Sunday, March 2, 2014

Soundtrack to Saint Patrick's: Dreadnoughts: Polka's not Dead!

At about this time last year, I ran a post about Songs from the Bunker by the great Celtic punk group Greenland Whalefishers, from Norway. A great, raw and ready band that I highly recommend. This year we head to the west coast of Canada for great Celtic punk!


Greet the sun with bottles high, your bodies pale against the sky...

This year I have discovered this terrific album by Vancouver's own Dreadnoughts, who combine Celtic music, punk, polka, and pirate shanties into a manic, boisterous mix. Polka's Not Dead, which came out in 2010 on Stomp Records, combines ferocious energy with great musical chops. I have little doubt that they must be a really entertaining live band. (check out the 3rd video)

This is about as much fun as it gets.

East meets West here, and then some. I was thinking that it wouldn't be a stretch to convert this album into a musical play like Les Miserables or Sweeney Todd. Songs like the Dickensian Gintlemen's Club or the a capella sea song Randy Dandy-Oh are examples of what I mean. In addition to the stirring vocal performances, they manage to deftly bang out a few fast and furious instrumentals, like Goblin Humppa. What's a Humppa? I'm guessing that its some sort of Finnish traditional music. The liner notes lists what the band was listening to when they made Polka's Not Dead, and one of the bands was Eläkeläiset, a Finnish group that apparently plays Humppas 24-7.

The album flies right out of the gate with the raucous Cyder Road. As much Clash as traditional folk,
this song rips!



Equally exciting is the title track Polka Never Dies. Lawrence Welk's worst nightmares realized. Make sure granny takes her heart pills before you play this for her.



This is another great band continuing and expanding on the legacy of The Pogues. Probably some purists may slag off the band due their globe-trotting musical tendencies, but they would only be doing themselves a disservice. This is kick-ass traditional music that is a load of fun to listen to.

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