Mr. Irish Bastard

Mr. Irish Bastard at The Underworld

"Mr. Irish Bastard is one of the most formidable and recognised bands amongst the celtic punk genre around the world today. Staying true to the name, the band was formed by purebred Irish Bastard, Chris Lennon in Münster, Germany after a night on the lash with fellow drunkard and deviant, Jan Strecker. Armed with an acoustic guitar and a banjo, the duo quickly recruited a motley crew of likeminded Irish (and German) hooligans and set off to conquer the world, one Irish pub at a time.

Four months, roughly three hundred pork pies, ninety packs of cigarettes, fifty seven litres of Jameson, and 3 concussions later, the band emerged from the studio with their first attempt “St. Mary’s School of Drinking”. Seven songs about everything from drinking, to… erm… drinking.

… And the rest, is history.

History they will never remember, unfortunately, because, well… alcohol. Which makes it kinda hard to write a band biography, but according to Google, Mr. Irish Bastard has shared the stage with bands of high ilk, such as The Pogues, Dropkick Murphys, The Levellers and Flogging Molly (to name a few), and performed at some of the most prestigious festivals in Europe such as Wacken, Rock Harz and Open Flair.

A quick Google image search also shows members of the band in various degrees of inebriation on stage in China, Japan and what appears to be Ukraine.

This is all very well and good, but there’s no point dwelling on the past when it comes to Mr. Irish Bastard as - like a fine prison-cell-toilet-moonshine-gin - despite being formed from filth, continues to get easier to digest, more tolerable to consume and harder to refuse as the years go by. Bad metaphors aside, the band only continues to grow with every release. Now on their 7th studio album “Battle Songs of the Damned”, the choruses are only getting catchier, the shows are only getting bigger and the reputation of being one of the hardest working and prestigious celtic punk bands in the world, only gets stronger.

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