The Three Jacks: Press

To donate online (every dollar counts!) click here:

The Three Jacks, mixing storytelling and drunkenness -

There is a great tradition, or at least a stereotype, of an association between storytelling and drunkenness among the Irish. With his new project, the Three Jacks, Henk "Jack" Milne proves musically there's much to be said for tradition. And storytelling. And drunkenness. But let's be clear here: The Three Jacks are actually a quintet, and they're not all guys. But they do make solid music, and a certain complex renaissance of instrumentation is draped all over their devoutly Celtic debut, Treachery, Lust & Misfortune, as Milne's Guinness-stout rock tells their elaborate lyrical tales. Traditional Anglo songs are woven into the mix here and so are reworked Milne originals such as "The Bare-Ass Girl" and "The Volunteers." Milne, fiddle master Jack Stamates, and guitar star Jack Shawde formed the Jacks as "the acoustic wing of the Volunteers." (Those who missed out on the 15 years of pub glory, and two albums, provided by that Milne-fronted South Florida C-rock collective should dropkick Murphy themselves.) Drummer Diane Ward (yes, that Diane Ward) and beloved bassist Debbie Duke signed on and have been dubbed "the Two Jills." Treachery ranks as magnificent, but if you know anything about Celtic rock, or the characters involved, you know this stuff will really kill live. That's a fact of history. And drunkenness.

"Treachery, Lust and Misfortune" by The Three Jacks is pub friendly American Celtic Rock. Grab a Guiness and get ready to dance. The musicianship is tight and driving. The vocals are throaty and fun. The song structure is strong and has sing-along quality. You can't ignore the fiddle breakdowns either. Highlights are "Work O' The Weavers," a house burnin', sweaty number with a couple of those fore-mentioned fiddle breakdowns. "The Bare-Ass Girl" has some fun lyrics, as you can imagine. It also features some nice recorder work. The wavy "Si Bheag Si Mhor" wraps up the album nicely. If you like The Fenians or Celtic Rock in general, you will like this one.

The Three Jacks - Treachery, Lust and Misfortune (Dancing Bear)

Hailing from hells kitchen, Miami, Irish-American folk rockers The Three Jacks storm through a collection of traditional (and some originals in the style of...) British folk songs and Irish rebel tunes. The arrangements are solid and sprightly, and bring to mind ‘80s post-punk folk rockers such as Folk Devils, The Men They Couldn’t Hang and, of course, The Pogues. They also dip their collective toes into the first wave of British folk rock, with a full ten minute version of ‘Matty Groves’, a song Fairport Convention made their own back in the day. Lead vocalist Henke Milne (Indian by birth to Dutch and Scottish parents - in case you were wondering) has got his Oirish accent off pat (excuse the pun) though he does sound like he’s constantly gargling with vomit - hopefully his own - an effect which at first repulses, but once you’re used to it, is almost bearable. Obviously the English are the villains throughout, and as a true born mongrel Englishman (which in this case is roughly one eighth Irish, one sixteenth Scottish, one sixteenth Welsh and the rest made up of Norman French, Dutch Huguenot, and various German and Celt tribes) I take the criticism on board, but should Henk and the lads ever feel the need to write an album denouncing a contemporary villain on the world stage, perhaps they should get their heads out of their 17th century arses and take a look in the mirror - though maybe that would be less popular in the state where Jeb Bush is governer. www.thethreejacks.com
Rob F.
"BUY"

"Here at Pay The Reckoning Towers we have had the misfortune to wade through woeful attempts to fuse or inflect Irish music with other forms, some of which had us reaching for the sick-bag, others for the hammer. But every now and then albums such as The Volunteers' ... latest offering arrive on our doorstep which come laden with such energy, insight and intelligence that the cross-overs seem not just natural and unforced, but completely invigorating to boot. Henk Milne, chief spokesperson and rabble-rouser of The Volunteers (vocals/dobro), would argue that the music which he and his band play is traditional American music in any event. The songs and tunes were brought to America by Irish immigrants, fair enough! But once the songs arrived they quickly became part of the collective musical folk consciousness. . . . The end result? Imagine The Pogues' first album if Shane had found himself washed up in America rather than London and if he hadn't already begun to devote more time to self-destruction than to making music! A lot of the trademarks of that sound are there - the marriage of energy and subtlety and the intimate understanding of the touchstones of folk music and rock'n'roll. . . . [This CD] showcases the fact that Irish music, far from being the dry and dusty form which many begrudgers and gainsayers would have us believe, is an immensely powerful music. Capable of crossing the globe and inspiring new audiences, it lends itself to reinterpretation and re-presentation and, providing it is assimilated with the degree of care shown by The Volunteers ... it can take on a new life as the backbone of a new musical form.So, let the traditionalists nurture "the pure drop", and fair play to them! But let's create a little space at the same time for the adventurers to give the music a new twist and by so doing to give birth to American Celtic, which promises to be as diverse, as interesting and as life-enhancing as the Irish music which makes up its core."

"The Volunteers bring a glimpse of the often unrecognized, unspoken, unheralded roots of American Pop - Celtic music. Their latest release is chock full of the structural and harmonic influence that paved the way for the Blues, Country and Western, Jazz and many other musical styles to develop in this country. American music, in all of its strains, is a product of many people coming together in a new society and struggling to be heard in many different ways. The Volunteers continue an ancient musical voice into the new millenium with talent, bravado and panache. That's why I feature them on my WLRN radio show consistently (www.wlrn.org). Bravo American Celtic! Bravo The Volunteers!"

“The Volunteers are the most up-to-date of medieval rock bands. Led by singer-guitarist Henk Milne, the Miami group takes music of the ages - centuries-old drinking songs, battle cries and ballads about unattainable maidens - and makes them shake, rattle and roll. The sound falls somewhere between the Celtic thunder of the Chieftains and the rumbling of the Clash. If, say, the Pogues had devoted themselves entirely to songs in the public domain, they might have sounded a bit like The Volunteers.

"The bodhran backbeat of jigs and reels also morphed into the train-beat of rockabilly, and hence to rock 'n' roll. That's the thinking of American longtime folk-rocker Henk Milne, known as the "big voice" of The Volunteers, a band equally inspired by the Volunteers who held Dublin against the British Army in 1916 and an LP by 1960s California acid-rockers Jefferson Airplane who held the age of psychedelia against the PTA. This folk-rock progression is why Milne and his crew have happily embarked on what purists would scream sacrilege, writing lyrics to Turlough O'Carolan's 17th- and 18th-century tunes, and rocking them out. O'Carolan, it seems, was a bawdy old jokester who actually penned words to a lot of his tunes, so welcome to keeping tradition alive in the new land. Milne's band Voluntarily takes time-honored Celtic themes into LPs like Whiskey, Love and Disaster, not a bad reference to Celtic history as a whole. They're also something of an anomaly in a south-Florida scene that's always gone for the Latin dance-flavored stuff, but as The Vols are called a full-throttle runaway locomotive of a band, that may have changed by now."

"I can't remember a good St. Paddy's Day that didn't end in a tearful sing-along with glasses held loftily in the air as spilled beer baptized all below. Only one band brings that species of drinking-joy to venues year-round, wherever they play, and that band is the Volunteers."

"Put this crew and free-flowing alcohol in a club setting and you never know what will happen next ... This is a band capable of raising the roof in the best Celtic tradition."

"Actual research goes into the music of the Volunteers, an absolute raiding of the historical record, in fact. But the beauty of these self-styled American Celts -- from Miami, no less -- is how feisty and uncurated they sound. The septet, led by knockabout singer-scholar-guitarist Henk Milne, marries Celtic folk to rock 'n' roll, a practice pioneered with a certain boozy ingenuity by the likes of Thin Lizzy and the Pogues. The Volunteers carry both traditions forward, revving up the ancients such as Whiskey in the Jar and playing originals that glory in the mutual attraction of old-world folk and rock. It will not be a lecture when the Volunteers perform tonight at the 300-seat Sunrise Civic Center Theatre. The only lesson, as such, is that music predating the 20th century can be as wild as anything that came after.The ex-Londoner Milne knows the ancestry cold and, by tackling it with an informed irreverence, does it proud. His own compositions give him especially free rein: He trains a sailor's growl on a comedy of bad manners, The Bare-Ass Girl, and turns the whole band loose on The Last Chance Bar, an inspired case of Irish fatalism set to Bo Diddley blues.The other six Volunteers, all veterans of studio and stage, are just as formidable: Miami rock singer and songwriter Diane Ward on drums; . . . Jack Shawde on guitar . . . Jack Stamates on fiddle."

Celtycki rock, w którym pobrzmiewają echa starego dobrego rock`n`rolla. Riff zaczynający płytę kojarzyć się może z czasami Elvisa, Sedaki i Orbisona. Ta rockowa twarz zespołu jest dość łagodna, mimo że to zespół amerykański, to czuć tu przede wszystkim że obcowali trochę z muzyką The Pogues. Lubią czasem trochę przywalić, ale z kulturą. Również wokalista nigdy nie odważyłby się zaśpiewać, gdyby przed nim nie śpiewał w ten sposób Shane.
Nie tylko stary rock`n`roll przypomina nam że The Volunteers to Amerykanie. Mamy tu dylanowską harmonijkę i czasem gdzieś w tle elementy country łączące się z wszechobecną irlandzczyzną.
Fajnym urozmaiceniem jest tu fakt, że wszystkie piosenki, to autorskie utwory, nie ma więc odgrzewanych dań, a tylko nowe, różnej maści potrawy.
Piosenki są przeróżne i choć jest ich tylko osiem, to łatwo się do nich przywiązać. Osobiście polubiłem nieco macgowanowską "Chains of Steel" i bluesowy "The Last Chance Bar".
Fajne i luźne granie, z naciskiem na odrobinę oryginalności.

rlandczycy ze Stanów Zjednoczonych kochają takie płyty. Kolekcja irlandzkich evergreenów zagrana z folk-rockową werwą na pewno przyniesie kapeli większą ilość fanów, niż poprzednia, w większości autorska płyta. Jednak dla krytyka to niełatwy orzech do zgryzienia – owszem słucha się tego świetnie, bo The Volunteers to dobry zespół, aranżacje są dość pomysłowe... Cóż jednak z tego, skoro większość tych utworów ma w repertuarze niemal każdy zespół grający piosenki irlandzkie – od pubowych kapel po staruszków z The Chieftains.
Warto za to napisać kilka słów o aranżacjach i skojarzeniach z nich wynikających.
Zaczyna się od bardzo poguesowatego (czyli przywodzącego na myśl klasycznych już dziś The Pogues) "The Irish Rover", w podobnym nastroju utrzymane są również "A Man You Don`t Meet Everyday".
Najmniej znany utwór - "The Mountains of Mourne" przypomina z kolei The Pogues z czasów "Pogue Mahone", ale całość urozmaica ciekawe solo skrzypiec.
"Star of the County Down" zagrano z kolei bardziej "po kanadyjsku" - w stylu kapel takich jak Grat Big Sea, czy Spirit of the West.
Zaskoczeniem jest bluesowa wersja "I Tell Me Ma", jak już wspomniałem aranżacje są tu dość pomysłowe.
W przypadku "The Foggy Dew" można powiedzieć, że zespół rozsiadł się okrakiem pomiędzy tradycyjną wersją The Chieftains a folk-rockowym graniem. Nie jest to najbardziej udana piosenka na płycie. Podobny miks tradycji z nowoczesnością stanowi "Whiskey in the Jar" utrzymany w tradycyjnym tempie, ale z riffem Thin Lizzy granym na skrzypkach i flecie.
Żeby nie było zbyt irlandzko dostajemy przeróbkę brytyjskiego "All Around My Hat" w rytmie starego rock`n`rolla z elementami country. I co ciekawsze brzmi to całkiem nieźle.
"Black Velvet Band" to utwór, który potrafi rozkołysać każdy pub, tak więc z tej konfrontacji zespół bez problemu wyszedł obronną ręką.
Płytę kończy zadziornie wykonany "The Parting Glass". Nie jest co prawda tak ostry, jak wersja Dropkick Murphy`s, ale jest to ciekawa, folk-rockowa interpretacja z odrobinką bluesowej nutki.
Z tego co napisałem wynika (mam nadzieję) że płyta jest dobra. I rzeczywiście taka jest, pod warunkiem, że nie rażą Was odgrzewane po raz setny standardy.