On stage at the last Big Green Gathering 2007

The Tofu Love Frogs are probably to blame for giving people the idea it is acceptable to play folk music at punk gigs, but few have taken it as far as Kilnaboy. They rarely find themselves on stage with other folk bands, generally providing a welcome break in proceedings in evenings otherwise dominated by shouty hardcore. They may have mandolins, fiddles and accordions in their arsenal, but there is no doubt that this lot are punks at heart. “Punk and folk have a lot in common, they are both music for the people,” guitarist Daf tell us. “Its all about rebel music and what is going on around you.” Which is probably why they have been so widely accepted by the punk community. “I have never heard anyone say we are not a proper punk band”, accordionist Will enthuses.

It is not always an instant thing though, as Chris, drummer and veteran of the direct action movement points out, “We found the French punks the hardest to win over, we played just outside Paris to about 600 people and they really weren’t convinced, but by the end of the night we had won them over”. Jay, bona fide Irish geezer, joins in, “Sometimes people are a bit wary when the see the mandolins come on stage etc but when they hear us they chill out a bit”.  Daf thinks the band provides a bit of variety, “I think it is good, it breaks the night up a bit from having loads RAH RAH RAH RHA!  all night, it is good to have something different but with the same sentiments behind it.” It does mean they have more strings to their bow, as Chris points out, “I think we also get to play gigs that perhaps a hardcore punk band might not get away with, we have played some fairly straight gigs, and its nice to be able to play those gigs now and again to get the message across.

Live in a barn @ Wales Dissent gathering 2005

Rebel music is one thing though; anarchy is another. Kilnaboy are very closely linked with the local anarchist network. They have turned up at demos all over the UK and even Europe, like 21st century travelling minstrels, singing for their supper and spreading the word as they go. Whether it be entertaining ‘the troops’ at the convergence spaces for G8 protests, or stepping in when the sound system gets busted at RTS parties they boldly go where angels fear to tread.  “I am not sure we are all anarchists” bassist Brian tells us, “we are all like minded individuals, you don’t necessarily need to be an anarchist to be in the band, I’m not an anarchist.” Daf quickly jumps in, “Maybe not, but all are songs are about anarchy and you believe one hundred percent in every thing we sing about”. Brian nods in agreement.

Boomtown Fair 2009

It is handy for everyone to share the same views if you are going to turn play on the motorway at 5am. “If any of us did not feel comfortable with a gig we were doing,” Will confirms. Jay steps in with his broad Irish lilt, “Those types of events are the best we do, very often we don’t get a lot of money, but we have a really good time”. Daf agrees, “Faslane punks picnic was truly amazing, we have yet to be paid for that, but it was really really good fun.”

Whilst Brian is adamant that you don’t need to be an anarchist to be in Kilnaboy, Chris, long time anarchist, disagrees. “Personally I think it helps to be an anarchist in this band. I would be pretty uncomfortable if we weren’t all anarchists, there are definite anarchist undertones in everything we do”. 

Live @ No Borders benefit, TJs, Newport 2009

These anarchist undertones include a DIY approach to music. Jay is quite adamant; “We are more interested in our music being out there and people listening to it than making money from it”. This attitude is shared by the whole band, as Daf confirms, “Some promoters will take the piss, but that tends to be the corporate whores, not the DIY promoters. For example, if we went and played a gig for the Bristle posse or whatever, they would pay all our expenses, feed us beautiful food and ‘water’ us. Commercial promoters are not so scrupulous, they try to take the piss but we wont let them. If we are doing a benefit it will be because we believe in the cause, if we did not believe in it, we would not do it. It is a learning curve for us, we want to get our music out there, but we are coming to realise that we do need to eat as well, so if we are going to do corporate gigs, we make sure we get paid properly, we need money for maintenance and to survive so we can afford to do gigs for things like this Bookfair”

Being cheap and dedicated can be exhausting though, “We used to be playing all the time, we were doing sixty odd gigs a year, doing the same set all the time” Daf ponders, “ so much so we did not have time to rehearse or write new material. We are playing less these days so we are having a chance to develop and evolve. There was a time when we were playing Cardiff three or four times a month, which wasn’t really very productive, now we play Cardiff once every three or four months, those gigs are always full now because people want to see us”. Chris agrees with the evolving sentiment, “we recorded our last album three years ago and I think we have moved on quite a bit since then, I am not sure how much that album reflects what we do these days.”

@Triban, Coed hills 2006

There is a new album in the offing which should be out in the soon, but Will describes it as “in its conceptual stage” at the time of our chat.  Daf tells us “distribution of the last album was nothing short of piss poor to say the least and we need some help with that sort of thing. We have made a lot of contacts since the last album so we hope to capitalise on them.” Chris is “pretty excited about it” he tells us. “There are a lot of new songs we have not played live yet, some quite surprising songs and a few interesting cover versions. We have had some offers of techno and drum and bass remixes but they wont be on this album”.

One of the ‘contacts’ they have made in recent times has been the mighty Inner Terrestrials. “We have been playing similar gigs to them for quite a while” Jay muses, “we really got to know them at Faslane. We have similar ideals to them, we both played the Gent Anarchist Bookfair in Belgium this year, it had not been planned that way, we got that gig on our own merit, it just happened and we ended up playing a few gigs together during that tour. They have been really good to us and have put us in touch with a lot of people, like the Usual Suspects, it is definitely handy knowing them, there is a lot of mutual aid and cooperation going on. We like what they do and they like what we do, they big us up all the time and they have definitely taken us under their wing a bit and helped us find gigs in Europe.” Brian joins in the appreciation, “I don’t think it is just us though, they are just really nice guys and if they like you they will help you out, they have done it for lots of other people too.” Those connections will prove handy, cos the band definitely have ambitions beyond being the Cardiff Anarchist Network house band, they want to play mainland Europe more and by the time you are reading this they will have another Irish tour under their belts.

Things are on the up, but laziness still has a part to play. “Its has always been a constant battle with self motivation,” Jay admits, “we have always sat back and waited for people to come to us, but now people, actually are coming to us, we should be going out looking for more though”. They probably do themselves a little injustice there we think, cos we can’t bloody go anywhere without them turning up. But that is no bad thing.

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