Flogging Molly

Did You Know?

• The band's name comes from playing every Monday night at Molly Malone's pub; Dave King said they felt like they were 'flogging it to death.'
• Dave King previously sang for the heavy metal band Fastway, featuring Motörhead's 'Fast' Eddie Clarke.
• In 2024, a fire damaged Molly Malone's Irish Pub, and the band launched a merchandise line to raise money for the venue and staff.

History

Before Flogging Molly, Dave King sang for the heavy metal band Fastway with Motörhead’s “Fast” Eddie Clarke in the early to mid-1980s. He then fronted the hard rock group Katmandu in 1991, which featured Mandy Meyer from Krokus and Asia on guitar. King kept a contract with Epic Records and started a solo album, but changed his mind when the label rejected his plan to use traditional Irish instruments. He got out of the deal to follow his own musical path. In 1993, King met violinist Bridget Regan, guitarist Ted Hutt, bassist Jeff Peters, and drummer Paul Crowder, and they formed a rock band with Celtic influences. They mixed Irish traditional music with rock, playing every Monday night at a Los Angeles pub called Molly Malone’s, where they built a small, devoted audience. Together they wrote “Black Friday Rule” and “Selfish Man,” which set the band’s sound. Hutt and Peters left when their earlier band Reacharound got a record deal, so King and Regan found new members to complete the current lineup. The band kept playing Monday nights at Molly Malone’s and released a live album, Alive Behind the Green Door, in 1997. King told Kerrang! that the name came from the bar: “We used to play there every Monday night and we felt like we were flogging it to death, so we called the band Flogging Molly.” After a show, the owners of SideOneDummy Records saw them and signed the band. Their first studio album, Swagger, came out on March 7, 2000. That summer they joined the Vans Warped Tour with Green Day, Weezer, and The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, and continued touring with the Bosstones in the fall. Drunken Lullabies was released on March 19, 2002, and went gold with the RIAA in 2009. They returned to the Warped Tour in 2003 with a lineup that included The All-American Rejects and Dropkick Murphys.

Musical style

Flogging Molly blends Celtic punk with folk and rock influences, drawing from artists like The Dubliners, The Pogues, and Johnny Cash. Their 2004 album Within a Mile of Home honors both Cash and Joe Strummer. The band’s catalog includes rowdy, pirate-inspired tracks such as “Salty Dog” and “Cruel Mistress,” alongside defiant anthems like “What’s Left of the Flag” and “Drunken Lullabies.” Softer songs like “Far Away Boys” and “Float” offer a more subdued tone. Lyrical themes cover Irish history, drinking, poverty, politics, love, death, and the Catholic Church. Two songs, “What’s Left of the Flag” and “The Likes of You Again,” were written in memory of frontman Dave King’s father.