December 2, 2003

Once in a while a band slips through the cracks and I’m sorry to say that The Kidney Stones debut album, Raise ‘Em Up, fell through the cracks. They sent it and I put it in the “to listen to” pile then forgot ’bout it until recently when Tales & Anecdotes For The Slightly Deranged arrived in the PO box. So outta guilt I put them to the top of the “listen to next” pile though I wasn’t expecting much beyond bog-standard Celtic-punk.

Well?

Bhoy was I wrongs!

Yeah it’s Celtic punk but it’s the Irish Rover and it’s been hijacked by crew of Gypsy pirates from the port of New Orleans and they’ve raised the Jolly Rodger . Reminiscent at time of The Dolomites at their evil circus best. One of the highlights of the year.

November 14, 2010

The Kidney Stones are a Celtic/pirate punk band from Orlando, Florida and Raise ‘Em Up their debut (?) release. Very punky, with a bucket of blood worth of accordion to give a sea shanty/maritime grove (or should that be wave?). That, along the with the fearsome, growling, gruff Captains vocals of Casey O’Donnell backed up with his pirate chorus that would make some landlubbers walk the plank voluntary. Fans of pirate punk will love and even if you’ve no sea legs I’d recommend just so you could have a song titled “Whiskey, Vomit and Piss” in your collection – quite possibly the greatest song title of all time.