Tag Archives: The Lagan

Interview

Introducing THE LAGAN

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September 18, 2013

I recently caught up with rising stars of the Celtic Punk scene, Kingston UK’s The Lagan prior to their support slot to The Mahones at the Black Heart in Camden, London. What followed was a pleasant hour, holed up in The Brew Dog pub, talking music, life on the road, anti-fascism and pasties. Recently joined by a new drummer and the addition of an accordion player borrowed from south-coast folk-pirates, the Jack Ratts, the lads from The Lagan were on good form.

So, how did the good ship Lagan come to be launched?

We started out after spending St. Patricks Day in Boston about five years ago where Brendan (O’Prey, lead vocals and guitar) and Martin (Bell, bass) had gone to see the Dropkick Murphys. Here we bumped in to and ended up becoming good friends with the BibleCodeSundays, who were playing a support slot at the Murphys’ Paddy’s Day bash. Inspired and encouraged by the Biblecodes, we started to think that we could do something similar, once we escaped the pubs of Boston. The line in “Sunny Day in Southie” on the debut album sums up the trip. We spent about a week living in McGann’s pub…”McGann’s could be the death of us”.

Both Brendan and Martin had been in separate bands but we realized that what we really wanted to play was Celtic influenced punk, so we gathered like minded, hairy, hard drinking lads and The Lagan was born.

The new album is doing well and has had good reviews, is it all good?

Reception of the album has been good, although one reviewer did accused us of Islamophobia! We can only guess that this person mis-understood the sentiment behind the title of the debut album- Where’s Your Messiah Now?

Typically for these lads, the misunderstanding was sorted out over a beer and an apology was made.

“I have been told that my name is on Red Watch”, comments Brendan.

Red Watch is a website of the British far right which publishes the details of potential targets for fascists.

The racism thing is stupid. We are an Anti-Fa band. We are happy for people to see as anti-fascist. One guy who turned up at a gig with an EDL shirt (English Defense League: Far right group) was told to remove it or leave. He removed it! We don’t however want to be thought of as just another band playing rebel songs. We play punk songs inspired by an Irish musical tradition but we’ll also put a stop to shouts of “Up the IRA”. This has happened at a gig in central London but we aren’t pandering to that mentality either.

As well as Irish traditional music, we are also influenced by ska bands. A lot of the songs Brendan is currently writing sound more like Irish tinged street punk than straight forward trad. Someone recently described us as “Mumford and Sons if they were really angry”.

What’s the most frustrating thing about being in The Lagan?

Juggling full-time jobs in offices and on building sites with the demands of and the desire to tour and play live gigs as much as we can. Having to get up for work the next morning limits how far from home we can play gigs.

However, we have been talking to Mike Bermingham (founder of Rockin Irish tour promotions, http://rockinirish.com ) about the possibility of doing a No Sleep til St.Patrick’s Day tour in America.

The problem with getting over to America is it’s expensive…but we’ve all booked holidays from work, so something will happen. We’d love to get out there and play some of the big Irish festivals.

You all live in Kingston…is it as rough as you make it sound in the song “Same Shite Different Night”?

It can be! There is always somebody looking for trouble. The town is split in two…the pubs down by the river are nice. It’s not a war zone but it can be a bit edgy.

Any final words?

Yeah, we wanted to give a thank you and a shout out to Shite’n’Onions. It was the first Irish Punk blog we ever saw and it sets the standard for promoting the type of music we all love. It’s really good to feel that we can be part of something that awesome.

And the pasties?

Check out Martin’s reviews on twitter @ThePastyReview

“Where’s your Messiah now?”, the debut album on by The Lagan is out now on Banquet Records (www.banquetrecords.co.uk). You can find more Lagan related goodness at www.thelagan.co.uk and on facebook at https://www.facebook.com/TheLagan.

Neil Bates

September 2013

Review

The Lagan: Where’s Your Messiah Now?

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July 2, 2013

A few weeks prior to the launch of The Lagan’s debut album, lead singer, Brendan O’Prey recounted the following conversation with his mother on Facebook…

Mum: “So, what is your album called?” (She already knew)

Brendan: “Where’s Your Messiah Now?”

Mum: “..and you’re releasing that during Holy Week are you?”

Religion: it sits at the heart of many of the songs and bands we love so well in this scene of ours. My own introduction came by way of Shane McGowan in The Sick Bed of Cuchulain;

“You dropped a button in the plate, and spewed up in the church”.

Religion, drink, the experience of the Irish exile, rebellion, violence and the lure of the sea…the music of Celtic punk has it all and so does the new album by The Lagan. Add all of these influences to a driving rhythm section, soaring fiddle, whistles, electric guitar, bass and ukulele and you’ve got Celtic Punk gold. What sets The Lagan apart from many bands of a similar ilk are their ability to support top notch musicianship with excellent vocal harmonies.

The album opens with its title track; a driving punk-sea shanty that rapidly becomes a conversation between the Devil and the sailor facing death upon the waves. Songs about the sea and religion are woven throughout the rest of the album. The Good Ship Lagan re-works the children’s classic “What Shall We Do with a Drunken Sailor?” turning it into a tale of battling pirates and the desperate need for a drink. The band continues to muse on religion in the more traditional sounding “Work Away”. Stan’s fiddle is given more room to play in this track and once again the band’s ability to harmonise lifts The Lagan above the shouty slurring that can often characterise Celtic punk. This fact is further evidenced in the bands cover of trad classic, the Fields of Athenry. What could easily have become a by-the-numbers cover is instead the poignant tale of loss, rebellion and exile that the song was meant to be. It is no accident that The Lagan’s version of Fields is played before every London Irish match.

A personal favourite of mine is the incredibly catchy “Same Shite Different Night”. A tale of drinking and dodging fists on the streets of their native Kingston, this is sing-along Celtic punk at its best; brashy, cocky and with a little bit of that ‘Last Gang in Town’ mentality that goes back to the early days of punk.

Go check out The Lagan live and definitely buy their debut album; worth ten quid of anyone’s money. This is a great debut and hopefully the start of a long and illustrious career. Any band who names an album after a Simpsons quote is worth a second look!

Review by Neil Bates