Oscar Wilde

Whiskey Tonight by The Indulgers

/ mrbaxteria2008 / 2 Comments

Global release of WHISKEY TONIGHT

Band: The Indulgers

Album: Whiskey Tonight

Location: Boulder/Golden Colorado

Members: Damien McCarron – Vocals, Guitar
Mike Nile – Vocals, Guitars, Mandolin, Harmonica and Electronic Bagpipe
Renee Fine – Fiddle/Violin
Aaron Haywood – Bass
Francesco(Cheech) Mannone – Drums
Guesting on occasion:
Neale Heywood – Guitar
Ryan Bunnell – Guitar

Tracks

1. Whiskey Tonight/2. Ceili Mor /3. It’s You /4. Hold On to You /5. Story Rory /6. Lady Jane /7. New Lease On Life /8. Man of All Seasons /9. Doin’ Fine/10. Roll This Stone/11. The Cure/12. Dreaming of You/13. Big Storm Rising/14. Dublin Day

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Work is the curse of the drinking class according to Oscar Wilde. For a moment The Indulgers, a band of Irish rockers based in Colorado treat us to songs that span generations, styles and yes drinking tables. Fine musicianship, witty lyrics and the lead singer’s beautiful vocals are among the things that you will encounter when you listen to the band. Whiskey Tonight is the band’s best effort to date. It’s also their seventh studio album.

The album begins with Whiskey Tonight. Notice the aural-stitching- fiddle- extravaganza courtesy of Renee Fine. The foot stomping beat is one of the band’s signature sound along with the rocking chorus of instruments that will rock your socks off. Ceili Mor has tight harmonies and amazing bagpiping there. This reminds me of a Celtic war music. It’s You insures to draw a smile with its playful melodies and catchy chorus. As lead singer Damien McCarron croons ” It’s you” makes you visualize the smile in the song.

Hold On to You has an echo of the Dubliners which combines the  Celtic warlike atmosphere of the second track. Rockin’ sweetness greets us with Story Rory in the vein of Thin Lizzy. I kind of like the sound effect of the crowd shouting “Rory” as if in an arena. Very glam. Lady Jane is one of those narrative ballads which calls to mind the reinterpretation of The Highwayman by Loreena McKennitt. It has that Spaghetti Western Feel.

New Lease On Life is a straight ahead Celtic rocker.  The talents of Aaron Haywood on  bass and Francesco (Cheech) Mannone  on drums really shine. Man of All Seasons charms its way into your debonair heart. Mike Nile played around five instruments in this recording. The guitars in this track are lovely! It’s fiddling heaven once again with Doin’ Fine (which is the only instrumental track in the album). Drums, bass and guitars do their wonderful stuff here. Adventure and soliloquy inhabit the ocean of Roll This Stone. I love the use of vocal effects where Damien’s voice sounds like it’s coming from an old AM radio broadcast. The Cure takes us into the subject of legalizing the use of marijuana for medical purposes. I’ve seen a video of this a few months back but I had no idea it would be part of Whiskey Tonight. I love the tight vocal harmonies and harmonica.

Dreaming of You is easy to sing along with. Big Storm Rising recalls the Celtic warlike atmosphere of the second track. The use of power chords and minor scales give this track a somewhat metallic edge. Dublin Day closes this amazing album. The soaring string parts and fast but steady rhythm makes this one of the most unforgettable closing track  for an album. I love closing tracks and this one satisfies to the max. Here’s an interesting trivia: Neale Heywood, who has occasionally joined them on stage,  is also in Fleetwood Mac and Lindsey Buckingham’s band. He plays on all seven of their CDs. Ryan Bunnell  also joins them on stage/studio on guitar as guest musician on occasion.

Whiskey Tonight channels the energy of Celtic rock with smart pop appeal. The album is so infectious it is tragic not to own it.

The band’s bio:

Add up well over a thousand shows, tours across the U.S. and Ireland, numerous festivals, town concerts, fairs, pubs and theatres, and you have fourteen years in the life of Colorado’s Celtic rock pioneers, The Indulgers.
The Indulgers, a Celtic rock band with a unique western/americana twist, hail from Boulder and Golden, Colorado USA, but their musical roots and influences can be found in Ireland.
It began with The Indulger’s first song “In Like Flynn”, written and recorded thirteen years ago – which garnished awards from “Just Plain Folks” for best celtic song of the year as well as the CD receiving best celtic album of the year. Now over a decade later The Indulgers continue to push forward with new and exciting original celtic rock music. The Indulgers are working on their upcoming 7th CD “Whiskey Tonight” releasing the first single and video… “Whiskey Tonight” soon followed by the second single and video “Ceili Mor” (The Big Dance), a song written in Gaelic with a video that was inspired by Th’ Gatherin’ Festival in Wakeeny, Kansas where clan warriors gather to compete each year.
“Whiskey Tonight” follows The Indulgers 6th CD “Out In The West”, (nominated for best celtic album in 2009 by Just Plain Folks) featuring songs inspired by the western legends, culture, and experiences of the Irish/Scottish immigrants, who came to America bound for a new life in the west.
The Indulgers continue to create and develop an exciting blend of celtic rock/western/folk rhythms that move and inspire, delivering energetic live shows from San Francisco to New York City and abroad, including a successful tour of Ireland making arrangements with a professional travel agency to bring along friends and fans interested in touring with the band. Flights, hotels, bus, food, and a site-seeing tour guide was included in the package trip. The band perfomed in Ennis with Johnny Fean guitarist and vocalist of Horslips, a band considered to be one of the true pioneers of celtic rock music, and after a live radio broadcast in Kilkenny performed at the famed Cleere’s Theater, ending with a livley night in Damien’s hometown Howth, a beautiful fishing village just outside of Dublin. Damien’s family, friends, and locals joined the “Ireland Tour” crew for a memorable final night performance in Ireland. The band made many new friends and contacts on the journey and look forward to returning to Ireland as soon as possible bringing along another bus full of adventure seekers.
When not touring The Indulgers can always be found playing in their home pub Conor Oneill’s in Boulder, or at Scruffy Murphy’s Irish Pub in Denver, along with several other wonderful Irish pubs and venues along the rocky mountain front range.
For BOOKING INFORMATION contact THE INDULGERS at 303 949-7784 or dmccarro@comcast.net or visit www.shamrocker.com

World Music Award Winners
(Westword 1999, 2008 & 2010)
Irish Music Association Nominee 2009
Five times JPfolk Music Awards Nominees
(Winners Ethnic CD 2000 – In Like Flynn)
(Winners Celtic Song 2000 – In Like Flynn)
(Nominated Celtic CD 2005 High Road to Heaven)
(Nominated Celtic CD 2009 Out In The West)
(Nominated Celtic Song 2009 When We Were Young)

“World Class Music” – KBCO Radio
“Everyone’s favorite Irish band”
– Rocky Mountain News
“Denver’s Shamrockingest band”
– The Denver Post

Links:

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/theindulgers2

http://www.shamrocker.com/

https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Indulgers/59965579492

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Huzzah!

It’s almost weekend. I hope you are all fine and not feeling sick like me. Ok now, I have links that are posted on the facebook fanpage of The Celtic Music Fan and I think they are worth a mention here:

Here’ s a shout out from Trudy Carroll: Today lets help support mental health services for young people and #WalkInMyShoes day @WIMS2013

This one was mentioned by Jeremy Poitin :  “More great music from the English folk revival scene – Arlet”

Here is one band from Belgium playing Celtic music. They call themselves: Celtiquez-vous

Their facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Celtiquez-vous/259037564114379

Reaction to Conversations: Musicians need to be paid too

/ mrbaxteria2008 / Leave a comment

Hi readers of the page. I am still warming up after a week’s sabbatical. My friend Scott Hoye filled me in today with his reaction to my previous post. If you are not aware yet, Scott is  a musician who recently released the harp/vocal album Black Rose. You can listen to samples and buy the album here: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008B55XSK/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_v7-2pb1GVNZVC

To those who just tuned in, please see my previous post in which Connie and I discussed what’s going on with the 2012 Olympics.

Scott Hoye:

The Olympic Corporation sucks. That needs no debate. They strong arm any one who uses the word Olympic in their business. Case in point: my local butcher in Chicago, Greek immigrants in business since the 1960s, were forced to change their name from Olympic Market to Olympia Market, when the Olympic (TM) Corporation showed up to check out the City for 2016. Ridiculous! Greeks can’t use the word? It falls in the realm of commons.

As far as the world of internet commerce and music, two things have happened: the internet has and MP3s have made everything more available, and services like D Baby make it affordable for EVERYONE to share sell their music on I-tunes and other sources. Pirating still takes place, and the price of a single is now well below what inflation should account for a fair price. But the gate keepers of the record industry are all gone, now replaced by the cheap skates of e-commerce, CD Baby, I-tunes, etc. Studios are no longer necessary to work with, and mastering can be done for a fraction of the cost as well, ether with studios or at home.

My experience as a musician working under the old guard of gatekeepers, in the 1990s, and the recording studio system informs what my experience is today. I used to have to create cassettes to send to A&R people at studios, and to send hard copies of the same to radio stations for airplay. Now, for small fees, digital press kits can be obtained, and distribution for the same, at the click of a mouse. So from this perspective, it is a brave new world for many people, and though most musicians are not household names, the possibility of publicity, earning a living and doing it with ease has become easily accessible.

On the other hand, artists are generally not respected in the common culture. America was described by Henry Miller long ago as a country  where everyone wants to be a banker. Europe and other cultures still lend more credence to artists as opposed to the US. This is not to say that arts cannot survive in a market driven world, but Oscar Wilde was right in stating that the cynic is he who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing. This is the shadow side of market driven art, and perhaps the land of the free, home of the free market best illustrates this.

People generally don’t consider not paying tens of thousands of dollars for an auto. Art, they would rather pilfer it. The gatekeepers screwed the artists via distribution control, and scarcity for years. The new gatekeepers have cheapened the price of much in the realm of music; mp3s are ubiquitous, as is the ability to create the product. Perhaps ultimately it is the journey of the artist to navigate the new world of commerce. I hope that it is a bit fairer than the world of the old guard, where one waited to be picked, and the odds were terribly stacked against them.