Hub City Stompers

The Hub City Stompers formed in Boston in 1997, with Aaron Kiley on vocals and guitar, Mike Kelly on bass, and Tom Arey on drums. Their self-titled debut came out in 1999, mixing punk and ska with Irish folk traditions. They weren't subtle about it, either, songs like 'Fuck You, You're Irish' and 'Bridge Over Troubled Squatter' made that clear.

That 1999 track in particular drew some heat from parts of the Irish-American community for its blunt take on stereotypes. The band kept at it anyway, putting out four more albums through 2008, including 'Drunk and Happy' and 'The Irish Exit.' Their sound stayed loud and their lyrics stayed pointed, even as their lineup shifted around those three founding members.

They played a kind of barroom folk-punk that didn't worry much about smoothing edges. You can hear it in 'Hard Place to Be' or 'Chatterbox', raucous, direct, and rooted in that Boston Irish scene they came up in. They made five records in about a decade, then seemed to taper off.