I’ve been struggling to find a way to define folk punk. According to the all- knowing Wikipedia, Folk punk is a mix of folk music and punk rock made popular by the Pogues in the UK and the Violent Femmes in north America. I found this definition rather lazy and unhelpful.
But then another definition was thrown in. Folk punk is a genre where musicians write music in punk rock style, but use folk instruments like mandolins, banjos, accordion and violins. It somehow gets lumped with Celtic rock.
I was still not satisfied with this definition until I heard The Bottlers playing during Sydney St Patrick’s Day Parade and Moore Park and it hit me.
If Bob Dylan and Joan Baez had a love child his name would be folk-punk. As I watched the nine piece band perform their single Blacktown I started to feel like I was witnessing what an orgy between Redgum, Billy Bragg, John Williamson, Goanna, The Dubliners, The Furey’s and Davey Arthur, Dropkick Murphys would sound like. A glorious eargasm.
So, who are these guys and why are they so intriguing? The Bottlers are a nine piece, all acoustic, folk-punk band from Sydney, Australia. The band is made up of Matthew Black on Vocals, Ned McPhie on Guitar, Alex Carey on Mandolin, Lucas Griffiths – on Guitar, Sarah- Marie Marriott on Accordion, Jim Mongrel on Bass, Olga Solar on the Fiddle and Simon Wale on the Drums.
The band was started by Matthew Black about three years ago when he met Ned McPhie and started to write songs with him. It didn’t take long for the two to cobble a band together and here we are.
“The smackys and – the whack-os, scrounge the ground – for found tobacco, on the street behind the station, in the morning of the day, where the blank walls stare relentless…” Blacktown
The thing that gets you about The Bottlers is their lyricism. They somehow know how to put rhythm to words that will take you by surprise. They paint the world in all its glory and shame. Cold hard realities are strung out with banjos and fiddles. Matthews vocals ride the waves and draw you in so you want to ride the same wave with him.
Their music is provocative without being brash and so rhythmical, you’d want to dance to it. Why folk punk? According to lead vocalist, Matthew Black, Irish music was prevalent in his life since he was a kid. His father would come home at 3am blasting Irish music. That influenced his taste in music.
The band released their first demos in 2014. They have played in different concerts and in front of different crowds. They straddle the two genres that define their sound very well performing in sunshine-filled folk festivals and in dark, smoke-filled dungeon-like bars and dives. Folk festivals have their own unique laid back vibe that they can jam to. It’s at the dungeon like dark places where the ass-kicking punk energy comes out loud.
They released a self-titled EP in October 2017 and immediately went on tour to promote the album. The album was released under Matthew and the Ned’s Cutthroat Folk label. The tour was their first interstate tour in Australia.
The band has been back in Sydney for a few weeks, cooking up new music and brewing their own beer, Hades Ale. According to Matthew, “libations can help people have a musical conversation.” Personally, as I swig the last bit of my beer, I can totally agree with him. There is no better way to have a conversation about smack, homelessness, living and loving in post-colonial Australia than with a mug of ale. And so I raise my mug to them. Here’s to The Bottlers, for their great music and may the beer gods be with you!
http://www.thebottlers.com.au/about/
