Molly, Jimmy ready to go it together
By Derek Paiva
Advertiser Entertainment Writer
 |
| L.A.-based Flogging Molly, which blends Irish jigs and punk sensibilities, gives a concert tonight at Pipeline. Isle fave Go Jimmy Go open the show. Since forming in 1997 at L.A. pub Molly Malone's — hence the name — Flogging Molly has released a couple of well-received CDs.
Flogging Molly and Go Jimmy Go 7 p.m. today Pipeline Café $20 general, $16 advance |
As strange as the combination might seem on the surface, matching up a Los Angeles-based band known for its raucous mug of traditional Irish-sound jigs blended with Cali punk and a Honolulu-based band known for mixing traditional ska with soul, reggae and funk sounds better the more you let it sink in.
Besides solid reputations for mixing it up musically, both are seven-member combos that shine brightest in a live setting. Both bands are Vans Warped Tour veterans, having struck up a musical kinship on the 2002 summer tour. And both will be out of town — though not on the same flight — by Sunday.
The only question left is whether black and tans will be available at Pipeline Café tonight.
"I was just intrigued by the name Flogging Molly at first. And then I heard the music and thought, 'Wow, this is something different!' " said show promoter Tom Moffatt, who was introduced to Flogging Molly's music by his events coordinator Rick Smoot.
Adding Go Jimmy Go — in what will be the band's final Honolulu gig before heading off on an extended Mainland tour — as an opener was just a no-brainer.
"We thought, since the bands knew each other, it was a perfect combination to put them on the same bill," said Moffatt. "And with Go Jimmy Go leaving, we thought it would be a nice going-away present to send 'em off with a bang."
Flogging Molly's musical formula is, indeed, "different."
Take a warm brew of fiddle, accordion, banjo and the occasional tin whistle and mix well with an aural attack of mosh-pit ready guitars, bass and drums. Add lyrics — penned by vocalist, sole Irish band member and former Dubliner Dave King — touching on the highs and lows of a modern Irish upbringing. Then sit back, and watch the skinheads and old school blue-collar Guinness and Harp imbibers play nice.
Since forming in 1997 at L.A. pub Molly Malone's — hence, the name — the band has released a couple of well-received if not exactly huge-selling CDs. The most recent of these, 2002's "Drunken Lullabies," is as exuberantly loud and in-your-face as a Merchant Street St. Patrick's Day block party 'round 9 p.m.
Look for Molly's music to have the same effect on the Pipeline Café crowd and GJG faithful tonight.
On the drive to the show: Try "Greatest Irish Bands" (UTV, 2004) with songs by U2, Boomtown Rats, Hothouse Flowers and The Pogues; and The Pogues' "The Very Best Of ..." (WEA, 2001, import).
Reach Derek Paiva at dpaiva@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8005.
