Written by: Rob Latham
After 12 years of touring and recording music you could forgive Flogging Molly for wanting to take their foot off the gas but that simply isn’t the case as the Los Angeles-based Irish rockers passion for music is still very much alive and kicking.
I meet up with the band’s multi-talented instrumentalist Matt Hensley at the Commodore Ballroom on the day of their second show at the Vancouver venue on Friday (October 30) to discuss life in Flogging Molly, the change in the music scene in the last decade and life on the road.
Hensley is fresh from performing the night before when the band put on an impressive, energetic set which was much appreciated by a lively Vancouver crowd.
As we discuss the highs and lows of being on tour for long periods of time it is blindingly obvious that this is what Hensley lives for – music, and Flogging Molly in particular, is his life.
“It can be a lonely road and there’s no health insurance program in a rock’n'roll band it’s all or nothing, but we get paid to play music and it doesn’t get any better than that,” he said.
“I’m so used to it (touring) that it seems like a normal way to live, like a fucking nomad.
“It can be difficult like any job can, we’re all married and have kids and stuff which is kind of a drag, but to play music to people every night and have people smile and dance and sing your songs makes it so worth it.”
Hensley explains one thing that keeps his passion for the music going is seeing first hand how music can be a positive factor in peoples’ lives. In particular he picks out a gig in Croatia where a crippled boy wearing a beat-up Flogging Molly t-shirt told him the band’s music had given him a new perspective on life.
Hensley said: “He was at the side of the stage rocking out and he just looked really short to me but after the show I saw his condition, how fucked up he was, and he was basically in tears. In broken English he told me ‘I’ve got nothing to live for, I pretty much want to kill myself but eight months ago I found your band and it’s given me a reason.’
“All he wanted from me was a cigarette and a pint of Guinness so I got him them and then he hobbled away as happy as can be – that show will always stay with me as it proved music can make a difference.”
Flogging Molly’s latest album, Float, differs from their previous three studio albums, as it was recorded in frontman Dave King’s homeland of Ireland allowing the band to get away from city life and focus fully on the music.
Hensley explains: “It probably affected how we sound a little but it was more the isolation of being in Ireland, the fact that we were away from any major cities or distractions to take away from our 100 per cent concentration on making the best record possible.”
Despite now being a huge global name on the music scene in their early days Flogging Molly were told they would never make it as a band, which spurred them on to prove the industry wrong.
Hensley said: “A lot of people will tell you you can’t make it. People told us, and every major record label told us, that we would never be more than a little, tiny bar band in Los Angeles.
“These were people who supposedly knew what music was all about, I would tell any kids starting out to just keep it real, play from your heart and people will receive it from the heart and it will feel real.”
Hensley accepts that the music industry has changed significantly since Flogging Molly started out, with the rise of social networking sites allowing bands to easily get their music across to fans all over the world. But he believes this is a good thing as it puts more emphasis on musicians honing their skills.
“It’s a great thing,” he explains. “It’s not so driven by record sales anymore, they’re not what they used to be. I think it’s more about who you are, what the band is and what you do in life that is more tangible than just making a record.
“Right now it’s weird because it seems there’s a lot of one-hit wonder guys who’ll be huge today and fucked tomorrow because it’s so internet based.
“I think the best way is the way this band and our predecessors have done it, where they’ve kept it real and street-worthy an haven’t sold themselves to the devil.”
Float is available now on SideOneDummy Records, to hear more of Flogging Molly’s music and see their upcoming tour dates visit their MySpace page.
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