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The Bleeding Irish

Sound description

If punks auditioned for Riverdance.

RIYL

Bob Geldof, the Pogues, the Boomtown Rats, Elvis Costello, the Chieftans

Influences

The Dubliners, Minor Threat, the Wolfe Tones, Social Distortion, the Clash, the Pogues, the Chieftains

Discography

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The Bleeding Irish specialize in hard-rock versions of traditional Irish drinking songs. They tour in a converted 1964 school bus. “I bought it from an old hippie in Washington the summer Jerry Garcia died,” says fiddle player Rhy Thornton. “Willie Nelson used to use it on tour. His main bus was called the Honeysuckle Rose. They slept in that one; this one was the crappy one where they put all the equipment. They called it the Grizzly Rose. It was certainly grizzly for us.”

The Grizzly Rose cost the Bleeding Irish more than $5000 in repair bills when it broke down during a summer 2008 tour, even though the engine had recently been rebuilt. “We don’t have a label, and we don’t have the credit to rent anything,” says Thornton. “I already owned this, so I said let’s just try to cobble it together as best we can.… It first blew up on the Grapevine [a stretch of I-5]. We were stranded in this little truck-stop town called Lebec, which was, like, 30 miles south of Bakersfield.”

Thornton says the band had to stay in Lebec for five days while the engine was rebuilt. They slept in the bus at night while it was parked in the garage.

“We mortgaged, borrowed, begged, and stole everything we could to pay the bill. We had no money while we were stranded there. The town is so small it only has one bar named Rocky’s. We told them that we were stranded and we would play for any amount of money or beer or whatever they would give us if they would let us play. It was such a small town that by the end of the fifth day we knew everyone in town.”

The band left their bus at home for a 2007 tour of Ireland, during which they were filmed for a Discovery Channel spotlight. As of 2009, they play frequently at Irish-themed pubs like Hennessey’s Tavern in Vista and the Royal Dive in Oceanside.

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4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
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