The Black Tartan Clan - Scotland In Our Hearts

4Subculture Records

 

Thanks to bands like Dropkick Murphys and Flogging Molly you got thrown to death with so called ‘celtic punk’ bands at the beginning of the past decade. And I am not Irish, Scottish, or come from any other isle for that matter, so there’s only a certain amount of bagpipes, fiddles, tin whistles and mandolins I can handle so I got sick of it pretty fast and it even stopped me from listening to one of my favorite bands at that time, DKM that is.

 

Now it’s 2014 and my opinion has been toned down a bit, I still don’t walk around in a kilt (and I most likely never will), but thanks to 4Subculture Records I started to appreciate some of the ‘celtic punk’ again when the label introduced me to The Black Tartan Clan and two of their albums, “Boots, Kilts ‘N Pipes” (2008) and “Don’t Walk Alone” (2012). Especially the last one I played quite a lot when I received it, and I highly suggest listening to the title track, great song! But as said, it’s 2014, those releases are the past and the band recently released their fourth full-length album “Scotland In Our Hearts”, again released by 4Subculture Records.

 

The Black Tartan Clan seem to have a pretty big following, and I can fully understand why. Because despite the fact they aren’t playing my favorite kind of punk music they got a real solid and powerful sound with the bagpipes adding a lot of melody to the whole. Although these guys hail from Belgium they got Scotland in both their hearts and sound but I couldn’t tell if they only adapted the Scottish culture and heritage or if their bloodlines actually run throughout Scotland. Doesn’t really mather though, because songs about drinking, friendships and working are international except haggis, which is disgusting (especially if there are maggots in it, track ten), blurgh.

 

If you are into bands like the two mentioned in the first paragraph or others like Flatfoot 56, Neck, The Real McKenzies or The Tossers you might have heard of these Belgians by now. If you haven’t, you might want to check out “Scotland In Our Hearts” or their earlier releases, I bet you’ll like 'em, because The Black Tartan Clan isn't bad... at all!