I remember a couple years ago, when these guys played Irish-flavored gypsy punk, and went by the name McGnarley’s Rant. They had an album called “Fisherman’s Pride” that was pretty damn good and even stayed in my CD player for quite a while. Back then, the band constantly traveled around the Pacific Northwest from gig to gig in this big ass green schoolbus.

That was a long time ago. Obviously, the name is no longer McGnarley’s Rant, and the music is not as Irish influenced as it once was in the past, yet, it’s much more solid than it used to be. The latest effort, “Kamikaze Syllables” produced by Hugh McMillan (Spirit Of The West) is a fresh sounding album that draws from punk, to jazz, to psychedelic gypsy to power-folk. I really enjoyed this album, and to sum it up in one word, it’s original.

The band has come a long way since they played for the first time at a St.Paddy’s Day gig at Selkirk College three years ago. Nowadays, with over 500 gigs under their belt, they’ve been known to play from large scale festivals, to their own headlining gigs all across Europe. I wouldn’t be surprized to see the name poping up more often. If you’re wanting to hear something very different, yet original as hell, i’d have to recommend this album. It grows on you.

Favorite tracks include:

Instill
Kamikaze Syllables
Staring At The Stars
Right To Invade

December 2003

Review by Brian “Ranting Fool” Gillespie