This is the second album by the KILMAINE SAINTS who are an offshoot of the Harrisburg Pipe & Drum band. They play Bagpipe led Irish Republican drunken punk rock that you probably need to be reasonably drunk to get the full effect of. They do sound like they would be great fun live as long as you'e not easily offended by Rebel songs.
Opening the album with the sound of bagpipes that lead into a military two step called Quick March certainly grabs the attention. I was so baffled by the bagpipe punk aspect I asked my Facebook friends about it and got a surprising response that was almost totally positive about the bagpipes' role in Punk rock, not to mention a whole list of punk bands that use them. That and support for bagpipes in punk from both Marty Thau and Moe Tucker can't be a bad thing.
Battle Cry does what you'd expect a song with that title to do with some great fiddly dee playing to go along with it. Haul Away Joe is one of those old songs that I know I've heard before but couldn't tell you who by but it would certainly get some of my local pub singing along to it in this sort of afternoon session version. Go On Home British Soldiers is another traditional song that nails the band's colours to the flag and then some and of course asks the question of people occupied all over the globe: Why are you here in our country? Given the never ending troubles in Northern Ireland I understand and agree the English army would be better off back in England. Yes Kilmaine is in Southern Ireland, but the questions of the British Army's role in Northern Ireland affects everyone.
When we Come To Town also has some strong sentiments to it and is played at a ferocious pace like an out of control reel. Unlike the much slower and more thoughtful Fields of Athenry which is a traditional song I'm not familiar with but that seems to be telling another sad tale of loss in (yup) the fields of Athenry.
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Anyone who hears how they play the Swallowtail Jug and doesn't want to dance has no life left in them at all it just makes me want to get up and dance. With Regrets keeps up the pace and has a good list of the things the singer regrets, not all of them easy to get over but then that is how life treats you.
The Whiskey's Calling is the best song on the album for me. It's a bit slower than most of them and a great drinking song to encourage you to raise a pint to those who are here and to those that have fallen too!! The rest of the album slips by in a similar fashion, mixing the fast and slow songs and raising a toast to the Brave Yankee Boys will be aceptable in some places and somewhat more dangerous elsewhere. But I'll leave that to your discretion.
If you like Irish punk reels then you'll totally love the Kilmaine Saints, so go on and raise a glass or two with them.
Kilmaine Saints online
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