Reviewed by Ian Phillips.
By Flogging Molly, Rise Records 2022.
Los Angeles Irish punk band Flogging Molly has been around since 1997 and they have built up a sizable world-wide following.
The band name comes from the venue they played every Monday night in L.A. Molly Malone’s.
They acknowledge that they flogged it to death as a performance venue.
Their first album Swagger (2000), brought them to the attention of an audience outside their home city and they followed it up with five more albums all of which have been well received.
In particular, their 2008 album Float was named as one of the most important releases of the year.
It was recorded in Ireland and reached number four on the Billboard Top 200 Chart.
They had considerable success again in 2009 when the follow up album, Drunken Lullabies went gold.
Flogging Molly has a new album, Anthem, coming out on the nineth of September and they have already released the lead single, These Hard Times Have Got Me Drinking, to great acclaim.
Now they’ve followed it up with their latest release The Croppy Boy ’98.
The Croppy Boy ’98 is an up-tempo, foot stomping ode to traditional Irish rebel songs, delivered with a lot of the intensity of The Pogues.
The band line-up consists of Dave King (lead vocals, acoustic guitar, bodhran), Bridget Regan (violin, tin whistle, vocals), Matt Hensley (accordion, concertina, vocals), Denis Casey (guitar vocals), Nathen Maxwell (bass, vocals), Spencer Swain (mandolin, banjo, guitar, vocals), and Mike Alonso (drums, percussion).
As you can tell from the instruments played there is a reliance on many of the traditional acoustic instruments of Irish music.
Their songs also cover many of the themes that we associate with Irish music: whiskey… Guinness… more whiskey… love… loss… fighting…Rebel Anthems etc.
I feel that I am allowed to peddle out this stereotype, being a board member of my local Irish Club, but even running through Flogging Molly’s album and song titles shows their predilections: Swagger, Drunken Lullabies, These Hard Times Have Got Me drinking, Life Begins And Ends But Never Fails, A Song of Liberty and so on.
I love what Flogging Molly do and it’s great to have something new from them.
It’s been five long years since their delightful last album, Life Is Good.
