The Dreadnoughts - Legends Never Die

Artist: The Dreadnoughts

Album: Legends Never Die

Label: Self Released

During the past few years I've found myself discouraged by the lack of great new additions to the celtic street punk genre.  Now don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the slew of new releases by Flogging Molly, The Dropkick Murphys, The Real McKenzies, etc... but in each case I more or less knew exactly what to expect, and that's exactly what these bands presented: safe new additions to their rock solid discographies.  I find that one of the simple pleasures in discovering music is spontaneity, the thrill of finding a new group's debut and being absolutely floored by such a young band's chemistry and quality.  This is exactly what happened on October 14th at 1:42am when an album called Legends Never Die popped up at my favourite music discovery tool, emusic.  

The Dreadnoughts, apparently from my hometown of Vancouver, British Columbia, are best described as a celtic-punk group sounding closest to the clean, well arranged songs  of post-Blackout era Dropkick Murphys.  At this point some may accuse me of simply praising a Dropkicks clone.  Despite their core similarity, this couldn't be farther from the truth.  You see, the band lacks the Dropkicks defining instrument: bagpipes.  Rather, they explore their celtic roots through other traditional instruments, most notably fiddles, whistles, and accordions.  Basically, imagine if the Dropkick Murphys traded instruments with Flogging Molly and then tried to play their back catalogue.  The result is a fantastic debut of 11 songs with no shortage of grand sing-along choruses, thoughtful acoustic introductions, and magnificent fiddle solos.

As their mariner name suggests, the band's content circulates around salty sailors from the docks of yesteryear.  Some of the narratives focus on specific persons.  For example, "Mary the One Eyed Prostitute..." (and the rest of the song's title trails off for several lines) chronicles sailors' run-ins with a legendary and quite unsavory woman in rough dockside bars, and "Fire Marshall Willy" gives a comedic scenario behind how and old salt earned his nick-name.  Others like "Antarctica" and "Old Maui" follow epic voyages themselves rather than focus on individuals.  Switching between both approaches ensure that the album remains fresh despite working within a very a very specific theme.

These guys aren't just another irish/scottish/celtic inspired band singing about bars and drunken scuffles.  Nope, these lads have tales to tell - and I highly recommend listening to every word.