Dave King, guitarist and vocalist for the Irish pub/punk band Flogging Molly, said he is not a musician who likes to get branded with a label.
The former guitarist from metal band Fastway, who is Irish by birth, said by phone from Detroit that he grew up listening to all types of music. "Music is music. It doesn't matter what the style is. It's all music.
"I knew when Fastway ended I didn't want to start up another Fastway. So I started Flogging Molly. And though the style is different, it's still music."
Flogging Molly — which will play next Thursday at the University of Utah's annual Redfest — is comprised of King, fiddle player Bridget Regan, guitarist Dennis Casey, accordionist Matt Hensley, bassist Nathen Maxwell, mandolinist Robert Schmidt and drummer George Schmidt.
The band has done things without answering to anyone right from the beginning, said King. "We've always flown just below the radar. We didn't really have any goals, except to do things our own way. And when you get into that frame of mind, the pathways of a band come easily."
With no major label bosses to please, Flogging Molly has taken a grass-roots approach to making music and touring. The methods have proven positive. The band has a loyal following and just returned from playing at the annual Leeds Festival in King's native country. "It was amazing to us. I had always heard of bands going to play and all the horror stories. But it went smoothly for us. It was one of our career highlights."
Flogging Molly spent a good part of the past two years working on "Whiskey on a Sunday," a DVD/CD collection released earlier this year. The DVD is a documentary about the band, and the CD is comprised of four acoustic versions of FM songs, including "The Wanderlust" and "Drunken Lullabies," five live cuts featuring "Within a Mile of Home" and "Swagger" and a previously unreleased track, "Laura."
"'Laura' is actually an old song that we have never been able to release on a CD," said King. "We love the song, but it never fit in with the songs on the other albums. So we found the best way to release it is on this collection."
Making the DVD took a little getting used to, said King. "The filmmaker (Jim Dziura) approached us and we thought it was a great idea. We were a little apprehensive about having a camera (on our backs) for two years, but we got used to it.
"Jim was a fan of our music, and we thought the DVD showed the richness of our personalities in the band."
Personalities are the group's main thread, said King. "We have no time to get frustrated with personality conflicts. That's not why we got into playing music. It is all about the music.
"There are times, however, when it gets a little crowded having 13 people packed in a bus. It begins to look like the last 15 minutes of (the World War II U-boat film) 'Das Boot,' but those things happen, and we just have to deal with it."
If you go
What: Redfest: Flogging Molly
Where: Union Free Speech Area, University of Utah
When: Thursday, 6 p.m.
How much: $13
Phone: 467-8499 or 800-888-8499
Web: www.smithstix.com
E-mail: scott@desnews.com