Crywank is James Clayton trying as hard as he can to do some folk-punk influenced acoustic music with no previous experience playing guitar. He does this with the help of his friends (often Samuel Chichuta), and with a lot of persistence. Most of his songs are about getting up, going to bed, irregular heartbeats and cats. The name Crywank comes from a nickname a friend gave James due to his over-the-top displays of sadness.
Coming out of Nashville with heartfelt punk 'n' roll anthems big in sing-alongs and spiced with a country tinge, Blacklist Royals have played hundreds of shows over the last three years including the entire 2006 and the 2007 Vans Warped Tour, appearances at both The Fest 6 and The Fest 7, the 2008 Heavy Rebel Weekender, and stints on the road with legendary acts like Pennywise, Circle Jerks, and The Queers. Hailed by critics and fans alike, Blacklist Royals are standing proof that the great American rock and roll band isn't a thing of the past.
When singer/songwriter J. Keenan and bassist Mark Moran formed The Go Set in 2003, it seemed only natural to combine the elements of the music they had grown up on. Having both been brought up on everything from traditional celtic and folk music, to early seventies punk rock, and with a voice for political perspective and social conscience, The Go Set embarked on a unique musical journey. Combining the folk elements of the bagpipes, accordion, and mandolin, with distorted punk guitars and a rock n roll ethos, The Go Set created a sound and direction all its own.
Al Baker is a Troubacore Folk artist from Manchester in the UK. He has only been playing since January 2006 and has already toured the UK, US, Canada and Ireland with his band, The Dole Queue. He has appeared on stage with well respected acts such as Atilla The Stockbroker, David Rovics, Evan Greer, Ryan Harvey, Tom Frampton, Mark Gunnery, Legion of Filth and Gideon Conn. Al released his first album, On The Use of Jack Boots, in December 2006 which has received glowing reviews. He has planned to release a second album at the end of 2009.
Shane MacGowan (born December 25, 1957) is best known as the original singer and songwriter with The Pogues, and is considered one of the most important and poetic Irish songwriters of the last thirty years. MacGowan drew on his Irish heritage to create The Pogues, a band that he founded, but from which he was away during a long hiatus in the 1990s. Many of his songs are influenced by Irish nationalism, Irish history, the experiences of the Irish in London and in London life in general.
Greenland Whalefishers started out in Bergen Norway in 1994, long before anyone had heard of bands like Flogging Molly or Dropkick Murphys. Combining british punk with celtic folk influences, the band soon became one of the most interesting post-pogues bands . Almost two decades of touring all around the world, releasing seven full length albums, piles of singles and EPs and an uncountable number of split-releases, contributing with music to the movie
The Men They Couldn't Hang (TMTCH) are a British rock band whose mixture of folk and punk is not dissimilar to that of The Pogues (in fact founder member Shanne Bradley was a member of Shane MacGowan's first band The Nipple Erectors), although they have not enjoyed the same commercial or critical success as MacGowan's group. The original group consisted of Stefan Cush (Vocals, Guitar), Paul Simmonds (Guitar, Bouzouki, Mandolin, Keyboards), Philip (Swill) Odgers (Vocals, Guitar, Tin Whistle, Melodica), Jon Odgers (Drums, Percussion) and Shanne Bradley (Bass, Flute).
Bubbling forth like a mossy belch of polka filth from the greasy, jet fuel-contaminated wetlands of the Northwest, comes The Bad Things. With junkyard waltzes and shameless shanties, The Bad Things are hellbent on providing traditional music for the post-apocalyptic era. "Combining elements of Gypsy, folk, Klezmer, Hillbilly ballads, mariachi crooners, and a Vaudeville theatrical aesthetic, the group has a reputation for drunken debauchery and feverish dancing at their live shows.....The group lends their old-fashioned style with a post-modern sense of black humor."
There is an old Gaelic proverb,