‘CELTIC ROCK WITH ATTITUDE’
St. Patrick’s Day tradition lives on
Kevin Shannon and St. Patrick’s Day go together like whiskey and water, with a splash of attitude. On Saturday, he’ll perform hardstomping Celtic rock for his 30th consecutive St. Patrick’s Day. As he says, he has been providing “Celtic with an attitude 30 years running.” Shannon will play with guitarist Ted Lamont — who also performs in such acts as Blasternaut, UK Mods and White Noise — in their group Paddy Whacked. “Playing St. Paddy’s the last decade with Kevin has been great,” Lamont, who met his musical partner when they were both completing bachelor’s degrees in communication studies at the University of Windsor, said Thursday. “I’ve always embraced the punk rock aspect that goes along with the Celtic music. And Kevin is the walking embodiment of that.” Shannon actually started his three-decade love affair with St. Patrick’s Day in the Shannon Brothers band, alongside his younger brother Tommy. Others joined the group over
the years, though it folded about a decade ago. So he hooked up with Lamont to keep the streak alive. “I keep doing it because I love it,” Shannon said. “I don’t get out as much to play anymore, so when St. Patrick’s Day rolls around, it’s more or less a given. I don’t want to break with tradition. “If I didn’t show up on St. Patrick’s Day people might think I’m dead.”
Shannon often sees fans only once a year, but they keep appearing for his Irish-inspired shenanigans. The 60-year-old singer likens himself to an old comfy T-shirt that you just can’t bear to throw away. These days the married father of a nine-year-old daughter mostly works as a defence lawyer — on all but St. Paddy’s Day, of course. “It’s partly an excuse not to go to the day job,” Shannon joked. “This year it happens to be on a Saturday, but traditionally it didn’t matter what day of the week it was. I would take the 17th off work. And then I’d need the day after off work because my voice would be shot.” Though he now performs full time in a courtroom, Shannon once put more effort into performing onstage. He formed his first band, the punk-rock outfit the Dry Heaves, with his younger brother Tommy in 1979 — when Shannon used the stage name Hevy Kevie and his bro went by the classy sounding Tommy Vomit. After a number of years, the two formed the Shannon Brothers, which morphed through various incarnations and players until folding about 10 years ago. “The Dry Heaves had a pretty aggressive punk attitude, and that’s the kind of attitude that stuck with me,” said Shannon, who was influenced by Irish-British Celtic punkers The Pogues. “I became aware of The Pogues and said, wow, you can play punk rock and Irish music at the same time. And that was the impetus for getting things going.” Though in the past Shannon has donned Doc Martin boots and a kilt onstage, these days he mostly sticks to military-style footwear and all-black garb — to distinguish himself, he said, from the well-lubricated crowds dressed in green. Plus, he will provide his trademark high-intensity delivery. “It’s got a good driving beat,” he said of the music he and Lamont will deliver on Saturday. “We do some slow, really nice songs. But I still do it with a snarl.
“But it’s Celtic music. Clap-along, sing-along, jump up and down, and hopefully nobody gets hurt.”