Filthy Thieving Bastards: Im a Son of a Gun

Filthy Thieving Bastards are from California but have a heck of a lot more in common with Dublin barrooms than summer pop. Featuring members of Me First And The Gimme Gimmes and Swinging Utters, songs like “Bring Me Back” and “Phony Drunken Poet” are right in line with The Pogues and The Tossers. With no tune clocking over three minutes, the group makes beer-swilling toe-tappers that are Celtic punk or Celtic rock at their core. Other songs which have the same intensity but are more acoustic are “I Sure Enjoyed My Stay” and the inviting “When the Wallflowers Wilt”, which resembles a tamer Flogging Molly. The group isn’t afraid to toss in some basic rockabilly with the tight and catchy “Dusty Roads” and the poppy “Santa Maria”. Perhaps the highlight here isn’t the rowdier material but a slow, swaying ballad called “Down Every Day” which the band hits out of the park, but the ensuing “Dumb Dead Goats” is a paltry tune that The Living End would toss aside. Fortunately this is forgiven with the fun “When We Were Kids” and bouncy “A Killing on Wall Street”.