of Doom
I want to give a shout out to The Placks, a 9 piece Celt-punk band from the Scottish Highlands. Their debut single, My Dearest Friend, came out in March and June sees the release of the follow up, Rebellious Son, as a limited edition seven inch. Check’em out.
Playlist
The Tossers – Johnny McGuire’s Wake
McDermotts 2 Hours – Dirty Davey
Gerard Smith – The Maid Of Cabra West
1916 – For Whiskey
Irish Whispa – Hot Asphalt
Greenland Whalefishers – Darkness
Hugh Morrison – Old Scotland
Jack Daw – Pigtail Man
The Mahones – Girl With Galway Eyes
Horslips – The High Reel
The Mickey Finns – The Ballad Of Duffy’s Cut
James McGrath – Race To The Bottom
Dangerous Folk – Shipping up to Brisbane
Brick Top Blaggers – Witness to My Own Wake
Aussie legends, The Go Set, have released a new digital Double-EP ‘Of Bright Futures…and Broken Pasts’. The first single is, Mixed Tapes.
Mick Jones Nicked My Pudding is the new digital only (boo!) single release from our favorite Boston hooligans, the Dropkick Murphys. Side-A, the title track, is the classic Murphys we’ve come to know and love – punkie, spunky, shout it out Celtic-punk. The B side is a cover of Black 47’s James Connolly, one of the songs that was my gateway drug into Celtic-rock when I heard it first in 1992, the Murph’s do a very fine job of a classic.
Some classic hard rock here for yah. Black Star Raiders have their roots in iconic Irish rockers, Thin Lizzy. BSR started life as a post Lynott touring version of Thin Lizzy, until the band then decided to write new material and did not feel it was right to put it out under the Thin Lizzy brand (the absolute right decision in my book). Black Star Riders are fronted by Belfast man Ricky Warwick, a rocker and poet in the mold of the late Phil Lynott. The guitar harmonies are pure Lizzy with one half of the BSR guitar duo being long time Lizzy legend, Scott Gorham. Fans of Celtic-rock will love the title track, Another State of Grace, which rocks out like Lizzy’s Emerald. Fans of classy, guitar driven hard rock will just love this.
https://www.blackstarriders.com/
https://www.facebook.com/BlackStarRidersOfficial
Here is a case of keeping it all in the family. The Wild Irish Roses are the family band of head Templar of Doom, Michael X. Rose with his wife and five of the family’s eight kids (God bless ‘em) ranging in age from early twenties to early teens. The music is rooted in the Irish ballad tradition format mixed with bagpipes and a wee bit of a punk edge and a Velvet Underground cover just to keep it subversive.
Podcast #117 feature Greenland Whalefishers from their new album Based On A True Story
The Skels – When The Devil’s Whore Arrives
Greenland Whalefishers – Friend-Enemy
Black 47 – James Connolly
The Rumjacks – I’ll Tell Me Ma!
Handsome Young Strangers – Limejuice Tub
Greenland Whalefishers – K Says
Greenland Whalefishers – Darkness
Hugh Morrison – Passing Place
Hugh Morrison – Dance Hall Girl
Finn’s Fury – Auld Triangle
The Mahones – It’s Gonna Be Alright
A bit of class here from Scottish troubadour Hugh Morrison. Some of you may know Hugh from Texas Celtic-folk rockers Murder the Stout or his long standing collaboration with the Street Dogs. The Other Side sees Hugh take his interpretation of the Scottish tradition on a road trip from his base in Texas to The Big Easy picking up the sounds of New Orleans and south Louisiana along the way – Cajun fiddle, horn and lap steel guitar – then blending them into his original Celtic folk-rock. Like I said class here – a lot of it.
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