The local band's latest is available through CD Baby.
Dicey Riley
Timing is everything and if you are a Celt-rock band like Dicey Riley there is no better time to release the latest recording “Rows of Pints and Walking Dead.”
The local band’s latest is available through CD Baby.
Dicey Riley has become almost famous for adapting rock songs into the Celtic tradition and vice versa, but John McLaughlin says the band has advanced its musical horizons.
“With this record we became much more original,” said McLaughlin. “We didn’t just play rock versions of old Irish songs.”
Along with three purely original works, McLaughlin says the balance of the work has been adapted from traditional Celtic works.
“There are seven songs that are derived from old Celtic tunes but they are so altered they are their own works of art,” he said. “There are two songs that are basically traditional, one we play in the traditional manner and when we play in very much the rock band mode.”
Once can typically find Dicey Riley playing festivals, bars, and the occasional warm up slot like opening for Red Hot Chili Pipers at the MassMutual Center in 2011. The band is splitting its holiday performances between Massachusetts and Connecticut.
“We play unplugged on Friday at Tully O’Reilly’s at 9 p.m.,” he said. “On Sunday from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. we will be at the Half Door, Hartford’s premier Irish pub. At 7 p.m. we will be at the Cambridge Brewing Company in Granby, Conn.”
Dicey Riley players include McLaughlin (vocals), Katherine First (fiddle), Dr. Frank Toscanini (bagpipes), Jimmy Gibbs (bass), Jeff Hinrichs (drums), and guitarist Tim O’Brien.
As the newcomer in the group, O’Brien expressed amazement at how the material and the band’s live performance is inspiring live audiences.
“We were at the Harpoon Festival in Boston last week, with thousands of people in the crowd,” O’Brien said. “It was kind of mind-blowing to play a song that’s never been performed live and see people singing along by the second chorus. That tells me there’s something to this music that reaches people almost instinctively.”
Find Dicey Riley online through Facebook and Reverbnation.com and diceyrileyrocks.com