REVIEW - THE HUMBLE HOOLIGANS "Breaking Through" (2014)

The Humble Hooligans "Breaking Through" Self-released
Release date: 28 February 2014
Running time: 21:00, 6 tracks

The Humble Hooligans hail from Long Beach. They are part of the So-Cal Celtic rock scene with the likes of Brick Top Blaggers and American Wake. The band have been around since 2004 in different incarnations from 2 members to 7 members. They have released a couple of live albums (2008 and 2012) and an Irish album (2013). “Breaking Through” is a 6 track EP featuring mostly original songs.

“Breaking Through” was released at the end of February 2014 and then the band’s  line-up was Troy Rulmyr (vocals, guitar), Bill Singer (vocals, mandolin), Brian Carroll (accordion), Heath Milton (vocals, bass), Helmut de la Cruz (Drums). Their friend Matt Maulding (Brick Top Blaggers) guested on the opening track “Drowsy Maggie/After Awhile”.

My fave numbers are “Come Back to Me” and “Never Met a Girl”. Curiously, live versions of both songs can be found on their 2012 live album “Live at the Auld Dubliner”. “Come Back to Me” has a kick-ass mandolin part reminiscent of the early Mahones albums and the accordion on “Never Met a Girl” is slightly different from the other tracks on the EP.

The set “Drowsy Maggie/After Awhile” is very interesting too, since the former is a tune and the latter is a song, but they match perfectly well. “Salty Girls” is a polka featuring amazing mandolin again, a backing accordion and clappings too.

Fans will be familiar with “Sweet Magdalene”, as The Humble Hooligans released a video for this song last September and it was posted here.

Finally, “Young Ned of The Hill” is a reggae infused cover of the Terry Woods and Ron Kavana’s classic from The Pogues “Peace & Love” album (remember that the “original” version of this song is featured on Kean Loach’s “Hidden Agenda” movie)

“Breaking Through” is delivered in a sleeve. The back side has a big picture of the band, their old logo and the track list.

The Humble Hooligans current line-up is Troy Rulmyr (vocals, guitar, mandolin, tenor banjo, tin whistle), Kevin Patrick Taylor (accordion), Eric Awesome (drums) and Eloy Palacios (bass). The band is working on a European tour. They have confirmed gigs in France, Scotland, Ireland, and Sweden, but they want/need more. If you haven't reached out to them and know a bar, venue or person to contact, please let them know, it will narrow their search exponentially.

Tracklist:

1 - Drowsy Maggie/After Awhile 5:05
2 - Come Back to Me 3:06
3 - Salty Girls 2:57
4 - Sweet Magdalene 3:09
5 - Never Met a Girl 2:54
6 - Young Ned of the Hill 3:46

Website
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Reverbnation
Soundcloud
Twitter
Interview at Celtic Life International

Click to buy:

Band's Store

Review by Kinksmarkham

REVIEW - ONE EYED REILLY "Barstools & Gravestones" (2015)

One Eyed Reilly "Barstools & Gravestones"
Release date: 14 February 2015
Running time: 55:00, 13 tracks

Following this write-up, there were no Celtic rock bands in Sacramento before 2008. Fortunately, the situation is quite different in 2015 and there is a burgeoning scene in Northern California. BlackEyed Dempseys debut album was reviewed here and The Pikeys were featured on one of our samplers. But there are other interesting bands,  for instance Whiskey and Stitches and One Eyed Reilly.

One Eyed Reilly is Rick Meagher (lead vocals and acoustic guitar), St. John Fraser (fiddle, background and harmony vocals), Adrian Baxmeyer (bass, background and harmony vocals), Aaron Hendel (electric guitar) and Nick Carvajal (drums, percussion and harmony vocals). Their 12 track debut album “Hoist Your Glass” was released in 2013 and their second album titled “Barstools & Gravestones” has been released last month.

“Barstools & Gravestones” consists of 9 tracks written by Rick and arranged by the band and 4 covers: The Keltic Cowboys classic song “Kiss My Irish Ass”, The Dreadnoughts “Victoria Square”, The Charlie Daniels Band “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” and the traditional ballad “Black Velvet Band”.

The title is really good, since most of the songs can be divided into “barstools” (“Beer in My Hand/Woman on My Mind”, “Trad Music Nightly") and “gravestones" (“Building a Tombstone”, “More than Six Feet”, “He Ended His Prayers with Amen”, “Celtic Cross” and “Nothing Left”). The lyrics are really top-notch and there are a lot of Irish themed numbers. But One Eyed Reilly are not a straightforward Celtic rock band, since there are a lot of American influences on their music. In fact they blend Irish and American music with an amazing fiddling and a great drummer

The songs that I’d pick up are “Beer in my Hand/Woman on my Mind” (an American flavoured number with a r’n’r twist in The Wages of Sin vein. Guest Hunter Merritt plays on banjo on this track), “More Than Six Feet” (a country song with superb lyrics featuring Pete Grant on pedal steel ), “Higher Hands” (the fast-paced number on the album) and their kick-ass rendition of “The Devil Went Down to Georgia”, on which St. John Fraser plays fiddle and sings.

Other remarkable songs would be “He Ended His Prayers with Amen” (a song with a sound reminiscent of British folk rock band Steeleye Span), “The Ballad of Thomas Alan” (a number to be filed together with Shane MacGowan and The Popes “Mexican Funeral in Paris". Brian Manchen plays accordion, Pete Grant pedal steel and Hunter Merritt banjo), “Trad Music Nightly” (a number about a pub crawl in Dingle featuring the tune “Farewell to Ireland") and the cover of “Kiss My Irish Ass” (guest Pete Grant plays Celtic banjo on this track. Some lyrics have been changed).
 

Regarding the packaging, "Barstool & Gravestones" is delivered in an eight panel digipack. The lyrics to all the self-penned songs are included, together with the line-up, the guests and the credits.

One Eyed Reilly “Barstools & Gravestones” is a solid album with a well-balanced track list and an attractive approach that usually cannot be found in the Celtic rock scene. Great CD.

Tracklist:

01 - Beer in My Hand / Woman On My Mind3:04
02 - Building a Tombstone  4:12
03 - More Than Six Feet 4:53
04 - He Ended His Prayers With Amen 3:31
05 - The Ballad of Thomas Alan 5:53
06 - Higher Hand 3:25
07 - Trad Music Nightly 4:43
08 - The Devil Went Down to Georgia 3:08
09 - Kiss My Irish Ass 3:55
10 - Celtic Cross 6:03
11 - Victory Square 3:28
12 - Black Velvet Band 3:41
13 - Nothin' Left 4:58    

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Reverbnation

Click to buy:

CDbaby (Physical CD and digital)

iTunes
Amazon

Review by Kinksmarkham

VIDEOS - ONE EYED REILLY "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" and "Higher Hand"

One Eyed Reilly official video for "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" and video for "Higher Hand" featured at Capital Public Radio Insight Studio Sessions. Both songs from their second album "Barstools & Gravestones". Stay tuned for a review!

One Eyed Reilly - The Devil Went Down to Georgia

One Eyed Reilly - Insight Studio Sessions: "Higher Hand"

VIDEO - THE SHAMS "Sick to Death"

The Shams video for "Sick to Death". The band from San Francisco are releasing their third album "One at All" soon.

The Shams - Sick To Death

VIDEO - THE HUMBLE HOOLIGANS "Sweet Magdalene"

"Break Through" is The Humble Hooligans first studio E.P.( special guest Matt Maulding on "Drowsy Maggie/After Awhile")They have released a video for the song "Sweet Magdalene".

Website

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Soundcloud

Twitter

 

Line-up:

Troy Rulmyr - Vocals/Guitar
Bill Singer - Vocals/Mandolin
Brian Carroll - Accordion
Heath Milton - Vocals/Bass Guitar
Helmut de la Cruz - Drums

 

The Humble Hooligans - Sweet Magdalene

 

REVIEW - THE McNAUGHSTYS Self-titled EP (2014)

The McNaughstys - Self-titled EP

Released date: March 8th, 2014
Running time: 10:41, 4 tracks

The McNaughstys (MK I) hailed from Baltimore. They released an EP titled "Scraped Knuckles & Natty Boh's" and made a name for themselves at the Maryland scene with their Irish brand punk rock. In 2013 front man Shawn Callender moved to Los Angeles for a job in a music studio. Wherever he played the songs from that EP, his friends and acquaintances told him that they were a blast. So Shawn had to found new bandmates to re-record his material and The McNaughstys MK II were born.

The current line-up of The McNaughstys consists of Shan Callender (lead vocals, guitar), Max Gillespie (pipes, vocals), Troy Tucker (drums), Seth Hansen (fiddle, vocals) and Alexei Acosta (bass, vocals). The EP has 4 tracks and, after listening to them, one can’t wait for more. Two pipes standards have been included; however, this is not a full-album, but a first contact of the band with the LA Celtic punk audience. Besides, “Dundalk the Brave” is not exactly a “Scotland the Brave” cover, but a song with different lyrics based on the Scottish classic tune. If Green Day had decided to record a Celtic punk song  for their "Dookie" album, it would have sounded like The McNaughstys “Dundalk the Brave”.

On the next number the band shifts to the pirate punk end and they do it pretty well: "The Ship's Going Down". Track number 3, “Sheys Rebellion”,  is my favourite song on the EP, a kick-ass rocking number based on guitar and banjo.

The other standard on the EP is “Amazing Grace” and once again the song gets The McNaughstys brilliant treatment.

Regarding the packaging, The McNaughstys self-titled EP is delivered in a jewel case.

I recommend you to go to YouTube and watch The McNaughstys’ recent  live videos. Maybe the sound quality is not perfect, but you’ll see that this whiskey fueled bagpipes outfit kicks ass. Remember that most of The McNaughstys songs are available for free at Reverbnation, together with the lyrics for every single song. Grab a beer  (A Natty Boh if possible) and enjoy The McNaughstys EP.


Tracklist:

1 - Dundalk the Brave 3:04
2 - The Ship's Going Down 2:30
3 - Sheys Rebellion 2:05
4 - Amazing Grace 3:05

Reverbnation
Facebook
Band's Soundcloud
Drummer's Soundcloud
Twitter
Interview at Sound the Groove
Interview at PopVulture Entertainment

 

 

Previous EP review
Podcast featuring a song from their previous EP (go to 21:44)

 

Send a PM to the band's Facebook account to buy the CD.

Review by Kinksmarkham

REVIEW - McCRAE'S BATTALION "Armistice Day"

McCraes Battalion "Armistice Day" Scirishican Publishing
Release date: 2 January 2014
Running time: 39:00, 9 tracks

McCrae’s Battalion is a Celtic rock band from San Francisco. The name of the band is that of a Scottish battalion raised from volunteers in 1914 (Click HERE for more info). One could say that this four piece band  is a rara avis. They have a Scottish heritage, but the bagpipes are not featured on their songs. Besides, they are not based in Scotland, but in California.

Fraser McGill (lead vocals, guitars, banjo, harmonica), Kristen Vandling (fiddle, mandolin, bouzouki, vocals), Colin Hall (bass, guitar, vocals) and Drew Mayo (drums, percussion, vocals) have recorded 9 songs together with guest musicians Daíthí O’Keefe on tin whistle and Jim Wasco on keyboards.

The band follows two different paths on the album. Some numbers could be defined as folk-rock, with a keyboards and/or harmonica sound: “Skara Brae”, “The Only One”, “No One Goes”... IMHO, the other approach is more appealing, since McCrae’s Battalion are able to create  a distinctive sound based on fiddle, banjo, the odd tin whistle and an interesting style of playing bass and drums.  The catchiest song could be “Billy McConnell”. The opening track “March of the Cameron Men” has a similar structure, but I would pick up “Wind That Shakes the Barley” as best song on the album, together with “Larimer Street” (lyrics by Utah Phillips). Another outstanding number is “Gator Waltz”.

The album digipack packaging has a great artwork and all the credits and information are provided. There is no booklet with lyrics, but the link to their website lyrics page is clearly mentioned.


Tracklist:

1 - March of the Cameron Men 02:46
2 - The Only One 06:33
3 - Larimer Street 04:00
4 - Acacia McCrae 04:16
5 - Wind That Shakes The Barley 04:44
6 - Gator Waltz 04:16
7 - No One Goes 04:36
8 - Billy McConnell 03:38
9 - Skara Brae 04:07

Website
Facebook

Click to buy:

Band's store
CDbaby
Amazon

Review by Kinksmarkham

TEMPEST 25th ANNIVERSARY CD AND TOUR

(Info from the band's mailing list)

TEMPEST ==> 25th Anniversary Spring Tour!

Dear Friends,

Here's a festive note to launch our Annual Spring Tour of the Midwest & East Coast. This is our 25th Anniversary Tour, so get your tickets and reservations early – you'll want to be part of the fun!

The brand new limited edition Tour T-Shirt, and our fabulous new CD ‘The 25th Anniversary Concert’ will be available at all the upcoming shows.
 

The CD is also available by mail order through our web site,
 

http://www.tempestmusic.com/html/cdorder.html

Bursting with life and energy, the recording captures Tempest in full flight at The 25th Anniversary Concert! Old favorites alongside brand new material, we dedicate this CD to all the fans who have faithfully supported us or over a quarter of a century.

You can follow our 25th Anniversary Tour on Facebook:

www.facebook.com/TempestCelticRock

Join us there, and we promise up-to-date travel stories, pictures and video clips from life on the road.

It’s going to be a wonderful Spring.
See you soon!

...::: TEMPEST | 2014 Tour Dates :::...
East Coast, Midwest & West Coast Shows

Fri. Apr. 4 – Racine, WI
McAULIFFE’S
https://www.facebook.com/McAuliffesPub
3700 Meachem Rd. 9:30pm (262) 554-9695

Sat. Apr. 5 – Downers Grove, IL
BALLYDOYLE
http://www.ballydoylepub.com
5157 Main St. 9pm (630) 969-0600

Sun. Apr. 6 – Benton Harbor, MI
THE LIVERY
http://www.liverybrew.com
190 5th St. *Early show 7pm (269) 925-8760

Thu. Apr. 10 – Rochester, NY
WRUR 88.5fm http://www.wrur.org
Live Radio Broadcast ~ Tune in or listen on line!
Tempest will be on the air around 11am, East Coast time

Thu. Apr. 10 – Rochester, NY
Lovin’ Cup
http://www.lovincup.com
300 Park Point Dr. 8pm (585) 292-9940

Fri. Apr. 11 – Cumberland, RI
BLACKSTONE RIVER THEATRE
http://www.riverfolk.org 

549 Broad St. 8pm, All Ages (401) 725-9272

Sat. Apr. 12 – New Hope, PA
THE NEW HOPE WINERY
http://www.newhopewinery.com
6123 Lower York Rd. 8pm (215) 794-2331

Sun. Apr. 13 – Newark, DE
TERRAPIN WOODS HOUSE CONCERT
*Early show 5pm, All Ages (302) 521-0632
Call or email for ticket info and directions
margaretannbrown@comcast.net

Tue. Apr. 15 – Pittsburgh, PA
HAMBONE’S
http://www.hambonespittsburgh.com
4207 Butler St.
*Early Dinner Show, doors at 6pm (412) 681-4318
With Special Guests Chuck Owston & Gypsy Ribbon, and Fizgig

Wed. Apr. 16 – Cleveland, OH
THE WINCHESTER MUSIC HALL
http://www.thewinchester.net
12112 Madison Ave. 8pm (216) 226-5681
With Special Guests Blackmore’s Night Tribute Crystal Ball

Thu. Apr. 17 – Columbus, OH
BYRNES PUB
http://www.byrnespub.com
1248 West 3rd Ave. 9pm (614) 487-8140

Fri. Apr. 18 – Dayton, OH
CANAL PUBLIC HOUSE
http://www.canalpublichouse.com
with very special guests Lou Lala & The Elder Beer Men
308 East 1st St. 8pm (937) 461-9343

Fri. Apr. 19 – St. Louis, MO
FOCALPOINT THEATRE
http://www.thefocalpoint.org
2720 Sutton Ave, 8pm, All Ages (314) 781-4200

Sat. May 3 – Fresno, CA
FULL CIRCLE BREWING COMPANY
http://www.fullcirclebrewing.com
620 F St. 8pm (559) 264-6323

Fri. May 9 – Minden, NV
CVIC HALL
http://www.cvartscouncil.com
5th and Esmeralda St. 7pm (775) 782-8207

Sat. May 10 – Davis, CA
WHOLE EARTH FESTIVAL
http://wef.ucdavis.edu
University of California, Davis Campus
260 South Silo (530) 752-2569

Sat. May 17 – Laytonville, CA
BOOMER’S SALOON
http://www.boomerssaloon.com
45020 N. Highway 101 9:30 pm (707) 984-6534

May 23, 24 – St. Charles, MO
MISSOURI RIVER IRISH FEST
http://www.moriveririshfest.com
Frontier Park, 8pm each night

THE BLACK SHAMROCKS NEED A FIDDLER/MANDOLIN PLAYER

The band from Los Angeles, CA The Black Shamrocks are looking for a fiddler/mandolin player.:
 

"We would love to find someone who played fiddle and mandolin (common that someone might play both as they are the same tuning), or mandolin and banjo, no need to sing, but if they do, and if they write, so much the better.  And with a resume - a history of touring, and recording (hopefully!), someone with a lot of talent (hopefully!!), who would want to play with a band of veteran, world class musicians, and join a band that's ready to break out, here in Los Angeles.  The Black Shamrocks are in need of a pro level musician, a utility player, a multi-instrumentalist!"


The Black Shamrocks e-mail

BAND OF THE MONTH - O'CRAVEN

O'Craven hail from San José/Santa Clara, CA. They are the band of January 2014 and the Reverbnation widget will be at the top on the right till the end of the month. Yes, we have moved the Band of the Month form the left side to the right side on the new e-zine layout.

http://www.reverbnation.com/ocraven
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Ocraven/35232032485

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