They Want to Beat Whom?

Flogging Molly

Drunken Lullabies 

2002, Sideonedummy 

produced by Ted Hutt

singles-

• Drunken Lullabies
• Rebels of the Scared Heart (warped 2001 comp)
• What's Left of the Flag (warped 2002 comp)

I bumped into this in college while listening to college radio. The band played the Warped Tour a few times, and while they cultivated a fan base from the punk rock/ skater scene that the Warped Tour markets to, Flogging Molly does not fit into the same genre niche as Sum 41, Blink 182, Rancid, Pennywise, the Bouncing Souls, NoFX, Bad Religion, and other Warped Tour mainstays. In fact the only discernible thing they do have in common is raw energy and stage presence, and possibly fashion. The musicianship is way out of league of other punk, pop punk, and ska contemporaries. The use of guitar, mandolin, and violin is more suited to bluegrass and folk than the aforementioned genres, and I would agree that Flogging Molly more closely resembles these genres than even rock and roll.  

If no other album was ever produced by this band, this record would still deserve to be talked about forever as a great production and the band's sound would still be the most unique and hard rocking expression of contemporary Irish folk, without sharing the street punk sounds of bands like the Dropkick Murphys, Murphys Law, The Ducky Boys, and the Welsh Boys. Even my father, who is a bit of an old man music snob, fell in love with this group, despite his initial knee-jerk reaction to the group's name.