Flogging Molly Leads a Rowdy Celebration
With St. Patrick’s Day just around the corner, Los Angeles septet Flogging Molly started the revelry a little early at the Troubadour on Thursday.
For its first night of a three-night stand at the club, the punk-rock band that bleeds green played it fast and furious for a sold-out crowd that lustily sang along with clenched fists held aloft.
For the record:
12:00 a.m. March 20, 2002 FOR THE RECORD
Los Angeles Times Wednesday March 20, 2002 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 A2 Desk 1 inches; 26 words Type of Material: Correction
Flogging Molly--A review of the band Flogging Molly in Saturday’s Calendar erroneously stated that a brewery is sponsoring the band’s tour. The group has no sponsorship of its tour.
Flogging Molly’s rowdy party music celebrates its own Irish-ness, but for leader Dave King, being Irish is not just a matter of ethnic pride, it’s a marketing hook--King didn’t hesitate to plug more than once during the set the brewery that’s sponsoring the band’s tour.
Like gangsta rappers who peddle a cartoon version of urban oppression, Flogging Molly plays up the profane, hard-drinking hooligan stereotype.
Flogging Molly’s sound, which lashed the melodic lilt of traditional Irish dance music to punk velocity and attitude, features, in addition to the usual electric guitar and bass, a full-time mandolin player, an accordionist and a fiddler who doubles on penny whistle.
The material is relentlessly zippy, with virtually every tune powered by a jackhammer drum beat.
The band used these tools to stir up a ruckus in a hurry, but its sound was gratingly monochromatic.
Marc Weingarten
Flogging Molly, with Lo-Ball, tonight at 8 at the Troubadour, 9081 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood. Sold out. (310) 276-6168.
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