I listen to music. Punk-rock, Irish trad, rockabilly, psychobilly, soul (plus a lot of motown), rhythm & blues, polka, ska (trad and two-tone), Cajun, garage, Quebecois, doo-wop, swing, country, 60s girl groups, etc... Anything done well.
Apart from listening to music, I take delight in drinking profusely, writing instinctively, reading chronically, and courting pretty fair maids 'til the morning bright and early.
Watching documnentaries dedicated to Joe Strummer makes me cry. Cars and mobile phones irk and dishearten me. The status quo both pisses me off and fascinates me. Ice cream was invented to be eaten at odd hours when the sun's about to come up and you're watching Black Books.
I'd like to meet:
Essentially, I'll accept invites from anyone who isn't stuck-up, close-minded, a cheap-skate, a scam-artist, bitchy or generally a bastard.
But more importantly, I'll keep in touch with you if you actually manage to write an email once in a while, have an engaging discussion with me, hopefully teach me something new, or (even better) make me laugh!
If you can have fun anywhere anytime, it's a big friggin' bonus. Relaxed while watching shitty old films, or going out drinking and laughing at eachother's dumb-ass shit until we puke... either extreme is perfectly stimulating in my books.
I have no friends.
Ladies and gentlemen, you are such a wonderful crowd, we'd like to play a little tune for you. It's one of my personal favorites and I'd like to dedicate it to a young man who doesn't think he's seen anything good today - Cameron Frye, this one's for you.
Click here for some sick freaks.
Music:
Irish Punk Rawk
The Pogues, Shane MacGowan, Tom Waits, the Clash, Nick Cave & the Badseeds, Stiff Little Fingers, AC/DC, the Ramones, Jerry Lee Lewis, Sam Cooke, Beethoven, Fats Domino, the Proclaimers, the Misfits, Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, Jimmy Durante, Condemned 84, the B-52's.
Those are the more well-known bands I'm infatuated with. Now, rather than name a warren-full of punk-rockabilly-irish bands everyone else has already listed, I'm just gonna mention the lesser-known ones whom I feel DESERVE more exposure:
the Alley Dukes
the Town Pants
the Gutter Demons
Kings Of Nuthin
the Buccaneers
the Popes
the Space Cadets
Lancaster County Prison
Peter Pan Speedrock
the Nips
Three Blue Teardrops
the Silverhearts
Bloodshot Bill (Hubcaps & Guilloteens)
Filthy Thieving Bastards
139 South
the Tossers
Jansse Bagge Bend
Pater Moeskroen
Cry Baby Killers
Slim Sandy and the Shady Rhythm Cats
Vennaskond
Gerry O'Neill
the Brains
the Trojans (Gaelic Ska)
Patrick Walsh (Peterborough)
Mimosa (Bucolique)
Kevin Quain and the Mad Bastards
Simon Chardiet and the Bar Sinisters
Dexter Romweber and the Flat Duo-Jets
Vulgar Deli
Belfast Andi and the Swift Years
Zak and His Unhappy Guitar
Lefty McRighty and the Boxcar Cadavers
United Steel Workers of Montreal
Zydepunk
Aaron Chapman (still awaiting solo a album!)
the Polkaholics
the Mad Maggies
and I'm sure a lot more...
The Holy Trinity... Shane, Tom and Nick.
Movies:
Too many to list. British and Irish comedies, classic horror, ghost stories, history and documentaries, musician biographies, corny 80s teen movies, goofy modern epics, cult films, b-films, British gangster films, zombies, things that make me cringe, things that make me laugh, things that make me say "wow, that's pretty friggin twisted... can we watch it again?".
Books:
Charles Bukowski, Kurt Vonegut, Nick Cave, Roald Dahl, Roddy Doyle, Mikhail Bulgakov, Roger Zelazny, Brendan O'Carroll, Frank McCourt, Douglas Adams, Grant Naylor, Brian Froud, Edward Gorey, Dr. Seuss, Noam Chomsky, Ben Elton, Celine, Richard Dawkins and Charles Beaudelaire.
