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Release Date: September 27, 2012
Run Time: 46:39
Buy: Amazon
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1. Two-Bit Town
2. Where Oh Where (feat. Chris Skel)
3. Hooligan
4. Davey Jones’ Locker
5. Dead Men Tell No Tales (Feat. Ron Peddle)
6. The Last Outlaw / The Road to Lisdoonvarna
7. Auld Lang Syne
8. Hobo Jungle
9. Seamus the Bastard
10. Dicey Reilly
11. Traditional Set
12. Lose to Win
13. Drunk Again (feat. Lenny Lashley)
14. Bonus Track
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The Pubcrawlers from Portland, Maine, have been creating raucous, pump your pint in the air Celtic drinking music since the release of their exemplary 2005 debut Another Night On the Floor. The 2008 release One Too Many Again saw the band cranking up the street punk in their sound while still retaining the more traditional elements in their music and even adding a set of bagpipes to the mix.
Rogues, Outlaws & Drunks continues in this tradition, offering some of The Pubcrawlers’ heaviest, and most traditional sounding songs yet. For anyone who’s ever had the privilege to catch The Pubcrawlers live (they’ll be playing this year’s Shamrock Festival in case you haven’t), they’ll be able to tell you that this is a band that takes their music as serious as their drinking.
Kicking the album off with a couple catchy tunes in Two-Bit Town and Where Oh Where, the latter featuring Chris Skel of The Skels, they change gears slightly with Hooligan, a song that sounds like a Roger Miret and the Disasters tune if the Dropkick Murphys’ Scruffy Wallace played the pipes in that band. Which if you think about it makes for a great mix.
If the titles weren’t enough to tip you off, Davey Jones’ Locker and Dead Men Tell No Tales (not a cover of The Briggs’ song, although they sound similar) are the pirate songs on the record (and what self-respecting Celtic punk record is complete without one or two of those). They’re upbeat, fun tunes about pillaging with a sword in one hand a bottle of rum in the other, a pirate’s life indeed. Dead Men also features Ron Peddle, a previous Pubcrawler himself Before he left the band to form his own Celtic rock outfit The Dockside Saints.
The record switches gears again with The Last Outlaw/The Road To Lisdoonvarna, a more straight ahead Celtic punk song with some well worn chords and melodies. Then moves into the traditional favorite Auld Lang Syne, done The Pubcrawlers style, which means lyrics that are refitted to the band’s more specific sensibilities.
Hobo Jungle and Seamus the Bastard are pretty straightforward, typical Pubcrawlers sounding songs about life on the streets and a Scottish drinking buddy, respectively. Traditional Set is pretty self explanatory, an instrumental of beautiful traditional Celtic music that switches styles and tempo’s half a dozen times throughout its seven minute run time. It’s the most musically impressive track on the record, especially the last minute and a half.
Drunk Again is a nice tune which is most notable for featuring Lenny Lashley, singer of much loved Boston street punk outfit Darkbuster. He has a great, recognizable voice and adds a nice counterpoint to Brian’s more growled vocal delivery.
Finally, a bonus track is tacked on in the form of a cover of Kenny Rogers’ The Gambler. An odd choice for Celtic punk maybe, but The Pubcrawlers’ make the song their own without having to change the lyrics or the melody, which creates for an interesting end to the record. Especially with Brian singing the song like Bruce Dickinson.
Rogues, Outlaws & Drunks feature all the classic Pubcrawlers elements a fan of the band would be on the lookout for. Which being fast punk with a Celtic backbone and songs about pirates, friends, pubs and copious amounts of alcohol.
