The Muck Savages – My New Years Gift To You

Happy New Year! 2011 has been a great year for me as a music fan. I started my blog earlier this year to try to help bands get more exposure and to hopefully be a resource for like-minded individuals wanting to find new bands in the Celtic Punk/Rock genre.

I have worked on helping out St. Louis locals Rusty Nail by going to more shows than I can count and have talked them up here and on Facebook. I also got to see Cutthroat Shamrock and The Dropkick Murphys twice this year in addition to my almost nonstop trip to Columbus, OH and back for the Shamrock N Roll Fest where I got to see The Mahones, The Bloody Irish Boys, Street Dogs, Stiff Little Fingers, Parkington Sisters, Chuck Ragan and my second experience of DKM. I also got to see Murder the Stout along with the Street Dogs for a second time. I have also made friends outside of the States with great bands like Between The Wars, Ramshackle Army, Sir Reg and Mr. Irish Bastard. I hope 2012 continues with the great support I have gotten and given and I wish all bands the greatest success.

As my present to you, I want to introduce you to The Muck Savages. A raw, hard rocking band from Oklahoma City, OK. I hope 2012 brings me the opportunity to see these guys live. If you go their website, you can download their 4 track demo and 7 track EP Golden Molly for FREE! That is right, these have their music up for free, so grab some tracks and enjoy! Once you are on their website, just click on the Music link.

From their Demo, they have a great version of Come Out Ye Black and Tans along with my favorite We The People that starts with the preamble and quickly ramps into a great Irish inspired song with drive and energy.

From the Golden Molly EP, the stand out for me is Michael O’Malley. While not has hard-driving as some their other songs, the story of Michael O’Malley even touches my cynical heart. Fighting Man is another song that I have enjoyed – it is one of those great songs when you are in a “fuck you” mood and have the music burn your anger off after a long hard day.

But don’t take my word for it, you have nothing to lose since these guys are giving their music away. Give em a listen and enjoy! Hopefully I will be able to get myself down to OKC or they can get up to St. Louis so I can support them in person and buy some swag from them – I think the Paddy Wagon is in need of a Muck Savages sticker if I can find the room.

 

 

One Last Call

Time flies by too quick – between work and family I rapidly lose track of my time. But alas, I have carved a space of time today to post an update. My New Years resolution will be to be more active in my updates. Well enough excuses and on to my review of the new Murder the Stout EP. Oh and please forgive any grammatical errors as my editor had to work today.

On November 30th, I went to The Firebird for the Street Dogs Wreck the Halls tour. My main reason for going was to see Murder the Stout from Houston. Being that they are from the Lone Star state, I had figured my odds of seeing them live would be fairly slim. The whole evening was great, two local punk bands Opposites Attack and Scene of Irony plus Murder the Stout and the Street Dogs. My highlight was seeing Murder the Stout. The energy and showmanship of the band was awesome. My favorite song of the evening was Six O’Clock Swill off their new EP (number 17 on Paddy Rocks Best of 2011.) I want to thank Kevin Murphy and Hugh Morrison for putting up with my semi drunk ramblings and also for the copy of their EP. I did give some support to them by purchasing a t-shirt and sticker for the Paddy Wagon earlier in the evening (I owe you guys a buck though because I accidentally got two stickers.)

Now onto my review of Murder the Stouts EP. The EP consist of 7 songs,

1. Sound the Pibroch

2. Leaving of Liverpool

3. Troosers

4. Six O’Clock Swill

5. Tell Me Ma

6. Foggy Dew

7. That’s Just Me

As you can see there are several standards along with a couple of original songs. A few of the traditional songs I was not familiar with to give a comparison of but all in all, the songs are full of energy and craft and Hugh’s distinctive voice that makes creates a new listening experience. The highlight for me, as was at the concert, is Six O’Clock Swill. I have had “One last call, one last call for the Six O’Clock swill” going through my head for a good portion of the last 10 days. The song is catchy with great lyrics and melody. This song is a great example of why I love this genre – the band has created something original but the roots of where their inspiration came from. Of the standards, I really enjoyed their version of Foggy Dew. I would have to rank it second, topped only by Sinead O’Connor with the Chieftains.

In conclusion, I would highly recommend the EP to anyone. It rocks while still containing the traditional feel and essence that would appeal to the purist. You can download the EP here.

Slainte!