Canadian Celtic -punk legends The Mahones  like to strike while the iron is  hot. It has been sizzling  for the past 20 years, especially  the past year, during which they have been all over the world touring in support of their latest album “Black Irish,” but frontman Finny McConnell still gets excited when he gets to play with some of his inspirations.

McConnell still gets  excited when talking about his idols and inspirations event though his band has influenced more than their share of Celtic punks,  even spawning a tribute CD “Whiskey Devils— A Tribute  to the Mahones,” a compilation  bands from all over the world playing their favourite Mahones songs in a plethora of different styles.

They recently completed the Shamrock-N-Roll  tour with the likes of the Dropkick Murphys, the Street Dogs and most notably , original Irish  punkers Stiff Little Fingers.
“All of the Celtic punk players were influenced by Jake Burns and Stiff Little Fingers,  and the two string riff he plays. Even  the Edge  from U2 was influenced by him,” noted Finny McConnell. He will be bringing the Mahones back to Lethbridge to play the Slice, Nov. 24 with the Unbelievers.

“ So to be able to sit back every night and watch him play was amazing.  And when you play with the Dropkick Murphys— they are punk rockers, but they are also gentlemen. They treat everyone right and you’re playing  on a nice big stage with a nice PA system  in front of nice big audiences,” he enthused.

“We had the Parkinson Sisters playing fiddle. That was one tour we didn’t want to end. Usually  near  the end of a tour, you just want to go home. But I would have liked to continue this one for three or four more weeks,” he said.
 The Mahones also did their first tour of Ireland, where McConnell’s family is from.
“We played with the UK Subs and the Undertones weren’t sure how well we’d go over there. But they said they couldn’t wait to have us back. It’s great to play with all of these original punk bands.

 The Mahones, who were born in Kingston for a St. Patrick’s Day party back in 1990, but relocated to Montreal about a year ago, not that they have been able spend much time there, spending most of the year touring.

“I spent about 15 years living in Toronto and Katie (McConnell’s wife and the Mahones’ accordion player) spent her whole life in Toronto. We needed a change. It was the same old restaurants, the same old bars and the same old theatres.  We wanted to move a  to a whole new place— new restaurants, new theatres, new bars. Now we’re living in  an Irish neighbourhood, well it’s not really an Irish neighbourhood, but there are a lot of Irish pubs. And I can just bring my acoustic guitar and play it,” he said.

 While he’d like to spend more time at home, the band was so supportive of their CD that they  didn’t mind  spending a year and then some on the road touring it.

“It’s supposed to be six months on the road and six months home. This year it was nine months on the road and three months at home. We’re going to make it a little more balanced next year,” he said.

Looking back, there have been a lot of career highlights, but this year stands out.
 “Having ‘Paint The Town Red’ in  the movie “the Fighter,” which won two Oscars was a highlight. That doesn’t happen every day, getting a song in an Oscar winning movie. But having it written in the script with the actors shouting ‘Paint The Town Red, by the Mahones,’ was pretty special.”

Next year is the twentieth anniversary of their career making hit “Drunken Lazy Bastard.

“We want to do something special with it, maybe re-record it and re-mix it like we did “Paint The Town Red.”  And give it a tip of the hat.  Maybe rerelease it online for our fans on St. Patrick’s Day. The only version out there is the one we recorded  with crappy instruments,  20 years ago, though there are a couple live versions around,” he chuckled.

“We’ve been ending our shows with it for 20 years,” he said.

He is looking forward to the Lethbridge show, where they have always been well received.

“This time we’re going to give you a lot of the new album. It’s pretty special to us. We think it’s the best we’ve ever done,” he said.

 Audiences have really responded to the new CD especially tracks like “Great Night on the Lash,” “ Wild Rover,” and “Lord of the Dirty Hordes.”

 Their latest tour of Canada is going great.
“We started it in Kingston, where I started the band and we’re ending it there too. We can do that now, start a tour where we want to and end it where we want to,” he said.