It’s been a while since the last studio album from The Fenians, it’s been about 10 years since “Every Day’s a Hooly” I think. Well the band haven’t got rusty in that time that’s for sure with a live album, a best off and plenty of live gigs between. If your new to the scene or haven’t heard the Fenians before they are a polished high-energy Celtic-rock (not punk) band from Orange County, California. Similarly to say NYC’s The Prodigals or The Elders but just with suntans, shades and a laid back CA sound – if they were any more laid back they would be lying down (I know old joke).
Highlights from the album for me include the rockin’ “Banshee Under My Bed” and the acoustic turns Ska “Leave Her Johnny Leave Her” is a must hear.
“Empty Bottles & Broken Things” is the follow-up full length by Galician Celtic-punk band Bastards on Parade to their very fine debut album “Tales from the Death Shore”. The bands new label Wolverine Records must have had a lot of faith in Bastards on Parade and are certainly willing to spend the dough on the band bring in producer John Rioux (Street Dogs) and I think that faith has paid off in another very fine album. No surprises here if you’ve heard BoP before, hardcore punk with pipes influenced by The Real McKenzies, The Street Dogs and Dropkick Murphys of course.
Standout tracks include Outcasts (with Finny from The Mahones guesting) and Shallow Waters (my personal favorite). Like I said a very fine album and if you like stuff like Warriors Code era Dropkick Murphys then this you’ll love. The band are on the road in Europe and if you can, catch ‘em.
Winners and Boozers is the mighty new album from Fiddler’s Green. 16 tracks in all of party Celtic-punk spiced up with European polka and songs of the seas – Rum and Irish Whiskey and the finest German larger. Loads a energy here, mixed with the occasional downtime to nurse a massive hangover (the slow stuff). There’s not a bad tack on Winners and Boozers which is quite an achievement for any band 23 years on the go. If I have to mention any particular tracks for highlights it would be the Celtic punk-ish Old Dun Cow and A Night in Dublin and the sea-fairing Old Polina and Buccaneer (done in a style that reminds me of Canada’s The Town Pants) and the epic Into The Sunset Again.
Rick Barton is a Boston punk legend going back to the early eighties with The Outlets and then as a founder member of the Dropkick Murphys. Rick wrote I believe pretty much everything on the first two DKM album then left the band. Rick has spent the last decade or so off the music radar with the exception of a full-length in 2002 as Rick Barton and The Shadow Blasters. Rick couldn’t say away too long though and got into production, producing the Street Dogs 2010 self titled release. Rick put together Continental in 2009 with his son Stephen on bass and 2013’s All A Man Can Do is their first full length (following up on an earlier 6 track ep). All A Man Can Do is in very much in the vein of the Shadow Blasters, American punk’n’roll that pay’s homage to the roots of rock’n’roll. An easy reference would be the Street Dogs or early DKM meets Johnny Cash. Highly recommended.
No Man’s War is the third release by San Diego based Lexington Field in the space of about two years – a busy band for sure (and all that with a full US tour or two). Lexington Field is a case of quality and quantity. Self describe as American Fiddle Rock, Lexington Field bring together on top of a big rock’n’roll sound, Celtic, bluegrass, Americana and folk and just a touch of punk to produce a very fine album with its own individual stamp in an often overcrowd field. Highlights for me among many include Rest of Our Days, The Chemical Worker’s Song and the mainstream friendly Dear Old Friend.
Ireland and Spain have long interconnected history’s going back tens of thousands of years. The Iberian peninsula was the staging ground for various waves of early settlers to Ireland through the Celts and onto the middle ages when trade ties were very strong with the West of Ireland – where do you think the “Black Irish” come from? In later years the Kings of Spain supported the Irish cause and the Earls took flight to Spain and even in the 20th Century the Spanish civil war attracted Irish volunteers on both sides.
So its not that strange to be listening to a Celtic punk outfit from Toledo, Spain. Refarmatory is the second full length for The Fatty Farmers and its good and sometimes its very good. The two bands that come to mind listening to Refarmatory are Flogging Molly and especially Norway’s Greenland WhaleFishers. Loads of strong Celtic instrumentation and melodies played at full throttle but never losing the essence of the sound to the speed and energy of the playing. Check out Next Sunday We´ll Be Back Again…….
The Vandon Arms are a Celtic/Folk/Punk band from Des Moines, Iowa, who have been together since 2006 and while they have previously release a number of EPs, No Loyalty Among Thieves, is the bands first full length (I think).
On the first listen there isn’t a hint of Jack or Diane and John Mellencamp ain’t nowhere to be found. Then again maybe it was Indiana Johnny Cougar was singing about ? Shite’n’Onions is based in Boston and we get a bit fuzzy once we get beyond Worcester (pronounced Wooster) where it’s all kind of flat with a oasis at PaddyRockland, then flat again, then you hit the sea near San Francisco.
What I did hear was straight ahead Celtic-folk-punk with strong influences by Flogging Molly, The Tossers and The Mahones (“Down The Boozer” is covered) . After multiple listens I’m a fan and still not a hint of Pink Houses (for you and me).
Have You Been Drinking? is the third full-length from The Tosspints, a Celtic-punk band from Saginaw, Michigan, a struggling industrial city that the American dream long ago turned into a nightmare. The Tosspints are two brothers and a drummer, with brother Don a US Army combat veteran and brother Zack a union school teacher, the drummer is John. The music reminds me of the $wingin’ Utter$ but maybe a little more focused on the Celtic influences while the lyrics deal with the experiences of living in the rust belt – working class life, brotherhood, loyalty, the Union and the military and of course boozing and fighting. In all a very impressive release and the band to watch. Highlights include: Genocide is Painless, Your Name, Blood or Whiskey
A few weeks prior to the launch of The Lagan’s debut album, lead singer, Brendan O’Prey recounted the following conversation with his mother on Facebook…
Mum: “So, what is your album called?” (She already knew)
Brendan: “Where’s Your Messiah Now?”
Mum: “..and you’re releasing that during Holy Week are you?”
Religion: it sits at the heart of many of the songs and bands we love so well in this scene of ours. My own introduction came by way of Shane McGowan in The Sick Bed of Cuchulain;
“You dropped a button in the plate, and spewed up in the church”.
Religion, drink, the experience of the Irish exile, rebellion, violence and the lure of the sea…the music of Celtic punk has it all and so does the new album by The Lagan. Add all of these influences to a driving rhythm section, soaring fiddle, whistles, electric guitar, bass and ukulele and you’ve got Celtic Punk gold. What sets The Lagan apart from many bands of a similar ilk are their ability to support top notch musicianship with excellent vocal harmonies.
The album opens with its title track; a driving punk-sea shanty that rapidly becomes a conversation between the Devil and the sailor facing death upon the waves. Songs about the sea and religion are woven throughout the rest of the album. The Good Ship Lagan re-works the children’s classic “What Shall We Do with a Drunken Sailor?” turning it into a tale of battling pirates and the desperate need for a drink. The band continues to muse on religion in the more traditional sounding “Work Away”. Stan’s fiddle is given more room to play in this track and once again the band’s ability to harmonise lifts The Lagan above the shouty slurring that can often characterise Celtic punk. This fact is further evidenced in the bands cover of trad classic, the Fields of Athenry. What could easily have become a by-the-numbers cover is instead the poignant tale of loss, rebellion and exile that the song was meant to be. It is no accident that The Lagan’s version of Fields is played before every London Irish match.
A personal favourite of mine is the incredibly catchy “Same Shite Different Night”. A tale of drinking and dodging fists on the streets of their native Kingston, this is sing-along Celtic punk at its best; brashy, cocky and with a little bit of that ‘Last Gang in Town’ mentality that goes back to the early days of punk.
Go check out The Lagan live and definitely buy their debut album; worth ten quid of anyone’s money. This is a great debut and hopefully the start of a long and illustrious career. Any band who names an album after a Simpsons quote is worth a second look!
Seattle’s Meisce may have called it a day as of May but they have left us their swansong in the form of their 17 track final release “Spirits and Spectres” a collection of previously unreleased tracks and two tracks from the “Bored of the Dance “single from a while ago. Meisce play crusty folk punk mixing Celtic, Gypsy, and Klezmer and they do (did) it very well as evidenced on “Spirits and Spectres”. That said if the band had sent me a blank mangled c-60 cassette I’d still have given “Spirits and Spectres” high marks just for having a song titled “The Death of Michael Flatley” – feckin classic!
We’ll hang him from the highest tree
And break both of his fucking knees!
Drag the bastard through the rain
And kick him in the face again!
Great stuff indeed and a band that will be missed.
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