Jacky Tar

FRoots magazine UK Dec 2001
by John O'Regan

Jacky Tar is an Irish/Scots/New Zealand outfit based in Wellington and play what they describe as funked up Celtic music. Their second album Defenestration is a whirlwind of Celtic, Rock, Alternative and Dance influences with one eye on the cerebral and the other hitting the intellectual. The six-piece outfit is fronted by Irish singer/guitarist Andy Kerr, piper Grant Shearer and Orkney fiddler Sarah McFadden with a Punk turned banjo players a ska/funk bassist and a drummer who traveled 4 continents last time he looked along for the ride.

Their musical clout matches their wild in your face approach as they strip traditional idioms down to the chassis and rebuild them in a cultural melting pot. They take traditional songs and twist them inside out making a sonic soundscape where anything goes and luckily it works. The opening assault on The Roving Journeyman, with haka like chanting, rap vocals and a rock solid dance floor ethic gets down to business rendering the Scots traditional tale almost unintelligible but its fun and it works. Uisce Beatha is a wild swampy ode to what else but the Irish elixer and Barry grabs The Pogues morning after desolation and harnesses it to a hard hip hop groove and Keepin' It Filthy takes no prisoners with its Industrial dance beats and bagpipe breaks.

Yet these are no one trick ponies, musically piper Grant Shearer and Orkney fiddler Sarah McFadden carry the weight admirably on Billy The Whizz and Waves of Rush while Where's The Haggis is an all out no holds barred blast out. Imagine The Mekons let loose on Irish and Scots traditional forms and mix it with The Pogues musical clout and add some solid traditional colors and you have a rough idea of what Jacky Tar is about. Hear Defenestration and get the whole picture- this is a discovery.