Flogging Molly

Flogging Molly

Flogging Molly is an Irish American celtic punk band formed in Los Angeles in 1997. The group is active from 1997 to the present and is associated with celtic punk, folk punk, folk rock, punk and punk rock. It is signed to SideOneDummy Records and also releases material through its own label, Borstal Beat Records.

Line-up

The band’s core line-up includes Dave King, Bridget Regan, Dennis Casey, Matt Hensley, Nathen Maxwell, Bob Schmidt and Mike Alonso. King sings and plays guitar, banjo and bodhrán. Regan plays fiddle and uillean pipes and also sings. Casey plays guitar and sings, Hensley plays accordion and concertina, Maxwell plays bass and sings, Schmidt plays mandolin and banjo, and Alonso plays drums and percussion. Other members listed with the group include Spencer Swain, Ted Hutt, Jeff Peters, Robert Schmidt and George Schwindt.

Background and sound

The band’s music draws on punk energy and Irish folk traditions, with influences including The Pogues, The Dubliners and Johnny Cash. Its songs range from fast, rough-edged punk material such as “Salty Dog,” “Seven Deadly Sins,” “What’s Left of the Flag” and “Rebels of the Sacred Heart” to slower songs including “Far Away Boys,” “The Sun Never Shines (On Closed Doors)” and “Death Valley Queen.” In a documentary on Whiskey on a Sunday, King describes the band’s music as a 21st-century version of The Dubliners.

Releases

Flogging Molly releases six major studio albums: Swagger, Drunken Lullabies, Within a Mile of Home, Float, Speed of Darkness and Life Is Good. It also issues the independent live album Alive Behind the Green Door. The CD/DVD set Whiskey On A Sunday includes acoustic versions of several songs and a new studio track, “Laura,” and the DVD version includes a two-hour documentary about how the band members meet and what shapes their lives and music.

Chart and recording details

Float includes the band’s first two charting singles, “Requiem for a Dying Song” and “Float,” which reach the Billboard Modern Rock chart. Speed of Darkness is recorded at Echo Mountain in Asheville, North Carolina, a former church converted into a studio, and is produced by Ryan Hewitt. Life Is Good is the group’s first studio album in six years and the first to feature drummer Mike Alonso.

Touring and collaborations

The band tours with the Warped Tour and Larry Kirwan’s American Fléadh Festival, contributes to the Rock Against Bush project, and tours extensively with Gogol Bordello, another SideOneDummy Records act. Dave King previously sings with Fastway, the late-1980s and early-1990s heavy metal band that includes Eddie Clarke of Motörhead.

Personal connection

During the tour for Float, Dave King marries Bridget Regan in Tokyo, Japan.