Finnegan’s Hell – A brief history lesson

Mixing Ramones flavored Celtic drinking anthems with hillbilly country, folk rock, reggae and metal, Finnegan’s Hell offers a diverse listening experience. The band’s patented sound along with the intense and entertaining live shows of these sharp-dressed gentlemen, makes Finnegan’s Hell a real crowd pleaser. It is no surprise that the group was voted ”best foreign band” by the audience at massive Woodstock Festival in Poland in 2015.

The band was formed in 2010. After a year of touring Finnegan’s Hell released the EP ”The Molly Maguires” in 2011, the title track of which put the band on the European Celtic punk map. The following year Finnegan’s Hell recorded the song ”The Boys in Green Will Conquer” and took part in a competition in Ireland, aimed at finding the official Euro 2012 anthem for Ireland’s soccer team. The Irish Times were intrigued by the band and wrote: ”They’re hard to describe, but just imagine a blend of Metallica and the Kilfenora céilí Band and you’d be about right.”

Finnegan’s Hell caught the attention of the media back home when releasing the song ”Drunken Christmas” in 2013. The song was voted ”Christmas song of the year” by the readers of the Swedish music magazine Gaffa, and the controversial video for the song was described as ”Celtic social realism, probably the best Celtic social realism in the world”. Since then other Celtic bands such as Highland Reign (US) have covered ”Drunken Christmas”.

After signing to Heptown Records, Finnegan’s Hell released their first full-length album, ”Drunk, Sick and Blue”, in 2014. Internationally the album was well-received and Paddy Rock Radio rated ”Drunk, Sick and Blue” as one of the best Celtic punk releases of the year.

Finnegan’s Hell went on to release ”Life and Death” in 2018 and was later signed by Sound Pollution’s label Wild Kingdom Records. The album ”Work Is The Curse Of The Drinking Class” was released in 2020, and received rave reviews. To follow up on that success, Wild Kingdom has just released a new album by Finnegan’s Hell called ”One Finger Salute”. It’s a folk rock middle finger, guaranteed to lift your spirits, and that is why it is at the top of FolknRock’s list of the best Celtic punk albums released in 2022.

For more info about the band, please consult Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finnegan%27s_Hell