Tag Archive for 'Flogging Molly'

Nathen Maxwell & The Original Bunny Gang

nathen maxwell

After thirteen years playing with Celtic-punk band Flogging Molly, bassist Nathen Maxwell has put out an album from his solo side-project, Nathen Maxwell & The Original Bunny Gang. Teaming up with his drummer father, who goes by the name maxwellvision, their 10-track disc, White Rabbit, was released last week.

nathen_and_papa_maxwell_in_recording_studio

Surprisingly enough, Maxwell’s album does not fit into a punk rock nor Celtic genre at all. Instead, it is an acoustic album with reggae and folk influences, much more delicate sounding than anything Flogging Molly has ever released. Maxwell explains that he grew up listening to reggae and was inspired to put his heartfelt lyrics to reggae’s softer sound. His lyrics range from topics of politics, in “Chief of a Nation” and “Working for the Man,” to the feelings that come along with new love, in “Love Outlaw” and “Love You Mad”; but all songs share Maxwell’s earnest singing.

Maxwell is the first to warn Flogging Molly fans not to expect what they’re used to; and conversely, tells people who are not fans of the punk band to give him a shot. And as for Flogging Molly’s status, the band is still alive and well but has decreased its touring schedule for the year, allowing Maxwell time to work on this project.

Live 105's BFD 2008

Every year in early June since 1993, Live 105 (a ClearChannel radio station in San Francisco, 105.3 FM) puts out a huge concert called, appropriately, Big Fucking Day (or Big Fucking Deal, depending on who you talk to). It’s held at the Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, CA – which happens to be spitting distance from Google‘s main campus. Generally the tickets are $30-50; there’s at least 20-30 bands/DJs/groups on the bill, always a great mix and match; you can select from multiple stages, so if you don’t like who’s playing you don’t have to listen to it. The concessions, like any venue, are retardedly expensive – but that’s the price of needing to eat and drink. It’s always been during the week, but the last 3 years have been on Saturday, which is nice for those of us with real jobs (by “us”, I don’t include myself). This year, the tickets were only $10 – a good way to pull in more people in a time when we need an economic stimulus.

I’ve been to five or six BFD’s in the past ten years – I always have a good time, I always run into a veritable horde of people I know (way out of context), and the cheap ticket price totally makes up for when some of the bands suck sphincter. Last Saturday (June 7th) I went to this year’s BFD (the 15th).

  • Cypress Hill headlined, preceded by Pennywise, Flogging Molly, Alkaline Trio, Everlast, the Kooks, Anti-Flag, MGMT, Atreyu, Flobots, the Whigs, Airborne Toxic Event, and Middle Class Rut (on the main stage).
  • The local stage had the Federalists, Apside, Love Like Fire, the Hundred Days, Here Here, the Action Design, Magic Bullets, and the Phenomenauts.
  • The Subsonic Tent, primarily reserved for techno/trance acts, had Moby headlining, preceded by Mstrkrft, Santogold, DJ AM, Steve Aoki, Lyrics Born, Mike Relm, PlayRadioPlay, DJ Omar, Richard Oh, Hottub, and DJ Miles.
  • I showed up at about 1:30PM, in time to catch the Flobots. I’d only heard their single “Handlebars” on the radio, and it’s a pretty good song – very Cake-ish – but I wasn’t blown away. However, after hearing their live performance of Handlebars, Mayday!!, Combat, and Rise – they’re pretty amazing. It looked basically like a rock band, a violinist (a cute one), and emcees – and I personally am always swept up in quality popular music when it incorporates a talented violinist (think Yellowcard, Fort Minor, etc). Atreyu was good but angry. I’d heard MGMT’s single, Time to Pretend – quite decent, and their live show made me like their sound more.

    After climbing the Army’s climbing wall barefoot (a fun and blatant recruiting gimmick), I headed into the Subsonic Tent to check out Mike Relm – sadly he didn’t show, but Lyrics Born came out early and had a great set. He’s been at BFD before, and always gets me and the crowd moving. I thought he was an odd choice for Subsonic, but it fit, and I wasn’t complaining.

    The local bands I’d never heard of, although while buying yet another $11 beer, one caught my ear: the Action Design – it had a very Paramoreish sound and I liked it alot.

    Everlast played some quality old singles (I didn’t really pay attention to the new stuff) and Alkaline Trio I skipped in favor of the Subsonic Tent. I did catch Flogging Molly and Pennywise, but I napped on a strip of grass for awhile so I missed alot of it.

    Cypress Hill was very high energy, and of course there was tons of herb floating through the air (and definitely on stage). At one point they inflated a giant skeleton king. Why, I am not sure. However I did not care. Afterwards we were tired, and headed out rather than stay late for Moby.

    All in all, it was a great concert day – my only complaint, and a MAJOR one, was the lack of the lawn stage. This year, unlike prior years I can recall, they closed off the main Shoreline stage and had the main stage in the parking lot, Warped Tour style. This was incredibly weak – chilling on the grass, with a great view because of the slope, for a cheaper ticket price – is always a highlight of a Shoreline concert.

    the Main Festival Stage