Formed in Dublin around the turn of the 1990s, Celtic Punk outfit THE MAHONES have spent the past two decades performing in any den of Rock’n’Roll iniquity that will have ‘em. Led by leather-lunged frontman Finny McConnell, they specialise in rousing Irish-tinged sing-alongs oozing alcohol and expletives and probably struggle to remember their names in the morning, let alone which city they have just rocked.
Handily released to coincide with St. Patrick’s Day, their new album ‘The Black Irish’ is perhaps their most anthemic set to date. Beginning with a red-eyed McConnell leering “it’s six in the morning and I’m still f***in’ drinking”, opening tune ‘A Great Night on the Lash’ celebrates boozing with Shane MacGowan and soon winds itself up way beyond eleven. It’s a quintessential Celtic hoe-down, though the vicious guitar riffs cutting through the tin whistles and accordions have more in common with The Clash’s ‘Give ‘em Enough Rope’ than The Pogues’ ‘Rum, Sodomy & the Lash.’
Subtle or sonically adventurous it ain’t, but as tearaway party music goes, it slips down like twenty pints of Guinness laced with tequila. Ribald, rough-edged anthems like ‘Ghost of a Whiskey Devil’ and ‘Give It All Ya Got (Or Forget About It)’ are The Mahones stock in trade and these career brilliantly into revved-up traditional Irish tunes like ‘The Wild Rover’ and lighter-waving diaspora ballads such as ‘The Shamrock Shore.’
Crucially, though, McConnell and co understand that (unless you’re The Ramones) longevity is fed by variety, so it’s often when they slow things down and let a little melody seep through that they really score. An achingly memorable Folk-enhanced two-step ‘Girl with Galway Eyes’ is the first such killer track, although it’s arguably bettered by the slow-burning balladry of ‘Whiskey under the Bridge’. Perhaps more interesting again is their cover of The Replacements’ ‘Here Comes a Regular’: an ode to the other side of the drinking coin which they handle with surprising care and attention.
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The Mahones have their faults. There’s not a whole lotta variation in their souped-up Celtic ramalama and McConnell’s rancid bark of a voice struggles when the amps are turned down. However, they play with an admirable fire and passion and their belief in their Irish heritage springs from their very soul. They may not blaze such a revolutionary trail as The Pogues or even The Men They Couldn’t Hang, but ‘The Black Irish’ still takes precious few prisoners. If March 17 stands for getting blitzed first and foremost, then you’ve surely found your soundtrack.
The Mahones online
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