Mickey Rickshaw – “Behind The Eight Ball”
When I was very young my grandmother took me to a small, outdoor Irish music festival.
I thought it was the worst thing I ever heard.
I’ve never been to a Grateful Dead or Phish show so that evaluation, for me, still rings true.
Andy and I are eighties guys (No, we’re not that old yet, wise guy, I mean the decade.) We totally missed the music of the nineties and when we came back we heard a lot of local hardcore/punk bands that were influenced by the Dropkick Murphy’s and the whole Irish/Punk scene.
“A load of shite, this is, eh?” Andy said to me in his Scottish brogue. You see, he’s half Scottish and I’m half Irish as well.
That being said, I like music that has the “germ” of punk in it, that is infected by it. Whatever style it is, that can’t hide the rough edges, the too real, impolite words, the rebellious stance, the anti-social, anti-society feeling.
Mickey Rickshaw is modern day Irish punk band with so much energy and so much spunk that it becomes, musically, more punk than a lot of hardcore bands of today.
They have a drummer who bleeds every time he plays as he hits so hard and they have songs that reflect Boston working class souls that bleed a bit each day, living out their lives with the daunting courage that they have. They have an album that bleeds with guts, passion and emotion and maybe we should just listen to the album, right now and disregard the injuries, move onward from the pain. Let’s give these guys a spin:
After the initial explosion, “Rats In Allston,” takes a little detour and instead of hearing grinding guitar or rabid-foaming hardcore vocals, I’m hearing the high shriek of penny whistles or fifes or some other instrument I’m unaccustomed to. And, at the same time the vocals come in, I’m met with the staggered, marching Irish music beat. “Stuck behind the eight-ball of an antiquated system/ You fell into the rhythm of the cage/ Education failed you and after that they jailed you and now, you’re on your ass with bitter rage.” This tune proceeds with a catchy chorus and a pulsing hardcore energy that pushes against the lead intro line. You may not like Irish/punk, much like the one who’s writing these words, but you may find it hard not to like a song so well-written and powerful as this one.
“Ivy” starts with some stops and starts that kind of reminds me of a Jethro Tull song, but once the vocals come in it’s a sure hardcore/Irish punk donnybrook. “Remember when you didn’t give a fuck about the world?/ And you dreaded the days you were gonna have to pay?/ For the people that dragged you through the mud/ You never gave a fuck about the people you hurt.” Strong accusations but they’re probably as true and right as this song is.
“One Life” bursts charging out of the gate with the penny whistles blarin’ and the rhythm section roarin’. This song is about fate and life and how there’s no “rhyme or reason.” “Some fall too early/ Some fall too hard/ Some fall together and some fall apart (great line)/ Some fall from the top and some fall for heart/ Some have it unfair and fall from the start/ All I know is, it’s out of control.” It’s about a fallen friend that you have to live the rest of your life for. Something I know about and most of you probably do, too.
“Albatross” is a minor key waltz that suggests perhaps something out of Greece rather than Ireland at first, but soon blasts into supersonic hardcore. The chorus then slips into a time signature I’m too drunk to fathom but all’n’all this is a rollicking, fun rockin’ tune. “I’m sitting bleeding out/ The heart’s still beating/ Now this life is fleeting/ The siren wins again.” As women will do, in their own way, and it’s only fair and right. And this song wins as my favorite on the album.
You could say- “That guy, Slimedog, he doesn’t even like Celtic punk, why should we even listen to what he says?”
Good point. But my point is- I’m sure this band will get accolades by proponents of Celtic punk, of their style, as well they should.
But to get compliments from me, someone not a fan of that style. Well, that’s more unlikely, should really mean something.
This album means something to me or I wouldn’t be writing about it. You see, I choose who I write about, we’re beholden to no one, I could easily pass this album by.
But from seeing them live, several times, I was convinced that what they put forth is potent, what they play has guts, energy and integrity. I knew that whatever form you play it, if punk is in your DNA than most likely I’ll like it and most likely, it’ll surely be right that I do.
And whether your punk is Irish/punk or Eskimo/punk or whatever…if it’s fill to the brim with emotion that hits you in your gut like a sledgehammer, with honest lyrics that reflect everyday life, that is true and right along with music that explodes with energy and feeling that makes you feel like your life is on the line if it wasn’t expressed or that your life has a reason by hearing it.
Then I’ll love it and I think you will, too.
Behind the eight ball is supposed to be a place of peril, but in this case, the danger it implies hides the reality…
Of an album that is powerful, full of energy and so true.
(Slimedog)
