For Dave King, the Dublin-born singer/guitarist/songwriter of SideOneDummy recording group Flogging Molly, the band’s third studio album, Within a Mile of Home, brings him back to his childhood and the traditional Irish music he grew up with. With the help of his Flogging Molly compatriots and producer Ted Hutt, Within a Mile of Home has finally taken King full circle, back to his roots, and oh what a journey it has been.
Recorded at L.A.’s Cello Studios and Hollywood Sound, Flogging Molly’s new album fuses the traditional music of King’s youth with the feverish punk-rock of bands like Stiff Little Fingers, the Pogues, the Undertones and Dropkick Murphys, not to mention seminal influences like the Clash, U2, and David Bowie. Songs like the speeded-up martial punk of ‘Screaming at the Wailing Wall,’ a searing critique of Bush’s warmongering in the name of God, co-exist with the timeless English pastoral folk of ‘Factory Girls.’ The latter, reminiscent of Fairport Convention or Richard and Linda Thompson, features a duet with King and acclaimed singer-songwriter Lucinda Williams.
