Like Bing Crosby at Christmas or “the Monster Mash” at Halloween, the music of Los Angeles-based Celtic rock band Flogging Molly tends to pop more this time of year as the whole world turns Irish in anticipation of the annual celebration of St. Patrick’s Day on March 17.

Flogging Molly: (From left) Robert Schmidt, George Schwindt, Matthew Hensley, Dave King, Nathen Maxwell, Bridget Regan, Dennis Casey.

STORY TOOLS

• E-mail story
• iPod friendly
• Printer friendly

More Music News

• Cheap Trick still has a few up the sleeve
• Southern Heritage Classic: These soldiers dance, sing for their country
• Jazz Fest: Bugnon now hosting fest that shaped life

Share and Enjoy [?]

It’s an association the seven-piece band acknowledges and even embraces on their current tour — billed as “The 6th Annual Countdown To St. Patrick’s Day” — that brings them to Memphis for the first time on Friday for a concert at Minglewood Hall. But according to the Molly’s mandolin and banjo player Bob Schmidt, the band’s high-energy-yet-melodic punk rock has an appeal that goes beyond its role as music to drink green-dyed beer to.

“I think over the last couple of records we’ve kind of proven our metal outside of that box,” says Schmidt, an L.A. native who comes by his Irish roots through his mother’s side of the family. “I think people are slowly realizing it’s not just a bar band or a drinking band or a St. Patrick’s Day band. It’s just a rock band that happens to have influences and instrumentation that are kind of outside of the mainstream sensibility.”

Flogging Molly was started by Dublin-born singer/guitarist Dave King in the early ’90s following the dissolution of Fastway, the ’80s metal band he fronted with former Motorhead guitarist “Fast” Eddie Clark. With a nod to such forerunners as the Pogues and Black 47, King assembled a band — including Schmidt, fiddler and tin whistle player Bridget Regan, guitarist Dennis Casey, accordion player Matt Hensley, bassist Nathen Maxwell, and drummer George Schwindt — proficient in both traditional Celtic idioms and finger-shredding rock styles.

With all the pieces in place, the new group honed itself with a regular engagement at the L.A. pub Molly Malone’s.

“We played there about 2 1/2 years, building our sound and getting tight and getting to know each other as musicians,” says Schmidt, who signed on in 1995 after years playing in area indie rock bands. “It was a weekly gig, so we were there every Monday night, and it eventually got to the point where we felt we were flogging it to death.”

Soon, though, Flogging Molly broke out of the bar. In 2000 the band released its debut studio album, Swagger, the first of four discs the band has released on the Side One Dummy label. Their most recent effort was 2008’s Float, which debuted at No. 4 on the Billboard album chart and topped the magazine’s independent releases chart.

But Flogging Molly continues to make its biggest impact on the road, where the full power of their irreverent pub rock can be felt. The band has issued four live sets testifying to this fact, including the March 2 CD/DVD release Live At the Greek Theater, documenting the band’s recent stand at the legendary L.A. venue.

“We didn’t even want to put out a live record as much as we wanted to capture the moment for ourselves,” says Schmidt of the collection, which includes two CDs, and a hi-definition DVD that includes the complete concert as well as a compilation of all of the band’s music videos. “I think we all were a little shocked to find ourselves there, honestly.

“We all believed in the music, and we are all still like, of course it’s good enough to be as big as it is now. But I think, realistically, we’re all a little surprised that its been taken as well as it has.”

Flogging Molly with Frank Turner and the Architects

Friday at Minglewood Hall, 1555 Madison Ave. Doors open at 6 p.m. Tickets: $25 in advance, $27 day of show. Advance tickets available at the box office, by phone at 866-609-1744, and online at minglewoodhall.com. For more information, call 312-6058.