Flogging Molly Biography

news-detailsFlogging Molly were started with a one man's passion to switch gear and introduce something new to the music scenes. Dave King was a rock metal vocalist who joined the Fastway in early '90s but soon found himself in two other bands that eventually disbanded. When his deal with Epic Records requested him to join as the vocalist of The Jeff Beck Group, King declined the offer to start his own venture. The Dublin-born musician then dug his Irish root and experimented with its native sound. However, King refused to stick by one sound so he blended the Irish traditional music with contemporary punk vibe. This distinct result unfortunately failed to impress Epic and King was later forced to go independent. He eventually met musicians who had the same vision with him. Bridget Regan who played fiddle, tin whistle, and the Irish native bagpipes, the uillean pipes soon found a match in King and joined him in the band, so did guitarist Ted Hutt and bassist Jeff Peters. Together the foursome were the founding members of Flogging Molly which name was taken from a pub called Molly Malone's where they used to play frequently. "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," King explained.

They started writing materials like "Black Friday Rule" and "Devils Dance Floor" but Hutt and Peters eventually decided to quit the band. Hutt would later on serve as the producer of the band while Peters returned to his prior commitment. While serving gigs in the Los Angeles pub, the band slowly recruit more members until they made up a seven-piece. Beside bassist Nathan Maxwell and guitarist Dennis Casey, accordion player Matt Hensley was added along with mandolin player Bob Schmidt and drummer Georg Schwindt. They recorded one live album "Alive Behind the Green Door" before being signed to SideOneDummy Records that distributed their first studio album, "Swagger". With Steve Albini in production panel, the album was released in 2000 as breakthrough in music industry although reception was still mild. They followed the release with two others, "Drunken Lullabies" and "Within a Mile of Home" in 2002 and 2004 respectively. The former was bubbling under 100 in Billboard Albums chart but the later made a dramatic rise in their career when it peaked at #20 on the same chart two years later.

Shortly before the group served a U.S. tour in 2007 Hensley announced his departure, citing that he needed more time with his family. It was the fourth full-length album, "Float" (2008) that really put them into the spotlight among the mainstream. The album reached the top ten position in the Billboard 200 chart by entering at #4 after selling 48,000 copies in the first week. At the same week, it also reached #1 on the Billboard Independent Charts and #2 on the Billboard Alternative charts. On reaching the new level, King commented, "When we first started, we were ignored by the radio, TV stations. But they are playing our stuff now which is great. We're probably one of the biggest independent acts in the U.S. at the moment, but we've done it the hard way."