Next stop on our tour of the regional scenes: California and the West Coast, from San Diego up to the Puget Sound. Flogging Molly’s home turf, where the Irish pubs have patios and the circle pits get sunburnt. The Mollys are out at sea this week with no 2027 dates posted yet, so here’s what everyone else is up to.
Continue reading California & West Coast Scene Report: The Young Dubliners Hit the Rising Road, the Sinners Ring In 2027 and the Wallopers Head WestTag Archives: The Mary Wallopers
Chicago & Midwest Scene Report: The Elders Come Home, Stone Clover Take Hamtramck and a Wallopers Invasion
First stop for the Midwest in our tour of the regional scenes: Chicago and the big flat middle, from the Great Lakes down to the Kansas City stockyards. Flatfoot 56 and The Tossers country, where the drive between gigs is longer than the set. Here’s what’s new.
Continue reading Chicago & Midwest Scene Report: The Elders Come Home, Stone Clover Take Hamtramck and a Wallopers Invasion
New England Scene Update: Boston Music Awards Nods for the Murphys, Kettle Burners Hit the Slopes
The Boston Music Awards shortlist landed last Friday, and the Hub’s Celtic punk and Irish rock lot are all over it. Public voting is open through November 16 at bostonmusicawards.com, with the winners crowned at Big Night Live on December 16. Here’s your fortnightly New England round-up. Vote early, vote often (you can’t, it’s one vote each, but you get the spirit).
Continue reading New England Scene Update: Boston Music Awards Nods for the Murphys, Kettle Burners Hit the Slopes
Philly & Mid-Atlantic Scene Report: Celtic Christmas at 16, a Timonium Hooley and Scythian’s Ugly Sweaters
Next stop on our tour of the regional scenes: Philadelphia and the Mid-Atlantic, from the Delaware Valley through Baltimore and DC to the Virginia hills. Pub-band heartland, never short of fiddles or thirst, and the run to Christmas is stacked: a holiday show turning sixteen, a three-day indoor hooley in Timonium and touring heavyweights booked through March.
Continue reading Philly & Mid-Atlantic Scene Report: Celtic Christmas at 16, a Timonium Hooley and Scythian’s Ugly Sweaters
UK Scene Report: Ferocious Dog’s Final Bark, Skinny Lister’s Blowout and Levellers Fill Hammersmith
First stop on the UK beat, and it looks like a farewell year that refuses to quiet down. Nottinghamshire folk-punkers are counting the last Hell Hound nights, the shanty crew are packing Camden, Brighton’s crusty standard-bearers finally fill Hammersmith, and the visitors keep pouring through.
Continue reading UK Scene Report: Ferocious Dog’s Final Bark, Skinny Lister’s Blowout and Levellers Fill Hammersmith
Canada Scene Report: Rise Again Anniversaries, Atlantic Christmas Runs and a Dropkick Invasion
First stop on our Canada beat, and the map is busy from Kingston to the Rock: anniversary tours, Newfoundland Christmas halls, bagpipes in Ontario legion basements, and a Boston invasion with thirteen Canadian dates of its own.
Continue reading Canada Scene Report: Rise Again Anniversaries, Atlantic Christmas Runs and a Dropkick Invasion
The Mary Wallopers: Paddywhackery Live Heads Down Under, Plus a First NZ Show
Dundalk’s rowdiest are going long-haul. The Mary Wallopers have announced Paddywhackery Live 2027, a May return to Australia and their first-ever New Zealand show, through Frontier Touring.
Continue reading The Mary Wallopers: Paddywhackery Live Heads Down Under, Plus a First NZ Show
The Mary Wallopers: Spring 2027 North American Tour
Dundalk’s rowdiest, The Mary Wallopers, are hauling Paddywhackery across the Atlantic. A Spring 2027 North American headline run is on sale now — Philly March 4 through Los Angeles April 2, with two nights at New York’s Irving Plaza and a Boston House of Blues stop March 6.
Continue reading The Mary Wallopers: Spring 2027 North American Tour
Mary Wallopers: Paddywhackery
Dundalk’s rowdiest export The Mary Wallopers — Irish folk with a boot up the arse — just put Paddywhackery out (18 Sept via BC Records). Lead single Crowns of England was the warning shot; now the full eleven-tracker’s live and a UK/Ireland run’s stacked through autumn.
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Dropkick Murphys: For The People
It’s been a bit of a wait, hasn’t it, folks? After those two Woody Guthrie-inspired acoustic jaunts – This Machine Still Kills Fascists and Okemah Rising – that had the Dropkicks channeling their inner folk troubadours, the Boston street-punks are back with For The People, and Jaysus, it’s like they’ve plugged back into the electric grid of their Celtic punk origins. No more sittin’ ’round the campfire strummin’ protest ballads; this one’s got the bagpipes wailin’, the banjos pickin’ furiously, and that signature gang-vocal roar that makes ya wanna down a pint and stomp the floorboards.
Produced by the ever-reliable Ted Hutt (who’s been behind the boards since Going Out In Style), For The People clocks in with 12 tracks (or 16 tracks on the expanded edition) of pure, unadulterated Murphys mayhem. It’s got that raw energy that harkens back to their early days – think Do Or Die meets Signed And Sealed In Blood – but with a matured edge that comes from decades of road-warrior wisdom. The themes are still rooted in the working-class struggle, solidarity, and a healthy dose of anti-establishment bite, but delivered with the kind of hooks that stick in yer skull like a well-thrown elbow in the pit.
Frontman Al Barr is still on leave (family comes first, fair play to him), but he makes a killer guest appearance on “The Vultures Circle High,” beltin’ out those gravelly vocals like he never left. Ken Casey holds down the fort admirably as always, his bark leadin’ the charge on anthems that beg for live sing-alongs. Speakin’ of guests, the album’s packed with some stellar cameos that amp up the Celtic flavor: Irish up-and-comers The Scratch bring their chaotic energy, The Mary Wallopers add that rowdy folk-punk grit, and none other than Billy Bragg joins the fray on a raucous cover of Ewan MacColl’s “School Days Over.” It’s a perfect fit – Bragg’s socialist soul meshes seamlessly with the Murphys’ ethos, turnin’ the old miner’s lament into a full-throated pub banger.
Standouts? “Who’ll Stand With Us?” the title track kicks things off with a blisterin’ pace, bagpipes screamin’ over thrashin’ guitars. The balls to the wall “The Big Man”, an ode to Fletcher Dragge of Pennywise. The aforementioned “School Days Over” and “One Last Goodbye: Tribute to Shane”
All in all, this is the best Dropkick Murphys album in a long time. It’s a triumphant return to form, remindin’ us why these lads are the kings of Celtic punk. If ya’ve been cravin’ that high-octane blend of Irish tradition and punk fury, grab For The People and crank it loud!
