Press
Ningbo Guide, Shanghai - September 2010
A good beer is best enjoyed with the the right music. If the thumping sounds of techno drowning out all conversation or the same old playlist of of Britpop aren't cutting it anymore, Paul Curran and his band the Bungle Rye may have just what you need. "The Cow Ate the Piper" brings together a rollicking collection of Irish folk favourites and covers. The album recalls the swinging spirit of a band that sharpens its sound by performing regularly. Since becoming involvled with the Blarney Stone, an Irish pub in a bright orange building in Shanghai's French Concession, he has become a fixture in this bar that features live music every night of the week except Tuesday.
In 2000, Curran came to Shanghai and has since promoted and performed folk music around Asia. He has performed for visiting dignitaries and been featured on radio and television in China. "The Cow Ate The Piper" is the third album put out by Curran and his fellows since his arrival in China.
The album combines a diverse set of songs without losing its mellow, but upbeat, folk sound and good-humored storytelling. "Botany Bay" sounds like a dry-humored Irish drinking song, but actually features Australia. The swinging beer mugs continue through the tragic, but proud, "La Quinta Brigada" - about the Irish fighting in the Spanish Civil War - and an epic-sounding cover of Loudon Wainwright III's "The Swimming Song". You might have to put your glass down to start dancing for the rowdy folkified cover of "Folsom Prison Blues"
Check out the album on Claddagh Records website claddaghrecords.com, iTunes or pick it up yourself at the Blarney Stone in Shanghai. Curran has his sights on touring Canada and America next year and possibly the UK and Ireland this year. however, for now he'll be playing just over the Hangzhou Bay Bridge.
