The Real McKenzies is a Scottish Punk-Folk Band from, I believe, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Now you may be wondering, "what on earth is folk punk?" Well, the best analogy I can give you, which I saw online somewhere, is: It's like taking The Sex Pistols and throwing in a bagpipe. That's right. A BAGPIPE. The Real McKenzies have been around for thirteen or so years, give or take. They have, I believe five or six albums, all of which are mixes between traditional Scottish music and original compositions. My favorites off the albums are their revamped versions of the traditional Scottish songs, complete with the good ol' bagpipe and punk styled guitars and vocals.10,000 Shots is my favorite album by the band, one that, for me, is a real treat to sit down and listen to start to finish. It was released in 2008, their second to last album released to day, and, to me, it really shows how far the band has come, and in a sense, how much the band has "matured" since they debuted with their eponymous album.
Starting off with Smokin' Bowl (a song about war) and Best Day Until Tomorrow (which to the best of my ear-knowledge contains no bagpipes, but wonderful vocals on the chorus), the album starts off in an almost upbeat manner. Then we get the first of our traditional songs, Will Ye No Come Back Again?, a song written in the mid-to-late 1700s after the defeat of Bonnie Prince Charlie (Charles Stuart, grandson of King James II of England) and his later escape to the Isle of Skye. As could be expected, bagpipes are in full force here, and the song expresses the wishing of the Scottish People for their true heir to the English Throne to return. Along with the bagpipes, the vocals and the guitar "solos" in between verses, specifically around the 1 minute park, are very good. As those who know their history know, Charlie never did return to Scotland or England and the Stuart rule in England was ended (the Hanoverian Dynasty began soon after).
The next song, Pour Descisions, is about the singer's life in Canada and about the choices he made in his life. The song is somewhat tongue-in-cheek, and sort of takes a look at a musician's life, how it's "not that cute at 53" (the singer's age, really) but how "you still wish you were me". The next track, I Hate My Band, is more of the same, in a sense: tongue-in-cheek humor about how the singer hates his bands for what they've done to his life, but how they're "good lads at heart". This song is also lacking in bagpipes but features a nice guitar solo about halfway through.
The next track is another traditional song, Farewell to Nova Scotia. As you can guess, this song is a sailor's farewell to his home, Nova Scotia. The bagpipes are back (as I am led to believe they are often in Nova Scotia...) and in all, the song has a very melancholy feeling to it, but the music itself sounds more upbeat and lively. It's an interesting combination to a very memorable tune, possibly one of my favorites on the album. Following this is another traditional song, Bugger Off, which is about telling the audience of a show and patrons of a bar to get the hell out. It's more of the somewhat sarcastic humor that it is apparent in many of the songs on the album.
10,000 Shots is a song about how after 10,000 shots, everyone looks the same. It's sort of a humorous song about what happens from drinking. 13, the next track on the album, is another biographical song about the band's thirteen years together. The Skeleton and the Tailor is about a rather cynical Tailor, bound to a wheelchair, who accepts a dare to spend the night in a supposedly haunted cemetery. As he sits and mends clothes in the graveyard, a skeleton appears and tries to kill him, which causes the tailor to regain the use of his legs forevermore.
Comin' Thro' the Rye is a song based off a Robert Burns poem, and I think most are familiar with it as a children's song (at least that is where I first heard it). I won't even pretend to know what it's about, seeing as I can't even decipher the lyrics to save my life. It's traditional and it's Scottish and you ought to enjoy it just for that. The Ale is Dear is the usual instrumental piece that showcases the band's bagpiper's ability, and the final song on the album is The Catalpa, a ballad about the escape of Irish prisoners in the then British penal colony of Perth due to a regatta that was going on that day.
This album is enjoyable and really shows how far the band has come since its first CD. I five 10,000 Shots Four and a Half stars out of Five.
For more information about the traditional songs:
Will Ye No Come Back Again?
Farewell to Nova Scotia
The Catalpa
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