A long time ago when the earth was green, The Mahones, Canada's favorite and original Irish Punk rockers formed at the end of the bar at a legendary Irish Pub in Kingston, (Ontario, Canada), over hundreds of pints of Guinness Irish Stout, and shots of Jamesons Irish Whiskey. It was the brilliant idea of Dublin-born Finny McConnell to put together a band that sounded like The Clash, The Pogues, The Who, The Dubliners and The Replacements with a dash of Social Distortion, and with a name that rhymed with The Ramones. Once this Irish rock and roll stew was complete, and with the band motto "Give it all you've got, or forget about it" (Joe Strummer), a one off gig was booked on March 17th, St. Patrick's Day. Go figure. The world has never been the same!
Led by Irish-Paddy Punk Pioneer/Singer/Guitarist and Songwriter Finny McConnell with Dominic "The Bomb' Whelan (Drums/Vocals), Sean 'Riot' Ryan (Bass/Vocals), Katie 'KaBoom' McConnell (Accordian/Vocals), Sean Winter (Banjo/Mandolin/Harmonic/Vocals) and a revolving line-up of fantastic musicians, this Irish gang of rockers have played at many major concerts and festivals in Europe, and North America
The Mahones have released ten CDs (Draggin' The Days, Rise Again, The Hellfire Club Sessions, Here Comes Lucky, Paint The Town Red - The Best Of, Live At The Horseshoe, Take No Prisoners, The Irish Punk Collection, Whiskey Devils - A Tribute To The Mahones and The Black Irish Album), and are very excited for the next two scheduled for release in early 2011. The Black Irish, The Mahones' highly anticipated 6th studio album, will be released along with a tribute album, featuring 18 international bands' covers of Mahones' classics.
Many of our friends have made guest appearances on these recordings including Rick Barton (Dropkick Murphys, Continental) Mary Margaret O'Hara, Johnny Fay and Gord Sinclair (Tragically Hip), Ian D'Sa (Billy Talent), Scruffy Wallace (Dropkick Murphys), Ian Blurton (C'Mon), Colin Cripps (Crash Vegas, Jim Cuddy Band), Ian Thornley (Big Wreck, Thornley), Kevin Hearn (Lou Reed, Barenaked Ladies) and Kevin Quain (The Mad Bastards). As for touring, The Mahones have been on too many tours to count. Europe, Scandinavia , Australia and North America have been the usual stomping grounds for these Irish Punk Legends.
The Mahones have shared stages and toured around the world with legends such as The Dropkick Murphys, Shane MacGowan and The Popes, Billy Bragg, The Band, The Buzzcocks, D.O.A., Against Me, The Tragically Hip, The Damned, Sick Of It All, The Popes, Suicidal Tendencies, The Prodigy, Gwar, Skunk Anansie, Tricky, Blue Rodeo, Steve Earle, The Alarm, Sinead O'Connor, Flogging Molly, Spirit Of The West, The Dubliners, Christy Moore and even Van Morrison, to name a few. More recently, Terry Woods and Phil Chevron of The Pogues joined The Mahones on stage for a tour of Central and East Coast Canada and Scuffy Wallace of The Dropkick Murphys joined The Mahones onstage for a few shows as Tin Whistle player in Toronto and Montreal during a recent DKM Canadian tour.
Over the years, The Mahones' music has appeared in several places other than their previously mentioned CDs. The Mahones' are very excited to announce that their song "Paint The Town Red 2010" will be featured it the upcoming Mark Wahlberg/Christian Bale film "The Fighter. The Mahones also performed The Pogues Christmas classic "Fairytale of New York" on CBC's The Hour's 2007 Christmas special, and co-wrote and recorded the title track for the Hollywood Pictures movie "Celtic Pride" (Wally High/The Mahones) featuring Damon Wayans, Daniel Stern, and Dan Akroyd which was composed specifically for the film. The song 100 Bucks was showcased in the movie " Dog Park ", featuring Natasha Henstridge, Luke Wilson, Janeane Garofalo, as well as Bruce McCulloch and Mark McKinney from Kids in the Hall. The Mahones also made a special St. Patrick's day appearance to sing the Canadian and American national anthems at the Air Canada Center for the Toronto Raptors, and then there was the time that they blah blah blah.
The Mahones have headlined and made main stage headline appearances at many major festivals internationally, listed below. The Rock For People Festival (Prague Czech Republic), With Full Force Rock Festival (Roitzschjora, Germany), Dour Festival (Dour, Belguim), Zwarte Cross Festival (Lichtenvoorde, Holland), Renaissance Festival (Las Vegas USA), Strummercamp Festival with Billy Bragg (Manchester, England), The Festival Interceltique (Lorient, France- the biggest in Europe), Brintaal Celtic Folk Festival (Valstagna, Italy), Am Bach Festival (St. Wendel/Saar, Germany) E & L Rocknacht Festival (Alsfeld, Germany), Sklab Festival (Trbovlje, Slovenia), Viva Le Punk Festival (Callac, France) Irlanda In Festa 09 Festival (Bolongna, Italy), Minneapolis Irish Fair (Minnesota, USA), Disneyland St. Patricks Day Festival (Paris, France), Potsdam Celtic Rock Festival (Potsdam, Germany), Big Irish Night Festival (Amsterdam, Holland), The Toronto Festival of Beer in Fort York (Toronto, Canada), Jena Celtic Festival (Jena, Germany), Koeinpop Festival (Horst, Holland), Stewart Park Festival (Perth, Canada), The National Celtic Festival (Portarlington, Australia), The Freemont Street St. Patrick’s Festival (Las Vegas, USA), Deerlyck Folk Festival (Deerlyck, Belguim), The Fergus Highland Games Festival (Fergus, Canada), Castle Festival (Soligen, Germany), Capital City Celtic Festival (Ottawa, Canada), Huntenpop Festival (Ulft, Holland), East Coast Festival (London, Canada), Celtic Transhumances Festival (Laas, France), Yonge St Festival (Toronto, Canada), The South Carolina Irish/Scottish Festival (Anderson, USA), City Festival (Lennestadt, Germany) and The Celtic Nights Festival (Vienna, Austria).
Now with two newest cd's "The Black Irish Album" and "Whiskey Devils - A Tribute To The Mahones" coming out in early 2011, THE MAHONES are planning yet another world tour. See you soon!
Hide your drinks, and lock up you daughters.
