"The Mickey Finns are the BEST Celtic Rock trio in the world hands down"!! So says John Boyle of the influential Celtic Rock website www.paddyrock.com. His website also placed our newest CD "It's Not the Whiskey" in the Top Ten Irish CD's of 2010!!
In addition, the great Irish Music Association nominated "It's Not the Whiskey" for the Best New Irish CD of 2010.
We've been more than chuffed about the great response to our second release. It was a combination of trad. tunes/mixed with world percussion and a driving guitar sound. To beef up the sound, we had great friends help us with the playing and production. Most notably, Honorary Mickey Finn for Life : The Great Erilk Kaye. His assistance in the co-production left us with a sound at the end of the product that we were blown away by. We couldn't have done it without Erik and his great studio, The Lodge in SOHO. An amazing musician and an amazing friend. He shared our ideas and offered others. The ease with which we recorded "It's Not the Whiskey" can be heard in the fun, nay, jovial playing that band was able to put to tape. We're hoping to record a new CD in the coming months and definitely would like to work with Erik again. His ideas and bass playing were indispensable during the recording. We hope to get him to do more live shows in the future. We hope to start a new CD within the next few months. Some track names are:
Return of the Prodigal Son
Sweet Clare Girl
The Jester
McGuinness' Mass
A Dying Soldiers Prayer
Let the Dark Roll Down the Dawn
:as well as a few nearly completed tracks. All of the tracks were written by Brian Tracey and the Mickey Finns. They're hoping the new album propels them even further into the upper echelon of Irish Music, as the songs are much deeper and have a vast array of new influences and sounds. In addition to the songs, we'll have, as always, a bit of our world / trad side that should satisfy everyone! We hope to have this completed by late Spring. Keep your ears and eyes open for updates!!
The band began a good few years ago. Ray Kelly comes to us from the great County Clare in An Gaeta Ban!! A Clare boy, through an through, Ray is an ardent supporter of Clare's hurling team, especially when they play Tipp!! In Clare, Ray started a band called the Boatmen, a group that ended up all over Clare, Limerick, and Tipperary, to great acclaim. At the height of their success, Ray left the band to try his luck in New York City. He became a successful solo act, but was bored with it and wanted a group. As luck would have it, The Prodigals needed a new singer. He came in to rehearsal, sang 'Spancil Hill" as only he can, and was given the job right then and there. He toured with the Prodigals for seven years, playing the main stage in Dublin OH Irish Fest many times, as well as the main stage of Milwaukee, the House of Blues in Boston, Vegas, and Anaheim. We shared bills with the Corrs, the Saw Doctor's, Black '47, Shane MacGowan, Elvis Costello, Wilco, Van Morrison, Ronnie Drew of the Dubliners, Paddy Reilly, The Wolfe Tones, The Clancy Brothers, Gaelic Storm, Flogging Molly, Kila, Hothouse Flowers, and the Drop Kick Murphy's to name just a few. But after touring for so many years, Ray left the band to open his own successful pub "Ray Kelly's" in Fairfield, CT. After a few years of success, he was itching to perform again, so he contacted his old friend and bandmate, Brian Tracey.
Brian Tracey hails from New York. Born in the Bronx, but raised in Long Island, he grew up immersed in Irish Music and culture. He and his siblings were competition Irish Dancers for many years in their youth. They also studied the Tin Whistle. However, they all veered away from this and Brian veered towards becoming a rock drummer. He had some success as a teenager on Long Island and in NYC and finally left school in his senior year of University to give a full time shot. He played around with some rock band, but was quickly called on by a fledgling group called the Prodigals to join the band. As a member of this great band, he helped bring in new sounds and rhythms, along with the great Andrew Harkin on bass, and helped catapult the already good songs of Greg Grene into greatness. The band toured most of the states, as well as several tours in Ireland, Germany, and Canada. They played the best festivals in the country, almost always as the headliner, and enjoyed great success.
However, the constant touring was wearing on Brian, so he left the band amicably and played with some other peers, such as Sean McCabe, Dave Barckow, and Padraig Allen. He and Ray decided it was time to start a new band. They came up with the name The Mickey Finn, knowing that it was a knockout drop that one would put in someone's drink to put them away. They felt that their new band's music would have the same "knockout" effect! People would be blown away.
And they would be, once they found the final ingredient, world class fiddler, Matt Mancuso. Matt came to the band with an equally impressive resume. He played with the very popular NYC band, Raglan Road for years. After that, he toured the States and the World as the Lead Fiddler in Michael Flatley's, very successful production of "Lord of the Dance". In addition to his great skills on the fiddle, Matt is a very accomplished guitarist, a virtuoso on the trumpet, and plays one mean mandolin. He's a good man to have around during a recording. He is also the best harmony singer in the band.
All this makes for a great recording experience, but it's the LIVE SHOW where the Mickey Finn's thrive. Super high energy percussion, blistering fiddle, chainsaw guitar, and whiskey soaked vocals of Ray Kellly make this band one of the premier Irish bands on the American scene, and even in the world. They have played the best festivals in the wolrd such as:
Dublin OH Irish Fest Chicago Irish Fest Indianapolis Irish Fest Kansas City Irish Fest
Kentucky Irish Fest Cleveland Irish Fest Weston MO irish Fest NE Louisiana Irish Fest
amongst many, many others. Inquire for a full list.
The Mickey Finns are your band if you want to hear High Energy Trad Rock, mixed with world percussion, original songs, and great stories. Ray Kelly and Matt Mancuso are the best front men to have telling stories and jokes about the songs that Brian writes. If you haven't seen them, check them out right away. If you haven't had them at a festival, book them right away. You will NOT be disappointed. In addition to our regular three, we have to almost full time members in Eric Kaye on bass, and Vonnie Quinn on Fiddle & Vocals. We've been honored to have some of the best players in Irish music also join us onstage such as Padraig Allen, Dave Barckow, Donie & Pio Ryan, Allen Gogary, and many others. Their talents only make our band better!
Look for a new album to hit the stores in early summer. It WILL be the best one yet!!!