Album Review: The Fighting Jamesons

bill bodkin reviews the debut record from the virginia-based celtic rock band…

Irish Christmas has come a little early this year in form of the self-titled new album from The Fighting Jamesons. It’s an album steeped in the grand tradition of classic Irish sing-a-long capturing the true spirit of Irish music. The eight track album is the perfect Irish sing-a-long album — it’s passionate, it’s emotional, it rouses the spirits, it makes you want a pint and a nip of whiskey. If you’re listening to this album and it doesn’t make you want to get up and dance, get drunk, throw your arms around your buddies or your loved ones, break out in song or embrace the good things in life, then you’re probably one of those people who think Saint Patrick’s Day is a nonsensical day of drunkeness, not a bold celebration of Irish heritage and a day of nonsensical drunkeness.

While The Fighting Jamesons might not be a household name just yet, the album has serious production value behind. Produced by Mark Padgett, founder of former Capitol Records recording artists Mae, this self-titled debut is about as major label sounding as you’ll hear out there. And it’s this value that makes the record that good. The Fighting Jamesons are a live show band, they’ve made their name with their high-energy, interactive shows and it’s been seen on numerous occasions that it’s sometimes hard to capture a good live band on record. Luckily Padgett is able to do that and the production quality, as high as it is, doesn’t alter anything you’d hear from the band live.

The album does feature three covers, “The Irish Rover,” “Drunken Sailor” and “Tell Me Ma.” The reason this should be mentioned is that the five original songs from the band could easily be mistaken for traditional Irish tunes sung for generations like the aforementioned covers. Yes, they are that good, that authentic. Yet that’s in lyric and spirit. Musically, The Fighting Jamesons subscribe to the Flogging Molly, Dropkick Murphy’s school of thought — incorporate elements of American rock ‘n’ roll and punk rock into the traditional Irish sound. And the band does it with gusto, showing that it’s not just all tin whistles and bag pipes; it’s electric guitars, thundering drums and bass.

This album is a throwback for fans of bands like Flogging Molly who’ve become a bit unhappy by that band’s progression towards a more progressive, socially motivated punk rock sound while stepping away from the pub punk that made them famous. With this self-titled piece, The Fighting Jamesons have taken their first in what we hope is a long, whiskey-fueled career of making people have fun with the rollicking hybrid of Irish traditional and American rock ‘n’ roll.

Check out Pop-Break’s interview with the band from March of this year prior to their Stone Pony gig.

The Fighting Jamesons will be having their record release party at The NorVA in Norfolk, Virgina tonight with the band The Mirrors.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaqOaj1rlm4