Seventeen years ago Dublin-born musician Dave King made the jump from London to Los Angeles at the urging of a Geffen Records executive.
And it paid off. He was playing to big crowds at large venues, but interest fizzled, and eventually he was reduced to scrubbing bathrooms at the Los Angeles clubs he played.
But his love for music and search for new ways to express himself kept his dreams alive, and when he met fiddle player Bridget Regan, he found what he had been looking for.
"About 14 years ago Bridget [Regan] and I met, and she was a fiddle player, and we got together and started playing," he said. "There really wasn't much direction back then…. When I did hear Bridget play the fiddle, it did something that had never happened before: It made me want to — at the time I couldn't go home to Ireland, and I think I neglected a lot of inspirations I had forgotten about and left so long ago, and it just took me right back."
Later, the story was completed as King and Regan met six other players and formed Flogging Molly in 1997. The band, which mixes traditional Irish folk music with a blast of punk rock attitude, will play Saturday at the UC Irvine Bren Events Center.
Flogging Molly shows are a sight to be seen. Flogging Molly's brand of punk is upbeat, and the mosh pits are less angry, probably due to the fun songs and catchy lyrics.
"The music is obviously up-tempo; it's very lively, very in-your-face," King said. "It's all about celebration as opposed to kicking the crap out of each other. It's about good times; it's about bad times; it's just about life and people who have been with Flogging Molly for a long time, and they know they're just there to have a good time."
The songs are inspired by life, history and tradition, including the tumultuous plight of the Irish over the past few centuries. The songs celebrate victories and lament defeats, but they celebrate the use of music throughout history. The songs also comment on King's own life, reminding him of his youth in Dublin.
"It tends to be a bit of everything," he said. "The songs are about life and the good and bad, and it can take you back to places you haven't been in years or even thought about in years. I mean I remember thinking about a few songs, and it took me back to Beggar's Bush in Dublin and the atmosphere that was there."
