In the spirit of St. Patrick’s Day, your band of the week is Flogging Molly.

Flogging Molly is a seven-piece American Celtic punk band that formed in Los Angeles, California. Prior to forming Flogging Molly, Dublin born Dave King was the vocalist for heavy metal band Fastway featuring guitarist “Fast” Eddie Clarke. Dave King retained a record deal with Epic records and began to work on a solo album, but began to reconsider his record deal when the label opposed his idea of bringing in traditional Irish instruments. In 1993, King met guitarist Ted Hutt, bassist Jeff Peters, and fiddle player Bridget Regan and put together a rock band with a celtic feel.

They began to play a mix of Irish traditional and rock. Putting Dave’s poetic lyrics to rocking melodies, they played at a Los Angeles pub called Molly Malone’s weekly building a small, but loyal following. They continued a routine of playing every Monday night at Molly Malone’s. They put out a live album, Alive Behind the Green Door in 1997. In an interview with Kerrang! magazine, King stated that the band’s name comes from the bar (Molly Malone’s) that faithfully supported the band from the very beginning, “We used to play there every Monday night and we felt like we were flogging it to death, so we called the band Flogging Molly.” You can check out their song “Leave This World Behind” by clicking on the icon below.

Mr. McClung