Neck - London-Irish Psycho-Ceilidh!

Known as 'The Heavy Artillery of Irish Music', London-Irish band NECK have, deservedly, established themselves as a leading force in the Folk-Punk scene; with their rip-roaring, irrepressible ‘Psycho-Ceilídh’ sound having been matured over eight years of furious global gigging, previous album releases in Europe, and Anti-racist single 'Everybody's welcome to The Hooley!' charting in the UK in 2006.

The6 piece band's sound juxtaposes, perfectly, the swirling spiritual abandon of authentic Traditional Irish music : (fiddle, tin-whistle, Uilleann pipes and banjo) with the electric energy blast of a full-on, pumped-up to fe*k Punk band! - Distilling the sound of two other mighty London rebel bands - The Clash & The Pogues & 'carrying the torch on' with their own, unique London-Irish brew: Psycho-Ceilídh! - And, whether it’s swirling instrumentals; rowdy, raucous drinking songs; original, imaginative re-workings of Traditional Irish standards; angry political polemic; chest-beating anthems or tear-jerking ballads - NECK cover ALL bases of Irish music with passion & pride.

And all this is driven by the authentic, passionate voice of their lead vocalist, guitarist & song-smith - a man with both a vision & undeniable pedigree: an ex-member of Shane MacGowan's Popes; from the same Irish enclave of North London that spawned Johnny Rotten; & with close family roots in the same Dublin neighbourhood as Dave King of Flogging Molly... O'Keeffe's also guested with The Alabama 3 & co-written a track on Hayseed Dixie's latest album.

The band's rowdy, exhilarating live INVALID s now firmly established them as International Festival favourites from Moscow (in front of 7,000) to Texas - & all points in between! Along with their own headline tours, shows & festival appearances (i.e. Paas Pop, NL's 2nd stage), they've performed with acts such as their U.S. contemporaries (& buddies) The Dropkick Murphys & Flogging Molly; as well as Shane MacGowan, The Levellers, Stiff Little Fingers, The Undertones, Hayseed Dixie & The Misfits. And, amongst others, 2008 was their sixth year at Rebellion/Wasted & the UK's biggest festival, Glastonbury - the only band to play Left Field as many times as Tony Benn & Billy Bragg! 2007 was in front of 5,000!

Added to that, Boston’s 'Irish Punk' radio station/ web-zine/ compilation album that revels in all things Emerald and Loud is named for the Neck tune, ‘Shite & Onions’ and their "Psycho-Ceilídh" e.p. featured strongly in a New York's Irish Voice Top Ten releases chart, which included U2 and Sinéad O'Connor! NECK have, subsequently, made two U.S. trips in 2008.

With the imminent release of ‘Come out Fighting!’, their début album for Golf Records, they set a whole-new bench-mark... and remain, unquestionably, at the cutting-edge of this music - not just for their songs & the fact that they're taking it in new directions, while still staying true to their Irish-folk roots; but also in the sheer audacity, courage, speed and soul of their Irish musicians! Recorded with the legendary producer Pat Collier, his powers & skill give NECK a new focussed, lean & muscular voice, which should see them take their rightful place amongst their contemporaries.

Make no mistake - amongst the leaders and followers of Irish-folk influenced punk bands all over the world - with their roots, understanding and command of the music, NECK are most certainly the real deal! - Eye-brows will be raised. Toes will tap. Tears will be shed. Bodies will be thrown all over the shaggin’ dance-floor! NECK will bring The Hooley! ...Fact.

Just some of the Festivals NECK have rocked the bejaysus out of:

Glastonbury, UK [x6 / 5 stages]; Rebellion/Wasted, UK [x6]; Punk 'n' Disorderly, D [x3]; Ardoyne Fleadh, N.Irl [x3]; Beautiful Days, UK [x2]; Solfest, UK [x2]; Strummercamp, UK [x2]; Gas Yard Feile, N.Irl [x2]; Waterford Spraoi, Irl [x2]; Crawley Folk Festival, UK [x2]; Paas Pop, NL; SXSW, TX, USA; Dublin Irish Festival, OH, USA; Wickerman, UK; Huntenpop, NL; Wickham,UK; Tantsy, RUSSIA; Irish2000Fest, NY, USA; Wildwood Irish Fest, NJ, USA; With Full Force, D; Skagen, DK; Endorse-it-in-Dorset, UK; Nirwanas TuinFeest, NL; Great Escape, UK; Stadfest, D; Postplatz, CH; Nextpunk, CH; Travobaccano, ITA; Goorock, BE.

PO Box 42809, ‘County Holloway’, London, N19 4XF, England

Tel: +44 (0) 7973 267547

E-mail: neck6@btinternet.com / neck6irl@googlemail.com

Webs + MP3's: http://www.myspace.com/neckireland * http://www.neck.ie/tracks.htm

"Bringing Irish Punk past The Poguesat last, a worthy contender for the Celtic punk crown is born!" -Irish Voice, USA

"If The Clash had been born in the Emerald Isle, they might have ended up sounding like this!" - Back on the tracks

"Another dose of manic psycho-ceilídh from the London-Irish heirs to the Pogues' legacy. not for the fainthearted, this is incendiary, belligerent stuff!"

- Hot Press, Ireland

"Fans of Folk Punk a la Flogging Molly or Dropkick Murphys will be loving this, and it kicks the shite out of some of the other pale American acts attempting a similar thing." - Punk News

"I like a few of the bands that are combining Irish music and punk the Tossers, Neck from London and Fogging Molly from L.A. but there are a lot of crappy bands out there, too."

- Ken Casey, Dropkick Murphys

Yes - all over the world:

Just some of the Festivals NECK have rocked the bejaysus out of:

Glastonbury, UK [x6 / 5 stages]; Rebellion/Wasted, UK [x6]; Punk 'n' Disorderly, D [x3]; Ardoyne Fleadh, N.Irl [x3]; Beautiful Days, UK [x2]; Solfest, UK [x2]; Strummercamp, UK [x2]; Gas Yard Feile, N.Irl [x2]; Waterford Spraoi, Irl [x2]; Crawley Folk Festival, UK [x2]; Paas Pop, NL; SXSW, TX, USA; Dublin Irish Festival, OH, USA; Wickerman, UK; Huntenpop, NL; Wickham,UK; Tantsy, RUSSIA; Irish2000Fest, NY, USA; Wildwood Irish Fest, NJ, USA; With Full Force, D; Skagen, DK; Endorse-it-in-Dorset, UK; Nirwanas TuinFeest, NL; Great Escape, UK; Stadfest, D; Postplatz, CH; Nextpunk, CH; Travobaccano, ITA; Goorock, BE.

etc, etc...

Love it - & loads!

Psycho-Ceilídh's a Shane MacGowan invention: a bit of an Irish music - Punk hybrid in a similar fashion to the Rockabilly - Punk fusion of Psycho-Billy: Leeson played in his band The Popes. The influences in the sound are in the name: the Psycho part being the Punk Rock element - in our case, particularly The Sex Pistols & The Clash - the two top Punk bands & both from London + the two classic Punk bands from 'NornIron' (Northern Ireland) Stiff Little Fingers from Belfast & The Undertones from Derry.

Ceilídh is Irish dance music: Jigs & Reels, etc. & that element comes from the bands roots in the London Traditional Irish music pub session scene - the session actually started in London, as opposed to back home in Ireland, amongst the immigrant Irish population in the '40's & '50's in pubs like The Favourite in 'County' Holloway - literally, over the road from where John Lydon grew-up & where Tom McMennamon from The Popes (God rest him) grew up in - it was pulled-down recently, along with Clancy's (another Trad. session stalwart) to make way for the new Arsenal stadium. We're proud to be part of that legacy of London playing an important part in Irish music. Obviously, then, The Pogues are a huge influence, as well as The Dubliners (God rest ye, Ronnie...), Finbarr & Eddie Furey & The Chieftains...

Gibson & Epiphone Electric Guitars, , Stingray Bass, Trace Elliot Bass amp, Marshall Amps & Cabs, Fender 'The Twin' Amp, Pearl Export Drums, Tin Whistle, Tenor Banjo, Fiddle, 5-string banjo, Yamaha Acoustic Guitar

Guinness,mainly, but also Baby Guinness (Kaluha & Baileys), Poitín - pronounced 'pocheen' - illegal home-made Irish potato clear Whiskey (oh yes!!! - when I was in The Popes, we had 10 bottles of it in the press - cupboard - in Shane's 400 year-old cottage in Tipperary! - that smell of hot Poitín & the turf fire that we had going-on in his kitchen is uniquely Irish & I feckin' love it!) , Jagermeister, that Dutch Wild Cherry Beer stuff, Magners, Baileys, Sheridan's, Paddy's, Crested Ten Irish Whiskey ("like a darlin' wee angel cryin' on yer tongue..."), German White Wine, Bourbon, Laphroaig Single Malt Scotch, 12-year old Jameson, Port (altho' don't over-do it or ye'll go red & blotchy!) , etc.