{"id":1663,"date":"2017-03-16T07:00:01","date_gmt":"2017-03-16T11:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nickzaino.com\/departmentoftangents\/?p=1663"},"modified":"2017-03-16T01:35:02","modified_gmt":"2017-03-16T05:35:02","slug":"kier-byrnes-friends-celebrate-st-patricks-day-with-blarney","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nickzaino.com\/departmentoftangents\/2017\/03\/16\/kier-byrnes-friends-celebrate-st-patricks-day-with-blarney\/","title":{"rendered":"Kier Byrnes &#038; Friends Celebrate St. Patrick&#8217;s Day with Blarney"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>March is always a busy month for Boston musician Kier Byrnes. He can\u2019t remember exactly when it started, but he has been playing Irish\/Celtic music at gigs on his own or with his band, Three Day Threshold, for years now. He estimates he\u2019ll do 30 sets of Irish music this March alone, celebrating the release of his <a href=\"https:\/\/threedaythreshold.bandcamp.com\/album\/kier-byrnes-friends-present-blarney-a-compilation-of-celtic-music\" target=\"_blank\">new album <em>Blarney<\/em>, credited to Kier Byrnes &#038; Friends<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>The idea grew organically. Three Day Threshold would always include at least one traditional Irish song on each album, which has made them popular with bookers around St. Patrick\u2019s Day. In 2010, they sold out the Paradise Rock Club in Boston for a St. Patrick\u2019s Day CD release show of their album <em>Straight Out of the Barrel<\/em>. The capacity of the venue at that time was 725. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019d have to say that the Irish influence has always been a big component to the band,\u201d he says. \u201cThe week leading up to St Paddy\u2019s Day, I am doing twenty to thirty hours typically of Irish gigs. On this year\u2019s holiday, we will be performing at the Stockyard in Brighton for over ten hours. We will do easily a hundred different Irish songs, including all these on the album. With that being said, while these songs will work their way out into my solo shows and possibly even Three Day Threshold\u2019s performances, I probably won\u2019t do a ten-hour of gig of Irish music any other time of year. This is a unique time of year for that, especially in Boston.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=2015606828\/size=large\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/tracklist=false\/artwork=small\/track=4034156235\/transparent=true\/\" seamless><a href=\"http:\/\/threedaythreshold.bandcamp.com\/album\/kier-byrnes-friends-present-blarney-a-compilation-of-celtic-music\">Kier Byrnes &amp; Friends present &quot;Blarney&quot; &#8211; A Compilation of Celtic Music by Kier Byrnes &amp; Friends<\/a><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>He doesn\u2019t remember what year the first all-Celtic gig happened, but he does remember other specifics. It was a house for his friend Kate\u2019s birthday on March. Byrnes is from an Irish family, and the gig was a revelation to him. \u201cIt went as well as it could have gone for my first all-Celtic show,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd as rough as I thought the set was, it was a musical awakening of sorts; it lit a fire in me to rediscover this music that I used to hear all the time growing up as a kid.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>There are certain times of year when Byrnes listens to nothing but holiday music. From October to New Year\u2019s, he\u2019s tuned in to a steady diet of Christmas music. From then until the end of March, it\u2019s Irish music. That\u2019s how he found the songs to build his repertoire.  \u201cAs I have the radio on all time, I\u2019ve recordings of many different artists recorded at various points in history doing these songs, and others,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd as I listen to them, I dissect each version in a very academic way. I do this to get me in the zone for my St Paddy\u2019s Day season performances and it also keeps the music fresh for me and exciting each year as I rediscover it.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Byrnes included some obvious choices like \u201cIrish Rover\u201d and \u201cDanny Boy, but wanted to do some that weren\u2019t quite as recognizable. \u201cI think I went with slightly more obscure songs,\u201d he says. \u201cBut even with the obscure tunes, there are loads of versions out there, as many of these songs have been around for hundreds of years. So it just depends on the depth of your knowledge of Irish music whether you recognize it or not.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=2015606828\/size=large\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/tracklist=false\/artwork=small\/track=1589434797\/transparent=true\/\" seamless><a href=\"http:\/\/threedaythreshold.bandcamp.com\/album\/kier-byrnes-friends-present-blarney-a-compilation-of-celtic-music\">Kier Byrnes &amp; Friends present &quot;Blarney&quot; &#8211; A Compilation of Celtic Music by Kier Byrnes &amp; Friends<\/a><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>One cover, Dominic Behan&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Come_Out,_Ye_Black_and_Tans\" target=\"_blank\">&#8220;Come Out Ye Black and Tans&#8221;<\/a> addresses the struggle for Irish independence in a broadside against the &#8220;Black and Tans,&#8221; the auxiliary force created in the 1920s to help suppress the IRA. The lyrics reflect the mood of Irish nationalists at the time.    <\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Oh, come out you black and tans<br \/>\nCome out and fight me like a man<br \/>\nShow your wives how you won medals down in Flanders<br \/>\nTell them how the IRA made you run like hell away<br \/>\nFrom the green and lovely lanes in Killashandra<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>It was an important aspect of Irish culture for Byrnes to address. &#8220;You can\u2019t sing Irish music,&#8221; he says, &#8220;especially traditional folk songs of the Irish, without recognizing the oppression that the country has experienced.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Three Day Threshold has always augmented their meat-and-potatoes rock band arrangements with banjo, mandolin, and fiddle. Those instruments are especially featured on <em>Blarney<\/em>, and Byrnes tempered his preference for upbeat tunes a bit. \u201cEven though <em>Blarney<\/em> has some barnburners, this album has a lot more ballads that I\u2019ve ever done,\u201d he says. \u201cI think that may be reflective of just where I am right now though.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p><em>Blarney<\/em> is certainly well-suited for St. Patrick\u2019s Day \u2013 there\u2019s a reason its official release is on St. Patrick\u2019s Day. But Byrnes hopes it has more range as a collection of songs he loves. \u201cIt\u2019s a seasonal album as much as the listener wants it to be,\u201d he says. \u201cThe music is certainly in line with the St Paddy&#8217;s Day season, as I call it, but the reason I picked the traditional Irish songs that appear on <em>Blarney<\/em> is because I believe they\u2019re all good songs on their own. So I\u2019m hoping the album will hold up so that it\u2019s listened to year round, but if people just pull it out every March, I&#8217;d be fine with that too.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=2015606828\/size=large\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/tracklist=false\/artwork=small\/track=1562951764\/transparent=true\/\" seamless><a href=\"http:\/\/threedaythreshold.bandcamp.com\/album\/kier-byrnes-friends-present-blarney-a-compilation-of-celtic-music\">Kier Byrnes &amp; Friends present &quot;Blarney&quot; &#8211; A Compilation of Celtic Music by Kier Byrnes &amp; Friends<\/a><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>There are fourteen songs on the CD, but Byrnes is well aware that most people get their music digitally these days. He recommends streaming the album from the <a href=\"https:\/\/threedaythreshold.bandcamp.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Three Day Threshold BandCamp site<\/a>, which currently features eight bonus tracks. He may add even more from time to time. But if you want to buy the music and help support the band, Byrnes appreciates the gesture. \u201cIf you want to toss us some money, I promise to use it on beer,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n<p>Look for a new Three Day Threshold album soon, and watch their <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/threedaythreshold\" target=\"_blank\">Facebook page for tour and at festival information<\/a>.  <\/p>\n<p><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>March is always a busy month for Boston musician Kier Byrnes. He can\u2019t remember exactly when it started, but he has been playing&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1664,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7],"tags":[1177,1174,1176,1178,1175],"class_list":["post-1663","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","tag-blarney","tag-kier-byrnes","tag-kier-byrnes-friends","tag-st-patricks-day","tag-three-day-threshold"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/nickzaino.com\/departmentoftangents\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/kierbyrnes.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7lGwW-qP","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nickzaino.com\/departmentoftangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1663","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nickzaino.com\/departmentoftangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nickzaino.com\/departmentoftangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nickzaino.com\/departmentoftangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nickzaino.com\/departmentoftangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1663"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/nickzaino.com\/departmentoftangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1663\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1667,"href":"https:\/\/nickzaino.com\/departmentoftangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1663\/revisions\/1667"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nickzaino.com\/departmentoftangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nickzaino.com\/departmentoftangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nickzaino.com\/departmentoftangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nickzaino.com\/departmentoftangents\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}