About Flogging Molly
Flogging Molly is an American seven-piece Celtic punk band formed in Los Angeles in 1994, led by Irish vocalist Dave King, formerly of the hard rock band Fastway. They are signed to their own record label, Borstal Beat Records.
Prior to forming Flogging Molly, Dublin-born Dave King was the lead singer for the heavy metal band Fastway featuring guitarist "Fast" Eddie Clarke of Motörhead in the early to mid-1980s. He later fronted a hard rock band called Katmandu , featuring Mandy Meyer of Krokus on guitars. Afterward, King retained a record deal with Epic Records and began to work on a solo album, but began to reconsider his record deal when the label opposed his idea of bringing in traditional Irish instruments. King negotiated out of his record deal to go his own way musically soon after.
In 1993, King met violin player Bridget Regan, guitarist Ted Hutt, bassist Jeff Peters and drummer Paul Crowder, and put together a rock band with a Celtic music influence. They began to play a mix of Irish traditional and rock music. Putting King's poetic lyrics to rocking melodies, they played weekly at a Los Angeles pub called Molly Malone's, building a small but loyal following. Together, they wrote songs such as "Black Friday Rule" and "Selfish Man", which was the beginning of Flogging Molly's sound. Ted and Jeff then left Flogging Molly because an earlier band of theirs, Reacharound, received a record deal. King and Regan began to find new members and the current band was formed.
They continued a routine of playing every Monday night at Molly Malone's. They put out a live album, Alive Behind the Green Door, in 1997. In an interview with Kerrang! magazine, King stated that the band's name comes from the bar that faithfully supported the band from the very beginning, "We used to play there every Monday night and we felt like we were flogging it to death, so we called the band Flogging Molly." They were signed onto SideOneDummy Records after a show when the record company's owners attended a concert and noted their intensity.
The band’s debut studio album, Swagger, arrived on March 7, 2000, their first of many with SideOneDummy. They joined the Vans Warped Tour for the first time that summer alongside Green Day, Weezer, and The Mighty Mighty Bosstones .
Drunken Lullabies followed on March 19, 2002, and was certified gold by the RIAA in 2009. They returned to the Warped Tour in 2003 with a lineup that included The All-American Rejects and Dropkick Murphys.
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