Listening to frontman Dave King talk of their past, it becomes clear Flogging Molly were formed, in part, out of necessity. The mother of invention’s role in the band’s formation was that King was stuck in the States, for visa reasons, and following the demise of his earlier metal outfit Fastway, needed a musical outlet. On realising his partner Bridget played fiddle, and that the local pub (Molly Malone’s, from which the band’s name derives) would take on a regular piece of live Irish musical exploration, Flogging Molly were born.
King, it seems, was never going to do anything but music. In his current guise (and now home living in Wexford), that the Dubliner’s music is often bracketed with an American interpretation of Irishness is perhaps simply a consequence of those early days, but it’s also untrue: King was simply an Irishman living in America, though a longing for home played heavily into his style.
Flogging Molly – The Academy – 17 Dec 2018 – ©Glen Bollard
“For me personally, it took me being in a position where I was kind of down and out in LA to play Celtic Punk,” he explains. “My father loved The Dubliners and The Clancy Brothers and all that, but I also loved modern music, too. When I was in LA, my manager told me to write songs and just go into pubs and start playing. I met Bridget, and I didn’t know she played fiddle at first. Eventually we started playing together, and it hit me that I couldn’t go home, because of trouble with my visa.”
“I was stuck in America for 8 years, and I was looking at The Pogues and The Dubliners and bringing that music to a different generation. I felt like that was what I wanted to do, too. But the Celtic Punk thing does seem to be something that comes from America, not Ireland.”
“Molly Malone’s caught on fire about six weeks ago,” he says, bringing those early days into the present. “We’ve been in Europe since, but we’ve had a fundraiser selling merch online, which went really well. I’m sure we’ll play there again. It’s great we’ve gone from there to playing the Bataclan in Paris.”
“It’s great to see the other side, to, with The Mary Wallopers coming out to Chicago and stuff like that. Irish music for me has always been punk rock. It’s about bringing it to different generations, and that’s what we’re trying to do. Hopefully bands like The Scratch and The Mary Wallopers will continue to do that.”
“I’m always really nervous playing Dublin, but when it’s actually going on, it’s great fun."
Nostalgia is clearly playing some role in both Flogging Molly’s music and their present outlook on life in general. “We got together in about 1994, so it’s been a long time, and being away from home gave me a different perspective on what the world’s about,” King recalls.
“It’s always been a divisive place, but my father and his influence, even though he died when I was about ten, his music resonated. We lived in a tenement house in Beggars Bush in Dublin, and my mum and dad would bring the pub back with them on a Friday night, and it’d be mayhem in one room. I think that became a part of everything I was writing.”
“When I heard Bridget playing, I think a light went off in my head and I knew I had to go back home. But do it my own way.”
Now, King hopes to bring other Irish acts into the limelight but bringing them away from home, in a kind of reversal of his own journey.
“We’ve always been into support acts,” he explains. “Our first tour of America was on the Vans Warped Tour, and there was nothing like us on that tour. I remember the reaction of the crowd when we used to start playing. Initially they’d all stand around looking like ‘what’s going on here?’ They didn’t know what to do. Five minutes later the place was going mental.”
“We felt that we wanted to give as many bands as we could that chance. Bands that we like and that would take the opportunity. So we brought out The Mighty Stef, and played with The Scratch, who we’d love to bring to the States at some point, and we’re in talks with other people.”
“I would not want to be a band starting out now, as it’s becoming almost impossible to tour,” he continues. “We need to tour relentlessly to keep going, because of the overheads. It’s terrible that you have to charge $40 a ticket, but by the time you pay for petrol for the bus, accommodations… The overheads are through the roof.
“We can survive that way, but young bands… It’s horrendous what they have to go through. We’d still be playing for $20 if that’s what we could do. We don’t like to charge more than we have to. And we know we’re one of the lucky ones.”
"I wanted to bring back The Pogues, The Clancy Brothers and The Dubliners, but do it my way, for a different generation.”
“We still drop down the pub in Wexford and play, sit around and have a bit of fun,” King continues, nodding to their roots.
“The beauty of this band is in that kind of thing. We played a pub in Amsterdam on Bridget’s birthday, because she just wanted to go and do a session, traditional music, and the bar started filling up slowly as we just enjoyed ourselves. The next day, we were playing with the Rolling Stones.
“To be in a band where you’re headlining a punk festival one night, a folk festival the next and then playing with Motorhead, it’s great to be able to do stuff like that. It’s the wonderful thing about Irish music. It’s such a soulful music.”
Flogging Molly – The Academy – 17 Dec 2018 – ©Glen Bollard
“I think the Irish press are all into the idea that it’s diddly-eye, but the bands that are doing it, that’s not where they’re coming from. My main goal was always to make music, and it led me to this. I felt this connection from my past, and that’s my story, and the only way I can talk about it.”
From Flogging Molly’s perspective, that ‘diddly-eye’ element is overwhelmed, frequently, but with heavy chords. “The thing is, the minute Flogging Molly were getting together, I knew there had to be really loud electric guitars, because it’s part of what I’m all about. I wanted to bring back The Pogues, The Clancy Brothers and The Dubliners, but do it my way, for a different generation.”
“That said, Flogging Molly wouldn’t exist without my previous band Fastway. There’s definitely a connection there. It’s important to get up on stage and blow the heads off people. We just played Wacken and Bloodstock metal festivals, and we went down a fucking storm. People just let their hair down and went for it, and that’s what this band was always meant to be about.”
“I would not want to be a band starting out now, as it’s becoming almost impossible to tour,”
The relentless tour schedule, in practise, makes it difficult for Flogging Molly to put records together, though their most recent EP released two of their classic tracks, ‘What’s Left Of The Flag’ and ‘Drunken Lullabies’, in what King considers an improved, more thought-out form.
“We have a load of songs from the pandemic that haven’t even been looked at yet,” he says. “We could tour 12 months of the year, and we need to stop to make an album, and that’s the issue. Playing live is the only way for a band like us to continue, and we intend to do it for as long as possible.”
“It’s been mental,” King says of the current tour. “We’ll get two weeks back in Wexford before we fly to the States to start a three week tour, which for us is not bad. We always look forward to getting back to Ireland, and it’s a nice way to end the tour. The tour bus drops Bridget and I home in Wexford, which is pretty handy. All the bottles of wine that haven’t been drunk on tour get stored in the house.”
“I’m always really nervous playing Dublin, but when it’s actually going on, it’s great fun. I’ve always found Irish crowds to be amazing, very open, and there to have a good time. It’ll be a great way to end the tour.”
Flogging Molly play The Limelight 1, Belfast on August 31st and Dublin’s 3Olympia Theatre on September 1. Tickets here
