“Brahs Go Erin.” on new surf n turf film The Crest

The Crest: Surfers Dudes Get Into the Mystic  

10 November 2017By Christine Leonard 

“Brahs Go Erin.”

You don’t have to be R.L. Gates to take an interest in genealogy. In fact, looking up one’s distant ancestors has become one of the fastest-growing hobbies around the world. Of course, everyone who embarks on such an archival investigation must hold out some hope that they are related to some historical figure of import, say a pharaoh or at least an everyman hero. More often than not a rummage through the family tree will reveal a tale of syphilis and slavery, or at best industrious middle-classness. It may then seem odd that two young men from different parts of the United States should find themselves united in a search for their common genetic past. 

Enter golden-haired, Cape Cod surfer-dude, Andrew Jacob. Yeah, he says Jacob just like you’d think. Soaked. But actually, he seems to be a really amicable and down-to-earth kinda guy with a knack for creating beautiful graffiti. Andrew catches wind that he has a cousin in Florida who is living a parallel life as a surfer and surfboard designer. A cousin who can also trace his lineage back to the King of The Blasket Islands, the quasi-mythical “An Ri” of the rocky archipelago off Ireland’s south-western coast.  

Drawn together by the discovery of a fiddle left behind by their common ancestor Mike the Fiddler, Jacob and his eastern counterpart, the bedroom-eyed Dennis “DK” Kane, travel to Ireland to rediscover their roots and share their love of hitting the waves. 

As luck would have it their discovery of each other’s existence coincides with The Gathering 2013; a tourism initiative that invited Irish descendants from around the world to, ahem, descend on the Emerald Isle to partake of some 3,000 family reunions and national celebrations. Meeting for the first time, the two immediately set about finding a spot to baptize the surfboards they had toted along just for the occasion in the chilly Atlantic. 

Not just an account of the chain of events that brought the two together, the story at the heart of The Crest is one of heraldic pride mingled with an admiration for how those that went before lived and died by the waters that surrounded them.  

A quaint and mellow-paced documentary, The Crest revolves around Jacob’s contemplative attempt to record the uniqueness of the people around him while seeking a portal of connection to the past. Equipped with an easy to enjoy Celtic music soundtrack that ranges from traditional romantics to punked-up romps, The Crest is more about museum moments than catching the perfect rip-curl. Impeded by the same rough (gnarly) seas that kept their forbearers isolated and pining for the opportunities they knew awaited in America, Jacob and Kane make the most of their time in the Dingle Peninsula by tipping pints with assorted local characters and fellow Kanes who have rallied for the festivities.  

More of a walk down memory lane, or a forage through Granny’s attic, than an azure-tinted surfgasm, The Crest makes the most of pushing into uncertainty by getting hands-on with the details and going back to the basics of storytelling, much in the way of the rugged fisherman-poets of The Blasket Islands.  

The Crest will screen Nov. 17 as part of CUFF Docs at The Globe Cinema with director Mark Covino in attendance.

The Mahones interviewed by Christine Leonard

THE MAHONES SHAKE HANDS WITH THE DEVIL

"Pogue mahone!" is a variant of the Irish phrase póg mo thóin, meaning "kiss my arse"

Keelhauling ancient tradition and giving it forty lashes with a punk rock twist, The Mahones are a notoriously Irish band that just happens to harbour some very Canadian roots. Conceived in Kingston, Ontario one fateful Saint Patrick’s Day, the long-running outfit can proudly boast a 23-year history of music and mayhem. Running the gambit from dirty ol’ town murder ballads to hard-charging hardcore fisticuffs, The Mahones have come to embody the respectable revolutionary. With his ninth album on tap, the quintet’s lead singer/guitarist/mandolin player, Dublin-born Finny McConnell, admits he had a difficult time penning an album that could contend with their previous effort, 2010’s The Black Irish. He decided it was time to for The Mahones to raise the bar, instead of just polishing it with the sleeves of their coats.

“We started working on Angels & Devils almost as soon as we had finished recording The Black Irish,” McConnell reports. “There was no break, which is odd for us because we usually take a few years off between records. A couple times we’ve taken as long as five years in between. Of course, I was drinking a lot more back then. Now, things are coming out much faster for us. We wrote the songs for the new album around springtime, recorded in the summer and we were absolutely thrilled to be able to release it in November of 2012.”

The Mahones, Finny McConnell and his lovely wife Katie “Kaboom!” McConnell (accordion, vocals), Dom “The Bomb” Whelan (drums, vocals), Sean Winter (mandolin, banjo, vocals) and Paul “Cuzo” Mancuso (bass, vocals), each came to the table with big ideas for the dichotomous follow-up.

“You could say that Angels & Devils is a really big production. We felt it was the only way to take things further than we had already gone on The Black Irish,” he confirms. “We moved to Montreal two years ago and the best part is that the studio I work at is just across the street from our house. I get to just roll-out of bed and roll-in to work. That’s what allowed me to put so much time into the album. I worked closely with our producer to engineer and spent a lot of time in the studio adding more layers into the sound. I knew I wanted two things. One: really fucking big stadium sound. And, two: no shortcuts. Up until now, I’ve always wished we’d done more on each record we’ve put out. This time, I made sure we did things the right way and put the cherry on top.”

Applying their love of classic Celtic arrangements to their equally evocative politico-punk railings, The Mahones arrived at the crossroads of good and evil, where saints and sinners reconcile over Guinness and boxty. From the frenetic celebration of “Shakespeare Road” and the spirited “Spanish Lady” to the live off-the-floor feel of “The King of Copenhagen” and “Whiskey Train,” The Mahones throw an enthralling party. Purists can rest assured, pipes and strings a-plenty festoon the inexhaustible céilidhs that comprise the reeling hub of the album’s heady track list.

“I don’t remember the ’90s very well, the drunken heyday when we started up the band. It was all about ‘Drunken Lazy Bastard’ and ‘Paint the Town Red.’ I’m happy to say that I’m very focused on my music at this point. I’m married, I’m a father and I’ve matured a lot over the years. I’m a positive thinker and I think that, despite the fact that there’s a lot of darkness in the world, we’ve got to motivate people to reach for the stars. I always tell people that they can do anything and never to let anybody hold you back. I’ve had teachers who told me I couldn’t sing, let alone lead a band, and I’ve toured and performed all over the world. Never take ‘no’ for an answer. And, most importantly, follow your genre. I knew I was an Irish punk, so I followed that road… past the pint of no return.”

Catch the Mahones at the SAIT Gateway on January 18.

By Christine Leonard

Originally published in BeatRoute Magazine 14 January 2013