{"id":3500,"date":"2011-08-19T18:33:35","date_gmt":"2011-08-20T01:33:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/?p=3500"},"modified":"2011-08-19T18:33:35","modified_gmt":"2011-08-20T01:33:35","slug":"flogging-molly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/2011\/08\/flogging-molly\/","title":{"rendered":"FLOGGING MOLLY"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/h1>\n

FLOGGING MOLLY<\/h1>\n

Finding humor in desperate times, making use of the rowdiest means possible<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The difficulty of trying economic times is a theme that fuels Celtic-punk band Flogging Molly\u2019s latest album, Speed of Darkness<\/em>. It\u2019s also a social condition the punk-meets-pub-rock band\u2019s founder, Dave King, knows firsthand. He and fiddler-guitarist wife Bridget Regan divide their time between his native Ireland and Regan\u2019s hometown of Detroit, two areas that have been especially hard hit in recent years. \u201cWe Irish have always experienced hardships,\u201d King explains. \u201cWhen I was writing these lyrics I was exploring some pretty nasty things, but I retained a certain sense of humor. That\u2019s hugely important. Humor and music are like the only things that people have to get them through these situations.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a way, Flogging Molly was formed because of hard times. Formerly the lead singer for \u201980s British heavy-metal band Fastway, King relocated to Los Angeles in the early \u201990s in hopes of expanding his musical opportunities. An attempt to regroup with a new band fell apart, and he took odd jobs as a house painter and a truck driver to make ends meet. \u201cI was really in the doldrums, but there was no way I was going to go back and start another band in Ireland,\u201d King recalls. \u201cSo I stayed in L.A. and began writing songs for myself.\u201d Frequent jam sessions at local pub Molly Malone\u2019s led to a chance meeting with Regan and the other musicians who would eventually fill out Flogging Molly\u2019s ranks.<\/p>\n

King\u2019s difficult early experiences in the music world gave him a pointed aversion to major labels. Darkness<\/em> finds the band venturing out on its own entirely after departing its longtime indie home, SideOneDummy. \u201cIt\u2019s a risk, absolutely,\u201d King admits. \u201cBut lots of people have had things happen to them the last few years that they didn\u2019t ask for, and we\u2019re very fortunate to do what we do. We\u2019ve always had to take risks to make the music we want. We\u2019ve sunk everything we\u2019ve had into this. There\u2019s no retirement plan here, no nest egg.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s just fine with King, as Flogging Molly\u2019s true home isn\u2019t the studio but the stage. \u201cWhen we do shows, we can see our fans haven\u2019t lost their spirit,\u201d he says. \u201cThey let loose for two hours, and it\u2019s wonderful. It\u2019s very moving, and we\u2019re very lucky. There\u2019s an upside to seeing the human spirit and how it can be celebrated.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2013Lee Zimmerman<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

FLOGGING MOLLY Finding humor in desperate times, making use of the rowdiest means possible The difficulty of trying economic times is a theme that fuels Celtic-punk band Flogging Molly\u2019s latest album, Speed of Darkness. It\u2019s also a social condition the punk-meets-pub-rock band\u2019s founder, Dave King, knows firsthand. He and fiddler-guitarist wife Bridget Regan divide their […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[2424,1634,10156],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3500"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3500"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3500\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3502,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3500\/revisions\/3502"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}