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tour again , at which point Regan ’ s mother was recruited to pet-sit . And so it went from year to year – pay the rent from roadwork , return home to enjoy their big couch potato of a dog . “ They ’ re really mellow dogs , and great with kids ,” says King , a longtime animal lover . So much so , he says , that he judges other folks accordingly . “ Hey -- anybody without any cats or dogs , I ’ d be a little bit wary of .”
King exhales a long , lugubrious sigh . “ So it ’ s sad times ,” he murmurs . “ Very sad times .” Which underscores the whole point of dubbing his band ’ s rollicking new album – its first in six years -- Life is Good , he adds . “ Because when you dig into it , life is not good . I mean , it can be good , if it ’ s positive , and I want to have a positive twist to it . But basically , we ’ re all just trying to do the best that we bloody can , aren ’ t we ?” The cover photo adds to the cynical effect – it ’ s a three-year-old picture of the couple ’ s nephew Connor , now 6 , grinningly flipping the middle finger to his mom from the back seat of the family sedan . “ We needed an image that would humorously point that out , too ,” the singer chortles . “ Like , ‘ Life is good , eh ? Fuck you ! No , it ’ s not !’ And once we found that photograph , we thought , ‘ Oh , my God – can we actually get away with this ?’” Can . And did .
And Flogging Molly spends the entire album doing exactly what it ’ s best at – turning sadness into celebration , death into life affirmation , darkness and despair into light and hope , and political turmoil into some sort of edifying , optimistic narrative . It ’ s King and company ’ s most enjoyable work in years , and hearkens back to the swaggering , Guinness-fueled brilliance of their definitive 2002 sophomore set , Drunken Lullabies . Life is Good doesn ’ t open with the customary bang – it
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starts with “ There ’ s Nothing Left Pt . 1 ,” and its subtle fiddle-embellished acoustic notes bouying King ’ s inimitable Irishinflected -- and tyrant-taunting – observations : “ Dear majesty I kneel at your feet / Though my heart tells me I am wrong … The devil has spoke and he ’ s not very bright .” Could be Trump , could be France ’ s equally radical-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen – the song doesn ’ t name any ignoble names , just hints at an emboldened villainy within the walls of government . Already , you can pick up the socio-political vibe – the guy is mad as hell about what ’ s going on in our corporategreedy , climate-change-denying , soullessly-corrupt society . And he ’ s not going to take it any more .
Track two hits you right in the mug like a bare-knuckled jab . “ The Hand of John L . Sullivan ” – originally released a year ago as a stand-alone single – is the group ’ s stock in trade , a Celtic jig on punk-tempo methedrine , touching on the subject of immigration by celebrating one of Ireland ’ s most renowned immigrants , the first heavyweight champion of gloved boxing Sullivan , arguably America ’ s first celebrity . And in his halcyon late-1800s era , just shaking his meaty paw gave you bragging rights for life down at your local pub . Then , King and crew are off at a furious gallop , beginning with the mariachi-hornpunctuated anthem “ Welcome to Adamstown ,” about a carefully-conceived boom town West of Dublin that went bust when the Celtic Tiger economy tanked . Then : the swaying title track , honoring King ’ s mother who passed away a year ago last Christmas ; two sea chanteys , “ Crushed ( Hostile Nations )” and “ The Last Serenade ( Sailors and Fishermen ),” that tackle the plight of the disappearing middle class ; a Biblical-metaphor-rife reel
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“ The Guns of Jericho ” ( another earlier single ); two chantalong potential crowd pleasers about mass resistance , “ Hope ” and “ Reptiles ( We Woke Up )”; and a pintlifting stomper that ’ s a show case for fiery guitarist Dennis Casey , “ The Bride Wore Black .” The gently-lilting ballad “ Until We Meet Again ” closes the treatise with more ruminations on death , and a carpe diem exhortation to treasure each day you ’ re given , because – spoiler alert , folks – they ’ ll be over all too soon .
The presence of King ’ s late mother hangs wraithlike over the album for good reason , the frontman admits . “ She supported me so much over the years ,” he says . “ My mom used to clean houses and office buildings , and when ‘ Fast ’ Eddie Clarke was looking for a singer for ( his post-Motorhead band ) Fastway , I said I wanted to go audition for him , and my mom said , ‘ Do you really want to do this ?’ And I said yes . So she actually borrowed the money from a woman she used to clean with to get me my plane ticket over to London . So she was a huge part of me doing what I wanted to do with my life .” He pauses to think of that gig-landing trip ’ s implications . “ If I hadn ’ t gotten on that plane and gotten involved in doing what I wanted to do , I probably never would have left Ireland .”
The composer added the line “ Enjoy yourselves ” to the “ Life is Good ” number to echo his parent ’ s deathbed wish . “ Just before she passed away , Bridget and I were with her – and she was 94 – and she said , ‘ Do us a favor – enjoy your lives . Because I surely did ,’” he recalls . “ So even though it was a sad time , to know that she had enjoyed her life was a celebration . That ’ s another reason I called the song and the album “ Life is Good ” – because when I
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In a few short days , the life of Django the Irish wolfhound would be over . At the age of eight – a long span for such a large breed – the gentle giant was suffering congestive heart failure , and in the past two months had lost over 40 of his original 195 lbs ., and was deteriorating so rapidly that his veterinarian had suggested euthanasia at the end of the current week before the pain worsened . Pain for the animal and pain for his owner , Dave King , who was trying to make his pet ’ s final hours on Earth pleasant . “ He ’ s getting a steak from Ruth ’ s Chris Steak House ,” he declared . “ But he ’ s happy – he ’ s lying beside me right now as I ’ m talking to you . And we ’ re going to be going for a walk pretty soon – we want to spend as much time as we can with him right now to make his passing as easy as possible .”
King was phoning from Detroit , where he and wife Bridget Regan – the fiddleplaying foil to his boisterous , brogueinflected frontman in the Celtic punk combo Flogging Molly – are based in the States when they ’ re not back home in Wexford , in his native Ireland . People on his block would miss Django , too – three times a day , he walked him around the neighborhood , he says . “ And on a sunny day like today , people would be out in their gardens , and – because Django was monstrous – they always noticed him . So he was like a beacon for strangers to come over and just talk – not about anything specific , just nice , neighborly stuff . And they were learning something because they ’ ve never seen a dog like this before .”
King and Regan had always wanted an Irish wolfhound , and they acquired Django – named for musician Django Reinhardt – when he was just a pup . They were with him constantly for eight months straight before they had to head out on
22 illinoisentertainer . com may 2017
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