The Saw Doctors Hack Off Some Irish Rock n' Roll

Author: Daniel Roda

In order to stifle my impulse to avoid music that is so well-produced, I had to realize that The Saw Doctors have been at the top of the Irish charts since they put out the single, "Useta Lover," which dominated the number one slot in Ireland for nine weeks in 1989 and was Ireland's biggest selling single of all time, outdoing even U2 and Sinead O'Connor's smash hits.
In 1991 their debut album, "If This Is Rock'n'Roll I Want My Old Job Back," was number one in the albums chart.
A band that has been around for this long and made such an impact in Ireland, the United Kingdom and the United States is permitted to put out music that is produced cleanly and conventionally.
But what sets The Saw Doctors apart from the rest of the modern celt-rock kingpins is the roots-rock variety by which they are influenced.
The music is a carefully stolen cornucopia of European and Pan-American pop styles, resulting in an international blend that is more convincing that the professed righteousness and patriotism of Bono.
It is not hard enough to drive away lively middle-aged investment bankers, but it obviously also targets an incorrigible generation of younger investment bankers age 20 to 25, the component of America's population that recently begins to be considered for broadcast on "The Real World" or "Joe Millionaire."
Not that the ethic of the Saw Doctors is superficiality. It is a band that borrows its name from the occupation of repairing broken or dull saw teeth (quite an ambivalent reference for those of you tree-huggers out there) and boasts triumphantly onstage of sabotaging a bandmate's senior year of college with sudden musical success.
Yes, this band fundamentally sympathizes with the proletariat, from unwed Irish mothers who suffer under the stress of unpaid rent bills to gritty sailors flecked with scars imposed by fishhooks and antique cutlery.
According to Geoffrey Himes of The Washington Post, "They have crafted an anthem for the losers of the world."
Whether pouring out of a jukebox into the haze of a local pub or blaring in suburban garages where greasy Americans fix their lawnmower blades, the music is fun, it's loud, and it kicks a dude-sized handful of ... well, you know what.
The songs have a vibrant pulse and a fierce humor, a certain straightforwardness of personality that characterizes the Irish working class.
The subject matter ranges from running away to join the army and the effect of intense Catholicism on the Irish youth, to loving the prettiest girl in town but lacking the courage to tell her.
This is good dancing music, it is good drinking music -- the kind of music that you'd want to hear while tipping back a pint of ale with a mate.
The Saw Doctors are energetic enough to get the youths out onto the dance floor and hop around as if being flogged, not a thought in their heads but "more."
Plus the lyrics are so relentlessly positive and hopeful, they inspire a spirit of national identity as well as a respect of the more traditional and mundane livelihood of the lower class.
The vocals, performed mostly by Davy Carton and Leo Moran, have a distinct personality that reeks of potatoes and Guinness. Carton's voice is quintessentially Irish. For example, he pronounces "smoking joints" as "smookin' jaynts".
Such a distinct accent could take American listeners by mere fascination. Says one writer from Q Magazine, The Saw Doctors' "broad accents declare their identity amid all the cheerfully absorbed influences."
Plenty of punk-style drumming, unconventionally combined with atmospheric, unpretentious guitar hooks and arrangements of horn, accordion and steel drums, makes the style totally original despite being an amalgam of obvious influences.
According to Raime Masket-Roth, former bassist of The Royal We, "The punk-style drum playing gets down with the upbeat groove (which is activated by the happy horns and bass) and stretches along this album like a taut rubber band at room temperature."
The songs range from Country two-step, Irish country with bluegrass style fiddle-playing, to surf style bass lines, guitar tremolo, and sweet three-note guitar solos -- a phenomenon criminally lacking in the jam laden hills of Northern Vermont.
Which brings me to the point, or the climax, if you will, of this article: The Saw Doctors are playing in Killington, Vt., tonight at the Pickle Barrel, their second show on a tour which is taking them on a roller coaster loop around the East Coast, with a stop at the Roxy in Boston on St. Patrick's Day Weekend.
Their compilation, "Play It Again Sham!" will be released on March 4 on Shamtown Records. You can check out their Web site at www.sawdoctors.com.