Celtic-punk supergroup, The Walker Roaders, have a new single out ,Singing School.
The Walker Roaders are James Fearnley (The Pogues), Ted Hutt (ex-Flogging Molly), and Marc Orrell (ex-Dropkick Murphys). The line-up is completed by producer Brad Wood (Liz Phair, Smashing Pumpkins) and Bryan Head.
According to the band, a new album is being recorded between Pogues gigs and various production gigs.
At long last, Dollar for Your Dreams gets the full-length CD release we’ve been waiting for. Initially released in 1987 on cassette only, the cassette version has become hard and expensive to obtain in recent years. If you did manage to get your hands on one, what do you play it on?
The Radiators were the pioneers of Irish punk, full stop. Before U2 were playing church halls, these northside misfits were spitting out snarling anthems and giving the finger to showbands and bloated 70s rock. TV Tube Heart and Ghostown have rightly earned near-legendary cult status, but Dollar for Your Dreams, their reunion live offering, often got lost in the analogue shuffle—no more.
This one’s older, wiser, and soaked in the heartbreak and dispare of 1980s post-punk Ireland. There’s still bite—”Television Screen” punches like a knuckleduster to the jaw—but also reflection, melody, and maturity. Philip Chevron (RIP), the band’s beating heart, had by then joined The Pogues, and that influence seeps through. It’s punk with soul, politics with poetry.
For fans of Irish punk, this isn’t just a reissue—it’s a resurrection. If Dollar for Your Dreams slipped past you the first time, no excuses now. This is essential listening from one of Ireland’s most important and criminally underrated bands. A proper dose of Dublin defiance.
https://theradiatorsfromspace.bandcamp.com/album/dollar-for-your-dreams-expanded-version
I’m really enjoying the new EP from Kier Byrnes & The Kettle Burners, In The Key of Guinness. Celtic folk rock with elements of old-school rock and roll. Kier, of course, was formerly of Boston alt-country rockers Three Day Threshold, who contributed to the now legendary (if I do say so myself) Shite’n’Onions Vol 2. The Kettle Burners have three EPs up on Spotify:
Kier Byrnes & The Kettle Burners – In the Key of Guinness (March 2025)
https://open.spotify.com/album/5mp8tUQQleu0FJ8XXgef3B
Kier Byrnes & The Kettle Burners – Before the Fall (April 2025)
https://open.spotify.com/album/4d2yRCLYBSOX6YZGogX9lB
Kier Byrnes & The Kettle Burners – All Gone Wrong (2024)
https://open.spotify.com/album/1ybfw2BmNfvqQ3qOxJfoKk
Two years after its digital debut, Green Willow finally lands on vinyl, and it’s a damn fine excuse to dust off the turntable and down a double of good Canadian whiskey and a shot of vodka. The Dreadnoughts have never been ones to play it tame, and Green Willow is another glorious stew of Celtic punk, polka fury, and sea shanty swagger—like a Czech wedding crashing into a Galway wake.
From stomping fiddle romps to squeezebox-driven drinking anthems, the album is packed with manic energy and haunting beauty. Their take on “The Foggy Dew” is a standout—slow, reverent, then exploding into punk-folk chaos that’ll put a lump in your throat and a fist in the air. Meanwhile, “Spanish Ladies” is a sea shanty masterclass, drenched in salt, sweat, and rum-soaked harmonies.
The Dreadnoughts continue to prove they’re more than just a party band. There’s craft in the madness, and Green Willow is one of their most nuanced records to date. Essential listening for punks, pirates, and polka freaks alike.
Long-running Nebraska-based folk-punks, The Killigans, have a new single out, Can’t Eat the Rich. It’s very good. Check it out on Spotify.
The Peelers are back, and they’ve done it again with The Holy Crux of Honour, their latest and greatest, which is a whiskey-soaked, foot-stomping, fist-pumping blast of Celtic punk that’s as rowdy and ruckus as a Saturday night in a dodgy Dublin pub on the wrong side of the Liffey, and as passionate and, heartfelt as an old rebel tune sung way past closing time.
The album kicks off with the title track. This bagpipe lament collides into a raucous declaration of defiance that sets the tone for what follows—furious guitars, searing fiddle, and lyrics steeped in history, loss, and the kind of hard-won victories only a true Celt can understand. “Last Banjo in Paris” throws in a bit of humor and irreverence, a classic Peelers move, while “Criminal, Cop, or Priest” reminds us why Dave Barton is one of the best bards this side of Shane MacGowan.
Musically, The Peelers stick to their guns—pipes, mandolins, and accordions battling it out with crunchy guitars and a rhythm section that could wake Finnigan himself. Fans of The Pogues, The Mahones, and Dropkick Murphys will feel right at home, but there is a depth here that sets The Peelers apart from the crowd. This is not just Celtic punk—it’s Celtic punk with soul, with anthems like “Caught a Bullet” and “Blades in the Alleyway” demanding to be played loud, preferably with a pint in each hand.
Final verdict? The Holy Crux of Honour is a belter of an album, full of grit, passion, and the spirit that keeps Celtic punk alive and kicking. The Peelers don’t just play the music—they live it. Sláinte!
Red Ken and his band of merry men have returned with their sixth full-length album, ready to storm the gates of Downing Street. If you are unfamiliar with Ferocious Dog, where the hell have you been? In the last ten years, the band has risen to be arguably the biggest folk-punk band in the UK, mixing punk, Celtic, gypsy, and protest folk (and the first non-signed band ever to sell out the legendary Rock City venue). Kleptocracy is fast, fiddle-infused folk punk with a strong social conscience (they hate the Tories, really hate them). Influences I hear include The Levellers, McDermott’s Two Hours, and The Clash, yet the band still has its own distinct sound. My personal favorite tracks on Kleptocracy include Iron Mike Malloy, Merthyryr Rising (with its Follow me up to Carlow melody), and A Place We Call Home, a song in the spirit of Fairytale of New York (a possible hit single?)
Honestly, there isn’t one bad track or even a filler on the album. Here’s to hopefully seeing Ferocious Dog stateside someday.
Drink To The Night (Live) is a 20-year live retrospective of one of the planet’s best and most original Celtic punk bands, Melbourne’s The Go Set. If you are unfamiliar with The Go Set, they are a bagpipe-heavy, alternative/punk outfit with a distinctive Aussies style – (old) AC/DC, The The, and Weddings Parties Anything all come to mind when I try to describe them. Drink To The Night is a best of live and a great introduction to the band unless you’re an old hand, then Drink To The Night (Live) is a great reminder of how good these guys are. Sadly, Drink To The Night (Live) seems to be a digital-only album. Hopefully, it gets a physical release, too.
The late legendary Philip Chevron of The Radiators from Space and The Pogues wrote a collection of songs for a musical, The Tuner.
The Tuner is the tale of Irish-American boxer Jack Rooney. Contributors to the album included Kirsty MacColl, Dubliners legend Ronnie Drew, and fellow Pogues Andrew Rankin and Spider Stacy.
The CD version of The Tuner is limited to 250 copies and is available now on pre-order from Bandcamp.
Well, this is a surprise. As much as I loved the debut UltraBomb album, Time To Burn, I assumed it would be a one-off project, especially after the band’s problems with tour cancellations, COVID-19, and other serious illnesses. But no, UltraBomb is back with a second album, Dying To Smile, and a highly successful tour of the US East Coast opening for Me First and the Gimme Gimmes.
If you are unfamiliar with Ultrabomb, imagine Finny McConnell from The Mahones at his punk rock best, hooking up with the legendary Greg Norton of the even more legendary Hüsker Dü and Jamie Oliver, the best drummer in punk rock, to make a punk rock masterpiece. Well, don’t imagine anymore cos Ultrabomb is the real deal. Punk rock at its very best. And you read it here first.
Shite'n'Onions 