Review

Hugh Morrison: Scotland is Free

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September 13, 2014

If the Scottish independence movement had half the enthusiasm of exiled Scot, Hugh Morrison, then the upcoming vote for independence would be a shoe in right now. As we stand a week or so out from the vote its about 50/50 (and I predict a no vote as the pro-union side will hammer home on the economic cost of Scottish independence and fear of economic hardship, though if they continue to say stooopid stuff about needing a passport to enter England and anti-Scots sentiments continue to run in the press this could be a divorce and a nasty one).

If you’re not familiar with Hugh, when he’s not being a pro-independence balladeer he is the front man of Texas based Celtic-rock outfit MURDER THE STOUT and an auxiliary STREET DOG who adds Celtic instrumentation to both their tours and albums.

Scotland is Free is twelve tracks of Celtic-folk-rock, 5.5 tracks original and 5.5 tracks traditional and a cover of Alistair Hulett ‘s master piece, Among Proddy Dogs And Papes.

Highlights include:

Scotland is Free, a call for Scottish independence, Irish unity and Welsh freedom – Crap! If that happens who will run England and keep’em under check.

The a fore mentioned , Among Proddy Dogs And Papes, 300 years of internal Scottish conflict condensed into a 3 minute musical master piece. Honestly you can get more insight into Scotland in this song then if you took an degree course in Scottish studies – what did Bruce Springsteen say about learning more from a three minute record then you could ever learn in school

Fair Flower of Northumberland, a traditional number from the Scottish boarders a’bout an outlaw who elopes with the local lords daughter and escapes a hanging.

Willie’s Gone To Melville Castle, another traditional Scottish track made famous by The Corries (Scotland’s Clancy Brothers) with a familiar melody that some of you may recognized from Mr MacGowans work.

A fine collection indeed and no matter what way the vote goes we’ll still have this very fine collection of Scots folk and folk-rock.

Review

Auld Corn Brigade: Rebels Till The End

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September 4, 2014

More ruckus Celtic-punk from one of my favorite Teutonic purveyors of the genre on their second full length release, Rebels Till The End. No frills, no BS, loud and rowdy. Very Dropkick Murphys in places though with mostly female lead vocals and German accents.

Highlights include:

1605
Rebel Are We
and a great version of South Australia

Enjoy.

Review

Whiskey of the Damned: Monsters are Real

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August 6, 2014

Whiskey of the Damned are a Wisconsin based Celtic-punk outfit fronted by Irishman Eoin McCarthy. Not sure how an Irish man could end up in Wisconsin other than getting lost on the way to Chicago but Eoin’s bio has it that he has a long musical history staring playing at 9 with his farther Irish singer Finbar McCarthy and even getting guitar lessons along the line from Van Morrison – no mention of being lost though.

Now the first thing that strikes me about the Monsters are Real album is the band photo on the back, the band are in make-up, horror punk Misfits meets Alice Cooper make up. I’m not sure if Whiskey of the Damned are starting a new genre Celtic-Horror-Punk or if the face paint is just a play on the album name. Kind of hoping that it’s for real (though poking around the web I only see live pictures sans the grease paint).

It took me a few spins to start getting into Monsters are Real, initially I heard fast Celtic punk that reminds me of Flogging Molly meeting Lexington Field – fast and trashy but with a fiddle that says more Mid-West then West Cork. Then after those initial spins I notice something I should have picked up on the first spin that being the sheer power and quality of McCarthy’s voice, boy can this guy sing – power, clarity and passion like you wouldn’t believe. I’ll go out on a limb and say McCarthy has the finest voice in Celtic-punk (and that includes Dave King), maybe Van the Moan threw in a few vocal lessons to boot. Of course a good voice won’t do it alone, the band are tight as f#*k, loud and fast and the songs first class and while still fast and trashy

A real monster of an album

Review

Aeron’s Wake: Aeron’s Wake

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July 21, 2014

Aeron’s Wake from Windsor, Ontario play what they describe as instrumental Celtic metal. Now, I’ll apologize upfront for not being up-to-date on the metal scene and who’s hot or not and for maybe messing some obvious comparisons. Listening to the Aeron’s Wake five track debut EP I hear 80’s metal – the NWOBHM and especially Diamond Head and to a lesser extent Iron Maiden (the orchestration that Maiden do so well) and maybe even early Metallica or a less trashy Skyclad. The fiddle of default front man Quinn Strahl is out front and arguably does the role that the lead guitar would do in a traditional metal band sitting on top of the riffing and trashing of band co-founder and guitarist Spencer Scurr. I’ve spun the EP a whole bunch of time over the last couple of days and I keep thinking the music would be so cool as a sound track. I can just picture the scene in the movie – scared looking Roman solders surveying the distance beyond their defensive walls on some northern frontier of the empire, just out of their sight hordes of blue painted Pictish tribes men and then the attack and slaughter of the intruders. You get my drift.

Aeron’s Wake works well as an EP though a full-length instrumental only album might be trying on the casual listener and in some regard the band may be limiting their potential audience without a vocalist but then again in the conservative world of metal just having a fiddle player is limiting so more power to ’em!

Review

Bastard Bearded Irishmen: Rise of the Bastard

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July 15, 2014

I’ll give The Pittsburgh-based Bastard Bearded Irishmen high marks just for the band moniker. I’ll also give them high marks for those thick silky beards each has member has cultivated – all six of them – even ZZ Top couldn’t manage a full band of hairy faces and I’m sure the legendary Boston based bearded bastard Paddy Keys of The Larkin Brigade is a smidgen jealous of these beards.

And beyond the facial hair?

Rise of the Bastard is the Bastard Bearded Irishmen’s second full length release following up on their 2011 eponymous debut. Fifteen tracks in total, twelve original and 3 covers (All For Me Grog, Tell me Ma and Three Drunken Maidens being the obligatory covers). All Fifteen pretty much touch on our favorite clichés – Booze, Biddies and Bastards. The music has a distinct Flogging Molly influence though fasted and sometime almost skull rattling faster. The guitars are fast (obviously) and trashy and occasionally metallic though the fiddle, mandolin and banjo always manage to keep up. At time I’m also reminded of the sound and good times drinking attitude of the original Jersey Bhoy’s The Skels. Another influence I hear is some Eastern European / Gypsy (on Mama) but hey they toured with Gogol Bordello.

Highlights for me include: –

Land of the Free, Bartender’s Friend and Whiskey Rum, Bourbon, Beer.

A nice find.

Review

Headsticks: Muster

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July 10, 2014

While UK band Headsticks are fairly new, forming late in the summer of 2012, their roots are traced back to Shite’n’Onions fav’s, JUGOPUNCH (who contributed Blackheart to the Shite’n’Onions Vol. 2 CD) and their successors THE CLAY FACES as well as fellow Midlands Celtic-punks TOWER STRUCK DOWN.

Muster is much more English-folk-punk sounding then how I remember the Irish in exile Jugopunch to sound and when I say English I hear influences by New Model Army (some), The Levellers (a little) and Billy Bragg (a lot). Gritty, powerful folk punk and just when it gets too English they bring it back home to Achill Island (Ghost). Real nice to hear COLD originally done by Jugopunch again – great song. Great stuff indeed.

Review

Barleyjuice: This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things

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July 7, 2014

Funny enough I’ve heard the phrase “This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things” before and if memory serves me correct the statement was aimed in my direction. In this case “This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things” is the 6th full length by longtime Philadelphia Celtic rock stalwarts Barleyjuice. Barleyjuice are festival favorites on the East Cost with their brand of ruckus Celtic-rock (not punk). This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things is a fine example of Barlyjuice’s stick – old skool rock’n’roll with a big nod to the 1970s mixed with the Irish folk traditions of the Dubliners and Clancy Brothers and a good old dose of American folk and county all washed down with a triple shot of Irish whiskey.

Highlights include: –

St. Patrick’s Day, a riotous adventure in NYC on Paddy’s Day.

3 Sheets To The Wind 1&2 – Good ‘ol sailing song and drinking songs

Whiskey and Weed – Set to the melody Over the Sea to Skye, much more of a love song then the title would imply

Catholic Guilt – reminsient of old Flogging Molly meets rock’a’billy

Review

The Pokes: Mayday

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June 1, 2014

Mayday is the fourth album by Berlin based Pokes as they continue on in their quest to be the worlds greatest Polka-punk band. Loads of growling vocals and heavy on the accordion (polka style). Mayday is a nice balance of attitude, humor and strong German beer. Bitch-Cow-Darling must be a contender for love song of the year. In all a very enjoyable album. God Save the Pokes, Indeed!

Review

The BiblecodeSundays: Live Near Abbey Road (Park Royal)

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May 29, 2014

London’s BibleCodeSundays have been busy bhoys as of recent with late last years new studio album, New Hazardous Design and now The BibleCode Sundays – live near Abbey Road (Park Royal). As a band that play the Irish circuit in London they have always included covers in their set and this album is a response to requests to record and release those covers. As you see from the track listing the covers are mainstream but off beat for an Irish band and each track is given the BibleCode’s fiddle and accordion twist.

Highlights include Thin Lizzy’s Dancing in the Moonlight (great guitar and a funky bass as it should be), Step Step Beyond, the Madness classic given the Ceili treatment and a stunning version of Time After Time (and honestly this was so stuck in my brain and I couldn’t remember who did that original that I needed to google it – Cindy friggn’ Lauper – a great song/version all the same).

There are 13 covers in all and include:

Babe O”Reilly (The Who)
Fisherman’s Blues (The Waterboys)
Galway Girl (Steve Earle)
Folsom Prison Blues (Johnny Clash)
Town Called Malice (The Jam)
Babylon
Live Forever
Pat’s Reels
My Girl
Waggon Wheel

Review

Bodh’aktan: Against Winds and Tides

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May 26, 2014

If I was to describe Bodh’aktan based to the cover of their English language debut Against Winds and Tides, I would liken them to a biker gang taking over an Irish pub. Listening to Bodh’aktan that description isn’t too far off base. Quebec based Bodh’aktan have a huge rock foundation (Sabbath & Voivod tee’s on the cover), layered on with big, all-together, though melodic gang vocals and on top of that a wall of trad instruments – bagpipes, tin whistles, banjo, fiddle, bodhran to name a few.

Against Winds and Tides is basically the bands debut Au diable les remords re-recorded with English language vocals and lyrics (Au diable les remords was in French) and four new tracks added for good measure. Against Winds and Tides is a really strong album with as previously mentioned a huge rock sound married to Celtic, Breton and Maritime traditions. While every track on the album is excellent I would highlight “Sink Another” a drinking classic, the party “Dansez (Dance Hey!)” where Bodh’aktan are joined by Alan Doyle of Great Big Sea and “The Ballad of Jonathan Lewis” a Dirty Glass style girl/guy duet that sucks you in as a ballad but end like a fistfight. A special highlight is the cover of RAtM’s “Killing in the Name” where the fiddles replace guitar when none of the power of the original is diluted.

Potato-eating, Whiskey-drinking, Bog-trotting, CELTIC PUNK ROCK