The Tossers – Agony
Victory Records (3/20/07)
Irish folk/Punk
Here in Chicago, Irish punk has carved out its own little South Side niche, as bands like The Tossers, Dropkick Murphys, Flogging Molly, and to a lesser extent, The Pogues, are just huge, and have influenced a large movement. But I’d say that the whole South Side Chicago Irish punk movement is getting a wee bit tuckered out. Chaps in their early ’20s just love hitting up the bars with their newsie hats, green scarves, wife-beaters and suspenders to show that they’re part of the cult. All they drink is Guinness and Jameson, and they like to fight. It’s almost as if they’re drawing every single Irish stereotype together in order to pay homage to the culture, which ends up being rather counterproductive. I guess it beats the shit out of emo or pop-punk or hipster, but like the rest of them, it’s really wearing out its welcome.
That’s not really any of these bands’ faults, though, as The Tossers have been together since around the time that most of the aforementioned kids were learning how to write in cursive. Very few American Celtic rock bands have seen such a large amount of success—both at home and abroad—as The Tossers have, and they continue to carry on the tradition with Agony, their sixth full-length release.
One could argue that Celtic rock bands are really playing out the liquor-related songs, but that one would also have to see popular rap (guns, money and drugs), R&B (getting it on), emo (whining about love lost), death metal (death), rap-metal (sucking at life) and so on. The key is making the material not grow stale by keeping the music fresh enough for the listener not to get bored. In songs like “Never Enough”, “Pub and Culture” and “Siobhan”, which visit the recurring theme of alcoholic oblivion, The Tossers do this well. The tracks are folksy, fun and danceable while having a hint of melancholy—after all, it is alcoholism.
“Traps and Ultimatums”, “Did It All for You” and the decidedly mandolin-laden “Romany” deviate from the paradigm by pining on about the trials and tribulations of love, and even the slower “Shade” manages to get the point across without seeming too whiny (take note, emo bands). “The Sheep in the Boots” is an orchestral instrumental that has me unfairly thinking of Riverdance, but it’s still very good. “Political Scum” is the obligatory political statement song, though it doesn’t just single out the GOP, taking aim at the shadiness of the government as a whole. As a nice added touch, it’s held together by the type of small steel drums that one would have heard during the rallying of the troops during the American Revolution.
Agony works very well as a whole, acting as an energetic, yet at times depressing (I mean that in a good way) composition with melodies that are as intoxicating as the beer and whiskey that Tony Duggins is singing about. It’s a refreshing, working-class album that typifies the South Side attitude. Fuck the Irish punksters. Anyone of any persuasion anywhere in the world can have fun with this album. Plus, the band thanks the Chicago White Sox in its liner notes, so that right there gets them an extra half of a machine-gun.
Rating:
