Celtic Punk? The term was coined because and for The Pogues at the beginning of the 80s and have its origin in the 1960s and 1970s folk rock musicians who played electric folk and Celtic rock in Ireland and Scotland, as well as in more traditional Celtic folk bands such as The Dubliners.
The story says that The Pogues were formed when MacGowan (vocals), Peter “Spider” Stacy (tin whistle), and Jem Finer (banjo) were together in an occasional band called The Millwall Chainsaws in the late 1970s after MacGowan and Stacy met in the toilets at a Ramones gig at The Roundhouse in 1977. MacGowan was already with The Nips, though when they broke up in 1980 he concentrated a bit more on Stacy’s Millwall Chainsaws who changed their name to The New Republicans. In 1982 they rename the band into Pogue Mahone. They came to the attention of the media and Stiff Records when they opened for The Clash on their 1984 tour. Shortening their name to “The Pogues” due to BBC censorship following complaints from Gaelic speakers in Scotland, they released their first album “Red Roses for Me” on Stiff that October.
“Rum Sodomy & the Lash” is the second studio album by The Pogues and it has often made its way on to lists of greatest albums. In 2000 Q magazine placed it at number 93 in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever. In 2003, the album was ranked number 445 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. Pitchfork Media named it the 67th best album of the 1980s.
Released sometimes in mid/late August – eventually on 26 😀 – 1985, “Rum Sodomy & the Lash” is a worthwhile listen. Read more The Pogues – Rum Sodomy & the Lash (1985)
punk
Red Hot Chili Peppers – Mother’s Milk (1989)
Between naked punks with only socks on their cocks and (funk) rock superstars with “Blood Sugar Sex Magik”, the transitional album was this “Mother’s Milk” from 1989, released on 16th August 22 years ago. Just as curiosity, “Freaky Styley”, their second album was released also on 16th August, but four years earlier, in 1985.
Kiedis, Frusciante, Flea and Smith delivered a nervous, high energy material where funk and punk collided into groovy and pulsing music. “Mother’s Milk” also contains guitarist Hillel Slovak last recording, a cover version of The Jimi Hendrix Experience song “Fire”. Slovak died on June 25, 1988 due to a heroin overdose. The record also contains another cover, Stevie Wonder’s “Higher Ground”.
“Higher Ground”, “Knock Me Down”, “Taste the Pain” and “Pretty Little Ditty” are the more funky – and radio-friendly tracks – while “Magic Johnson”, “Stone Cold Bush”, “Fire” and “Punk Rock Classic” were kept the energy and rawness of punk and the other songs were blendings of both direction.
Read more Red Hot Chili Peppers – Mother’s Milk (1989)
Media Blitz – A Voice Of Our Own (2011)
It’s been eight years since Wattie Buchan and his buddies released their eighth studio album, “Fuck the System” and I actually miss a little bit of anarchy and I miss The Exploited quite a lot. I love their raging Punk since the mid 80s.
And this phrase: “Riot starting, bouncer bashing, cop baiting, hotel trashing, foul talking, noise making, chaos causing, venue wrecking, government hating, rule breaking, piss taking, unrelenting, punk rocking. Clearly we’re not talking about Pepsi adverts here!” (excerpt from The Exploited History page) somehow quite fits right here as I’m listing Media Blitz, a quartet from Orange County, California, formed by Jason Schwartz – vocals, Eddie Oropeza – guitar, Jeff Salisbury – drums and Ryan Blank – bass.
Read more Media Blitz – A Voice Of Our Own (2011)
Bomb The Music Industry! – Vacation (2011)
Bomb the Music Industry!’s sixth full-length sounds just like a fun summer album and I swear, I could kill for a vacation!
BTMI! probably have the most devoted fan base in the US. They do everything with enthusiasm and electrifying energy, while the “secret” of their success is the fun, intimate, and personal approach. From fun ska-punk to pop punk there’s maybe not a far way, BTMI! managed to stay between and delivered 13 new tracks of conscious feel good. And I’m envious for this while I’m admiring them for this. This is love/hate. Some people love them for their disregard for conventions, for their stupid lyrics, their shouted, silly gang vocals and sloppy riffs, others hate them for all of this. I’m caught between. Read more Bomb The Music Industry! – Vacation (2011)
Against Me! – Black Crosses (2011)
Punk Rock anybody?
“Total Clarity” is a collection of demos and unreleased songs from the 2005’s “Searching for a Former Clarity” recording sessions, released through Fat Wreck Chords, label which also released “The Original Cowboy”, an album of demos from the band’s 2003 album “Against Me! as the Eternal Cowboy”, in 2009.
Following the band’s decision to create their own record label, they decided to re-issue their fifth full-length album, “White Crosses”. The re-issue contains a second disc titled “Black Crosses”, a collection of demos from 2009 and acoustic sessions from 2010, serving as an inaugural release for their newly launched record label, Total Treble Music.
One one hand we’ve got a lot of releases and that’s nice, but it also smells like some record labels try to cash-in, don’t matter what. Zappa were joking about this – we’re only in it for the money – but too many jerks and dickheads are actually really don’t give a shit about music anymore…
On the other hand, I really enjoy listening demo collections, it shows sometimes a different face of the band, the sound mainly are not so polished, the edges are not rounded by (over) production and mainly on the demos we can actually hear what the band had in their mind and not what the record label, some producer and their manager expect from them. Read more Against Me! – Black Crosses (2011)
Rotting Out – Street Prowl (2011)
Fast and furious. 6131 Records promised “energetic, fast paced hardcore in the vein of Striking Distance and Black Flag” and it’s reminds me of Billy Milano’s M.O.D. (Method of Destruction) with less thrash infusion, but still on the same crossover/hardcore punk direction. And it’s something here also from the unfamous Billy’s humor, one of their best song being “Laugh Now, Die Later”. Walter, Carlos, Tank, Jorge and Ben comes from Los Angeles, California and their hardcore punk is fast as it is possible, still melodious, two decades ago for sure I would mosh out my ass on it. This high-energy, pumping, straight and powerful approach has its indisputable charm and live, down at the club, there’s nothing proper than this loud and angry, spitting right in your face approach. Read more Rotting Out – Street Prowl (2011)
Iggy Pop – Roadkill Rising, The Bootleg Collection 1977-2009 (2011)
While we’re all waiting for “Angle of the Dangle”, issuing four discs of live recordings and to summarize a career as Iggy Pop’s, it makes sense and we’re talking about a career for 40-plus years. “Préliminaires” was marked obviously by the death of Ron Asheton, Iggy took on a path down to blues with some jazz overtones and it was the less rock-oriented album he ever made, listening now into this raw sounding bootleg, reminds us of who Iggy actually is and why – most of us – love him since the 70s. And well, on the first CD features material from Pop’s legendary 1977 tour with Bowie on keyboards and the Thin White Duke, it is quite something even if the recordings are not surgically clean. And we also have the Stooges reunion gigs from 2003, the best proof that nobody else can play those songs like the guys who wrote them. Read more Iggy Pop – Roadkill Rising, The Bootleg Collection 1977-2009 (2011)
Pour Habit – Got Your Back (2011)
With their hybrid of technical punk and metal, Pour Habit are the right answer for those so-called new punk bands playing happy pop. Maybe heavy riffing won’t get you on the top of the Billboard but punk it’s not – and it shouldn’t be – about this.
Chuck Green – vocals, Eric Walsh – guitar/vocals, Matt Hawks – guitar, Steve Williams – bass/vocals and Colin Walsh – drums delivering fast, furious, but still melodic and catch punk rock with the heaviness and technicality of a speed metal band. Following and maintaining the tradition of Bad Brains and Suicidal Tendencies, Pour Habit are one of the most intense and explosive punk rock acts of the moment.
After self releasing their debut effort “Suiticide” in 2007, Fat Mike bring them in the court of Fat Wreck Chords and re-released the album in 2009. Read more Pour Habit – Got Your Back (2011)
Jello Biafra and tGSoM – Enhanced Methods Of Questioning (2011)
At the age of 52, Mr. Biafra is still fresh and biting while a bunch of kids calling them self “punks” still can’t have a hard-on.
In the twenty or so years since Dead Kennedys officially disbanded, Jello Biafra has made a career of spoken word gigs interspersed with musical collaborations, recording projects and touring with Melvins, No Means No, DOA, Mojo Nixon and Lard (with Ministry’s Al Jorgensen) among others have kept his “hardcore as political weapon” message sharp, but the lack of his own band made these collaborations usually short-lived and left Biafra with a ton of songs that had never seen the light of day. Inspired by Iggy Pop’s 60th birthday gig at the Warfield in San Francisco, Biafra laid plans for his own 50th birthday party and finally decided it was time to start a band of his own. Ten years before he had been attempting the same thing with the likes of guitarist Ralph Spight (Victims Family, Freak Accident, Hellworms) and drummer Jon Weiss (Sharkbait, Horsey). They had also previously worked with bassist Billy Gould (Faith No More) who was tapped for the new group. After cramming rehearsal for a month the four piece band known as Jello Biafra and the Axis Of Merry Evildoers took the stage in a sold-out two night stand at San Francisco’s Great American Music Hall and subsequently spent the next 9 months in rehearsal for an album project. Before entering the studio guitarist Kimo Ball (Freak Accident, Carneyball Johnson, Mol Triffid, Griddle) was recruited. The quintet now known as Jello Biafra and The Guantanamo School of Medicine began recording tracks for the upcoming album “The Audacity Of Hype” slated for release in October 2009. Read more Jello Biafra and tGSoM – Enhanced Methods Of Questioning (2011)
Flogging Molly – Speed of Darkness (2011)
“We drink, we fight, we puke, we die…” In very few words, this is the essence of Celtic Punk. It might be funny once, it might be cool twice, but third time it’s boring and forth time irritating. “Revolution” talking about hot topics like loosing job, just like “Don’t Shut ‘Em Down”, it seems the global crises sneaked into the hearts of everybody, even into the life of the people from the ever-shining LA.
Formed in 1997 in Los Angeles, California, Flogging Molly is a seven-piece Irish-American band merging Punk Rock with Celtic Punk. Prior to forming Flogging Molly, Dublin-born Dave King was the vocalist for heavy metal band Fastway featuring guitarist “Fast” Eddie Clarke of Motörhead and bassist Pete Way of UFO in the early to mid ’80s. In the footsteps of The Dubliners and The Pogues, Flogging Molly fifth studio album keeps the tradition alive. Read more Flogging Molly – Speed of Darkness (2011)
