Flogging Molly are not only an intelligent band, singing about the oppression of the working stiff, they put on a fabulous live show. The outstanding musicianship of Flogging Molly combined with the awe inspiring vocals and charisma of singer Dave King make Flogging Molly one of the best live acts in the business. At a time when mainstream music is giving us banal acts like Lady Ga Ga, and U2 wannabes like Cold Play, it’s refreshing to have a band like Flogging Molly who combine traditional Irish music with rock and play it with a punk attitude. I urge everyone to listen to the songs posted here and go back and listen to older songs like Drunken Lullabies. They are unique in a musical world where everything now sounds alike.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plfVQV-klZo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDwlGbEcJ6Y
This is from the band’s official bio:
THE LIGHTS HAVE GONE OUT ON THE WORKING CLASS
Three years ago, hard working men and women the world over were collectively under the assumption that their nest eggs were secure, their homes were the safest of all investments, and that the economy was on the upswing. Then, with virtually no warning, their lives were turned upside down, as an entire generation saw their dreams dashed and plans dismantled. It all happened with the Speed of Darkness.
Nothing has mattered more to Flogging Molly than their new record, Speed of Darkness. “It wasn’t the album we set out to write,” vocalist/guitarist Dave King says. “It became the album we had to write.” Musically and lyrically, Flogging Molly has never sounded so mature or rousing, nor have the messages of alienation and hope behind their songs ever been so relevant. Speed of Darkness was written over several months when the band would descend into the basement of King’s Detroit home—a home he shares with his wife, Flogging Molly fiddler, Bridget Regan (they maintain dual residences in Ireland and Detroit, where Bridget was born and raised). As the country struggled to stay afloat, the songs evolved into odes to the working man and battle cries against the elite establishment that so quickly and callously cast him aside. “I write from my surroundings,” King says. “I wanted people who’ve lost their jobs to know I was paying attention. We’re singing for them, all of these good people brought to their knees.” Nowhere is this more apparent than on the charging and bluesy track “The Power’s Out.” (“The power’s out, there’s fuck all to see/The power’s out, like this economy/The power’s out, guess it’s par for the course/Unless you’re a bloodsucking leech CEO”)…
