Tattoos, shaved heads, kilts and bagpipes describe the Charm City Saints ? a Baltimore punk rock band with a Celtic twist.
Lead vocalist Jesse Pollock belts out lyrics to Irish pub classics like “Finnegan?s Wake” and “Whiskey in a Jar” while his band members provide hard, fast punk rhythms and gritty electric guitar riffs.
“We may have an Irish punk feel because we have a fiddler and a bagpiper, but we are really a hardcore punk band,” guitarist Mike Ayres said.
The band is a potent mixture of individuals from local punk bands Mobtown Hooligans, Next Step Up, Together We Fall and Under Every Stone. Ayres, formerly of Mobtown Hooligans, started Charm City Saints in 2003.
Charm City Saints became: Fiddler and tin whistle player Jeff Foreman, bass player Jim Pfau, guitarist Kevin Keeley, drummer Damon Stowell, bagpiper Mike Stowell, Pollock and Ayer. They released their first E.P., “Never Go Home Again” in 2005.
“That song [Never Go Home Again] is always a crowd favorite,” Pollock said at band practice last Saturday. “We are practicing our playlist for the Saint Patty?s Days show at Ottobar,” Ayres said before Mike Scott, A.K.A Piper Mike, deflated his musical balloon again.
Guitars, bass, drums and stern throat-chafing lyrics meet the bagpipe’s sharp wet pitch as the guys rush through “Medley,” a song for all the people who just want to hear Irishpub covers.
“Medley is just all those pub songs wrapped into one, and played really fast,” Ayres said.
One of the their songs, “Charm City Saints,” is also featured on the soundtrack for “The Emerald Diamond,” a documentary that followed the Irish National Baseball team.
IF YOU GO
» Who: Charm City Saints
» Venue: Ottobar
» Where: 2549 N. Howard St, Baltimore
» When: Tonight at 9
» Tickets: $10 open to all ages
» Information: 410-662-0069, www.theottobar.com
