Get ready for drunken lullabies on the Devil's dancefloor as the 30th anniversary of Bluesfest heralds the return of beloved Irish-American, Celtic punk outfit Flogging Molly.
“We haven't been to Australia in quite a few years now and it's one of the things that really perplex us,” vocalist Dave King states, “that we really enjoy the shows, the crowds are great – it's just a matter of trying to fit everything in.
“I mean, it took us six years to do an album between our last one and it's not like we didn't want to do an album, it's just that we took our bloody time.”
Dave is speaking about their 2017 album 'Life Is Good', which has kept the band on the road touring for the past two years. Coming six years after 2011's 'Speed Of Darkness' album, 'Life Is Good' carries an underlying message of hope inspired by the passing of Dave's mother.
“My mother died while I was writing the album, and she sat me and Bridget [Regan, wife/ bandmate] down on the bed about two weeks before she passed away,” Dave shares.
“She had a really hard life, she really did, but she said to me: 'Do me one favour before I go – enjoy yourselves, because I did.' It was like, you know what, she had a hard life but she still thought life was good, then the whole thing kicked in. Life is sh.t, we all know that life can be really f...ing sh.t, but it's what you make of it.”
It's been sage advice for Dave in recent times, who has been at the helm of the Flogging Molly crew since the band's earliest days rattling the walls of LA pub Molly Malone's from which the band takes its name.
After 20-plus years as a band, 'Life Is Good' (and the sentiment behind it) has become a sort of unspoken motto for Dave and the rest of Flogging Molly. Though not a typical Flogging Molly 'foot-stomper', Dave says 'Life Is Good' speaks deeply to the historical importance of music among the Irish.
“It's not a song that's meant to be lamented over, it's a song that's meant to be celebrated over, and that's what my mother and father taught me – even though my father left me when I was ten – but my parents always instilled having a good f...ing time even though we were piss-pot poor,” Dave explains.
“It definitely is a philosophy – all we had at one point was music. Irish people didn't have any lands, they had no jobs, they had nothing; they didn't have an opinion but we f...ing had our music.
“We played it at home where it didn't matter what the outside world was doing – we still had our heart and soul in our living rooms playing our music, and I certainly had that growing up as a child. Now I'm just celebrating; we're taking it all over the world and we're embracing the world.”
Flogging Molly play Bluesfest (Byron Bay) 19 April.
Flogging Molly Sideshows
Sun 14 Apr - The Croxton (Melbourne)Wed 17 Apr - 170 Russell (Melbourne) - sold out
Thu 18 Apr - The Metro Theatre (Sydney)
