The Wild Irish Roses Fill Yer Boots, Man!
(2016, Poe Records)
You can't judge a book by its cover, and the same evidently goes for the Wild Irish Roses' new CD, Fill Yer Boots, Man! If the front photo looks like a family affair, it is. But instead of the meager Celtic fare suggested by the image, the disc leaps open with a snort of acoustic rawk called "Margaret Thatcher's Death Song." If you're concerned about the kilt-sporting Michael X. and Kristina Rose having their eight children participate in such shenanigans, don't be: We need all the punks we can breed right about now.
Sonically, the Pogues are the obvious touchstone, but Boiled in Lead, Flogging Molly, and the Clancy Brothers are in the mix too. The New Paltz-based Roses' kids are featured plenty, on everything from lead vocals to banjo and pennywhistle. And the disc, wobbly in spots but rarely shaky, grabs a nice blend of new snarl and vintage folk. "Santiago," for example, is reborn as a yawp rather than a shanty, and "Fields of Athenry" has a lovely pulse. Like any genre release, Boots hits certain points to make its point, but while it hews close to the rules of Celtic punk, it does so with such an inspiring blast of family energy that it feels like a revolution rather than a reiteration. Facebook.com/The-Wild-Irish-Roses.
—Michael Eck
