April 27, 2015
Millionaires is the second full length release from Continental, Rick Barton’s post Dropkick Murphys vehicle. If your familiar with Rick’s post DKM stuff it’s more of the same – big guitars, big hooks, Johnny Cash and Joe Strummer drinking cheap whiskey and riding boxcars, and not a single bagpipe wail in earshot. The album is on vinyl from the nice folks at East Grand.
April 26, 2005
Not a new release by any shot, but I just got my hands on Whiskey Devils – A Tribute to The Mahones (cheers Finny for passing on). The tribute was put together to celebrate The Mahones 20th anniversary (they just hit 25 years last Paddy’s day). Obviously with a such a strong back catalog there were plenty of classic and seminal Celtic punk songs to choose from and 19 of The Mahones most legendary track are presented here with not a duff version amongst them. I have to call out a few of the tracks as must hears; Drunk Lazy Bastard as interpreted by The Popes (its all bad attitude), Shake Hands With The Devil a frigging incredible almost industrial/metal version by the Bloody Irish Boys, the down and out London by Paul-Ronney Angel and Aaron Chapman‘s lounge lizard sleaze of Cocktail Blue.
The Popes (England) – Drunken Lazy Bastard
The Peelers (Canada) – Rise Again
Brutus’ Daughters (Spain) – Take Me Back
Paul-Ronney Angel (England) – London
Roughneck Riot (England) – Across The USA
Drink Hunters (Spain) – Take No Prisoners
The Vandon Arms (U.S.A.) – Down The Boozer
The Ryan Brothers (Canada) – Streets Of New York
Bastards On Parade (Spain) – Paint The Town Red
The Bloody Irish Boys (U.S.A.) – Shake Hands With The Devil
Aaron Chapman (Canada) – Cocktail Blue
Drunken Dru (Canada) – Is This Bar Open Til’ Tomorrow?
Pladdohg (U.S.A.) – Whiskey Devils
Black Friday (England) – There She Goes
The Gobshites (U.S.A.) – A Drunken Night In Dublin
Hit The Bottle Boys (U.S.A.) – Queen & Tequila
Paddy McCallion (Ireland) – Back Home
Cabor Toss (Canada) – Drunken Lazy Bastard (Live)
Mark Gilligan (Ireland) – Girl With Galway Eyes
February 8, 2015
Despite the somewhat doggy looking Leprechaun cover and the title of this the latest five track EP from Germany’s Muirsheen Durkin and Friends, Drink with the Irish is a very, very good release. The first three tracks are dueling bagpipe’n’punk rock originals and as good as anything coming out of the big boys of the scene. I must give a special mention to “The Pogues and Whiskey”, a stunningly great homage to Kings Cross finest. The two covers are Danny Boy and Loch Lomond, both given the Celtic-punk treatment. A great release and well worth tracking down.
February 8, 2015
Poor ‘ol Tim Finnegan, fell off that ladder and broke his head, work up in a pine box at his own wake, but not this time on Watling Street and who ever spilt that whiskey on him wasn’t one of his nearest and dearest but a hairy looking Swede surrounded by equally mean looking Swedes. Tim Finnegan has found himself in Finnegan’s Hell and it’s Drunk, Sick And Blue.
Finnegan’s Hell are a Celtic-punk band from Sweden who have no pretense of being anything but a Celtic-punk band, they specialize in fast and raw punk sing-a-longs with a great sense of Celtic melody. Reminiscent of fellow Scandinavian’s Greenland Whalefishers and Sir Reg and to my well trained ears, New Jersey legends, The Skels.
There are lots of highlights on Drunk, Sick and Blue – The Finnegan’s ode to good child raising, Jar of Porter; the covers of Galway Races and The Molly Maguires and not to forget their ditty to benefits of drinking hard, Reverse Evolution.
A very fine, first full length, check’em out, you won’t be disappointed.
January 21, 2015
The back and front cover of this six track mini-album probably gives a better impression of of what Shambolics sound like then any review I could write. The front cover is a cartoon pirate – kilted, ginger hair, teeth that would make MacGowan proud, accordion in one hand and banjo in the other. The back cover is the tattooed, mooning arse of said pirate – Pogue Mahone indeed!
Four track of fu#k you, Celtic punk’n’roll attitude (Pogue Mahone, Seven Seas, Halfway Inn and Filfee Feeving Bastards) with some familiar melodies (hey they guys are pirates so they probably looted the tunes). Why Try to Change Me is a more mushy ballad. Only You is the strange one, maybe the pirate was trying to woo a fair maiden from the islands with some reggae
January 1, 2015
The Pourmen as displayed on their debut full-length CD are best described as the musical equivalent of a bunch of hedonistic, lapsed-Catholic, Dorchester-Irish cowboys and whalefisher men, pissed on cheap whiskey and hired as the house band for the baddest dive bar in New Bedford. Punk, Irish, Sea-shanties, outlaw country and Americana – the sound track to that nights barroom brawl. Highlights include pretty much everything on the CD but especially Whaling City, What Did I Drink Last Night? and a really great cover Jackdaw’s Molly
December 22, 2014
Wanted to give a big shout to one of may favorite Irish-folk groups, the Boston area based Irish Whispa, who released their debut CD in 2014. Very much in the tradition of the Dubliners and especially Clancy Brothers with a couple or three Johnny Cash covers thrown in with their Irish ballad standards. You can play the Irish Whispa CD back to back with the best of The Clancy Brothers and honestly you won’t notice any difference in the quality…..high praise.
December 5, 2014
Craic is an Irish word, an all inclusive word for good times as in “wheres the craic?”, “The craic was mighty!” or “Having the Craic!”. Craic is also the name of a very fine Celtic-punk band from Cleveland, Ohio who bring us their debut full-length, “Amongst the Mischief and Malarkey”. Produced by former Dropkick Murphy, Ryan Foltz, the band is tight and the sound is great – powerful but without losing the bands raw edge. The music of Craic is built on the rawness of the second wave of punk with DKM style gang vocals, layer upon with banjo, tin whistle and fiddle. The closest reference point for comparison is the long departed Nogoodnix.
Track listing and a few song comments:
01 – Hold the Penny – Fast, trashy second wave punk meets tin whistles
02 – Lonesome Lullaby-More American meets Celtic meets punk, again pretty fast
03 – 36 Bombs – About legendary Cleveland Irish gangster Danny Greene and the 36 bombs that tried to kill him, I really need to check out “Kill The Irishman” the movie about his life
04 – Dirty Old Town – Initially I was wondering what the point of covering DOT was until they got all trashy on it after the second verse then I totally got it
05 – Roads Less Traveled
06 – Irish Banshee
07 – Serenity
08 – Marching Orders – Maybe my favorite track on the album – fast, fast, fast
09 – Parallels
10 – Lily & Nolan – A ballad very much in the Irish tradition – beautiful song
11 – Fields of Athenry – A very over done song but this is a fine version
In all, a really strong debut which may have turned me into a Craic addict.
October 14, 2014
Straight out of Brooklyn with not a skinny legged bearded hipster in sight comes The Canny Brothers Band playing old school Irish folk with a strong nod to both The Wolfe Tones and The Dubliners and maybe just a little nod to some laid back west coast sounds. The Guinness Situation is the third album from The Canny Brothers and its chockablock full of great folk standards – Drunken Sailor, Spanish Lady, Peggy Gordon and more. I particularly like the versions Celtic Symphony and …..the Devil is Dead. In addition I want to give a shout out to standout original tracks the biographical William O’Conner and Devil’s Bird.
The Canny Brothers will be in Brooklyn way after the skinny legs have shaved and moved to Jersey and if the bros ever grow beard they will Ronnie Drew specials.
October 11, 2014
No frills, no bull shite street punk from the mean streets Kalamazoo, MI. I’m really likening this release and if you like your punk’n’roll loud and tight I think you will too. Reminiscent of early Dropkick Murphys – Do or Die or The Street Dogs so it’s not a surprise that Mike McColgan joins the Hex Bombs on the track (and single) None Shall Be Forgotten. Highly recommended and I think an album that will sit on my turn table for a while.
You must be logged in to post a comment.