First off, this was the most fun I have had at the Webster in ages. I used to live in Ireland; I grew up there, so any Irish-tinged music brings out the best in me. Even though I was flying solo, the night was great. If I hadn�t been on the phone all day about who had the interview, it would have been perfect. I really wanted to speak to Dave King, the lead singer and Dublin native. He was having voice problems, so I got the equally interesting Matt an accordion player come pro-skater. Too bad most of my questions were written for Dave.
So tell me a little bit about your background, you don�t see this much, accordion player/pro-skater.
Ha, no, you definitely don�t!
How�d you get into the accordion?
In about �95 I picked up the accordion. I had to settle down and figure out what I was going to do. I played covers of songs a lot. I bought a banjo as well.
I had an accordion at my house in Ireland. It was entirely too hard. I stuck to my tin whistle! Okay, so I can�t personally recall you guys doing a cover of a traditional Irish song.
The music of �Salty Dog� is traditional. �Black Friday Rule� is too.
Okay, maybe what I meant was a straight on cover song!
I know what you mean. We aren�t going to do a straight on traditional Irish song. We�re not a cover band, you know? For like, St. Patrick�s Day we might cover a song or two.
I�ve been waiting for someone to do �Town I Loved So Well�. Wishful thinking I guess!
That�s a great song, but we�re going to be doing our own thing!
How�s the tour going so far?
Great. We�ve been on the road for about�10 days now. Got great opening acts�Lost City Angels and The Briggs.
What�s Flogging Molly�s all time favorite drink?
Guinness. Jameson or Bushmills for a change though.
Do you feel you have a certain credibility with your singer actually being Irish? Actually hailing from Ireland.
Wow�
I don�t mean to be snotty about it! I love bands like the Dropkick Murphys, but they�re all American. Your singer is actually from Ireland.
Dave does come from Ireland�I�ve never really looked at it as giving us more credibility, but maybe as giving us an extra advantage.
What songs are you enjoying playing at the moment?
�The Rare Ould Times� is fun to play. We haven�t played it a lot on this tour though.
I meant to ask that too, what�s the set list looking like?
We tend to mix it up; it�s not the same show every night.
Are you sick of doing interview yet?
No, it�s cool! I�m in a band, I play for people, this is cool.
You�re always on the Warped Tour�It�s got to be great for you especially!
It�s great for us, we love doing it. It�s a bonus for me too!
You guys get the crowd going there. The Warped Tour is weird; you get tired and hot and tend to get sick of the bands. I always notice that you guys get the crowd going.
It can be hard for us to tell, but thank you! We were just an Irish bar band. We got lucky, now we tour the whole damn world! I believe in what we�re doing as a band.
Have you guys ever played in Ireland?
Nom but we�re going to. We�re going to Europe in like, 2 months. It�s weird that we never have, Dave�s from Dublin. We�ve played London and not Dublin! There doesn�t seem to be a lot of great venues for bands like us.
There�s not. There�s like one club comparable to this place, the SFX, I saw the Foo Fighters there. My first concert when I was 12! 2 hour drive as well!
I�ve been told we�d go over pretty well in Ireland. But it�s like, �Where do the kids go?� It�ll be weird for me, I�m from fucking California and I�m playing their music!
See, that Irish singer will help you�Okay, so I want your views on things. If I drop you a word, tell me what you think of.
Okay, religion.
I�m actually Protestant; everyone in the band is Catholic. I like being Protestant. I hear everyone complaining about being Catholic though!
Government.
Oh man, war! I don�t want to see us go to war with Iraq. I�m proud to be an American, but you know, I know it comes out as a double standard�It bothers me because I am a conscientious American. I doubt the government.
Did you watch the President�s address?
God, yeah. We all found the time to.
Punk,
Uh, I like it!
So that was my interview with Matt. This was a long night�I learned some harsh lessons about the music business that night too, nothing to do with Flogging Molly, but more the motivation of other music journalists. I was thrilled to get an all access pass for once! Other people use that as a tool to pester the band. I introduced myself to Dave later on that night, just to be friendly. This night was so weird, but Flogging Molly blew me away as I stood by the stage during their set. This is one of my new favorite live bands. They�re always touring, so check them out if they come to a city near you! Their latest record, �Drunken Lullabies� is available through Side One Dummy Records.
