Flogging Molly

Regardless of Ireland's vibrant traditional music and culture, on these shores anything Irish is often used as an excuse for frat boys to spill beer on someone, drool and then vomit on their own shoes. Flogging Molly, a scrappy Los Angeles band indebted to the Pogues, is about as authentic an Irish experience as one can have in Texas. The band features a bona fide Irishman, Dave King, as its singer, songwriter and sentimentalist. He's lived in the States for a decade, but King is as Irish as the pope is Catholic, and he's been known to guzzle Guinness onstage. With an accordion, mandolin and fiddle, all played at a sprightly leprechaun's pace, Flogging Molly's music--a wee bit punk, a wee bit old country--is as irresistible as a redheaded lass.