FLOGGING MOLLY

'Flogging Molly' is a seven-piece Irish American Irish punk band, that formed in Los Angeles and is currently signed under SideOneDummy Records.

Contents

History

Members

Chart Positions

Discography

Appearances in games and TV

Trivia

References

External links

History

Prior to forming Flogging Molly, Dave King was the vocalist for Fastway, a late 80s/early 90s heavy metal band, featuring guitarist "Fast" Eddie Clarke of Motörhead, and an experimental metal band called Katmandu (1991), featuring Mandy Meyer of Krokus on guitars. Afterwards, Dave King retained a record deal with Epic records, and soon began work on a solo album, but when he wanted to pull traditional Irish instruments into the work, the record company resisted. King negotiated out of his record deal to go his own way musically soon after.
In the late nineties, King met fiddle player Bridget Regan at the Los Angeles pub Molly Malone's and they began playing together. They recruited more members until becoming the seven-person ensemble that they are today. In an interview with Kerrang! magazine, King stated that the band's name comes from Molly Malone's, also known as the LA Tarrier. "We used to play there every Monday night and we felt like we were flogging it to death, so we called the band Flogging Molly." They soon established a routine of playing and put out their first album, a live album recorded at Molly Malone's titled Alive Behind The Green Door in 1997. They were signed onto SideOneDummy Records after a show when the record company's owners attended a concert and noted their intensity.
Flogging Molly has released an independent (26f Records) live album titled ''Alive Behind the Green Door'', as well as three studio albums, ''Swagger'', ''Drunken Lullabies'', and ''Within a Mile of Home'', and an acoustic/live DVD/cd combo ''Whiskey on a Sunday''. They have toured with the Warped Tour, Larry Kirwan's American Fléadh Festival and contributed to the Rock Against Bush project. They have become one of the biggest punk concert draws and have sold in excess of a million and a half copies of recorded output as of December 6 2006^[1].
On March 13, 2007, the band released an exclusive EP through iTunes entitled the ''Complete Control Sessions''. The EP includes two new tracks, as well as acoustic versions of previously released songs.In an interview with a student reporter for ''University of Oklahoma Press'' in Tulsa on March 15 2007, Nathen Maxwell confirmed that a new album is currently being written: "Yeah, we're working on a new album. We'll play three new songs tonight off of that album, probably. We've been hanging out at where Dave and Bridget live right now, in a village called Blackwater, which is in County Wexford, in the southeast of Ireland. So we've been staying there. We've been renting a cottage next door to their house and a friend of theirs' garage in the village. So we're going into the garage everyday basically, jamming out new ideas and then walking down to the pub afterwards. So we'll do another one of those in June. Then after that we'll be in the studio sometime in the summer and lay those down."
Their music is influenced by such bands as The Pogues, The Dubliners, and Stiff Little Fingers, and the country twang of such legends as Johnny Cash. It includes many references to the Roman Catholic Church and ranges from boisterous punk rock like the pirate-themed "Salty Dog" and "Seven Deadly Sins," or the defiant "What's Left of the Flag", "With a Wonder and a Wild Desire", "Drunken Lullabies", and "Rebels of the Sacred Heart" to more sombre songs like "Far Away Boys", "The Son Never Shines (On Closed Doors)", or "Death Valley Queen".
Drummer George Schwindt's brother, Gary, became their tour manager after leaving his job working for General Electric. Gary can be heard on the album Swagger, playing the trumpet, and is also seen in the documentary DVD Whiskey On A Sunday.
Dave announced on the Warped Tour that Flogging Molly would be recording their new album in Ireland as soon as Warped Tour was over.

Members

The band's members are:

★ Dave King (vocals, acoustic guitar, bodhrán, banjo, spoons)

★ Bridget Regan (fiddle, tin whistle, uilleann pipes, backing vocals)

★ Dennis Casey (electric guitar, backing vocals)

★ Matt Hensley (accordion, concertina) †

★ PJ Smith (accordion) ‡

★ Nathen Maxwell (bass guitar, backing and lead vocals)

★ Bob Schmidt (mandolin, mandola, banjo, bouzouki, backing vocals)

★ George Schwindt (drums, percussion, bodhrán)
† ''As of early 2007, Matt Hensley will no longer be touring with the band.''
‡ ''Replacement for Matt Hensley''

Chart Positions

★ Swagger
★
★ 1997

★ Drunken Lullabies #157 on April 6 2002

★ Within A Mile Of Home #20 on October 02 2004

★ Whiskey On A Sunday cd/dvd #67 on August 12 2006

Discography

★ ''Alive Behind the Green Door'' (1997)

★ ''Swagger'' (2000)

★ ''Drunken Lullabies'' (2002)

★ ''Within a Mile of Home'' (2004)

★ ''Whiskey on a Sunday'' (2006)

★ ''Complete Control Sessions (EP)'' (2007)

Appearances in games and TV

★ Flogging Molly's Song Laura is on the SideOneDummy Mix cd, which could be obtained at some of their concerts for free.

★ Their song Drunken Lullabies is featured in the video game Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4.

★ The song "The Worst Day Since Yesterday" is featured in the 2005 film ''Mr. & Mrs. Smith''.

★ The song "Drunken Lullabies" is featured in Rock Against Bush, Vol. 2

★ The song "To Youth (My Sweet Roisin Dubh)" is featured on the video Game FIFA 2005.

★ The song "Selfish Man" plays during the end credits of episode four, season one of the Showtime series "Brotherhood". The song "May The Living Be Dead (In Our Wake)" also plays during the wedding reception in the show's season one finale.

★ The song "If I Ever Leave This World Alive" (studio version) is featured in Episode 8 "Scar Tissue" of Season 2 of The Shield, and was used in the first season of Showtime's ''Weeds'' as well.

Trivia

★ Main songwriter and lyricist Dave King composes his verse on a typewriter manufactured in 1916, the year of the Easter Rising in Ireland in order to celebrate his Irish heritage, having been born in Dublin. His birthday is 12/11/61.

★ Dave King has described The Warped Tour as "the ''Survivor'' of ... punk rock shows."^[2]

★ Flogging Molly has two left-handed guitarists, Dave and Nathen.

★ In an e-mail sent to fans of Flogging Molly on Friday, January 12, 2007, Matt Hensley confirmed his decision to stop touring with the band. He currently skateboards for Black Label Skateboards. He is also the owner of Innes Clothing, a skateboard clothing company, who he rides for now. A common misconception is that he skateboards in the "Drunken Lullabies" music video, when it was really Patrick Melcher, another rider for Black Label Skateboards at the time.

References

1. [1]
2. [2]

External links

★ Flogging Molly's official website

★ Interview with Bob (2007)

★ Live pictures of the Green 17 tour

★ Flogging Molly Tour Dates, MP3s, and Discography

★ Flogging Molly's European web site

★ Unofficial Street Team & Forum

★ Flogging Molly Concert Pictures

★ Flogging Molly at Shamrockfest